On Leonard Nimoy

I've been consumed with a number of things, most especially getting THIS (and it's follow-up, and the impending relaunch) ready to go, hence the lack of immediate updates. But I obviously can't let the passing of Boston's own Leonard Nimoy yesterday afternoon pass unremarked upon.

By the time I was old enough to be aware of STAR TREK, Nimoy and Spock were well into their mutual mid-1980s revival as blockbuster superstars, so I never new a world where Trek (classic, at least) wasn't a widely-accepted part of mainstream popular culture. But even knowing of the period adrift only through history, it feels like any moment of "has-been" stature that might've stuck to the rest of the franchise never stuck to this person - even if at one point his relationship with his most famous characterization was complicated enough to pen both the 1975 autobiography I AM NOT SPOCK and follow it up with 1995's I AM SPOCK.

So, to me, this person was always famous; one of the first actors I can remember really associating with beyond his character thanks in large part to his unmistakable voice and presence. He always seemed larger than life, which was unusual since outside of Spock he was so often seen in genial and playful circumstances - a towering figure who for some reason deigned to walk among ordinary people.

It's cliche by now, but there's really no better to say it than just to reiterate: Actor, director, singer, writer, activist - he lived long, and he prospered.

Also cliche: By now, I'm sure everyone's Facebook is well and truly cluttered with repostings of the funeral scene from STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. But for me, the first thing I sought out on hearing the news was the below video, which captures Nimoy's (locally)-famous narration of the tech-demo for the Boston Museum of Science's Mugar Omni Theater:

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Kingsman : The Secret Service

Rating : 8/10
Release Date : 27th February, 2015
Time : 129 minutes
Director, Writer : Matthew Vaughn; Co-Writer: Jane Goldman, based on the comic “The Secret Service” by Mark Millar, Dave Gibbons; Music : Henry Jackman, Matthew Margeson
Starring : Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Samuel L Jackson, Sofia Boutella, Michael Caine, Sophie Cookson



“Manners maketh man”

What an unexpected delight !

Over the top. Cliched. An evil villain with a plan for world domination. Men in suits tying to stop them. Great action. And some deadly British humour…

Colin Firth is an agent with the Kingsman secret service, which isn’t linked to any government anywhere in the world. He owes his life to a young agent who gave his own to protect everyone else. Colin now feels responsible for the wife, young orphan (Taron, when he grows up) the agent has left behind. And so, even when the family falls on bad times, the wife has hooked up with an abusive deadbeat and Taron is a vagrant, having left the Marines, Colin steps in to help out.

“Oxfords Not Brogues”

Of course, in the midst of all this, Samuel L Jackson, a billionaire with a lisp, wants to take over the world. Or something like that. Aided by his deadly assistant, Sofia Boutella, a killing machine with razor sharp prosthetic blade-runner legs, they are planning something but no one knows what…

"If you save the world, We can do it in the asshole"

Some stunning action sequences (surprisingly most starring Colin Firth), cool gadgets great locales and a stunning soundtrack makes sure you enjoy the roller-coaster ride – with several thumbs up the noses of its more famous British brethren, James Bond… taking a dig for being too posh, their fancy cuisines etc

“The suit is the modern gentleman’s armour”

Its over the top, improbable, but somehow the cast, script, director and the jokes just come together to give you a thrill a minute entertainer. Great supporting roles from Mark Strong, Michael Caine, Sophie Cookson and three outstanding action scenes – a surreal one in a church, a rescue in Argentina that ends in an unexpected manner and one in a pub that shows off the various fancy gadgets – work brilliantly, blending classy humour and slick action like a smooth cocktail…Martini, anyone ?


"I always felt that the old Bond films were as good as the villain. As a child, I rather fancied a futuristic colorful megalomaniac"

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Dum Laga Ke Haisha

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 27th February, 2015
Time : 111 minutes
Director, Writer : Sharat Katariya; Music : Anu Malik
Starring : Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Misra, Alka Amin, Sheeba Chaddha, Seema Pahwa



Ayushmann doesn’t get along with his father (Sanjay Misra) – he feels his life has been ruined because of him, being forced to give up studies early, sitting in their small shop in Haridwar, and now being forced to marry early. To a girl not of his choice.

