Its been around two months that the movie names 'Oh My God' has been released and was appreciated nationwide for its topic and acting. I am bit late in writing the review for this movie but a good movie stays good and no matter how much late, it should be watched whenever possible.
OMG featuring Paresh Rawal is a satarical Comedy movie on the Religion of India. Although it is an adaptation of a Gujrati play called Kanji Virudh (vs) Kanji, which again was on the same plot similar to that of the Australian film 'The Man Who Sued God'.
The movie also featured other prominent actor like Akshay Kumar, Mithun Chakraborty, Poonam Jhawer, Mahesh Manjrekar, and Om Puri. The film received both negative and positive responses from all over India, although more positives one and was declated as a Box Office Hit.
Paresh Rawal in the role of Kanji Bhai is a Hindu atheist who runs a shop in Chor Bazaar, Mumbai, and sells Hindu idols and statues. Being a good business man he knows how to use the sentiments of people who have blind faith in their god and he was making good profits using their feelings. His family never supports him in this regard and was often rediculed by his wife, to not use God name in such a bad way and by cheating others.
His life took a turn when a low frequency earthquake hits Mumbai, but except for Kanji Bhai's shop, which is destroyed completely, no other property was damaged. He was told that due to his bad work, god has shown him his anger and he deserved this because of its such work. Kanji went to it insurance company to get the required claim but was told that the such kinds of destructions are not covered by the insurance companies and are completely act of God.
Not knowing what to do, he decides to go against the God and tried to file a lawsuit against him. Since no lawyer was ready to support Kanji in filing such a lawsuit which according to them is totally useless and will only be a time wastage, a muslim laywer Hanif Kureshi acted by Om Puri decide to help him in filing that but Kanji Bhai was told to argue the case himself as Hanif Kureshi can't do that becasue of his disablity. And then the notice was sent to the insurance company and the different saints of various prominent temples to appear for the hearing and then the story continues.
The case was accepted in the court when Kanji Bhai points out that these saints in temples claim to be the representatives of God on Earth, they are suppose to be answerable for the act of God and they should give him the required claim amount for his loss.
The best part in the movie was when Kanji bhai shows the hypocracy in the Hindu Religion when people are donatins so much to the temples which are alreayd having enough, instead of giving it to the poor who are dying because of hunger and thirst everyday. He pointed out so many things which the saints do on the name of god and how they cheat people using his name. This whole case created the outrage in the country and people started protesting against Kanji bhai and how he was speaking against religious sentiments of people.
But that also led to support of hundreds of other people because their claims were also rejected on the name of Act of God , which was not covered by the insurance companies. Because of the political influance also, they decided to kill Kanji bhai, and then came the God Krishna acted by Akshay Kumar which indeed is the brightest character of the movie. Akshay's personality attracted almost everyone and although he had very few dialogues to deliver, he indeed made his mark.
The music of the movie was also good and songs like Mere Nishan, sung by Kailash kher was on the top of charts. Other dancing number by Prabhudev: 'Govinda' was also among the hit list.
The main aim of the movie was to potray the hindu religion which is making people afraid in the name of God and although Kanji Bhai won the case and got his claim, Leeladhar Swamy Acted by Mitun Chakraborthy quotes that India is a God Fearing Country and not the God Loving one and people will go to temples and will keep donating until the fear is there and that really was the crux of the movie.
The movie is a good watch for acting, dialouges and the concept. Do watch it..
Enjoy. !!
“Barfi” – Anurag Basu film has been nominated in foreign category as India’s entry to most reputed film industry awards “Oscars” for this year 2012. It has drawn mixed reactions from public & critics. Some favor Barfi as depicting the human emotions at its best, while others feel that we had more films to choose from. Whatever is the opinion, one thing is sure – Bollywood has certainly moved out of the woods.
