The Happening

Rating : 3/10
Running Time : 91 Minutes
Release Date : 13th June ‘08
Director & Writer : M Night Shyamalan ;
Starring : Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez

I think M Night Shyamalan has lost his Sixth Sense, I can see the Signs, its clearly Happening.

I think there must be a reason why you want to spook people, some message you want to get across. If suddenly people start killing themselves, and it spreads like an epidemic throughout the north-east of USA, then for sure it spooks you. Also people finding different innovative ways of killing themselves doesn’t make for pleasant watching in the best of times / movies. And it drags – more people kill themselves, we get exposed to some of the classic American nut-cases, then more people kill themselves. And we still don’t know why…

Mark Wahlberg, as a science school teacher, plays his part pretty convincingly. Somehow, recently, I’ve had an overdose of him, having seen him in ‘The Invincible’, and ‘The Shooter’ apart from ‘The Italian Job’ (the remake, one of my favourite movies). Maybe it’s a sign ? He was good in this movie as well, trying to manage his wife and a kid while trying to figure out whats happening amidst the bewildering going-ons. It’s a well made film, as far as the art of film-making goes. Some nice jokes, a lot of tension, some emotion etc. But you cant help but wonder what was the point of it all !?

I loved Sixth Sense, didn’t think much of Signs and successfully dodged his other movies (Village, Lady in the Water). I think the director is on a non-stop downward spiral. I was proud of myself for predicting the ending, for predicting the way he would end the film. Until my wife cattily remarked it could be because I’ve started thinking like him. After watching the Happening, that wasn’t a compliment…

The Third Wave (Aka Den Tredje Vagen)

Rating : 7/10
Running Time : 115 Minutes
Release Date : 15th Oct ‘03
Director & co-Writer : Anders Nilsson ; Writer : Joakim Hanson;
Starring : Jakob Eklund, Irina Bjorklund, Marie Richardson, Ben Pullen

A woman opens an email from her boyfriend, which shows he’s doing money laundering for the mafia. She can’t go to the cops, they’re bought. She sees someone on TV, talking about fighting organized crime across Europe, creating a new division called Europol, and decides to approach him for help. The Europol chief has also called to the same meeting place an ex-cop /friend to persuade him to join his division. Also, thugs of the mafia, who know that she knows, land up at the same venue to try to kidnap her and take her to their headquarters.

What happens next involves a lot of killing, running, hiding, tension and thrills across different cities in Europe. The movie has a very nice European flavour to it – maybe I liked it so much just because it felt good, reminding me of the time I used to roam the same cities (Den Hague, Munchen, Bruxelles) and say the same words (Daag, Tchus etc).

It flows along at a good pace, occasionally slacking up as the protagonists try to figure out whats happening in this complicated jigsaw. Also joining them in their chase, are the ex-cops pregnant wife and daughter, providing an interesting angle to the proceedings. There is a nice twist in the ending, one which even makes one of the villains who’s dying, smile as he falls down.

It’s very well put together and is apparently part of a trilogy with Johan Falk. I saw it on Zee Studio recently (Sony Pix and Zee show some very good, different titles unlike the mainstream crap on HBO and Star Movies) and thought you might be able to catch it on DVD circuit. After all, there are very few films with as interesting a tag-line as ‘An entire continent is being stolen’.

Sarkar Raj

Rating : 7/10
Running Time : 125 Minutes
Release Date : 6th June ‘08
Director : Ram Gopal Verma ; Writer : Prashant Pandey ; Music : Bappi-Tuttul
Starring : Amitabh, Abhishek & Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ravi Kale, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Rajesh Shringarpore, Govind Namdeo, Upendra Limaye

Ignore the hype, ignore the sheer star power, ignore that it’s a sequel (successor to Sarkar)and ignore the similarity (or not) to the Thackerays. And you still have a very interesting, original film, one that doesn’t hesitate to take a path rarely traveled in Bollywood. It is let down (albeit only marginally) by some patchy dialogue – its very good in parts and mediocre in others. Plus there were some bits which were unreal (almost straying into sermonizing in a couple of instances) and others we saw too much of – I cant say more for fear of giving it away – but this still doesn’t detract from a very good cinematic experience, one where you’re constantly wondering whats going to happen next and one where what does happen, does actually surprise you.

The story is only incidental, another excuse to showcase the political in-fighting, backbiting that characterizes most politics in India. Like most other movies it connects the mafia / rule of brute force with the politicians and it does showcase how some petty, vested interests ensure the nation remains backward. A foreign company wants to invest in a mega powerplant, the largest in the world / India, in the Thackerwadi region in Maharashtra. The politicians advise the company, which is fronted by Aishwarya Rai (daughter of the owner), there is no chance of relocating the 40,000 odd people of that region and hence proceeding with the project. It then reaches Sarkar (Amitabh Bachchan)…


I loved the acting, especially of the three Bachchans. Amitabh was sensational, easily the patriarch of the film, dominating it with his presence, even though he didn’t have the most screen time. I thought Abhishek acted very well, a mature performance, that of a person coming to grips with running his father’s business. Aishwarya, as you know I’m biased towards her, but I thought a) she looked great b) she looked different – effortlessly fitting into the power dressing of todays business women c) she acted very well, going from a woman clearly out of place in the politics, kind of like Alice in Wonderland, to someone, who though still not entirely at ease, is beginning to make sense of it all (thanks to some tutorship). The scenes between Amitabh and Abhishek were the highlights of the film – they share such an easy on-screen chemistry that you really wonder how they are in real life. The other character actors were very good, giving life to their roles. I also loved the last scene – I don’t think there was a better way to depict that life and business go on…


Not so great were the songs (ordinary), the background score (over reliant on the ‘Govinda Govinda’ theme) and the blood and gore. I also thought that the business aspects of the power plant – why is it actually so good for Maharashtra or why does it have to be in Thackerwadi were completely glossed over, while some reasoned debate would have enhanced the film.

RGV has redeemed himself with this one, only a bit though. It’ll take a lot longer for me to forget his Aag….