Shootout At Lokhandwala

A movie based on the shootout that took place in Mumbai in 1991. The shootout of more than 3000 rounds of ammunitions was led by the Anti Terrorsi Squad (ATS) to capture 6 people terrorizing the city, that led to the death of many innocents and became one of the most controversial counter act by the police force in India.

The movie is extremely careful not to let out the real names of the people involved in the real shootout even though it is obvious.

The movie is about the rise and fall of 6 men who worked under Dawood Ibrahim, a terrorist living in Dubai and controlling Mumbai from there. Once the head of the 6 men, Maya Dolas realises that he and his men want to break free from Ibrahim and start their separate business, Ibrahim reveals their whereabouts to the police force and the men get caught and killed.

A Mighty Heart

I remember watching the video of the brutal murder of Daniel Pearl when I was back home, around 4 years back. It not only filled me with disgust and horror but I could not believe that even after years, the video is still online; since people watch it not because they sympathise with him but because they are simply curious.
Pearl was a journalist who was abducted and slaughtered in pakistan by Jihadis. The movie a mightey heart, tells his story and the story of his search by his wife, Marriane Pearl and his colleagues of the Wall Street Journal.
The movie was initiated by Brad Pitt who got inspired after he saw marianne Pearl's interview on CNN.

OMG .... U Havent Seen It??

OK so here are the list of movies that I've heard that are great like gazillion times but havent seen 'em. These are not all but just 5 of the ones I'd like to see:

1. Schindlers List : I've heard the movie is comparable to, in fact even better than Hotel Rwanda (which was grrrrrreat) and I can't wait to watch this one. An academy award winning movie based on the man who saved hundreds of lives during holocaust.

2. The assassination of Jesse James by coward Robert Ford: A movie that came out based on the notorious train robber and an American outlaw - Jesse James plyed by Brad Pitt.

3. JFK: I've hear this movie is not just about the assassination of the President John F. Kennedy but about the New Orleans district attorney who suspects CIA involvement in this.

4. Bowling for Columbine: Yeah I know this was a big deal and yet I havent seen it. Not much summarisation needed here I believe.

5. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room: Obviously about Enron Co. I've heard this movie portrays well the rise n fall of the corporation and the damage they brought. Must Watch!!

Zodiac

A serial killer, a cartoonist, a reporter and a cop are trapped in the cat and mouse chase.
After young women start getting brutally murdered in the San Francisco bay, the hunt for the serial killer begins.
The killer sends coded messages to a newspaper and challenges them to decode his identity. A reporter and a cartoonist get particulary interested in the case as does a cop.
Jake Gyllenhall's performance as a cartoonist who is obsessed with the case is remarkable. His obsession with the serial killer in fact breaks his marriage apart but he still continues which does seem a bit weird.
Even though most of the questions remain unanswered toward the end, as it happened it reality, it was a good movie.

Lines Based on True Stories

Frank Abagnale Sr.: You know why the Yankees always win, Frank?
Frank Abagnale, Jr.(Leonardo DiCaprio): 'Cause they have Mickey Mantle?
Frank Abagnale Sr.: No, it's 'cause the other teams can't stop staring at those damn pinstripes.

Bill White (Woody Harrelson): What are you supposed to do when the ones with all the power are hurting those with none? Well for starters, you stand up. Stand up and tell the truth. You stand up for your friends. You stand up even when you're all alone. You stand up.

Christopher Gardner(Will Smith): I met my father for the first time when I was 28 years old. I made up my mind that when I had children, my children were going to know who their father was.

Atto: You shouldn't have come here. This is a civil war. This is our war, not yours.
General Garrison(Sam Shepard): 300,000 dead and counting. That's not a war Mr. Atto. That's genocide.

Faces from My Blog..

CHARLIZE THERON AS JOSEY AIMES
















LEONARDO DICAPRIO AS FRANK ABAGNALE JR.



















