Annual Bakwaas List of 2010 - Rage Rage Against the Dying Filmi Light

The Exact Expression of Bakwaas detection

Yes I did just quote Dylan Thomas in the title, I'm terrible! Well 2010 is almost up and looking

back on the movies I saw, there were an absolute ton of duds that got the Bakwaas Stamp on them. Being me, I can usually put up with a lot of bakwaas and batshit things, but since moving away from home and stocking up on crappy copies of the latest films, I look forward to watching these films because there's nothing much to do there and when a film is bakwaas, then Masala Rum khush nahi hua! Perhaps some of this borne out of my absolute ire for the uncl

e dvdwallah who occasionally has a good copy of a film months down the line, but bakwaas is just bakwaas. Warning: A lot of these mini-reviews have spoilers and an air of 'How-could-i-buy this-bollocks' and maybe an occasional swear word!

Budtameez ladki put some clothes on!

1. Pyar Impossible - YES, I realize this is an Uday Chopra vehicle to resurrect his flagging career, but if you read my Shameful Classics post on Neal n Nikk, I went on a whole diatribe praising Uday and his iconic shameful status in this Masala Pradesh universe. So I was shamefully looking forward to this, maybe because he was so earnest in interviews and in his other films. I shamefully liked it the first time round but again I was high on sweets, but a sober second rewatch and this film was just the pits. And shame of shames Uday wrote the script! Nahieeeee! First of all we have Priyanka Chopra being the male gaze object of the piece wearing the hoochiest clothes around, and no wonder this nerd fancies the pants off her if she dresses like a besharam ladki to the office and around. And the egregious product placement of Apple computers, I felt sorry for this supreme loser that Uday played if he got cheered up by looking at a Mac computer. And Priyanka plays some sort of software person, when she bailed out of school and wears the tightest and most revealing outfits to meetings. I know I'm just being a disgruntled git for raging against the male gaze who obviously got there money's worth ogling Priyanka, but I can safely say as earnest as Uday was, he should permanently retire unless he can find a better glory project for himself.

The extremely lackluster debutantes

2. Sadiyaan - If you follow me on twitter, then you'll know my my snippet of a war with Luv Sinha, I slagged him off after seeing his debut film in a blunt way, and either him or his twitter slave sent me his Facebook page! I hooted with laughter that day and vowed avengeance and then he deleted his reply but my glory and claim to Page 3 fame is tearing down a star son. I'm gonna censor myself this time round and be rather blunt in a thoughtful way: this movie was just a terrible launch for that kid. I'm not gonna deny that he tried valiantly to conjure up emotions that were probably there, but seriously a filmi baccha could do better than that! What's more the director piled on the evergreen stars like Rishi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Rekha, and Javed Sheikh who do a good job and carry the film on their shoulders. But the lead pair were far too mousy and weedy to do a good job, but I had a riot with my maa and sister making fun of the whole film which was mawkish to the extreme and awkward to watch that kid do all the typical hero work like doing a Punjabi song, kissing the gal, having a showdown but being as effective as a potato trying to recreate Macbeth! Avoid yaaron

3. Badmaash Company - Yet again I liked this the first time, because Yashraj have injected some sort of 'immediately I love you' syndrome into me, maybe its the opening aaaaaaah's by Lata that get me. But this was not a stinker in that was shite the whole way through, but that it was far too posey and pretentious than it needed to be. I was absolutely amazed by how many 'look how cool and hipster we are' strutting and swaggering slow motion walking shots, and the 'lets all have fun' montages that were piled on in this films in the place of an actual storyline that was not the beaten to death farmoola of con films. The cast did the best they could with such silly material, and the director probably shouldn't have admitted he wrote it in 6 days to Taran Adarsh on his show, because it has gaping plotholes. And Meiyang Chang deserves some kudos to stick around in a film, where his schtick is 'haha the Asian guy' for his gang to make fun of him for, I hooted out loud in the cinema when he eventually proclaimed 'HUM HINDUSTANI HAI!' Bechaara, I hope he gets some Danny Denzongpa roles, because he managed to overcome his difference.

4. I Hate Luv Storys - I HATED THIS FILM! Maybe because I know girls like Simran who usually have emotional crises and this film just magnified those situations to a ginormous level that was just too much for me! I wanted to slap Simran for being so godamn overly romantic in ways that the film probably meant to spoof but really didn't, and Imran, as lovely and contemporary as he is, was such a dimwit for being so aloof. It started off so well with spoofing all the cliches but then it devolved into rubbish by succumbing to same useless cliches.