The Transition
A simple love story, comedy, emotions & action. - that was Hindi Cinema once upon a time. But now all these have given way to socially relevant messages as Bollywood turns a corner. If cinema is all about mirroring reality, then it is bound to give out a socially relevant message. In the right hands that message strikes a chord with the public.
In recent years, Bollywood was out of its custom woods with filmmakers trying out something new, passing a message along with entertainment. With some out of the box films like 3-idiots, Rocket Singh, Dev D, Wednesday, Wake-up Sid, Shaitaan, Dirty Picture & now Barfi, filmmakers were out with some serious topics to deliver infotainment.
More and more filmmakers are drifting from romance to more meaningful subjects. Cinema provides a filmmaker with the privilege of affecting a vast number of people. Apart from entertainment, films should possess a social message too. Films can first entertain people & message can follow. 3-idiots dealt with the education system, Dev D with drugs & prostitution, Rocket Singh with changing service economy, Wednesday, Kurbaan & My Name is khan with terrorism, Rang De Basanti with political corruption, Dirty Picture with Sex, and now Barfi with happiness, the list grows.
Film-Makers & Audiences
Previously, filmmakers believed in following the audience. However, they have realized that it works the other way round, & are now taking the lead. Today's heroes have changed, he is no longer someone who always wins but one who never gives up. Film-makers are exploring new topics which can pass on some social message to the public. Audiences too have evolved over time. With Internet, today’s audiences have access to vast pool of information. Audiences today want value for their money. They don’t see Bollywood as just an entertainer, but an opportunity to learn something new.
The focus, though, is on telling great stories, but people are not just interested in empty entertainment anymore. Entertainment has to enlighten with a message. Bollywood & audiences both are evolving with growing awareness & information. With art, entertainment & awareness all clubbed together, let’s hope to see some more beautiful messages being delivered by Bollywood soon :-)
The Indian cinema has recently completed 100 glorious of success in the field of entertainment. When the Father of Indian Cinema, Shri Dadasaheb Phalke, has made the first film Raja Harishchandra, he has not even realized that this entertainment medium would sway for the next hundred years by holding the millions. In spite of diverse cultures and their differences in India, the Indian cinema has withstood strongly and has today become as the largest film industry in the world. The cinema has emerged through various phases from black and white to 3D movies, but it has retained the basic sense of Indian cinema. A review of the past 99 years of Indian cinema reminds us that Indian cinema has conquered many peaks of success. In this period, many memorable films are made which still continues to rule the audience. These movies gave direction to Indian cinema.
Let us have a look on some such movies which has proved the milestones of Indian cinema:
Devdas
Devdas released in 1955 proved to be the trendsetter of novel based movies. The film directed by Bimal Roy, is based on Sharadchandra Chatterjee’s novel, Devdas. Maximum films are made on this novel. The recently made Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas was included in the list of ten best historical movies of the world.
The film had Dilip Kumar in the lead role and Vaijayantimala played the role of Chandramukhi. Suchitra Sen made her debut with the role of Parvati. Vaijayantimala refused to accept the Filmfare award for best supporting actress for the film.
Mother India
Mother India, released in 1957, was a trendsetter of woman oriented films. The film was directed by Mehboob Khan and was a remake of his earlier film Aurat. Nargis, Sunil Dutt and Raj Kumar played the lead roles in the film. Nargis was the first choice for the film. She portrayed the young single mother of two sons merely at the age of 26. Dilip Kumar was interested in the film for the role of Birju. But Nargis felt that people will not accept their pair as mother and son and hence Sunil Dutt was selected for the role. The most famous fire scene was performed by Sunil Dutt and Nargis without any duplicates.
It was the first Bollywood movie to have the Hollywood style classical music in the film. It was the India’s first submission to the Oscars but has lost the award from the film Night’s of Carabia by one vote. The film is described as the all time blockbuster. Since the female lead of the film represents India as the nation after independence, Mehboob Khan wanted to release the film on 15th August but it was released two months later in October.
