Back after the Diwali weekend

Last week was a very eventful one. The Gods conspired to have Diwali and Eid such that we all ahd a long weekend. Most of my friends were able to have a blast with their families at their homes but for me. But Good Lord had some other plans in store for me..Luckily there were three big movies to be released during the Deepavali weekend-- the overhyped "Veer Zara" from the Yash Chopra stable, the"Hat ke" Naach from Ram Gopal Varma's Factory and typical Bollywood masala film "Aitraaz" from the hit direactor duo Abbas-Mustan.

Having nothing fruitful to do, I planned my "busy" itenerary so as to not miss any of these films. After a very long time, I got to see some meaningful, realistic acting from SRK in VZ (actually had gone to see Preity and Rani). After his shi#$% role in "Main Hoon Na", I had made up my mind not to see any of his films and was a little apprehensive. The film was a little too uncomfortably long with a couple of extra songs though the melodies were really lingering even after you left the hall. Destined to be a superhit even before its release (what with its formidable starcast and music and being Yash Chopra's last directorial venture with an India-Pakistan backdrop), overall it was a feel-good movie. Preity and Rani were excellent and SRK too showed some flashes of brilliance.

Next was "Aitraaz". It also had a fair starcast with Akshay Kumar, Kareina Kapoor and sultry Priyanka Chopra. After a long time, Kareina played her role of being an upright lawyer wife to her philandering "Khiladi" husband to some perfection. The ex-Miss World Priyanka made up the trio of "Pati, Patni aur Woh". Besides some titillating scenes and a couple of hummable songs, this movie could not boast of anything new.

Last but not the least was "Naach" from RGV. It was "Inspired" in large parts by Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", with the protagonist, architect Howard Roark in the best-selling novel being replaced by Antara Mali, a wannabe dancer. Abhishek Bacchan, playing the role of a struggling actor is now starting to live upto his father's reputation. Though the film was in news before screeing for al the wrong reasons, what with a lot of hue and cry being raised by women liberation organisations over Antara Mali's "bold" dressing. Antara put up quite a decent performance alongwith Ritesh Deshmukh. I reckon the movie was not to the liking for the general public, but the essence of the story was brought out very well.I liked the movie as a whole.Hats off to Ayn Rand and RGV.