Two Mums, I would just die if it were these 2!

5. We Are Family - UGHHH this film was just awful for being the kind of mush that gives me a cheese-attack! I for one didn't mind the Stepmom, and the thought of Kareena and Kajol doing the Indian version was exciting...until I watched it! I know I'm not a mother and all that sentimental jazz, I got the Kajol's character was possessive and protective of her kids however she was a total cow to Kareena's character and it was just pie-inducing for me. I don't mind mushy films but this was overflowing like a cheese lake, and that was no good for me. Plus How dare they desecrate Elvis by butchering Jailhouse Rock, I mean the 'Pretty Woman' song did a nice job of Roy Orbison, but tackling the King is just terrible, and why feature a female gaze object like Arjun Rampal and not have him in it for half the film?!

Well there you have it, the ire released and I'm feeling all at ease for now except for the unnecessary dentist appointment tomorrow so the ire cycle begins again. I probably hated Anjaana Anjaani and Break ke Baad if I saw it, it's just the recent romantic films are so vapid and insistent on being cool and hipster-ish at the detriment of the story, when all we really want is a modern-up-to-a-point, channeling of a Rahul/Raj persona and the typical Indian romantic ingredients that are tried, tested, and ultimately the best!

Masala Rum is 20! Now What Happens?

Yes I suppose nothing will change, I'll still be doing jumpology shots!

Well this is a very momentous occasion today, because I am 20 and no longer a teen in title but always a teen in my mind!

Yes my faithful flock that have been following and reading this blog when I started out as a hyper exuberant 17 year old to my present day state as a moderately mature but still exuberant 20 year old! I thank you all, for reading the inane posts full of few

commas, and typos, but I though I'd better do a filmi meme of MASALA Empress RUM! Because Masala is definitely my middle name, when I think of my 20 years of movie watching, and naturally I'm Empress of the Masala Pradesh state which was formed when I was a giddy eighteen year old, and Rumnique being my oft-mangled in pronounciation name! Chalo shuroo hojaiye!

The epitome of a thoughtful Masala film

M se hota Masala - You didn't think I'd forget Masala did you now? Or name dropping my favorite redonkulous film Disco Dancer now? Well since I was 2 till 20, Masala has been in my veins and my blood type must be Masala as well because instinctively I can label a movie as masala even if it has two brothers/sisters/Sheroo birds that are not long lost, or a particular masala vehicle for Brownie Moti in Teri Meherbaniyan

The Man that started it All!

A se hota hai Anil - Yes of course Anil had to be here, and I have to thank him for making 1942 A Love Story and making my first ever film viewing at 2 years old the best film to start my odyssey with. 20 years later, that film is still the most special, wonderful, beautiful to revisit all the time, which is definitely the cheesy reason I had to bring it with me to my new home in the middle of nowhere Canada, because Anil in that movie is just super freaking adorable and can channel an old Hollywood star with his gallant striding around in that film!

Ohh the emo pain of Filmi Bachhas everywhere

S se hota hai Shameful Classics - Of course the week I devised was the best week after Chichi, Khanna-o-Rama, Sridevipalooza, and all the other star related weeks. What was revealed that week was astonishing, lots of you have a lot of besharam films you adore, and hell me included if I managed to be have a BARSAAT cry in Toofan. Naturally I was the one to champion the Shameful icons Uday and Himesh with their earnest acting. I think there's some quote by Steven Spielberg about how if you can find a nugget of goodness in any film, good or rubbish, then that's the magic of cinema, and really that's me! I loved that week for finding the crazy brilliant nuggets from Toofan and Radio, and reading all your discoveries as well!

A se hota hai Amar, Akbar, Anthony - The touchstone of the quintessential Masala film by the Masala auteur of craziness Manmohan Desai, is the film that I can watch over and over to get a zap of my masala power! Its got all my favorite actors, and the best title song and climax ever full of hysteria and hijincks that only Desai can put on the table. There have been many imitations of the Desai way of masala filmmaking and really it doesn't work and you have go back to the source material, and behold the sheer glory of the piece!

The Film that Created My Filmi Pagal Blog!