Mughal-E-Azam
This movie was released in 1960 and was a trendsetter of poetic movies in Bollywood. Each and every scene of this film was widely discussed. The film was directed by K. Asif and took 12 years for completion. Near about 1.50 crores were invested in the movie and on completion it became the most expensive Indian movie. It was a classic movie which held the box office records for 15 years.
Dilip Kumar played the role of Prince Salim in the film. He faced a great difficulty while filming in Rajasthan due to heat and the heavy armor on his body. The role of Anarkali was previously offered to Suraiya but was later bagged by Madhubala. She suffered a lot of health problems during the shooting. She is said to be fainted on the sets due to her congenital heart disease. The fetter which were put on Madhubala during the prison sequence, were real and this made her suffer from skin abrasions. Madhubala’s father didn’t like her closeness with Dilip Kumar during the film and hence he used to remain on the sets throughout the shooting.
The soldiers used in the film were the real soldiers of the Jaipur regiment of the Indian military. The replica of Sheesh Mahal made for the song Jab Pyar Kiya To Darna Kiya cost nearly 10 lakh rupees. The size of the Mahal was so large that the lighting was done by using headlights of 500 trucks and nearly eight hours was taken to light a single shot.
Pakeezah
The 1972 movie, Pakeezah is treated as the trendsetter of Mujra in the bollywood movies. The film will always remain memorable for its sets, costumes and music. The film was directed by Kamal Amrohi and took 14 years to complete due to following reasons:
1) The relationship changes between Meena Kumari and Kamal Amrohi.
2) Rajkumar replaced Ashok Kumar for the role of Salim.
3) To make the role more suitable for Raj Kumar, the character was changed from a businessman to forest ranger.
4) The film’s composer and cinematographer died during the period.
In most of the scenes, Meena Kumari was seen lying down. This was because she was very ill and was suffering from alcohol addiction. The director has not shown her face in the song Chalo Dildar Chalein because she was drunk for most of the time. She died some weeks of the film released and the film which was a flop initially became a huge success.
In spite of the melodious music, the film did not receive any Filmfare award in the music category. This made the veteran actor Pran so angry that he refused to accept his Filmfare award for Beiman and felt that the award should be given posthumously to Ghulam Mohammad, the composer of the Pakeezah.
Bobby
This 1973 movie was a trend setter of teenage love story. Raj Kapoor, who directed the movie showed the courage to make such film in the days when Bollywood had the trend of showing love stories of matured actors. This was the first film which showed the love story of a 17 year old boy and a sixteen year old girl with the rich and poor clash as the background.
Dimple Kapadia made her debut with Bobby and the film also launched Raj Kapoor’s son Rishi Kapoor in the leading role. Premnath, who played the role of Dimple’s father, was portraying the character of fisherman. To make the role more powerful and successful, he spent one month with the fishermen. The film was a blockbuster and many movies were inspired by this trend.
Sholay
Sholay was the trendsetter of action and adventurous movies. This 1975 movie was directed by Ramesh Sippy. This was the first movie which showed fighting scenes that included dacoits, horses, guns and murder. The film is among the greatest films of the Indian cinema. On release, the film was unsuccessful at the box office but soon it became a hit and ran in the theatres for more than five years. It was the only movie which celebrated silver jubilee by running for 25 consecutive weeks in more than 100 theatres. The film also had the record of 60 golden jubilees across India. The original film Sholay was made of 204 minutes but it was released with the length of 188 minutes.
The film starred Dharmendra, Hema Malini, Amitabh Bacchan and Jaya Bhaduri in the lead roles. Sanjeev Kumar and Amjad Khan portrayed the strong characters of Thakur and Gabbar Singh. The film was completed in two and half years. The song “Yeh Dosti” was picturised in 21 days. The scene in which Jaya Bhaduri is lighting the lamp was completed in 20 days. The Scene in which Gabbar Singh kills Imam’s son was shot in 19 days and the train robbery sequence took more than 7 weeks to complete.