AISHWARYA RAI AS KIRANJEET

JOHN ABRAHAM N LISA RAY AS NARAYAN N KALYANI









WILL SMITH AS CHRIS GARDNER

North Country

As heroic as the movie portrayed the entire event to be, it wasnt really so. "North country" is based on the struggle for equal rights in the workplace for women.

Women were getting out of their home to work in the mines, since it gave them a better pay. The men on the other hand resented the idea since they did not think women belonged there. The main character of the story Josey Aimes, a new mine worker goes through a lot of trouble to finally get her and the other women's voice to stop inequality at work place and even more- to stop sexual harassment that was obvious yet went unnoticed by the high authorities.

The movie was overall well made. However, it portrayed the entire event to be way more successful than it really was. Josey did file for a lawsuit as shown in the movie. However it was not an instant win-win situation for her as they show in the movie.

The law suit was in fact settled after 14 years in 1998!!

Good movie that shows the struggle of women at work place. We'd think "Hey it was the 90s hows that possible.." but I guess it is.

SiCKO!

France, Britain, Canada and even Cuba have a better health care system than America. Cuba?? I was shocked but that's what Michael Moore made me realize once I started watching his movie "Sicko" last night.

Like Moore says, the documentary is not about those people who do not have health insurance, but rather about people who have health insurace and yet end up dying because of improper care and most of the time - no care at all.

The documentary gives true life accounts of Americans who lost their and their families lives becuse their health insurance company refused to give them the proper coverage. In one case, a woman who has cervical cancer, is told by the company that she cannot have the disesase since she is only 22. Hence, she is denied the fund.

The documentary also showed how in Britain, doctors hired by the government get paid more for treating the patients better while in France, government sends maids over to the houses with new born babies. In Cuba, medicines were available for 5 cents while the same medicine cost $120 in the the U.S. and so on.

Sad but true. On one hand I reufse to believe that any country can be flawless with its health care system... I bet even France and U.K. have their own concerns, but of course some countries definitely need to work harder on this issue than the rest.

Catch me If you Can

Based on the life of Frank Abagnale jr.(Leonardo DiCaprio), Catch me If You Can tells the story of a man's rise from a small country boy to a millionaire.

Most of the influential movies based on true life stories portray the struggle and obstacles of life and how the central character finally overcomes the situation and achieves success.

However, this movie shows the struggle of a thug who tries to make it big with his shrewdness. Taking advantage of a mature face, Abagnale who is only 17, lives the life of professional people. From Doctor to Pilot, he poses as major professionals and manages to make money. Worse- he is involved in fraud cases against the banks.

Finally after being chased for a ling time, he is tracked down by the FBI agent Carl Hanretty, well played by Tom Hanks. Abagnale is posed with a question then - whether to leave his past behind or to accept Hanretty's offer of working as an FBI helper, checking for bank fraud cases.

The story line, being based on true life, had grabbed my attention initially. However, I relalized the movie was captivating and kept my interest till it ended.

Today Abagnale is probably making more money than most TCU graduates.... lol!!!

Water

Since I am stil stuck on the chapter on feminism, another movie that suits the topic is "Water." It might come as a surprise to many people but in south asian culture, arranged marriages were predominant. In fact I had never heard of a love marriage in my entire life. However, good thing is I had never heard of divorces either.

Sadly, though, child marriages were a part of the culture once upon a time and for girls, being a widow meant being ostracized from the society.

This movie tells the story of a young girl who is married at the age of 5 and her husband dies soon after. Even before she knows what marriage is and what husband is, she is forced into a life of denial.

She is separated from her family as per the ritual and sent to a tribe where widows live - they cannot earn for they survive on donations, they cannot eat any fancy food and they have to wear a simple white cotton cloth all their life. Also they have to shave their heads because they are not allowed to look beautiful. They are regarded as bad luck and are not allowed to stroll around the city whenever they want. They cannot particiapte in any social functions or celebrate anything.

And then after few years, a young man falls in love with her. By this time, she is a beautiful woman. All starts going well for her but of course being a widow, it doesnt end well. The movie has one of the most painful endings I have ever seen.