L se hota hai Love - I wouldn't have made the Masala Pradesh or this glorious blog if I didn't SUPER LOVE Indian films, because naturally when the internet came along and when blogging was the new kid on the block, I just had to chronicle my filmi descent into madness about films. This is the perfect outlet to unleash my overwhelming love for all things Masala, Batshit, and downright Bakwaas. As you'll see I have a ton of lists like the Moustache post at the beginning which shows the extent of my BollyHollyMusical-itis and general pyar for EVERYTHING! And here's for more outpourings of unabashed Looove!

Most people's reaction to my shelf!

A se hota hai Abundance - I just came home this weekend to Vancouver for this celebrate this birthday in a city, and when I got in everything seemed so new, and that includes the dvd shelf. I went upstairs and looked at the 2 sagging shelves that might just split in half carrying the magnitude of the dvds I've bought since being in this country and I've been in Vancouver since 2002! Yes its quite a huge shelf and whenever my grandma or auntyji's from London come over, they shriek and go all Nirupa Roy on me and bemoan my addiction to films. Once a film addict, always a film addict, but even though I'm terrible with budgeting and earn the ire of my parents. I have a pretty fabulous collection of classics from every era, films bought only for Filmi animals and Filmi Bacchas, and the rest is all a hodge podge of anything and everything.

No I'm not really a Moody Vijay in real life

R se hota hai Reality - Yes as I begrudgingly learnt Masala films exist in another universe from Earth and there's no Rahul/Raj persona dragging me out to Switzerland to dance with him, no Chichi ribaldry jokes that sound good in conversation, no Sheroo the Wonder Bird to scratch some annoying person's eyes out in Coolie, no way of seeing life through Manoj's crazy cinematography. BUT there is a way to channel my inner 60's heroine, I can put eyeliner on as high as Saira Banu's, I can try and buy every funky dress in Sharmilee and Purab aur Pachim, I can, I can be fierce like a feisty Asha Parekh, I can buy a ton of vintage sunglasses and walk around looking like Zeenat out of Hare Krishna Hare Ram and I can be a Moody Vijay(my new word of being very angry and vigilante-esque like the Amitabh's Vijay) when things don't go my way!

Aww shucks aren't we all we all so like this!

U se hota hai U R SO GREAT - I copped out, I really don't know a good U word this morning, but you all out there that read this blog are so lovely, funny, and wonderful. Though I haven't met some of you, I'm sure I will one day on my travels, if I do ever get some disciplined budgeting skills WHich I will and we'll oodles(love that word) of fun! So thank you for reading and following me for so long and I hope you stick around for more to come!

I'll be the Guddi that still loves the illusion of the silver screen!

M se hota hai Masti- Yes a very underused word that aptly describes me! Full of masti masala mayhem I am always getting up to many pranks and hijinks. Now that I'm 20, the masti will not stop of course because I think at heart I'll always be that crazy, infectiously enthusiastic, and passionate 16 year old discovering the madness and brilliance of movies! Hopefully the 16 year old spirit won't affect my real world judgments and I'll be that 16 year old chatty kid for the film club I just created at Uni as well!

Well there's my quick birthday post, and I'm kinda glad I didn't spell out Rumnique because there's not really many words other than Queen that describe as well! So I hope you keep coming back for many posts and hopefully for a few more years as well. For wherever there's Masala, lost brothers/hamsters, vigilante Vijays, and singing in fields, there'll be Rum!

Disco Dancer - The Tale of Neurotic Jimmy and Tragic Superstar Sam!

You know you've made it when you've been named as an ice cream!

Well this is a very important post because it's my 100th! And what better way to celebrate than this charming cracktastic disco and downfall masala film? Seeing as this is a hugely momentous day at the Masala Pradesh, I'm going to stretch myself and turn this review into a mock-heroic epic, like 'The Rape of The Lock' but not really, because as brilliant as I am, I am no Jonathan Swift! But as I've taken a bundle of English and writing courses, I thought why not stretch yourself with this amazing film that has 2 wonderful characters that have enough disco ennui and pain to rival other rock stars! Chalo shuroo hojaiye!

Thy faithful addition Sir Wiggle-my-head-alot!