Shatrughna Sinha was the first choice of Ramesh Sippy for the role of Jai but Amitabh Bacchan took great efforts and banged the role. Danny Denzgopa was thought for the role of Gabbar, but he was busy with other film and hence Amjad Khan was offered the role. He prepared himself for the role by reading the book Abar Abhishapta Chambal, written by Taroon Kumar Bhaduri, father of Jaya Bhaduri.
The film was entangled in problems when the four leads became romantically involved in real life. The shooting has to be postponed because Jaya Bhaduri was pregnant with her first child. Dharmendra use to create several retakes in his scenes with Hema Malini by spoiling the shots. He was initially interested in the role of Thakur but let it down for the sake that Sanjeev Kumar will play the romantic lead opposite Hema Malini.
Mr. India
Mr. India was the trendsetter of the fantasy superhero movies. The film was released in 1987. It was the first film which showed the Indian superhero of children for the first time on the silver screen. The film was directed by Shekhar Kapoor and starred Anil Kapoor and Sridevi in the lead roles. The specialty of this film was that the people appreciated the villain of this film more than the hero. The character of Mogambo proved to be one of the best villains in the history of Bollywood. It was also one of the most memorable roles played by Amrish Puri. The quote, “Mogambo khush hua” also became very popular.
This was the last film written by Salim-Javed together. The duo split up after this film. Shekhar Kapoor has written the character of Mr. India for Amitabh Bacchan but since he refused to do the role, it was then offered to Anil Kapoor. The film was also remade in Tamil with the title En Rathathin Rathme.
Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge
The film was a trendsetter of soft and romantic love story. The film was released in 1995 and was the directorial debut of Aditya Chopra. It was the longest running film in the history of Indian cinema. The film starred Shahrukh Khan and Kajol in the lead role. The film’s title was suggested to Aditya Chopra by Kiran Kher, wife of Anupam kher.
Aditya Chopra was initially planning to make the movie as an Indo-American love story and wished Tom Cruise to play the role of Raj. But Yash Chopra rejected this plan and then the role of Raj was offered to Saif Ali Khan. But finally Shahrukh Khan was the last choice. The film has won 10 Filmfare awards and National award for the most popular film.
The film has coined a new term Ishq+haramzaade to give its title much akin to the nonexistent league of words like Slumdog. The movie starts with a bang and you see gunshots, fiery heroine with a strong character Zoya Qureshi who is a much more fiery version of a self confident Shruthi Kakkar in Band Baaja Baarat. The films hero Parma Chauhan is not much of a hero since he never thinks about the result of his actions. To him his grandfather getting the MLA seat in election is the only thing that matters. Zoya and Parma spit expletives and fire whenever they are face to face . The opening scene between them as kids is enjoyable. The scene where Parma destroys a shop for warning Qureshis is good as it explains his carefree nature. Zoya exchanging a pair of earrings for a gun is a new revelation from our traditional heroines. The premise is interesting as the hero who has no morals and the heroine who never blinks at the gun point. The script succeeds in establishing the viewers interest and an interesting twist keeps them hooked with a promise which is unfortunately not kept. Habeeb Faisal who always infuses freshness in his story and characters brings fresh treatment to his characterisations and seems to have chosen the regular path in second half. which dulls the films pace and its USP seeems somewhere lost. However the tempo catches up towards the climax and the viewer is engrossed to see the logical conclusion to this fiery romantic pair. The scenes when Parma asks for Zoya's maafi indicate his change of character which is not so much unbelievable. However the conclusion is a bit letdown . It is not expected of a convenient climax to an unconventional story.
The chemistry of the lead pair lits the screen on fire and it shows the maturity of the evolving Indian cinema. The actors dont shy away nor does the heroine. Boldness needs a new definition as the mainstream cinema has been incorporating kissing and intimate scenes quite conveniently now-a-days . Be it Rockstar or Band Baaja Baarat or Ishaqzaade. Lovemaking and kissing is being redefined and the acceptance by audience seems to show the maturity.
