(F)ilms

F became a bit of a struggle. I was in a dilemma between finance , fitness or Facebook . I am no expert on any of them. I am not a film buff either (when I thought film I realised I call the photograph film as film. I call the films we see in theatres as movie. Or cinema. Calling movies as film is not incorrect so am going to go with it.) 

I remember watching the regional films telecast every Sunday with subtitles with my mom in my school days. I was lucky to view a lot of good regional movies as a result. I watched some award wining Odia movies too. Those have been the only Odia movies I have ever seen. The Saturday and Sunday evening movies on Doordarshan were quite fun too . Khoobsoorat, Golmaal, Khatta Meetha, Chupke Chupke were all shown in this time slot.  I can go over those films any number of times. One fillm that was much publicised was of course Sholay. It was on an Independence Day the movie was shown. I loved it. It was a very run of the mill story but the handling was unique. It was a departure from the usual norm of showing some patriotic movie or other every 15 th August  and 26th January. Both those dates were yet another holiday , but the afternoon deshbhakti film did enthuse a bit of nationalistic fervour. I think I must have watched Roja 10 million times. ( a movie I HATE. I hate all Mani Ratnam movies. I find them overly touted , mediocre in story and unnecessarily emotional without any logic. I know I am going to attract the wrath of all my sasuraal waale by this comment :D) Back to patriotic movies, there were lots of modern ones that came down the line like Border and Bhagat Singh. The gold is bagged  by  Shaheed. It is a brilliant movie by Manoj Kumar. The scenes made me feel the emotions that might have run then. The ending scene is killer but the one where the freedom fighter pledge their lives over candles is epic . 

While the state run television channels were the source of Indian movies, English movies were primarily sourced from video casettes and the theatre releases. My uncles were the major promoters of English films. Cos they were boys they inculcated me to their fold. I thoroughly enjoyed action or comedy films - Predator, Terminator, The Police Academy were some of my starting points. I enjoyed the action adventure genre and as a child simply loved Anaconda , Jurassic Park, Die Hard and Jumanji. Till date I Iove movies which pack a punch. ( simply HATE love stories and rom-coms. Yuk yuk yuk) 

I am a pukka action movie fan. It's no wonder that Kill Bill is my all time favourite movie. My idea of reliving tension is Kill Bill, part 2 specifically. Quentin Tarantino is my mostest favouritest director. I can not have enough of Inglorious Basterds either. I like Robert Rodriguez's Sin City as well. It is a movie par excellence. That brings me to graphic movies like 300 which are awesome! I wonder why Zack Snyder had to go so mellow in Man of Steel. The current crop of super-hero films are right up my street. Iron Man being the most entertaining. I love the Avengers series. It surely helps that K is a big time comics buff. He fills me with details and back stories. Cos he is a follower of the Marvel universe he has made me partial towards the Marvel characters. But one film that totally stands out for the right mix of everything and having the dashing Viggo Mortenson is Lord of the Rings. I did not enjoy the second installment, but Return of the King was full on paisa wasool  - I forgave Peter Jackson for botching up Two Towers :D 

During my pregnancy I had made a bucket list of the movies I  wanted to watch. Bucket List was one of the first movies I saw :). Which gets me to drama - the next category that appeals me. There are such gems in drama. I have not watched a lot but films like Good Will Hunting, A Beautiful Mind, Philadelphia, Erin Brockovich ... ah the list just goes on.  An absolutely amazing and must watch movie though is 12 Angry Men. I cannot bring myself to watch older especially black and white movies. Might be a reason I never found anything worth while in It's a Wonderful Life (I am sorry, I do not follow the norm on a lot of things :-(  ). 12 Angry Men is a whole different ball game. It is a very griping story, wonderfully executed and fantastically acted . It builds up so beautifully from what seems an open and shut case to one full  of possibilities.  Seriously the world is out oyster if we choose to expand our horizons. 

I have been able to notch a lot of words here. Yet I have merely scratched the surface . I have not a watched a lot of classics, I do not have a lot of knowledge about the technicalities, I don't even have a very eclectic choice in films nor I watch from a varied panorama like foreign films and all. Writing this has made me realise, I need to get working on my portfolio of films  :)