Eklavya:The Royal Guard (2007).

A guard's quest to fulfill his religion.

Directed and written by: Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Starring: Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Boman Irani.

Enter a royal mansion of Rajasthan, India that is filled with secrets. The royal guard Eklavya (Amitabh Bachchan) is humble, sincere and ruthless. He is guarding the king Rana Jayawardhan (Boman Irani). Like one of the characters Eklavya from the epic Mahabharata, who cut his thumb off as a gesture of respect when his Archery teacher asks him to as fees for the teaching, this royal guard is also determined to protect his king so as to consider this job as his only Religion. What secrets this mansion is hiding? What happens when one tries to blow off the lid off these secrets? Will Eklavya be able to follow his religion? Well the questions are answered, except for one which you will see at the end.

After giving Khamosh (1985), Parinda (1989) and 1942-A love story (1993) Vidhu Vinod Chopra comes back with his own screenplay and his own vision blended in a big screen art piece. Like those other films he still has his cutting knife as sharp as it was before. Little rugged tip though. Mr Chopra has created a dark sequence that can only be understood from voices in the background. He has created a scene where camera is panning over the entire entrance way towards the mansion that reminds Kubrick and Fincher's fluid-track camera. He has created a thrilling sequence involving a car standing close to a running train along with sprinting camels in one of the deserts of Rajasthan. He has created a dark and glooming atmosphere throughout the entire movie which will keep you glued to your seat. He has a vision and he has stick to it all the way almost till the last 10 minutes of the movie. Actually he did give a sign of a grand finale with Harshwardhan's (Saif Ali Khan) gesture which if Mr Chopra has stayed with then this tale would have made sense and fit to all of the character's intentions. But unfortunately Mr Chopra goes a little further which will steer away this car ride out on a gravel road where the scenery is hazy due to the dust. At this point perhaps he could not decide if he can still continue to be an artist or rather make money out of this? Its upto you how hard you take those 10 minutes. Personally Mr Chhopra was already impressive enough to give an exhilarating experience through his quality cinema.

Mr Bachchan as the royal guard has a style and attitude that would take his character where you believe him completely. When he stands next to the bed where queen Suhasini devi (Sharmila Tagore) is lying, he has the eyes that will negate the possibilities of any words from the screenplay. The sequence of chopping off the bells tied to a flying dove's feet is at first seems little cheesy but sometime later helps you understand how unique his talent is. Though his expressions are not new but still he performs with utter honesty.

Saif Ali Khan as the prince charming lights the screen with his persona. His performance is the second memorable followed by Boman Irani as the king and Vidya Balan as Harshwardhan's lover Rajjo. Jackie Shroff makes a comeback to commercial cinema after quite a while. Seems like Mr Chopra wanted to bring Shubhankar from 1942-A love story. He is little more older, tired and less believable. Sanjay Dutt and Raima Sen contribute a little to the story.

Cinematography by Nataraja Subramanian is quite stunning which requires an auditorium viewing.

Eklavya asks a question that how far can you go to be RELIGIOUS? This movie is a great attempt which deserves applause.

My rating: 7/10.

300 (2007).

Comic book with a soundtrack.

Directed by: Zack Snyder.

Writing credits: Frank Miller (Graphic novel).

Starring: Gerard Butler, Dominic West.

300 is a transformation of the Frank Miller's graphic novel of the same name published in 1999 into a digital movie with a techno soundtrack. This is a tale of 300 Spartans who fought about a million Persians at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. Led by King Leonidas these 300 soldiers fought for the glory by making a phalanx at the entrance of a mountain pass over three days.

300 is quite a graphic film directed by Zack Snyder who previously created Dawn of the Dead. Some of the scenes like the one when Leonidas rejects the offer of earth and water or the blinking of a wolf's eyes in the dark or the rhino killing sequence are directly creditable to Mr Snyder. But then his direction tries to make an epic but fails at the urge of creating an actual portrayal of Frank Miller's vision on a big screen. When I saw The making of 300 the filmmakers evidently mentioned the idea to make a movie almost similar to the comic book images used as story boarding for quite a few scenes. That limited the scope of not just directing but also screenwriting for Zack Snyder and Kurt Johnstad. While watching the movie there seemed no sympathy to the urge of glory of the 300 Spartans. Not to ignore cheesy romantic dialogues between Leonidas and Queen Gorgo. Key scenes have limited words. Mr Miller himself has claimed to have changed the history to make it look cooler. The battle scene dialogues between fellow Spartans sound like conversation between a bunch of college kids watching a Monday Night football game at a local Hooters. Also there is quite a fascination with flesh exposure in the movie. There is squirting of blood throughout. But what is missing is a solid story-telling. This would make this a mediocre movie watching experience.

Acting department doesn't have much scope. Everyone required to be on an adrenaline rush which is probably why they scream their 'glorious' dialogues, say for instance 'Tonight we dine in hell' or 'This is Spartan'. Rather one thing the actors were expected to have was 'six-pack abs' and they all count six each. Well if you just expect about 2 hours of entertainment then this is a movie that looks and sounds cool.