Bhumi is sweet, vivacious but is plump, with a round face. She met Ayushman in an arranged marriage scenario and even though she is more highly educated, she felt he was nice and so said yes – to a family that is a little less well off vs theirs.

Sanjay Misra, with things not going well with the shop – the era of cassettes slowly giving way to CDs – is keen that his son marry her because it seems like she has a nice demeanour. And because she is a B. Ed, which means she will teach, earn money and be able to help with the household expenses.

After their marriage, she cant understand why he wont talk to her. Snide remarks are made by the family about her education. And Ayushman is a bit of a loser, a sulky one, directionless, resenting everyone around him, jealous of his friends success – when a friend comes and shows a pic of his to-be, svelte bride he feels its only to rub it in as his wife is overweight.

She’s trying her best – including buying new nighties, putting on English pictures on a friends TV / VCR to seduce him but despite her best attempts, he remains sullen, withdrawn. And then one day things get out of hand.

The first half is fantastic. The language. The houses. The by-lanes. The songs. The way they talk to each other – more the insults – Sanjay Misra always ready to use his chappal on his son, Bhumi’s younger brother calling her a chudail when she asks him how she is looking…

The second half completely loses its way – as usual, the director and script-writer don’t seem to know what to do with the lovely characters they’ve created, leading them to an unlikely, filmy climax. Ayushman is good, but his character isn’t someone you really want to be friends with plus you don’t really get what he is upto, why his thought process is the way it is or changes. Sanjay Misra and the rest of the ensemble cast really shine in their roles. But the film truly belongs to Bhumi Pednekar – she lights up the movie with her expressions, dresses, dancing, dialogue delivery…

If cassette shops, Kumar Sanu, arranged marriages at a temple / introductions by a priest, RSS shakha type meetings with men in shorts and a small house where the family sleeps outside on charpai’s mean anything to you, Dum Laga Ke Haisha is definitely going to be fun and will take you down the sweet bylanes of nostalgia.

PS : One of my pet peeves - if you go on the YRF website, you would imagine you should get the entire cast listed, especially if your film is reliant on excellent character actors...shouldn't you ?

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Here's An Insane AGE OF ULTRON Theory For You

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So here's the new (final?) AGE OF ULTRON poster, which looks about as generic as one can expect from a movie that has never once needed a poster or any kind of advertising to gaurantee a blockbuster opening. Truth be told, the Marvel movies have generally had pretty bland posters, the one exception possibly being the second one for FIRST AVENGER.

But whatever. Not a lot of new information get's conveyed upfront (Vision is still mostly obscured, if Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver eventually become not boring-looking we're not seeing what that looks like here) but the full credits at the bottom are telling a different story - maybe.

For starters, we finally get confirmation that Stellan Skarsgaard and Anthony Mackie are both in the cast - though who can say what exactly their roles will be (I'd like Falcon and War Machine to have at least one "Main Guys' Black Friends" side-eye moment.) Also Haly Atwell (Agent Carter) which is... interesting.

But the one sticking out to me? Additional music from Danny Elfman. What's that about?


Briefly: The "additional music/pieces" credit for scoring is generally only used when pieces of music from a different score (by a different composer) are showing up. Now, it's very plausible that the film is simply borrowing a piece of music just to use it (that happens - directors fall in love with temp-tracks all the time.) It's also possible that the credit refers to the use of an Oingo Boingo track, though the credit would generally be different for that.

The only character in this movie remotely previously associated with Elfman is Hulk, but that's because Elfman scored the 2003 Ang Lee version - if Marvel is going to reference a previously Hulk movie, it'd probably be the one they made that's still (technically) part of their continuity, right?

Either way, I'm sure the answer is pretty mundane. But thinking on it gave me a crazy idea that I now can't get out of my head without sharing it. So here goes. There's effectively maybe 0.000001% chance this would happen, but if I had my cosmic way over all such matters the reason a Danny Elfman track would show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be to accompany the arrival a familiar hero with his familiar (Elfman composed) theme:

SPIDER-MAN.

