Foreword

The reason to start this blog came from the sudden realization that there exist people in this world who do not watch movies within the first 2 days of their premier. These are the people who will check The Sunday Times' 2nd page for Nikhat Kazmi's reviews and then decide whether or not to watch a particular movie. Even after reading the review in the newspaper, they will vet this opinion with 2-3 colleagues in their office, etc. before finalizing on a movie to watch sometimes as late as 1-2 weeks after its release.

For me, such people always remain a novelty. Sure, they stick to a conservative, risk-averse view that all movies are not meant to be seen. I beg to differ. I harbour a different philosophy when it comes to watching movies. My philosophy of watching movies can be summarised in the following 3 simple rules:

1) One must endeavour to watch all movies
2) One must watch movies within the first 2 days of their release
3) There are no unwatchable movies; only well-made movies and badly-made movies

Apart from movies, ever since I landed in Mumbai, I have found an alternate source of entertainment: theatre. I have seen around 25 plays in my past 8 months in Mumbai. Personally, I like theatre better than cinema as an art form and it remains my favorite haunt on weekends. It is the single reason why I skip some Bollywood movies in favor of plays. Still, I have seen 56 Hindi films in 2005 out of a total 200 releases (Source: Filmfare). No big deal, one might say. I agree. However, 100+ of the movies released last year were B- and C-grade films which, despite Rule No. 1, I don't watch. So effectively, I have seen about 56% of the movies release last year. Add to this an equal number of Hollywood flicks and I would have seen about 100+ films in cinema halls: an average of two movies for every week of the year.

On Reviewing

I confess upfront that I am no Nikhat Kazmi, Khalid Mohammed or Subhash K. Jha when it comes to writing reviews. My reviews will not start by describing previous films by the director or producer. They will also not liken an actor's performance in the movie to some 1950's classic that no one has ever seen. I will also not be able to tell you the name of the English film that this Bollywood film is a cheap version of because more often than not, I might not myself know. However, I do promise to give you my frank and heart-felt opinion on the film/play/book. Several times you might feel likewise after seeing the film or play yourself; several times you may not.

I will also try and develop a rating system that is inalienable from any review. The reason I have not spoken so much about books is that I am not sure if I would be able to read a lot and therefore am not trying to hype that section of my blog.

Finally... one must realise that a review is as much an attempt to capture one's emotions on seeing a movie/play or reading a book as it is a guidepost for others who might want to have an opinion before spending their money on the play/movie/book. It is keeping these twin objectives in mind that I have ventured to roll out this blog.