Laapata Ladies has made it to the Oscars from India, and I hope it bags some recognition. It was a cute film, made cuter by the innocent-looking Phool as opposed to the wily-looking yet determined second bride.
As young Phool gets lost in an Indian railway station in the UP-Bihar landscape, one cant help feel a bit nervous about her welfare. Surprisingly, she gets into the company of two rail 'workers'/beggars who dont molest her as one would expect in India but gives her refuge until she is taken under the care of a matronly shopkeeper on the platform. Ironically, the brides get swapped because their heads are covered by veils and they blindly follow their grooms out of the train. Not very different from the veils (save for the colour) that women from certain other community wear but are targeted for adopting regressive medieval attire.
I watched the Kiran Rao movie a couple of months back and cant remember much except that it exhorts women to study, work, stand up for themselves or care for the environment. I would classify it in the league of The Lunch Box for its endearing and enduring message.
The 8 AM Metro that I saw a couple of days ago seemed a bit boring - maybe because it had an overdose of poetry - and a bit over the top as far as the heroine's fear of trains is concerned. It had a little of the drama that one would expect from a Telugu story/ movie.
Netflix brought my way IC 814 and Sector 36 based on the Kandahar hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight and the Nithari killings. I found the former brilliant and engrossing, and watched it in one or two sittings (inviting the better half's ridicule for wasting my time). As for the latter, I skipped the gory killings and fast forwarded to watch it in less than half an hour.
I meant to add a note on two Malayalam movies I watched in theatre this month. Will do it as a sequel.
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