Parineeti suits the character and we wish she had lead Parma like in the intial scenes than letting her character undergo transformation. Arjun Kapoor needs to improve his acting skills. He succeeds in places where he does not reveal his real intentions and keeps the viewer guessing. But he needs to improve on emotional scenes . He is confident in initial scenes and not so confident in some places. Considering this is his debut he had done a decent job worth appreciating.Gauhar as a hooker who helps the lovers is good. But she has more song time than screen time. She needs to take up more roles like in Rocketsingh.
The music suits the movie and Amit Trivedi has got it right. The music lifts the mood of audience in right places and background score elevates the scenes acting as a Plus point. 'Pareshaan' song really stands out in the entire film.The lyrics by Habib Faisal and Kausar Munir are apt and situational.Though it has its own flaws the film is atleast watchale for the lead pair, the cracking chemistry and the music.
Rating : 3/5
What is Exorcism?
Exorcism is a ceremony, present in different religions in different names, by which a person is freed from the daemonic forces he is believed to be possessed. It is believed that Jesus healed people who possessed such evil spirits. While medical science does’t accept this, they say that these behaviors are psychological and behaving like two or more characters can be 'Dissociative Identity Disorder’ , or popularly known as 'Multiple Identity disorder’. Anyway a there were many cases of exorcism. There was a considerable number of exorcism done during 50s,60s and 70s.
A National Georgraphy Documentry on exorcism:
http://www.youtube.com/embed/YGssW4cMR5s
Exorcism and Medical science
As stated above medical science, obviously, don’t support any ideology of humans’ possessed by evil spirits. They strictly considers it as a brain disorder. There may be many reasons for being ‘possessed’, according to medical science. Epilepsy, Schizophrenia, Dissociative Identity, mania etc. are some the diseases which can influence. Most of the people, who were considered as ‘possessed’ were strictly religious believers and their belief in this can also influence.
In the movie ‘The Exorcist’, the doctor itself recommend the exorcism because, he says, that the belief of the victim in possessing may be the reason for this mental condition and the belief in the power of exorcism may help to heal the disorder. Well, I really don’t know whether it is scientific or not.
Exorcism Anneliese Michel
It is one of the most famous exorcism which is widely discussed. Anneliese Michel was German catholic girl. She later became depressed for so many factors and started to see daemons. Audio tapes of the exorcism of Anneliese Michel. Beware of watching the videos about Anneliese Michel, on YouTube or other sources, as they are disturbing. So I didn’t embed it here.
Anneliese Michel
All About the Movie ‘The Exorcist'
Exorcist is the best ever Hollywood horror flick I’ve seen. No other Hollywood horror flicks matches with the movie. I’ve seen dozens of English horror movies, some of the were good, some of them had a great plot but ruined it all in the end and some of them weren’t scary at all. Anyway Exorcist unlike other horror movies shows all they have to offer directly on the screen. For long I believed if a horror movie directly portrayed the horror figures on the screen for long then it would ruin the movie as a whole. But The Exorcist proved me wrong. I believe it would be ten times more horrific back then when many people believed in exorcism.
Things you should know before watching the movie
I would like to review this movie by each and every elements of it. If you’re to watch this movie be noted that this is a movie of 70‘s and the storyline might be a bit slow. You may not be able to find much horrifying scenes until half of the movie is passed. You may find it dragging in the beginning. But don’t skip any scene, they are all important and have something to add to the movie as a whole.
Also, don’t watch it in daytime. Wait until it gets dark and quite. If possible watch it midnight. Don’t watch it with your friends or family but watch it alone. Watch it on the biggest screen available to you. And if you could get hands on their Blu-Ray disc which was, I suppose, released back in 2010 the better. Get a good headphones too.
