Tag: Quentin Tarantino

Akira.

akira-movie-new-poster

I had never seen Sonakshi Sinha in a film despite having read a great deal about her and also having seen some youtube clips of her song and dance routine. So, when I saw the trailer for Akira with her starring in it, I had made up my mind to see it. I am glad I did so yesterday.

The film is like a Hollywood film made by Quentin Tarantino. It has everything in it to keep the viewer tied to his seat. The tension builds up till the climax and has enough violence and corrupt cops to react with excitement or loathing depending on the scene before the viewer.

It was while getting some background information for this post that I came to know that this story is based on a hit Tamil film called Mauna Guru with the difference that while the Tamil version had a hero as the protagonist, in this film it is the heroine. Despite the difference, the story unfolds well and with some very good direction, camerawork and editing, a slick movie is offered to the viewers. A great marriage of skills from two centers of movie making, Chennai and Mumbai.

The surprise feature of the film is the superlative performance by Anurag Kashyap as a venal and vile police officer. I did not know that he would be acting in the film and it was a bonus to see him in such a negative role doing a splendid job.

I would give it a four out of five star rating the one short being for the sound being too loud.

Cow Boy Unchained.

Django-Unchained

I went to see Django Unchained yesterday with my friends Neena and Anil and we had a great afternoon of movie, pop corn, soft drinks, shopping, tea and some serious problem solving for Anil with his iPad and mobile telephone.

After the dust settled down and I booted up the computer, I posted on FaceBook that I had just seen Django Unchained to keep my well wishers informed that I am on track for doing ‘things’ during 2013. This is all that I said – “Saw Django Unchained earlier this afternoon. Typical Quentin Tarantino effects but a story well told and enacted by all the cast.”

This morning when I opened my mail, I found two alerts as comments on my FB wall. The first was from my irrepressible nephew Jai who said – “I think this is what is called Ramana Unchained.”

Okay so far. Jai will be Jai and I will not have him any other way.

A surprise message came from David which stumped me completely, as I am sure it will most of my readers. This is what David had to say:

“It’s interesting that large numbers of “cowboys” after the civil war were ex slaves…hence the term “cow boy”…yet the average american only knows about white cow boys…. before the civil war the cattle industry relied on slavery to a great extent.

Texas of course viewed itself as a none slave state…when it attained independence from Mexico the Mexicans insisted on no slaves..so the Texans introduced 99 year indentures (as in indentured servants).

I remember my father telling me about Black cowboys…and today we heard a programme about them on the BBC….
The one I recall hearing about was Nat Love…. he wrote his own biography I believe.”

I could not locate the BBC programme but a little research took me to this clip on YouTube.

Okay, all of you must be wondering what prompts this rather unusual post. I suspect that Tammy would have already known that she would feature in this post and she is right. She inevitably calls me the Cowboy as she remembers my having translated my family name a long time ago. My family name translated into English is King of Cowboys. That is what Krishna was and our name is one of the many that He goes by.

Yes Jai I am now unchained and as you would have noticded, I have been doing many things that I had not been able to the last so many years. I wonder if you too had this cowboy coincidence in mind?