As in: Tobey Maguire as the now-adult Peter Parker from the Sam Raimi-directed, Elfman-scored SPIDER-MAN movies that pre-dated the now-aborted Andrew Garfield/magic blood/robo-rhino version.

Hear me out.

Here's what's known about the immediate future of the SPIDER-MAN movies: Marvel originally wanted to strike a deal to get him into the hero versus hero CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR movie in some capacity. The role is being recast not only younger, but with a rumored emphasis on possibly shaking up the franchise's ethnic status-quo with either a non-white Peter Parker or a movie debut for Miles Morales, the Black/Latino second Ultimate Spider-Man.

So, picture this scenario:

• Spider-Man shows up in AGE OF ULTRON. Doesn't have to be for the whole movie, just for a scene - maybe he's helping in a battle, maybe it's an "Oh hi guys!," something like that. He's NOT an Avengers-level hero, traditionally, so it makes sense he'd be operating on their periphery.
• When he shows up, he's accompanied by Elfman's familiar main theme and sounds a lot like Tobey Maguire. Just to get the audience thinking on those lines.
• At a certain point, Maguire (briefly) appears again as Peter Parker, with some sort of quick business (piece of costume sticking out?) and a reprise of the theme to indicate that, yes, this is not only Spider-Man but THAT specific version of Spider-Man, retroactively making the Raimi films (or just the first two, if you like) part of the MCU extended canon.
• Maguire-Spidey reappears as a full-blown supporting character in CIVIL WAR, where he fulfills much the same role as the comics re: joining Team Iron Man, revealing his identity to the public and coming to regret doing so. But this time, it goes much worse for him - he dies. Yes. Spider-Man (a hero still more familiar/loved worldwide than any of the MCU characters) buys it in CIVIL WAR. He can die heroically (Ooh! Maybe he takes the sniper-bullet for Captain America for the adaptation fake-out?) Tears, sadness, "This generation's Optimus Prime death," etc.
• Post-credits stinger for CIVIL WAR: Introduction of a seemingly random young kid who seems especially moved by the death of Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
• However many months later, Miles emerges as the main character of the new Marvel-But-We're-Pretending-Sony-Is-Making-Any-Meaningful-Decisions-About-This SPIDER-MAN movies; which can no procede with his supporting cast, origin, etc.

Would it work? Who knows. Maybe I'm nuts. But I'd be all over that, and not just because I more or less made it all up on the fly. But I'd argue it offers a lot of benefit: Marvel get's a huge WRATH OF KHAN moment for CA:CW without having to lose one of "their guys," Sony gets to re-issue full=-priced new Blu's of the Raimi Trilogy now that they're MCU building-blocks, picky fanboys get a "proper" MCU Parker at least for a moment, Miles Morales becomes a massively talked-about figure to a general public that never heard of him and Sony-But-Really-Marvel get's a fresh start for their new series that'll be covered as a colossal event for introducing who will immediately become (with apologies to T'Challa) THE Black Superhero.

Either way, we'll find out what really happens so enough. Unless Marvel just steals this idea.Which isn't going to happen.

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Whiplash

Rating : 8/10
Release Date : 20th February, 2015
Time : 107 minutes
Director, Writer : Damien Chazelle; Music : Justin Hurwitz
Starring : JK Simmons, Miles Teller, Paul Reiser, Melissa Benoist, Nate Lang, Austin Stowell



Has the world become too soft ?
Do we recognize anymore the effort, the hours, the passion that it takes to truly master a discipline, much less produce works of unbridled genius ?
Are we really prepared for the blood, sweat, tears that usually accompany such a journey ? Especially in the world of social media, political correctness, education becoming more a business, over-anxious parents and molly-coddled children, are we really even trying to produce geniuses ?

JK Simmons doesn’t have any of these doubts. He’s the renowned head of the famous Schaeffer Music School, New York. And he’s only in it to produce top musicians, using any and all means at his disposal –including the most awful physical and mental abuse you’re likely to see from a guru

Miles Teller is a drummer, enrolled in the music conservatory. Is from a middling background, product of a broken marriage, has a caring father, not many friends. He fancies himself as a musician. And is spotted, picked up by JK to be a part of the main ensemble.

