Keira Knightley in new Anna Karenina Movie

Anna Karenina poster

Keira Knightley looks striking in new Anna Karenina posters featuring Jude Law and Aaron Johnson. Anna Karenina is set in late 19th-century Russia. Keira plays an aristocrat who enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky.

The movie is likely to be released in cinemas later this year. The 27-year-old star appears in the lead role of the motion picture from Joe Wright, who directed her in both Pride and Prejudice and Atonement. I watched the Pride and Prejudice and Keira is stunning in the movie. She looks much better than the Eliza in the previous movie. I am yet to see Atonement.

Let’s keep fingers crossed to see the movie at least in DVDs.

Daruwane, a Movie Worth Watching

Daruwane

After watching Professor Sunil Ariyarathna’s Kusa Paba I was so disappointed that I had decided not to watch Sinhala movies again. But I had to go to see “Daruwane” by the director V. Sivadasan. But I was reluctant to go as the film was produced by Sunil T films studio which has produced many a nonsensical films.

The name of the movie (Daruwane) didn’t sound creative. I thought the film also was not creative. How can they make a creative movie if they cannot make a creative name? Jayalath Manorathna’s photo in the billboards of the movie surprised me because he usually doesn’t take part in low quality movies. Has he too gone to the dogs finally because of money?

But the opening scene of the movie cleared all my doubts. It was a very creative bright scene and I felt this should be a good movie. Venturing into the movie convinced me further as a very creative commercially successful movie. I don’t use the word “creative” here in the common context. This is not a classic like “Sound of Music.” But this is so eye-catching that both the kids and the adults can enjoy equally.

Theme is simple and the selecting of the cast also is commendable. Jayalath Manorathna doesn’t have much to do in the character to live up to his reputation but does a good job within the parameters of the movie. The two young lovers are doing a reasonably good job by keeping the audience happy. Child actors are not exceptional but can entertain the crowd.

What I most admire is the technicalities of the movie. We are used to watch Sinhala movies with lips not synchronizing with the voice for a decades now but this movie doesn’t have that defect. Synchronization is perfect. Lighting, camera angles, sounds, music are commendable. After all we should not give up the hopes about the Sinhala cinema. I would ask you to take your family to enjoy this wonderful cinema experience. This is not the greatest Sinhala movie that was produced but better than the rubbish we saw during last few decades.

Rajesh Khanna, Mere Spononki Rani – The Train Song

Rajesh Khanna

Enough has been already written about Bollywood legend Rajesh Khanna who said goodbye to this world yesterday. I remember Rajesh because of the song “Mere Spononki Rani” song he acted for the film Aradhana. The song is an unforgettable song in the Bollywood cinema. Most of us were introduced to Hindi songs with this song. Music for the song was done by S. D. Burman and R. D. Burman. The number became an instant hit due to its tune, words and the scene in the film. My son calls it “the train song” and he loves it ever since he saw it for the first time. Its appeal doesn’t go old through the ages. Still it’s new. Rajesh and Sharmila Tagore made the song ever green. We will miss Rajesh dearly.

Udit Narayan Live in Concert in Colombo

 

Udith Narayan Poster

Of late, more and more international stars are seen in concerts in Colombo. This could be one of the peace dividends after the end of the 30-year-old war. Shaggy (twice), Shah Rukh Khan, Arash, Sonu Nigam are but a few names to mention. There was news about A. R. Rahaman coming to Colombo but he might decide against it due to political pressure from South India.

Udit Narayan is the latest star to visit Colombo. Udit is a singer of a different voice. His voice is unique. Though some of the modern day singers try to imitate late Kishore Kumar and late Mohammad Rafi, Udit continued with his exceptional voice in the Bollywood. Most of the other singers have few hit songs and all the rest are in the average margin or not popular at all. But with Udit, almost all the songs he sang became hit songs. So, I can imagine how he would rock Colombo fans at the CR & FC on the 16^th June.

Udit has sung most duets with Alka Yagnik. The two voices go hand in hand like the Kishore Kumar – Asha Bhosley couple. Udit emerged with the emergence of Aamir Khan and was the playback singer to Aamir which matched very well. Later, Udit became the screen voice for Shah Rukh Khan.

Some of the popular movies Udit sang are Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Dil, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil Se, Dil To Pagal Hai, Veer-Zaara, Lagaan, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, and Om Shanthi Om. Songs from these movies became so popular that they were being murmured not only by Indians but also by the fans around the world. He has worked with musicians like Rahul Dev Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, A. R. Rahman, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Anu Malik, Ilayaraja, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, etc. and he has worked with directors like Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Karan Johar.

Udit it ‘the’ male voice after Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi that came to Indian cinema music arena. Kumar Sanu is popular but he is imitating Kishore Kumar whereas Udit’s voice is inimitable.

Udit Narayan Jha, popularly known as Udit Narayan has sung in 32 different languages. He has won three National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Udit Narayan was born on 1 December 1955 in a village called Bhardaha in the Saptari district, Nepal.

The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown

The Da Vinci Code

It didn’t take much time for me to finish reading Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Though I had seen the movie sometime back, I didn’t remember the story that well. But from the moment I started reading the novel, I didn’t feel like keeping it aside even for a meal. It was that interesting. This is the most breathtaking novel I have read in English. You don’t feel like you are reading 600 odd pages.

The novel was given to me by my friend in the UK, Gavinash Sirisena. But it took around two years for me to start reading it due to some reason. I regret the delay now. Now that I have read the book, I am reading more about the book on the Net. I have also accidentally found The Messianic Legacy the sequel to The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail as well which would even expand my reading on the subject.  I was never this interested in Christianity or Jesus till I read The Da Vinci Code. But now I feel like even reading the Bible. I have got the King James version of the Bible which the literature teachers recommend.