Of Jimmy's first disco dalliance and the pelvis thrusts
Of those Bappi-beats, whose synthesizers
Brought Disco destruction into the Masala Universe
Of Superstar Sam, the prodigal dancer of flailing arms
And shiny costumes, what befalls this bechara?
Ohh heavenly masala muse, I invoke thee to aid my disco tale
To uncover the myths of the creation of the Indian Disco idol
Instruct me to warn other hopeful stars of the folly of shiny clothes
Let not the fate of Superstar Sam affect others
I shall justify the ways of Disco to women/men!
Who first seduced Jimmy to the funky Bappi beats and led him to revolt?
Thy Gold chained Bappi begins our tale with melodious strums from an acoustic guitar
Young Jimmy, a poor urchin beats down on his drums for his daily roti
The awful Maa, keeps our savior attached to her hip
Her tasty roti she feeds him her attachment poison to him:

The shrew feeds him his upcoming Mummy Issues

Ohh how Jimmy dotes on the calculating shrew
Clad in pure white saris, she defiles her title as a Masala Maa
In a garden of riches, Jimmy meets his Eve
A happy song they sing, till her furious father enters
Abuses hurled at Jimmy and his maa
His mind seething with vengeance of breaking his sacred instruments
Mother dearest is thrown to jail to languish away
Ohh but what is this?
Jimmy has made sacred roti for his maa
His mind enslaved by his Maa Issues:Jimmy, the ever-child rock star

The leeching maa is released and insults are pelted her way
They flee to peaceful Goa
Metamorphosis from a humble denizen of the street
To a rather nimble-footed dark and handsome but fragile young man
Revenge bubbles in his mind
Hell hath no fury like a Mithun scorned,
Though full of mature ideas, Jimmy is held back by the shrew
Again the painful cycle repeats
Jimmy allows himself to be fed the poisonous rotis from his stage Maa:

Ohh how vulnerable Disco Maa has made Jimmy!

Alas his mind has moments of unfogginess
And Jimmy realizes that his tuneful songs and his guitar
Grizzled is his conquest for his goal so much that
Jimmy starts to sharpen his guitar and vows to:

The warrior with his instrumental weapon! (I'm so phunny naa)

As Jimmy works his way up the ladder
Performing at Tuntun's wedding to a dwarf
In the Darkness lurks the pouncing and growling Sam
With shiny suits and hairbands, Superstar Sam is known to all
His dance is laughter in motion
Flailing arms, gyrating hips, unmastered pelvis thrusts
Nevertheless Superstar Sam commands the stage,
All the world beckons him to sing his song
"Aawa Awwa Koi Yahaan Aahan Naache Naache"
Yet Sam harbours a corrupted dil,
Like a young Jim Morrison, a talented but rowdy rockstar
He signals to a fan
To make love to him in the green room after:Supestar Star is a music king and refers to himself to recognize his own reverence!

Sam grows drunk on the power of adulation,
He shirks his duties, and drifts further away from his artistic soul
Ohh the music and dancing he once did
A shadow of his former self
Sam refers to himself as Sam as though he knoweth of his greatness in shiny outfits
All Thrown aside for groupies, fugly clothing, and sharaab
David Brown,a young dramatic actor appears on scene
To take his paycheque but lends some gravitas to the tale
Exasperated is he by Sam's rock n disco lifestyle
"You should know the difference between a bedroom and green room"
Unbeknownst to Superstar Sam, this is the beginning of his descent
David Brown, free of the shackles of Sam
Drives around at night and spots a sweaty dancing man
Jimmy emerges in the light!
Ohh how he twists and twirls around,
Ohh the energetic thrusts he does
Ohh the forceful head banging that mirrors that of the author of this epic on a usual day!
What a talent, David has seen
What a future this young fellow will have
He foretells that Jimmy will become an idol
Receiver of Beatles-esque adulation
Ohh the promotional items bearing the prestige of Jimmy's name:

This great man gets more than his 10% of Jimmy's earnings!
And conquer Jimmy shall!

