Padayatty's Movies Round-Up 2004

I didn't see too many new movies in 2004. Reason being this stupid city called Raipur has only moth infested non-AC cinema halls. Further they don't release any English movies in English. They dub it into Hindi. Despite such concerted efforts to keep me from watching movies, I did manage to see quite a few good movies. Here's my year-end list.

Kal Ho Na Ho* - The K-Jo effect. Another superhit for King Khan. One movie that will add to my all-time list. Vibrant colours in every frame, a pure joy to look at, a truly pleasurable experience. Check up in a few days time for my full-length review of Kal ho Na Ho.
Padayatty Rating: (5/5)

Main Hoon Na - Here's a typical Bollywood potboiler; But for a change, all our favourite film critics are endorsing it as a tribute to the Bollywood Film Industry's yesteryears. Big hit. King Khan Rulez. I would say I love it for SRK's sake. I would say otherwise, a largely unmemorable film. Not even typical SRK style. Loved the song 'Chale Jaise Hawaein'.
Padayatty Rating: (2/5)

Yuva - Mani Ratnam gets back to making bilinguals and end up with a not-so-successful film. The Tamil version was more of a hit than the Hindi one. I saw the Hindi one. Style reminded me of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. The high point was the music by A.R. Rahman, and songs that could be termed youth anthems. 'Dhakka Lakka Bukka', 'Fanaa' and 'Anjaana', especially. The theme, which is about the Youth taking active part in the country's future is an appreciable one, except that the movie was more of love stories than the theme itself.
Padayatty Rating: (3/5) +1 for music

Pirates of the Carribean - Johnny Depp is simply fantastic as the pirate captain. Superb fantasy adventure movie. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Padayatty Rating: (5/5)

The Village - Manoj Night at it again. Generally everyone agrees that is is his best movie till date. But, I liked the earlier ones better. Still, a really good movie. I see a few metaphors in it, which I might discuss later on.
Padayatty Rating: (3/5)

The Day After Tomorrow - A really good movie which tells the world what the world would be like, if we continue abusing it the way we are. I see a criticism of USA somewhere in it, which really appeals to me.
Padayatty Rating: (4/5)

Dhoom - A stylish film, neatly executed with cool bikes and Matrix style slow-motions. Didn't know Bollywood could even come near this. John Abraham is one handsome devil. The songs were good, especially the Tata Young adaptation, 'Dhoom Machale'. Uday Chopra and Abhishek Bacchan were also good. Female leads were just eye-candy.
Padayatty Rating: (4/5)

Murder - Remake to the 'e' of last year's Unfaithful. But imagine that on Indian screens, that too a theme of adultery and its consequences! Mallika Sherawat oozed sex, and that too, to the liking of the masses. Sex bomb! The songs were good, especially, 'Kaho Na Kaho' and 'Bheege Honth Tere'.
Padayatty Rating: (2/5)

Girlfriend - A thoroughly distasteful movie, though I say it here, not in the Parivar sense. Nothing remeberable at all. Some people even said it was sterotyping of lesbians, which is a very bad thing to do.
Padayatty Rating: (0/5) +1 for the scenes.

Chathikkatha Chandu - Hilarious, slap-stick. Every moment enjoyable. Jayasoorya is every man's comedy hero. All the supporting cast were also great. The songs are on my favourite's list. 'Love Letter', 'Mazhameettum Shruti' - excellent.
Padayatty Rating: (5/5)

Lakshya - Farhan Akthar makes a really good movie on life in the forces. Wonderful performance Hrithik Roshan. Innovative music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. But nowhere near the class of Dil Chahta Hai and came at a time after an overkill of Kargil War films. Not for the masses.
Padayatty Rating: (4/5)

Prisoner of Azkaban - Just another kiddie movie. Where's Alfonso Curaon the talented director. Emma Watson as Hermione looks cute.
Padayatty Rating: (2/5)

4 The People - Jayaraj on militant youth power for changing the order. The fast cuts used efficiently. Excellent music. This is Jassie Gift. 'Ninte Mizhimuna', 'Loka Samastha', 'Lajjavathiye' ... all wonderful. Didn't like the theme.
Padayatty Rating: (2/5) +1 for the music.

Hulchul - Priyadarshan remakes Malayalam's longest running film Godfather. The original was definitely better. But then for the Hindi heartland, which doesn't get any standard comedy, the movie is just perfect. Vidyasagar's music is useless.
Padayatty Rating: (2/5)

I probably left out quite a few movies. That's because they don't come back to my memory that much. That won't happen this year, because this year I'm blogging.

This post is getting boring... Sorry 'bout that. So stop.

*This one was released December, 2003. But I suppose I would be justified putting it here because I didn't have a blog last year.