Now before I get into the movie I warn you that I may spill some spoilers. If you hate’em make sure that you watch the movie before listening to what I have to say.
The Plot and storyline
The Exorcist is written by William Peter Blatty and directed by William Friedkin. The story revolves around a divorced celebrity woman and her daughter who has a normal mother-daugter relationship and a simple life. The daughter is diagnosed in the very beginning itself and the doctor is not certain about the girls disease. The condition of the girl gets worse day by day and finally the mother consults a Priest doctor to help her kid. Well, that’s all the important ones. Anyway, the movie begins in Iran where another Priest finds some evil possessed stone or figure, which is later found with the girl. Through this the girl is possessed with devil and she behaves like another person in times.
Screenshot from the movie 'The Exorcist'
Girl doesn’t change suddenly to a horrifying figure, but slowly as her condition becomes worse we see more of the devil and less of the girl and in the end she turns to a very scary figure. Anyway, there are other important characters in this movie. The priest doctor is a very important character. Anyway, I’m not telling what happens next. Whether girl will be saved or not? What happens in the end? Whether she dies? Go on and watch the movie yourself to find answers to those question.
The perfection of the movie and it’s elements
The movie unravels in a slow and steady manner. The director is not impatient to display his horrific scenes right away. But he, instead, allows the story to develop slowly giving the foundations to it’s characters. As a matter of fact there’s nothing terrifying for a considerable time after the movie starts. Unlike other horror movies in which the director tries to imply that something is wrong and try to add some mysterious moments from the very beginning of the movie, The Exorcist starts with a perfect life of a mother and daughter.
Now coming to the makeup and visual effects, it couldn’t have done better even if the movie was made this day. In a behind the scene video, they say the makeup was pretty hard to achieve. It’s perfect and doesn’t look fake at all. Also the scenes where the girl seizures and levitates are done perfectly. The music and the sound effects are beyond the expectations as well. The sound of the girl, when she talks as the ‘possessed’ one, is itself terrifying. Though the music tracks are of normal standards, there is one important track which is simply outstanding. As a matter of fact it’s hard to find any technical flaws in this movie.
The acting of the girl (Linda Blair) is fantastic. All other performed well too. But the girl was the best without a shadow of doubt.
The important thing that one should remember is that this movie was released in early 70‘s and it was the time when many people believed in exorcism and number of exorcisms were carried out. So at the time this movies must’ve been a dozen times scarier.
Other famous movies on exorcism
Well there are many movies based the exorcism nd perhaps the most popular and the best one is ‘The Exorcist’ itself. Anyway, if you want to watch more exorcism based movies I recommend the few titles listed below.
1. ‘Exorcism of Emily Rose’
This movie is based on the true story of Anneliese Michel, mentioned earlier, who had gone through the process of exorcism. After the death of Anneliese Michel there were cases against the parents and the priest who was involved in the exorcism. This movie is a court room drama based on the true story of Anneliese Michel. It is directed by Scott Derrickson and the cast includes Laura Linney, Tom Wilkinson and Jennifer Carpenter.
2. ‘'Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist'
It is based on a character, a priest, of the movie ‘The Exorcist’. The priest’s early experiences on exorcism is portrayed here. It is this character who leads the exorcism in the movie ‘The Exorcist’. The movie was directed by Paul Schrader. Though the movie wasn’t able to receive as much reception as ‘The Exorcist’, it is considered as one of the better sequels of the movie.
3.Paranormal Activity
Paranormal activitiy is all about evil spirits and the supernatural things happening in a home. It’s filmed as if we see the whole story through the security cameras fixed in every corner of the home.It’s a notable movie - a different style, that’s the reason I included it here, despite the fact that there’s no process of exorcism in the movie.
Well, these are the movies I’ve watched or know about exorcism and evil spirits. But the list of movies goes on and you could just use Google to find more movies.
THE END.
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