When the Julie and Julia buzz began making the rounds sometime last month I knew I would watch it. However, my reasons to watch it were because it was a movie about cooking, not because of any familiarity with Julia Child. The only things I knew about her are that were that she is a culinary icon, her cookbook is seminal in publishing and I had watched an episode of hers with Emeril Lagasse way back when on Food Network.
Julie and Julia- the book- is a personal memoir of Julie Powell who decides to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking over the course of a year and maintains a blog about it.

The movie splits Julie's experience with stories from Julia Child's memoir and so we get a charming story of two women separated by time and place who embark on a culinary voyage - Julia because she needs to find something to do after her husband Paul Child is transferred to Paris and Julie because she is an under-achieving, failed writer stuck in a desk job and nearing her 30th birthday and, again, needs to find something to do.

I'm not reviewing the movie, I just want to say it is perfectly charming. Julia Child and Paul Child are played by Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci respectively and they have an amazing chemistry - during the romantic moments or even when they are sitting quietly together. Julia's portion makes the movie, it's charming and vibrant with Streep's larger than life portrayal of Julia. Julie Powell and her husband are played by Amy Adams and Chris Messina and their portions, while not as vivid as the rest are quietly engaging proving a testament to Ms. Adams charm in front of the camera.

The movie is written and directed by Nora Ephron, so yes it's chick flick territory but largely unlike the regular fare. I guess the difference here is that the couples are already in love, Streep and Tucci especially, and while they have their spats they are still supportive of their spouses. And just in case it wasnt clear already, I loved the movie.

But coming to the point of the post - the food. The food was all that I had expected and more. From the first shots of a perfectly browned fish sputtering in butter sauce which is Julia's first meal in Paris to Julia's famous boeuf bourguignon the food was the unacknowledged star. Needless to say I was drooling and I dont even like stews much. Thank God for my BIG tub of popcorn, I doubt I could have made it through the movie without it.

While there's ample movies with Western food, J&J, the recent Catherine Zeta-Jones starrer, even the highly entertaining show Kitchen Confidential (why do all the shows I love end up getting cancelled??bah!) it's much rarer to see Indian food treated like the star in Bollywood.

So imagine my surprise when the opening shots of Cheeni Kum (the Tabu- Amitabh Bachchan starrer, a May-December romance) showed colorful spices being roasted, onions sizzling in oil, coriander garnishes, all exquisitely framed in a pristine kitchen with chefs in pure-white smocks and caps. The opening sequence was so enthralling, it made me realize that I've rarely seen Indian food presented so beautifully as it is here.

And my enjoyment of the movie was guaranteed once the Hyderabadi zafrani pulao made it's appearance, looking so perfectly saffron tinged I wanted to eat it- RIGHT away! Coming to the movie, Tabu and AB were amazing, AB especially wonderfully eccentric in the scene where he lists the ingredients of the pulao right before being slammed with the knowledge that it was made by Tabu. It's not a perfect movie by any means, melodrama taking over the latter half but I came away with positive thoughts about it all because of the first few scenes.

Watching these two movies recently has just made me realise that it's very rarely I absolutely dislike movies about food or based on food. I loved Chocolat, Like Water for Chocolate, liked No Reservations, even enjoyed Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle. Sadly, that's all the food movies I've seen.

How about you? Do you have a favorite food movie? And I'd love any recommendations, especially for Bollywood.

However right now, I'm going to go raid the piece of emergency dark chocolate I hide in my cupboard for just such occasions. All this talk of food has made me ravenous!!

My Vietnamese friend was reminiscing how when he was a kid, friends, family, neighbours would all gather together with a projector watch a Bollywood movie and spend a very happy couple of hours together. Now all he really remembered of those times were the songs and elaborate dances. And, then he asked with a little snigger "Why do you have all that singing and dancing in the movies??" The better for you to remember them, my dear.

But, seriously if I had bothered collecting a dollar everytime I was asked this question, I would be a very rich, happy papaya. A recent interview with Ms. Rai had her grimacing when asked the same with her characteristic i-never-answer-what-i-dont-rehearse frown "It's just our culture", she said, slightly rolling her eyes, "it makes you smi-ile, it's fun!!". Way to go, Ash! I admit I dont have a good answer either, but then I dont live and breathe Bollywood.

I'm hardly the average B'wood cinephile, I mostly hate the large-scale extravaganzas, I watched Devdas in 45 mins, and I hate melodrama and overt sentimentality. I started thinking about the magic of songs (& dances) in the movies after watching Veer-Zaara last night. And, after thoroughly enjoying it.

Taken apart, this movie should have irritated me A LOT. It started with shots of SRK's pink-lipstick covered lips, followed a structure so totally similar and shamelessly copied from DDLJ that at times I flashed on Kajol instead of Preity, endless, pointless rain, had the theme of sacrifice which annoys me no end and let's not even get started on the entirely forced theme of Indo-Pak bhaichara.