It's a beautiful movie that depicts the harsh reality of women not too long ago. Of course such custom still prevails in certain south asian communities.

An Oscar nominated movie =)

Provoked: Based on a Shocking True Story

It's been a bad week with lots of happening at the same time. Havent had time for studies or movies either. Anyway, I was reading a chapter for my feminist theory class and a movie was constantly at the back of mind.

The chapter was on domestic violence and the movie called provoked suited it very well. It told the story of a young Indian woman who gets married to a guy based in the United Kingdom. What started off as a fairy tale wedding for her, ends up in a nightmare. The woman, who was physically, mentally and sexually abused by her husband for ten years, finally decides to end it all by killing him.

This movie created a huge impact in the south asian community becuase what it portrayed was a reality unknown to many people at the time. Many people from small town get their daughters married to men based in foreign countries thinking theitr daughters are going to have a good life. Unfortunately, most of these marriages end in the abuse of women and often death.

Growing up, I had seen many of these news splashing all over the major newspapers and channels.

This movie does infact a great job of addressing the problem.

Black Hawk Down

Based in the Mogadishu war in Somalia, Black Hawk Down depicts the reality of what goes around in a war. A group of American troops are sent to Mogadishu to capture the warlord, Aiddid. However, a mission that is supposed to take few minutes ends up taking more than a day.

The scene when the Black Hawk comes crashing down is probably one of the best scenes in the movie, and an important one as well. Soon after that, the movie starts catching up and then it's about two sides trying to win the battle.

A soldier who becomes deaf after an explosion is one of my favorite characters in the movie. He not only keeps his spirit high but manages to make us laugh from time to time.

Hence, even though the movie is grim and sad, there are funny sides to it as well.

Iraq For Sale : The war Profiteers

What happens to corporations when countries go to war and people lose their lives? They make money. At least that's what happened during the Iraq war.

While the American soldiers were putting their lives at stake at one command of their president, the American corporations were busy trying to draw every single penny out of the government.

Companies like Halliburton, CACI and Titan managed to draw millions of dollars out of the government for the mediocre service that the provided, while the American soldiers lived in a miserable condition wihtout proper food or water.

As one soldier describes the situation, the companies who catered food were paid a lot of money but the food was only served once a day.

A memebr of one of the companies confessed that the water that was provided to the soldiers was contaminated and if the soldiers didn't die of the enemies bullet, they would have died by drinking the water.

The companies made a lot of money. What's worse is vice president Dick Cheneyused to be int he board of Halliburton and it's belived that he had a great conflict of interest in giving Halliburton the contract.

Breach - How one man betrayed the security of a nation

A movie based on the greatest security breach in the history of U.S.

FBI allocates Eric O'Neill, a fresh and young FBI employee to work under senior Robert Hanssen.

Hanssen, who has been working with the FBI for 15 years and is given the duty of guarding America's most sensitive documents, is believed to be a Soviet Union spy.

Initially O'Neill is told that he is to monitor Hanssen's weird habits. However, it doesnt take him long to realize that the real reason behind monioring Hanssen was to find evidence about Hanssen selling American secrets to the Soviet Union, which in turn had led to the death of many.

After a long escapade of marking every single of Hanssen's moves, O'Neill and the FBI manage to catch Hanssen red handed while trying to send a secret document at the Virginia Park.

The movie is attention grabbing from beginning till the end. The part where O'Neill tries to get data out of Hanssen's palm pilot is perhaps one of the most intersting scene in the movie.

Amnesty International and The Road to Guantanamo

Human Rights are the rights to which every individual is entitled. Unfortunately, half the world will either never know what it means or they will never live to experience it.

A student gets suspended from school for starting an activist group in Iran, a woman in Pakistan gets stoned for being raped, a transgender in NewYork is humiliated in a bar and is arrested and later strip searched and assaulted at the police station.

These are just few stories that the Amnesty International strives to bring in front of people, hoping for a change. A.I. doesnt care about republicans or democrats or white or black or brown. All it cares about is humanity.

