The Constant Gardener

The film is about a love story set against a conspiracy of power and dirty deeds. In London, Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) meets and falls in love with outspoken lefty Tessa (Rachel Weisz) a beautiful young activist who persuades him to take her back with him to Africa.

Justin Quayle, a shy, low-rung British diplomat and horticultural hobbyist in Kenya, is one to avoid making a fuss until he learns that his wife was found dead on the veld. Tessa has been murdered at a crossroads, along with her African driver. Her colleague, a doctor named Arnold Bluhm (Hubert Kounde), is initially suspected of her murder, but is later revealed to also have been murdered on the same day as Tessa. Various rumour bound that the two were having an affair, however it is later revealed that Bluhm is, in fact, homosexual.

As the mystery surrounding his wife's death unfolds, the quiet and self-effacing Quayle is radicalised in his determination to get to the bottom of his wife's murder. He is soon running up against a drug corporation exercising its power to both ignore the easily treated diseases of the third world and use Africa's "disposable" population for unofficial research and development.

Kanchivaram

My Rating : 5/5

This was one movie that I wanted to watch for quiet some time but couldn't make it. In trivandrum, it was premiered first during soorya film festival. I went to the festival but because of the huge rush I couldn't watch that time. Then it came during IFFK 13 but that time I opted to watch some foreign movie instead.
This time it was shown during Signs Film festival for John Abraham Award.
I liked this movie very much. The shots, the texture, the story line, the sets, everything was superb. This is priyadarsan's revenge to all those who criticized him - may be for plagarism, or slapstick, watever it is.

The film begins with an aging man named Vengadam (Prakash Raj) being released from jail in 1948. He is only being escorted for two days (the reason not revealed) back to his hometown of Kanchipuram, known at that time as Canjeevaram after British rule. He is being transported under the custody of two policemen on a bus from Coimbatore to Kanchipuram. As the journey takes place, Vengadam recalls his past symbolically as several events that occur in the bus (such as sounds) remind him of his past.
It is a period movie set in the pre independence era in a small town of Kanchivaram in Tamil nadu, the protagonist Prakash Raj works as a Vengadam, the best silk weaver in the town. He pledges that he would provide a silk saree for his daughter when she is getting married, which becomes the talk of the town as a weaver simply can't afford such a humongous price. He does save up some money but his brother-in-law ruins his plans, so to attain the inevitable he starts stealing a single strand of silk from the workplace, every single day and secretly weaves a saree for his daughter for 19 long years. He is involved in communism and heads a strike against his owner who gives paltry amount to the weavers, which comes as a deterrent to his daughter's marriage, which is drawing near. As the day comes close, he has to finish the silk saree on time. He suddenly goes against his own words and asks all weavers to rejoin work immediately, and is branded a traitor. At work, he secretly smuggles strings of silks out of the temple in which he works to help him finish the saree in time. But after a while, he gets caught suring smuggling, which causes him to get beaten up and sent to jail.
The story returns to present day, where it is revealed that his daughter has slipped and fell into a well, leaving her paralyzed, with nobody to take care of her (Vengadam's wife passed away sue to a mysterious illness, presumably cancer, when his daughter was still young). He asks his sister to take her in, but his brother-in-law says it will hurt his dignity to have a thief's daughter stay in his house. Not knowing what to do, Vengadam poisons his own daughter and she dies shortly thereafter, ending her suffering.

As her dead body lay in front of the house, Vengadam opens up his old properties and finds the half-vowen silk saree he had before. He takes the cloth and uses that silk to cover his dead daughter's body, in a resemblace to what Vengadam said at the beginning of the film (at his father's death, Vengadam complained that despite his father being a silk weaver his whole life, he do not have a single silk cloth to cover his body, apart from a small piece tied at his leg fingers as per tradition). The films ends with a freeze frame shot of Vengadam smiling towards the camera after covering her daughter's body with silk, before credits reveal how communism has become a forefront movement in contemporary India. marriageable age.

Luck by Chance

The main attraction of Luck by Chance was Farhan Akhtar. I like this guy very much. He has proved his mettle in various fields..direction, acting, singing etc....
The second attraction was its director Zoha Akhtar...she being Farhan's sister and Javed Akhtar's daughter, the expectation was high.
The third attraction was the presence of almost all bollywood stars in this film....
But inspite of the high expectations that i had, or is it because of the high expectations I had, the movie was not that impressive...
I felt like the director had a confusion about the protoganist (between Farhan Akthar and Konkona sen sharma)...I dont know whose luck by chance was referred in the title...

Young actor Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan Akhtar) arrives in Mumbai to make it as a Bollywood film star with the help of Abhimanyu (Arjun Mathur), an actor friend from his hometown, and their mutual friend Sameer, who works in a studio props department. Vikram befriends Abhi's neighbor, young actress Sonam Mishra (Konkona Sen Sharma), with whom he eventually becomes romantically involved. Sonam, the mistress of small-time producer Satish Chowdhury (Alyy Khan), who for three years has promised her a leading role in his dream project, meanwhile works in regional films and bit parts. When star Zaffar Khan (Hrithik Roshan) walks out on a movie being made by old-school producer Romy Rolly (Rishi Kapoor) as a star vehicle for Nikki Walia (Isha Sharvani), the newcomer daughter of famous older actress Neena Walia (Dimple Kapadia), a search for an unknown to replace Zaffar lands Vikram the role. As Vikram becomes increasingly crafty and manipulative, his on-set affair with Nikki becomes leaked to the tabloid press, ending his and Sonam's already all-but-over relationship.