Nothing prepares you for what follows. Simmons is the kind who preys on his students weaknesses. He pretends to be interested in a student, only to be able to use personal information to abuse you violently. And he relentlessly pushes, drives you to perform, excel…

Nothing has prepared Miles for this. He’s changing as a person. Redefining his relationships – including his loving dad (Paul Reiser) and a recent girlfriend (Melissa). He fancies his chances, even though the competition is intense and he is, at least in the beginning, only the understudy to the main drummer…

So begins almost a game of cat and mouse between the student and teacher. Its gripping. Miles evolves in ways we wouldn’t expect. The story takes a course we definitely don’t anticipate. And we are hooked, right all the way to the astonishing climax. Simmons and Teller are excellent in their roles, believable, epitomizing their parts to the point you can scarcely believe them to be anyone else. And the music, mostly jazz, is great too…

Like the luscious swirls of a bitter-sweet dark chocolate with a mysterious twist… you’re going to need to taste it to figure out if it works for you.. and, as most creative artists would prefer with their work, you’re going to either love it or hate it…

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Badlapur

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 20th February, 2015
Time : 134 minutes
Director, Writer : Sriram Raghavan; Co-Writer: Arijit Biswas, Pooja Surti; Music : Sachin-Jigar
Starring : Varun Dhawan, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Huma Quereshi, Vinay Pathak, Divya Dutta, Radhika Apte



A chance encounter during a bank robbery leads to unwanted, unnecessary death and a vicious cycle of revenge that lasts over fifteen years. Its not pretty, its not pacy and it most definitely doesn’t follow a path treaded by most Hindi films. However, not everything makes sense and it doesn’t really hold our attention all the way through, though the climax is interesting.

Nawazuddin and Vinay’s getaway after a bank job goes horribly wrong and results in the death of Yami Gautam and her young child. Nawaz is caught, jailed but not before he is able to let his partner escape with the loot. Varun Dhawan is the sadly bereaved husband, father, who’s world comes crashing around him. And the twenty year sentence given to Nawaz for his part in the robbery (he claims his partner did the killing, he was merely the driver), is not enough for Varun…

Kumud Mishra is the police inspector who hates an unsolved case on his record – especially as the cops are never able to track down the partner or the loot. Pratima Kannan is Nawaz’s mother, who can’t believe her son is a killer. Huma is Nawaz’s favourite call-girl, who also doesn’t believe he is a killer. And later in the movie, Vinay Pathak and his wife, Radhika Apte play a critical part, as does Divya Dutta as an NGO worker who works with prisoners.

I really liked Varun in this vengeful avatar – he hit the right buttons in a role outside his comfort zone. Nawazuddin does full justice to a role right up his street, especially in the closing stages. The ensemble cast is excellent. The music really good. But the fatal flaw is you don’t quite understand why some of the characters chose the paths they do – even if the end objective does make sense. And that can really make you wonder, even disconnect with what is shown happening on the screen…

Life can be cruel. Revenge can be salvation. And where better to find it than in Badlapur…

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Visiting Faculty, IIM-Ahmedabad

Apologies for posting this so late

I'm currently teaching a course in IIM-Ahmedabad. The course is on innovation, is designed / conceptualized by me over the last year (has a unique twist to it) and am happy to have the renowned Prof Arvind Sahay (Permanent Faculty, Dean External and Alumni Relations, IIM-A) join me for a couple of sessions as well.

My first time teaching, have given several talks before on campuses but never a full course. Am quite enjoying immersing myself in this experience, talking to students, other prof's, attending some lectures, some pre-placement talks, joining in the various events happening around etc. And in the few breaks, am traveling across Gujarat, a state I haven't explored almost at all...

IIM-A also happens to be my alma mater so this makes the whole experience truly special

I will be back in my home, Pune, mid-Feb and will begin my reviews only after that

Many thanks to Reckitt Benckiser (and their brand, Durex), a company I've enjoyed working for, in joining / helping me on this journey

Apologies to my regular readers, hope you understand ! Regards, Love

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