David Brown uncovers the talents of Jimmy and unveils him to the female population

With great fame comes cracktastic wardrobe items
Jimmy croons the spectacular "Krishna Dharti Pe Aaja Tu"
Perhaps the divine Krishna shall not come to the Dharti

To be greeted by Jimmy in a sacreligious cotton wool garnished suit
Or a jacket that recalls the Videotape Monster from "The Mighty Boosh"

Through Jimmy's travails with fame he meets many amorous ladies!
Oooh who's is this impertinent girl throwing shoes at the great Jimmy
It is none other than his Eve, both unknown of their childhood bond
The two young children once sang a happy tune
Both filmi kids bopping heads and shaking hips in sync
Ohh these two handsome folk are simply intertwined by destiny
Except for Jimmy's canny ability to smell through her brain and determine her social status

Ohh masala muse!
Is it thine that has orchestrated the similarities of these two stars
We unearth Superstar Sam screwy relations with his parent
A conniving but ultimately loving father
Ohh poor Sam, his shiny suits stripped of him
Blurry orbs become his regular vision after many a sharaabi night

Masking his pierced ego, he guzzles his bottles of rum down

One fateful night, David Brown visits his daughter
The badly dressed hussy resides with Sam,
Comforting him on the bad days
An enraged and sozzled Sam roars and hisses at David
"How dare thou enter my drunken abode! Nikhal jao yahaan se!!"
Ohh what a tragic fate has befallen this once music king, David muses
The sharaab now controls Superstar Sam's actions
Naturally daaru is spilt, with a fair share of insults!
"I'm still great!" Ohh the words of so many forgotten disco stars!Bechaara Superstar Sam admits that he is a "thing" rather than a star!
Daaru on his manager/father-in-law, Sam is enraged!
Jimmy's hyper reliance on his mother grows to gargantuan heights!

In the upper echeleons of fame, Jimmy neuroses multiply
He accepts some more chawl and dahl poison feeding from his maa
This unspeakable act is committed in public!
Nothing is mentioned of it, but such acts have dire consequences!
The great god of Masala has moved the two pawns
Onto a path that will affect both of their personal lives forever!
A seed is planted by the masala sprites sent from above

Such is the downward spiral of Superstar Sam!

Into Superstar's Sam's head during a heroin high
Sifting through the images of his mind,
Superstar Sam has an idea to kill Jimmy!
With father evilest he hires baddies
To literally turn the amp up to 11 to kill Jimmy
Unfortunately the masala sprites mix their masala dust
Into the wrong hands and the Shrewish Maa hears of the plan
In her taxi she rushes to save her son
Despite feeding him poisonous Freudian issues, Maa loves Jimmy
The Masala Lord above has written the story already
And watches as Maa gets her comeuppance by touching the #11 Guitar!

The Shrew is extinguished but not for long...

Ohh Masala Lord what have thy done?!
Mere Anarchy is loosed upon this disco world
But ohh no I must not question your convolutions my Lord
In the death of his mother, Jimmy neuroses reach the hilt
Masala sprites why hast thou powder flown to the wrong receiver!
Jimmy has turned into a recluse,
Oceans of tears grace his cheeks, never shall he walk on stage again!

I break with the flow to say Karan Razdan is an Acting Genius!

In the depths of Disco Descent,Superstar Sam is rejoicing!
His father evilest is pleased to see his Hell spawn in a better mood
But underneath the maniacal laughter, father evilest is shocked
His prodigal Hell-spawn has gone mad with his addictions
The height of Jimmy's mental issues!

Father reveals that Jimmy has become extremely fragile
The death of his mother horriblest has caused him
Extreme anguish and he cowers when seeing a guitar!

Jimmy's extreme fright at seeing the dreaded guitar! NAHIEEEE

It seems that the Masala universe has been dislodged
Our two guiding lights have succumbed to madness
Ohh Masala Lord, thou hast destroyed talent that thou hast put on this earth!
Jimmy has become afraid of the very instrument he sharpened
To strike and bring the city to its knees under his stardom!
And our tragic Superstar Sam, what shall become of him?
So many lives destroyed over the power of Disco
Fie fie on Disco! Let it wither, let it die!
It perpetuates the cycle of Dard-e-disco
Bappi-beats hath destroyed the wiggly hips of our stars
The shiny costumes hath made them blind of their humble origins
Two men intertwined by their passion for Disco
Have fallen to the depths of Disco Descent trying to conquer it!
Disco ist a killer!
!THE END!

Well there you have my mock-heroic epic, I never did complete my Masala Pradesh Production of Paradise Lost, but I really didn't need to as you can see above! I hope this is as fun to read as it was for me to write up! Disco Dancer is really a freaking epic film that had me hook liner and synthesizer! I'm sure most of you must have this dvd on your shelf and we can all admit that this is the best kind of cult classic that there is! I hope you enjoy my life's crowning achievement of my 19 years! Hell who can claim they wrote a mock heroic epic that too on Disco Dancer! ERRRM MEEE! Enjoy the read and I do promise I shall try and focus on some the actual good and prestige films I have on my shelf!

