Rock On is a story about four friends whose lives have made them sacrifice the one thing that they are passionate about most, the one thing that unites them all – their love for music. The story revolves around how their band “Magik” breaks up, how life changes after college, and how they nevertheless get to be reunited in a hell-freezes-over concert for one last time.

The cinematography of Rock On is top notch. But what really impressed me is the music of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Javed Akhtar. The songs are as good as you get in Hindi Rock.

The story reminded me of both Dil Chahta Hai and Jhankaar Beats. I would probably rate this as a 7.5/10. I liked this effort by Farhan Akhtar, but I don’t quite think it was as ‘magical’ as his first.

Another film that has satisfied established critics is A Wednesday. This revolves around the far more serious theme of terrorism. This film narrates an eventful day in the life of the Mumbai Commissioner of Police, Prakash Rathod.

It is for Anupam Kher’s and especially Naseeruddin Shah’s brilliant performances that one should see this film. While there were several obvious flaws, the storyline does not fail to thrill. Overall, this is again a 7/10 movie which I would recommend you to watch.

While none of these 2008 blockbuster Bollywood movies impressed me as much as the 1972 Hollywood movie, The Godfather, or the 2008 animated movie, Wall-E, I do believe things are looking very positive for the future of Bollywood. No longer must Bollywood flicks have people dancing around trees, or for that matter, item numbers to drive viewership.

Heck, they don’t even have to be more than 2 hours long!

~Raj

It was my good friend Rahul, who suggested Wall-E when I was cribbing about the truly awful flicks produced by Bollywood (Singh-Is-Kinng for example) that nevertheless turn out to be blockbusters. He also suggested that I should watch this movie with a special-someone. Realizing that this movie would not last in the theatres of Hyderabad if I decided to wait for that special-someone to watch this with, I opted to watch this with a friend, at IMAX.

I love Pixar. Finding Nemo was one of the best animated movies I’ve seen. I found Ratatouille nice, if not brilliant. My expectations from Wall-E were, admittedly, somewhat high right from the start. Andrew Stanton’s last masterpiece, Finding Nemo, had won the Oscar for the Best Animated Feature Film of 2004.

Boy, was I not disappointed! For, not only is Wall-E one of the best Pixar productions ever (if not the best), not only is Wall-E one of the best animation movies ever (if not the best), but Wall-E is also truly one of the best movies of all time!

Now that’s a tall claim to make for any animation film! I normally use such superlatives for movies such as The Shawshank Redemption, or The Godfather Part 1.

Being a geek at heart, I do love brilliant use of computer generated imagery. However, too often, CGI is overdone. Everything looks perfect on screen, but you don’t feel a thing inside. A good example of this would be Beowulf.

Pixar has enough creative genius to weave in that elusive element called magic in their films. Wall-E is an example of a movie where they have demonstrated that they have tuned this art to perfection.

Without trying to spoil the movie for you if you have not watched it yet (and watch it you must), the movie is about a robot named Wall-E – who is the only creature left on planet Earth. Humans have had to evacuate many hundreds of years earlier since they had polluted Mother Earth beyond repair. While humans live an almost completely materialistic life on a spaceship light years away, all that Wall-E wants is a companion on Earth. His journey starts when a female robot EVE lands on planet Earth and makes an indelible impact on his heart.

I was expecting a cute Ratatouille-ish story from Pixar. But Wall-E is not just-another-Disney-film-for-kids. In fact, as my friend pointed out after the movie, there are several subtle nuances, deep issues and sweeping messages in the film. I’ve never seen computer generated robots portray emotions without words so well – they can easily put many Bollywood actors to shame . On the other hand, there is also this wonderfully charming yet unlikely love between the two robots. And all this is provided in a package so adorable that you cannot help but fall in love with Wall-E.

And if you were wondering if Pixar’s animation was up to the mark in this movie, hell yes, it is. The world, as portrayed, is covered in piles of metals, scrap and consumer waste – yet it looks jaw-dropping drop-dead gorgeous!

Let’s not even talk about the wit and humour throughout the film. You’ve got to see it for yourself. This is indeed a film that transcends generations, and will be appreciated by people of all ages – but for different reasons perhaps.

Overall Wall-E is a magnificient masterpiece. It’s going to take a lot of work if some other animation film wants to be considered for the Academy Award for the Best Animation Film of 2008! If you want a truly heart-warming experience, then don’t miss it!

Pixar – you guys are Gods! Keep up the stellar work!

~Raj