Siby Kuriakose

Stars on the Ground An incredible debut: Aamir Khan rocks! Taare Zameen Par is a movie that will make you sit up and notice, from the opening titles to the final credit roll, the 'perfectionist's' deft touch is seen everywhere. A simple story, crisply told, of a dyslexic boy, Ishant Avasti and his journey from being the “duffer" to "hero" and "darling of the masses". If I had one grouse with the movie, it would be this. You don't necessarily have to win, to be special! But given the nature of the story the director probably decided that he had to play to the gallery at some point... Ishant is the younger sibling in a Mumbai urban middle class family, living in a world all his own. He fails consistently at school and is constantly hauled up by parents, teachers and peers alike, for his inability to perform the simplest of tasks. What the world and his teachers don't know is that Ishant has a problem, dyslexia, a learning disability that mani...

Yes! Managed to squeeze in the time to see it before it vanished from the screens. The tale of Gurukant Desai; unapologetic manipulator and hardened entrepreneur. Mani Ratnam as always is the master of story telling with his signature shots and picture perfect scenes. His choice of Abhishek Bachan for the role of Gurukant Desai is dwarfed only by the choice of Mithunda for that of the fiery editor Manik Dasgupta of 'The Independent'. An unabashedly inspired movie despite what the disclaimer says, it draws heavily on the life of Dhirubhai Ambani and his extraordinary rise in the world of money making. It chronicles the struggle from his peasant origins , through the adolescent years in Turkey as a petrol attendant, the entrepreneurial trials in post independence but still colonial Bombay and the eventual ascendancy to national iconic status as the chairman of Reliance..oops.... Shakti Group. The director has tried to walk the fine line between either deifying or vilifying this f...

The primary reason to go for this movie was because we didn't get tickets for "The Guru'. Mani Ratnam is an all time favourite. Having not been able to see it for this long after the release was a torture indeed. Heck tried Inox and PVR but as usual if you don’t plan in advance for the weekend you don’t stand a chance of getting tickets at either of the multiplexes. Here's a lesson for marketers, in the long run the mall which has a multiplex that shows the largest variety of good movies will be the one chosen by the public and all the stores in the mall will benefit from the associated business. Think I should give this theory a name, Good Movies, More Footfalls! Anyways, the movie at hand, Traffic Signal-Directed by Madhur Bandarkar , Starring Konkona Sen. These are truly the only two names I knew and the only ones that stood out also, the others have done a decent job at best. The idea of interspersing stories and pushing the plot is an interesting ploy. You get the...