By the end of this, you'll probably be hooting along with Pagal No.1 Superstar Sam!

Shakti - Transcendental Masala Cinema, plus some Daddy Issues!

Yes, I have always loved Amitabh for all his mad death scenes

Once every so often, there is a movie that just goes above all expectations and touches your masala dil, Shakti is one of those films that ran with my heart and induced a Barsaat Cry! I for one am upholder of Masala ideals, wherever there is a missing son/daughter/hamster or a rain song, then you know that I'll be there! (I was trying to copy the whole idealistic speech from Grapes of Wrath, but that would be too much!)

Anyway, Shakti is a film that I wholeheartedly love because it elevates all its masala trappings turns it into a level of cinematic magic. The script was written by masala scribes Salim and Javed, so there are lots of typical and archetypal staples that we get in this film. But somehow due to the performances of the two greatest actors of Indian cinema, Shakti becomes a film of aggression, Oedipal drama as well as some necessary dishoom-dishoom!
Look at my Anil cho chweet!

So lets start off with Ashwini Kumar(Dilip) telling his grandson(Anil Kapoor-looking soo young) abour his father. I like how I was able to foretell that Anil and Dilip would also be in another favorite of mine, full of drama and dace-offs in Mashaal, I'm just that good y'all!! Ashwini and his wife Maa(Rakhee) have a very peaceful life along with their son Vijay(Master Raju-my filmi baccha son). Ashwini is a police officer and is always getting into tussles with JK(Amrish Puri) and KD Narang(Kulbhushan Kharbanda), when he arrests their right hand man, and my favorite villain from Toofan, Goga Kapoor!
Goga Kapoor with some better hair and getup than Toofan

Ashwini manages to lock up Goga, to the ire of the principal baddies JK n KD, so the two men decide to kidnap Vijay in exchange for Goga. Ashwini is worried, and what follows is such a strong scene to shape the rest of the film. Ashwini refuses to let Goga go, and shouts on the phone, "Go kill him if you dare, just kill him" about his son, which Vijay hears and is really shaken by, that his father cares more for his job than his son.
My son Master Raju about to become a Vigilante!
Awww it's all downhill from here!

Vijay manages to break free, and is saved by KD who lets him go. Vijay manages to get home before Ashwini comes to save him, and the next day, Vijay keeps replaying the phone call in his head. This small incident mushrooms later when Vijay grows up and drifts apart from his father, Ashwini on the other hand acts like nothing happened and doesn't see why his son is so darn angry all day long. This was great writing on Salim n Javed's part because they seem to blur the lines of who's right and wrong. Vijay, who holds that incident against his father and Ashwini, who ignores his son for his duty.
My only quibble: Rakhee as Amitabh's maa? NAHIEE!

Also its good to see the focus on father-son issues rather than the always brilliant but usual dependence on the mother figure. Though Rakhee puts some gray makeup on, she does a brilliant job of trying to mediate between the two men in her life, and another point addressed is how she just accepts that her husband is more focused on his job and neglects his home life and her.
The other woman of the piece is Roma(Smita Patil) who meets Vijay on the train, and then is rescued by him from some thugs!
What health and safety conscious thugs these are!
The nicest and most down-to-earth jodi ever!

Amitabh n Smita have such a easygoing jodi that worked really well here, and their courtship scenes are so wonderful because they are universal and real. The two of them walk home, and awkwardly and flirtaciously get to know each other, this was definitely refreshing to see and though there's a flower n dancing in the trees song later, there is a good progression towards their love, its not "WOAH I LOVE YOU RIGHT THIS MINUTE, LETS SING!!!" Even though its a small supporting role, Smita gives it her all, and her character isn't a usual condescending heroine that begs Vijay to leave his bad world, they live together and have a shotgun wedding but I definitely liked this change!

But getting back to the story, Vijay is jobless till he lands a job with KD, who hires him on the spot at his hotel. KD is a smuggler and this doesn't go down well with Ashwini who goes on a lecture about how Vijay will shame him if accepts the job, and Vijay quite rightly tells him to get lost and of course he's kicked out of the ghar!
WOAH Dilip just pulled out the "Extreme Daddy Issues for Life" card!

