Singham

Saw this movie yesterday and could not resist talking or witing about it. In one line "Singham - One action packed movie, true masala movie.". If you love action, car chases, punches, kicks, goons being thrown around, then this is it.

Basic plot - protagonist Bajirao Singham (Ajay Devgan) is an honest Police inspector in his tiny village solving crimes with compassion, without putting anyone behind bars because it is his village and his people. Things take a turn when a big Goa don has a nasty confrontation with him and his ego is hurt. Since for the villain the most important thing is "Mera ego nahin hurt karne ka" (don't hurt my ego). And thus starts the cats and dogs fight between the hero and the villain.

Ajay Devgan returns to his original action hero self and does it all. Reminds of his debut movie "Phool aur kaante" but I guess this is grander. He's build up nice muscles and body which he doesn't hesitate to shows off. Ajay Devgan is brilliant when doing all the action scenes. Good to see that after many years of him trying out both serious stuff and comedy. He doesn't display much emotions but the action scenes suits him well. His favorite action sequence in the movie seems to be a Lion action where he would pounce on the prey with one claw. Sadly in the movie it seems more like Michael Jordan playing basketball. But you'll love all the throwing around of people, things, cars et al.

The villain makes all cheezy one liner jokes like "yeh haath mujhe dede thakur", "ali re", even did a "Burrrrr" (Pepsi). But his jokes are delivered in a way where u don't understand if you need to laugh on it or not. His seriousness makes you not laugh on his jokes but he is unable to cast terror as well. He seems to be omnipresent and omnipotent as well. He is all knowing, he knows the reaction of the other person in conversations. This goes to a level where he says out dialogues of both himself and the other person in the conversation. I guess director did not have the courage to tell him that half of the dialogues were meant for other actors. There is time when he uses so much of "Welcome to Goa, Singham!". It seems that the title of the movie should have been "Welcome to Goa, Singham!".

The leading lady is at best average in the movie. A newcomer, looks good but is given dialogues which seem more than embarrassing at times. Like when she confesses her love for the hero in front of her whole family where the guy seems shy and embarrassed to respond. Thankfully her role is minimal apart for a couple of song and dancing.

The story in general is the usual story about honesty and good guy bad guy. The only highlight points are Ajay Devgan specially in his action sequences. The jokes in movie are too low a level but make you laugh for that. Movie is just a one-time watch but you will enjoy it for the masala it packs. The people in theatre clapped, whistled and laughed on the scenes. I also joined them at times :).

My summary:

Acting : 2 Mirindaahs

Story : 1 Mirindaahs

Action: 5 Mirindaahs

overall : 2.5 Mirindaahs

imdb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1948150/

Image taken from IMDB.

Yeh zindagi na milegi dubara

I loved the movie. There, the simple and honest feedback for whoever was wondering whether they should see the movie or not.

The story, or screenplay, just flows from one scene to another. And though i see the director has been quite adventurous with the camera, I think overall she has pulled off a smoothly flowing narrative. The characters, each of them, goes through many emotional up-and-downs, creating a larger than life picture of simple human beings, trying to run their lives and be happy. In the middle, their adventure shows off a glorious spanish countryside, some nice babes and a lot of fun. The fun that the friends have is quite similar to the goa trip in 'dil chahta hai', pure fun that you'd like to emulate.

Now, the spoilers start; ---

/* Spoiler Alert

The movie revolves around the bachelor party, turned into a trip, for Kabir(a). The rich boy, takes along two best friends on a 3-week trip to try out some adventure sport that each of them has selected, and not told to the others. The trip itself takes them closer to uncovering secrets form Imran's past, and helping him become a better human being. In turn, helping Arjun find his lady love. The movie includes some lightly hidden twists and surprises that spice it up every now and then, like the final wedding scene.

For whoever wants to enjoy two hours, go watch the movie.

Spoilers over */

My summary:

Acting : 4 Mirindaahs

Story : 3 Mirindaahs

overall : 3.5 Mirindaahs

Disloyalty to Loyalty Cards

Ever since Barista launched its loyalty card, and my wife-y procured one for herself, we've increased our stickiness for their cafe's. Earlier, we were going there for the better seating, nicer coffee, etc... now, there was the added 'loyalty card points' that attracted us. It was a clear winner for me, till tonight.

When we headed out from home, we were just going out somewhere and didn't carry the card. On the way, we started planning where we'd go and then it dawned on wifey that the barista loyalty card was missing. Voila! a small burst of disappointment later, she came back like a free bird. 'Today we don't have the card, so lets go somewhere else'.... what?? It was a little shocking for me, and I am still wondering. Do Loyalty cards create an artificial short term increase in loyalty to service industry companies? are people essentially tied by the 'points' rather than good service topped up with loyalty points?

Either case, one thing is very clear. Effectiveness of a loyalty program is not an easy thing to measure, and is not something that corporate honcho's should ignore.

Better luck to Barista, and its other competitors.

AX

ps. Barista is a cafe chain in India, the first home grown one. It is now owned by Lavaza of Italy.