But, taking the sum of the parts, the wonderful acting by the leads, some canny choreography and cinematography and the absolutely hummable song numbers so favorably affected me that I hardly noticed these irritants at all. Even Anupam Kher mouthing 'dilchasp, bahut dilchasp' only had me mentally grimacing willing to disregard the cheesiness because the rest of the movie pleased me so much.

Would the movie have been the same without the songs? I doubt it. The only person who delivers without having a single song is Rani Mukherjee and that's because she has a character-backed role. Sure, some songs are pointless, introduced because there's a catchy tune and the directors wanted to liven up a flagging movie, but at times when they're done right like in Veer-Zaara, the songs carry so many themes that they're an integral part of the movies themselves. Someone reading subtitles would not understand.

So, in Veer-Zaara, you have character development with the song where the rebellious Preity sings 'Hum To Bhai Jaise', 'Lohri', 'Kyun Hawa' and 'Aisa Desh Hain Mera' which are beautifully shot and indicate background, the people, the country, the customs, 'Main Yahaan Hoon', my favorite, which beautifully shows newly awakened love and the omnipresent lover, 'Do Pal' which talks of heartbreak and separation and the visually dramatic 'Aya Tere Dar Par Deewana' which is of a besotted lover willing to die for his love

'Jaan-o-dil vaar doon main, zindagi haar doon main,
jaise shamma pe marta hain parwana'

And it does help that King Khan is at the top of his game here. I've never been one of his admirers, but have to admit he looks gorgeously handsome (when he forgets to add the lipstick) and made even my cold heart miss a couple of beats when he crooned intently

'Main tumhaare hi dil ki toh awaaz hoon
Sun sako, toh suno, dhadkanon ki zabaan
Main yahaan hoon, yahaan hoon, yahaan hoon, yahaan...'

Kya romance!! Sigh.

I do understand the role that the songs play but why include them in the movies in the first place? Is it a hangover over from the times when a movie promised 3+ solid hours of entertainment and an industry now too profitable to ignore, is it because of the huge musical tradition that dominates Indian culture, or is it because as Ms. Rai simplistically points out that shaking that boo-tay makes people smile??? Anyone have any answers here?

I watched Jodhaa Akbar recently and quite liked it (heh heh suckered y'all with the title didnt I, of course I'm going to write about it). Ash looked gorgeous (nothing new here) and acted well too (this was surprising enough to share). HR is, of course, to the Mughal palace born. Anyways, it's been a long time since I actually watched a Bollywood Bollywood movie with all the attendant irritants that includes and this rant about some old-school Bwood film-making techniques just sorta took over.

1) I just hate how some directors introduce their characters. Here the camera flirts with mail-clad arms, forearms, chest, thighs, legs, nasal hair before finally showing Akbar. Why so coy Mr. Director? In these days of ADD, setting up a long, drawn-out sequence can work against you, I know I was intensely irritated. And this, right after I laughed myself silly over a Battle of Panipat with 5 extras and 2 elephants. Not the greatest start to your movie, what ??

2) What's with the Divine Light Syndrome (DLS/DL)? The Khwaja mere Khwaja sequence was the most beautiful sounding & visually appealing songs I have seen recently, until ruined at one stroke by a director's indulgence (and I'm not talking abt Jodhaa & co weeping their eyes out, tho come to think of it, what was that about? You're a Rajput princess, strive for some dignity girl!). The audiences are not fools, Mr. Director. I would have been prefectly ready to accept Akbar being moved by his spirituality to join the dancers, but you had to ruin the moment with your ham-handed visuals didnt you. And, the second DLS moment when Akbar is on his death bed was just pointless! What I cannot figure out is when you have included 2 instances, why not more? Why not have the DL thingie popping up everywhere in your movie? Like when Sujamal dies?? Or the one-on-one combat scene at the end?? Or, has Jodhaa stopped praying for them .... naughty woman! You know that mantra they keep hammering in script-writing schools everywhere 'Show, not tell', methinks this should be added & stressed in some Bwood directing canon, somewhere ....

3) If you are not Mr. Pradeep Sarkar please do NOT attempt a lovemaking scene. I could stand just about anything, 2 flowers nodding together, two elephants with their trunks entwined, anything except the 5 mins of torture this sequence was. Heck, you could have subtly depicted the consummation and then shown cute montages of their relationship after, I would have been so totally into that. But, dont have them cavorting around the room, floor, bed, window uselessly. In fact, at one point, I was surprised Akbar didnt run away thankful at his escape, tapping his forehead ala Obelix when Jodhaa randomly bursts into song. And just the inclusion of that pose, that pose spoiled what was a perfectly beautiful song for me. You know the one I'm talking about, hero standing, heroine standing in front leaning against him, both with heads thrown back, eyes closed, arms together, either stretched out on both sides or wrapped around the heroine. WTH ?? After 'I'm the King of the World' no doubt you feel an insane sort of validation, but take it from me, it's a stupid pose.

Whew! All right, I'm done! Glad I got all that out of my system ... now I can reflect on the pleasanter portions of the movie ....