A couple of movies...

Saw a couple of movies recently that left an impact.

Close on the heels of the Tiger Woods scandal, saw a golf movie on the idiot box - The Legend of Bagger Vance. Whether it was the glamor of the game, the dust swirling due to the Woods story doing the rounds of most news channels and newspapers or the fact that it was staged on the backdrop of Southern America of the 1940s - my interest was caught and held. Of course the costumes, hairstyle and dialogue was different and hence immediately eye-catching too. The plot - a disillusioned war veteran, Captain Rannulph Junah, reluctantly agrees to play a game of golf. He finds the game futile until his caddy, Bagger Vance, teaches him the secret of the authentic golf stroke which turns out also to be the secret to mastering any challenge and finding meaning in life.

Matt Damon plays the golfer and Will Smith his caddy. Must say the former looks very fetching :) Charlize Theron as Miss Adele Invergordon plays the savvy southern belle who pulls a coup of sorts by bringing together 3 unlikely golfing rivals to play in a tournament. Directed by Robert Redford and nominated for 10 awards, this 2000 movie is definitely worth watching, especially by golf enthusiasts.

The other movie I saw - this time in a theatre, was 'Paa'. Having seen the promos, and mails about Big B's look and makeup for the movie, and read about the disease progeria, I was under the impression that this would be a tear-jerker. I went armed with my biggest handkerchief and with my coolest friends, so that they could cheer me at the end of the movie. But much to my surprise, the movie is very light and actually makes you laugh! Auro's character - played by Big B is very well-adjusted and quite reconciled with his illness. Inspite of the many hardships faced by him and his mother, he has a very balanced approach to life. The dialogues are witty, the humor verges on the toilet kind, but not too vulgar. Its difficult to recognize Amitabh under all the makeup. He looks altogether too fragile and shrunk. Even his voice is different. Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan have given extremely competent performances. Vidya looks stunning in the cotton saris with three-fourth length blouse sleeves and long braided hair. Infact they both look good together.

Hats off to R Balki on yet another brilliantly directed movie (after Cheeni Kum). He completely takes away the focus from the seriousness of the story and makes it thoroughly palatable. The movie reinforced the lesson that life is a game of cards. No matter what kind of hand you are dealt, what matters is how you play the game!