Coming back to The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown takes us on an amazing 24-hour journey from Paris to London through the Louvre Museum in Paris to various churches in England with Robert Langdon, a Harvard Professor and a police cryptographer, Miss Sophie Neveu. One doesn’t feel this is a fiction while reading because the author has taken so many real places, organizations and people into the book though some have criticized the novel for its historical and scientific inaccuracies.  The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail also discusses the same subject, Jesus and Mary Magdalene being lovers and having a child, but Brown says he has not taken the book as research material.

The movie on the novel has been banned in Sri Lanka by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa but the DVDs are widely available in the island. I don’t think there is nothing that can be taken as an attack against Jesus or the Church for that matter and both the book and the movie are works of art.

 

Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita Book Cover

While I was rummaging through a heap of books in a secondhand bookshop in Maradana, I came across Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, a book that I was longing for reading for a long time. I had watched the movie Lolita, both the black and white version and the color one and that had increased my curiosity to read the novel.

Nabokov’s narrative style of writing cannot be compared with any other writer’s I have read. It is so interestingly detailed. One has to respect Nabokov for covering such a controversial theme in 1950s with his real name. One cannot have that courage even today. Narrating a sexual relationship between a middle aged man and his 12-year-old stepdaughter is unimaginable in any rate be it literary or otherwise. But Nabokov shows a great discipline in writing the story without including a single vulgar word.

Sue Lyon as Lolita

Of the two movies made of the story, I kind of prefer the first movie, the black and white Lolita directed by Stanley Kubrick at a time censorship was too rigid. Sue Lyon does the justice to Lolita while Peter Sellers is remarkable as Clare Quilty. Shelly Winters plays Charlotte Haze in a dramatic way too. I am not that happy about James Mason who plays Humbert Humbert. He is too old for the character.

In Adrian Lyne’s color Lolita, Dominique Swain is excellent as Lolita and so is Jeromy Irons as Humbert Humbert. Both Frank Langella (Clare Quilty) and Melanie Griffith (Charlotte Haze) are equally hopeless.

I have seen a Sinhala translation of Lolita somewhere but never got a chance to read it. I’m curious as to how the translator has coped up with Nabokov’s narrative style in Sinhala.

 

Blackadder – Captain Cook

Keeping Mum – Mum is the Word.

Keeping Mum Poster

Keeping Mum is a British movie that uncovers the disorganized family life of Walter Goodfellow, the vicar of a small village (Little Wallop) of 57 people in rural England. Walter, an unsuccessful preacher tries to better his sermons while his family goes disarray. His wife Gloria is involved in an illicit love affair with her golf instructor while Goodfellows’ nymphomaniac teenage daughter (Holly) brings an array of new boyfriends. Their son, Petey is constantly bullied by his friends and there is nobody to take care of him.

It is in this situation that Grace, the housemaid to the family, arrives in Little Wallop. Things start to change into positive as soon as she joins the Goodfellows. Walter writes better sermons, Gloria enjoys better nights with Walter, Holly takes into cooking than you-know-what and Petey’s bullies don’t bother him anymore. But everything happens with a heavy cost on human lives.

Rowan Atkinson (Walter) is seen in a different sort of character in the movie yet it is still humorous but not in the lines of familiar Mr. Bean. Maggie Smith (Grace) is the center of the movie and she does her part perfectly well. The way that Walter becomes a better public speaker can be taken as a lesson for public speakers as well.

Little Miss Sunshine

Little Miss Sunshine Poster

Little Miss Sunshine, a 2006 American comedy road film, was the directorial film debut of the husband-wife team of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. The screenplay was written by first-time writer Michael Arndt. The movie stars Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, and was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million.Filming began on June 6, 2005 and took place over 30 days in Arizona and Southern California. (Wikipedia)

Sheryl is the housewife of a bankrupted family and her husband Richard is trying to promote his own positive thinking plan unsuccessfully. Their son has taken a wow of silence till he becomes a pilot but later breaks the silence as, to his disappointment, finds he is colorblind. Sheryl’s brother, a homosexual, who lives with them, tries to commit suicide as he has been snubbed by his boyfriend. Sheryl’s father, Edwin is a heroin addict and lives with the family.

Story unfolds when Sheryl’s seven-year-old daughter Olive becomes eligible to enter the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in Redondo Beach, California. The whole family travels together in their old Volkswagen Type 2 (Kombi) and face many a trouble on the way.

In Good Company

In Good Company movie poster

In Good Company is a 2004 American comedy movie written and directed by Paul Weitz. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace, and Scarlett Johansson.

Dan Foreman (Dennis Quaid) is an experienced advertisement sales executive at Sports America, a famous sports magazine. Another company takes over the magazine and many in the staff face being laid off under the new management. Dan is demoted and placed under supervisor Carter Duryea (Topher Grace), who is half his age. In addition to this embarrassment, Dan’s wife (Marg Helgenberger) is discovered to be pregnant with their third child. This is an unplanned pregnancy and both their daughters are teenagers.

One by one, the staff of the magazine gets laid off and Dan finds himself under threat of losing job. But suddenly Carter becomes friendlier with him and Dan doesn’t know that is due to Carter’s romantic involvement with his daughter, Alex (Scarlet Johnson.) When he finds out that the daughter is sleeping with Carter, Dan punches him in the face at a restaurant in front of the onlookers.

In Good Company would be a good movie for those who in the Management Studies as well since it talks about corporate takeovers, administration issues, marketing, etc. as well.