Do not go to the theatres. But do watch it on an HD pay-per-view to experience the fascinating use of colors and sound.

My rating: 4/10.

Zodiac (2007).

Search for the Zodiac.

Directed by: David Fincher.
Writing Credits: Robert Graysmith (novel), James Vanderbilt(Screenplay).
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr.

Two teenage lovers on a date take a little detour in Vallejo,CA. . While sitting in the car they see a black car come close and stop nearby and just drive off. Not so soon it vanishes in the dark they hear tires screeching and the car comes back. It stops and a dark figure gets out and walk towards the couple with a flashlight just like a cop. When the boy is about to say anything we hear the shot and the guy falls on the seat in a slow motion. Next is the girl. When the dark figure finishes off we hear an emergency call over a pan shot of California made to a nearby police station supposedly by the killer himself to report two dead bodies in a car.

Zodiac is a story about a cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) of the San Francisco Chronicle. One day the 'Chronicle' receives a letter about a guy who calls himself as Zodiac. Letter mentions few details about the murder of two teenagers sitting in a car which cops missed out during the investigations so to prove writer's identity. While Robert's curiosity is raised with a code given in the letter received by the Chronicle, he continues to decipher it. Then over the next few months follows a series of murders and letters which baffles everybody. Inspector Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) shows most interest and the urge to find the killer. The problem is since the murders occurred in different counties of California the mutual coordination of different jurisdictions is slowed down due to limited sources of communications of the '70s. Zodiac receives advantage of this. Not to mention lack of physical evidence from the crime scenes.

From all the given evidence and piled-to-the-sky confusions forms a tale of a serial killer. But this is more like a tale of Robert's persistence to find Zodiac. Mr. Robert Graysmith, a real life SF Chronicle cartoonist, wrote a novel titled Zodiac. Though James Vanderbilt wrote the screenplay, actually the tell-a-tale of all the events and a possible pointing of the finger to one suspect by Mr Graysmith is quite interesting. At first the tale made every attempt to confuse the audience just to put in the position of the cops who did not have a clue themselves. It was nearly halfway thru the movie when Robert starts his own investigation is when the fog starts to clear up. From the codes written by Zodiac at the crime scenes to the phone calls he made, Mr Graysmith created enough suspicion to one suspect for this thriller. This is a good attempt to create a picture of the '70s San Francisco turmoiled by Zodiac.

David Fincher, who previously directed the cult classics like Seven (1995) and Fight Club (1999), comes up with yet another dark creation. Though there were no usual tricks of Fluid-Track camera, he did use his experience and knowledge to create shadows and paced the heartbeats of the viewers in the suspenseful moments. He gives a touch of his dark world that would remind the video of Janie's Got a Gun. But unfortunately this is not a Fincher movie to expect an unexpected ending. Maybe the book is written like that.

On the acting note Jake Gyllenhaal still reminds teenager Donnie Darko (2001) making it hard to believe that his character in Zodiac has a daughter. But he is able to convey the persistence of his obsession with Zodiac. Mark Ruffalo is rather convincing as a frustrated cop. Robert Downey Jr still gets his bits of punchlines with an icing of little humor. Though the expectations from Chloe Sevigny were limited she still makes a mark. '70s style soundtrack adds a little flavor to this tale.

On a final note, this movie is worth one viewing. But you can wait for the DVD release.

My rating: 6/10.

Jackass: Number Two (2006).

Sickly Brilliant.

Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy and Jason 'Wee Man' Acuna.

Director: Jeff Tremaine.

Writing credits: Johnny Knoxville.

When was the last time you felt like being a teenage again? When was the last time you wanted to play a prank on your friend? When was the last time you wanted to feel craziest ever? When was the last time you wanted to witness something that would not be afraid of death? If that day is today, go rent Jackass: Number Two and get a couple of tissue papers to wipe your tears off because you are going to laugh till you drop.

Enter a zone where blindfolded Knoxville gets knocked out by a randy bull, or he sits on a big red rocket on the way to moon, or Bam Margera makes a ski slide in his own house so that he can tear off the front door, or Wee man sits on a stool butt-naked where he gets hit by a professional playing card thrower, or where all the performers gather at a skate park and their goal is to not to get hit by sandbag while riding a bike or skateboards. When I saw Jackass: the movie (2002) I was surprised at the extreme stunt ideas especially the butt x-ray. I did not think that Knoxville and the crew can ever top that but apparently they did. The last stunt of the taxi-cab prank was just hilarious and actually very intelligent. When Johnny and Bam Margera come up with ideas for stunts then it raises a question of why do we need a director. May be to select which scene to go first and for editing. Rest of it is just pure adrenaline and self-humiliating acts. Some times it really tests the limits of how much one can take as an audience. Some are brilliant stunts and some acts will make sick to the stomach.

In the end its creditable how Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and the rest of the crew formed the shock values throughout the movie. This movie is something for a Jackass fan.

My rating: 7/10.