Since my blog cannot be complete without a movie.. a must watch movie on this topic would be "The Road to Guantanamo" once again based on a true life story.

It's the story of three Britons of Pakistani origin who go to Pakistan for their friends wedding and end up as prisoners in Guantanamo bay, Cuba, as Al-Qaeda suspects. The movie shows how these friends were denied their right to a lawyer and were kept there for three years.

When you watch the movie, you'll realize that it's not against the government. It's rather an attempt to illustrate the importance of human right.

The Pursuit of Happyness

You know how they say good things happen to good people? Well they lie. Seriously, how often does that happen? It's extremely rare and that's why I loved "The Pursuit of Happyness"

It features Will Smith as Chris Gardner, who goes through a series of challenging events in his life. From getting evicted from his home, to sleeping in the restroom, he does it all. However, through his patience, perseverance and above all diligence, he finally manages to get the job at the stock brokerage.

Chris Gardner, in fact, had gone through these very phases in his life. Once a homeless guy, he is a self-made millionaire today. He is a great man and a great father and is the founder of the stock brokerage called "Gardner Rich" based in Chicago.

The entire movie was an overwhelming experience. Seeing a man go through so many hardships in his life with a young son by his side was quite emotional.

My favorite scene in the movie is in the basketball court where Gardner tells his son that nothing is impossible. He says, people think something is impossible because they cant do it and they think no one else will be able to do it either. I loved that part simply because it came from a man who was homeless, jobless and yet hadn't given up on life.

Blood Diamond

A few years back when I watched Titanic, I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams that Leonardo DiCaprio could ever do a good movie.

And was I wrong.... with movies like The Aviator, Catch me if you can, Departed and of course my all time favorite- Blood Diamond, DiCaprio has successfully managed to mark himself as an A list actor.

Blood Diamond remains close to my heart since it depicts yet another murky and heart wrenching story of Africa.

I watched Blood Diamond this week again. For some reason, this movie never fails to create the magic it did the first time I saw it. DiCaprio, once again, proved his acting proficiency as Danny Archer from Zimbabwe. In the movie, he plays a businessman involved in illegal trading of diamonds to and fro the war zone of Sierra Leone.

Even in reality, countries like Sierra Leone, Angola, Liberia etc. have been inflicted with the pain of this illegal trading for a long time now. The money obtained from this trade is used to fund wars in these places. Hence the diamond is called the blood diamond. Worse- children are brain washed to be used as pawns in war.

The movie is also an indirect satire to DeBeers, a renowned diamond company. It's believed that this company is involved in the illegal trade that has managed to wipe hundreds of innocent African lives.

A well devised plot and a great cinematography. It's a "must watch" movie and once you're done wathcing it, it leaves you wanting to know more about the situation in these countries.

The Day my God Died

Blue Utopia is the dark side of the perfect world. Often this dark side is illuminated when seen through the prism of media. For me, when made well, a documentary or a movie can be the best format of viewing the world.
A good movie makes my day. I love to watch movies that are realistic and leave me with something to think about. Be it a documentary on aircrafts or biography of a legend, I prefer something that is informative and gives me an eye opening experience.
One such documentary that I encountered last semester was "The Day my God Died." The movie was shown in wisconsin during the annual Amnesty International conference. It depicted the trafificking of women and girls as young as 6 years old who were taken from Nepal and sold to the brothels of India.
The documentary wasn't graphic in content or language. Yet it was unbearable to watch. When the young girls spoke about what they went through in the brothel, there was not a single dry eye in the room.
At our age, we look forward to life and think about our future.
For these girls, most of them who had AIDS, have nothing to look forward to. They know they're out of the hell but living in a society that stigmatizes the profession and ostracizes these women is like entering another hell.
The documentary is a compilation of their painful stories.
It made me realise how fortunate I am to be able to live the life I am leading. At the same time, it was a matter of shame because I know in my heart that despite what goes around us, we are too busy to give a helping hand to these women and children.