Harry Potter – WTF!

There are movies with advisory stating that they are meant for mature audiences, and hence viewers should use their discretion. I suggest something more: certain movies need to carry an advisory, stating, in no unclear terms, that they need to be viewed (and if possible, enjoyed) only after the context is learnt, and naïve adults should be accompanied with informed pre-adolescents or teens; else the management would not be responsible for the mental torture.

In the worst of its kind, I happened to watch a movie that has been hyped and applauded several times over, giving an impression of a magnum opus. I had heard of Harry Potter before, and hazarded to watch the screening of the half blood prince this evening.

It was house full (as expected) with teens thronging in the hall. I felt lucky to have made the booking in advance only a couple of hours ago over the internet, but was soon left in a lurch. The giggling among the crowd immediately put me off; I felt I was in an alien land where I wasn’t supposed to be.

The movie started with attacks on a city, resembling a terrorist attack on 9/11. Bridges broke, people ran asunder, and there was a villain in black wanting to do more wrong. But I felt, “Hey, it isn’t a real city, there is magic, there are flying brooms and there is Harry Potter”. A book came to him from somewhere, which belonged to some half blood prince (now what the hell is a half blood prince is yet to be known). It led to a school, a dormitory, a canteen and some football like competition, only that it was in the air.

I lost track, the British accent didn’t help either. I tried to calm myself with an overpriced Kinley, even that didn’t help. I closed my eyes and slept, only to be awakened by the sound of people. I wanted to know if it was the intermission or the end of the movie, and came to know that it was the former. So much was my patience tested in the past 100 minutes that I decided to make a beeline for the exit door.

It’s the first time I came out of a movie during intermission. Perhaps some cognizance of the context would have helped. But I haven’t ever read the book or known the fantasy land, so for me it was an utter wastage of 160 INR and an afternoon nap, which could have been heavenly in this wonderful weather.

A dharm sankat

I happened to watch the newest comedy, whose name was inappropriately named so. When I heard of the name, I felt I was being invited to view and appreciate a new work of architecture in some residential buildings of Ahmedabad. But a bit of Googling enlightened me that it is Kay Kay Menon’s newest flick.

The movie is fast, and a mad rush of money running into crores. It changes hands at every moment, and is in the form of 1000 Rupee notes. These notes travel places, from an office to a builder’s bathroom, to a shady lodge, finally getting lost (may be for a good cause) in heaps of trash.

When the movie started with chunky pandey in the role of an actor drowning in his career, who ultimately loses his life for not being able to return the money he had taken from a Dada. It did not take me long to realize that it would be a comedy of errors. Kay Kay Menon entered the scene as a small time thief who got his hands on a merc and cash that belonged to the wrong person. And so the mad rush for money started, one set getting lost in the trash while the other being utilized in the business of a Hyundai dealership. Giving a romantic angle to the movie was Rimmi Sen, who did her bit of comedy as well.

If you are looking for two hours of wackiness, you would want to watch this braindead comedy. My take on this would be neutral, I neither liked, nor disliked the movie. Call it a dharm sankat?