Vijay leaves home and is spotted by Roma who lets him live with her! Oooo progressive! Tensions between the two men become increasingly fractured, when Vijay is accused of the murder of some drunk guy that hassled Roma, Ashwini again spares his personal feelings no thought and jails his own innocent son. KD now bails Vijay out and tells him that JK is responsible for this mayhem. And as we all know when Amitabh is named Vijay, he naturally turns into ire personified Vigilante Vijay. I was able to overlook this for a bit, because I understood that Vijay was supremely hurt that JK would humiliate him in front of his father by framing him! And the crucial moment here was that KD was rubbing it in Ashwini's face that Vijay had found a new father figure! BOOOM!

JK now is upset with his former partner KD and Vijay and tries to kill them! Of course this is hilarious because Amrish is in full anger mode and roaring out his lines!
Can you imagine how angry he sounded!
Amitabh doing his amazing leaping about!
KD now thinks of Vijay as his son for saving him, but Vijay has a great line about how the word son has become a gaali or swearword for him. What follows is some amazing drama and face-offs between Dilip and Amitabh.
Good positioning and fabulous actors!

Its usually troublesome to have two amazing actors on screen together in a film, for example who was the sappiest but best in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham or Mashaal with my Anil and Dilip, there's usually a telling scene where one actor goes the extra mile than the other. But in Shakti you have two of the most competent actors ever not competing but just adding to the drama, to make it almost Shakespearian(yes it's OTT but there's so much good acting here!). Dilip, master of the method acting and emotional delivery is stellar as Ashwini Kumar, he makes the character human instead of masala caricature of an egregiously horrid father, when his wife dies and he's crying for her is an example of just how solid a performer Dilip is. We empathize with Ashwini, who's let his career interfere with his relationships and how he's unable to rectify them till the end.
One of the best scenes ever!

Amitabh too imbues such pathos into Vijay, sure people can say its another variation of the many vengeful Vijay's that he's played before. But really you'd be missing the point, this Vijay is more anguished than the Vijay from Zanjeer or the calculating Vijay from Trishul. This Vijay is jaded and bitter and crushed that he can't live up to his father's ideals and instead decides to "act out" in the general sense against his father. But what struck me was how Amitabh played him as strong in pursuing his own identity however opposing from his fathers. In one of the more famous scenes in the film, Vijay tells Roma that his father has two wives, his mum and the law, and that his father loves his "step brother" his pride more than Vijay, and this could be another moment of AB doing his typical angry Sharaabi shtick but it was revealing in his pain and I loved it!

There's a moment from the screencap above, where these two actors just join forces in making this film transcendental. Vijay has been released for a short while to attend his maa's funeral, and he sees his father crying and joins him in mourning. Its these quiet moments where these two titans of the screen play off each other so well, and it makes me love films even more if in one scene with these two can elevate the lousiest film in the world to art, then I'm happy.
The famous drunken sadness scene!

I could be going overboard in my praise but I really haven't seen a film where two actors have just burned the screen by sheer intensity of powerful acting, that too in a dressed down masala film like this. Sure there are astounding moments in arthouse films and middle of the road cinema that can be equally as amazing. But with this film I was just jolted up that this was Amitabh Bachchan and Dilip Kumar both crying and mourning together and facing off together in a normal film like this.

I'll try and recover from all that cinephile gush, perhaps it because I was reading my Bhagwan Francois Truffaut's book on films that made me hyperventilate and spew with praise. ANYWAYS masala films always have stunts or thrills that make your adrenaline somewhat rise up if you're not laughing at the extra who fell over that wasn't even hit. This film has got lots of thrills that are actually good and made me go "Ooo watch out Amitabh!!" or make me go "Woah now thats some action!"Vijay being chased around by a mad tractor! Transformers gone WILD!
Amitabh going all Dirty Vijay on us!

The film was really thrilling towards the end with a chase in the Mumbai Airport, where planes are actually about to take off and Dilip and Amitabh are running around and in between them, very well done!
If Dadamoni is in the film even for a paycheque role, it stills classes up the joint!

Kids, when I like a movie I REALLYY like a movie, and I know everyone's masala intake is different but me I can take it by the tonne-load, but this is a really fabulous film showcasing the two best actors of Bollywood playing off each other very well, and disguising the masala trappings into a really intense narrative.
I leave you with an imploringly wet and sexy Amitabh to beckon you to see the film:
Aaja re aa zara!