December 21, 2007 or 21/12/2007, the release date of Taare Zameen Par, Aamir Khan’s maiden movie as Director. The result, a roaring success. A film liked by critics and audiences around the country and nominated as the Indian entry for the Oscars.

December 25, 2008 or 25/12/2008, the release date of Ghajini, the first time audiences around the world got an opportunity to see a ripped Aamir with copybook 8 pack abs. The result, a roaring success. The film won and was nominated for several filmfare awards.

December 25, 2009 or 25/12/2009, the release date of 3 Idiots, the first time Aamir stars in movie adaptation of a best selling novel. The result, while it might be early days to make such a prediction it can be said for certain that 3 Idiots will certainly be a top-grosser as well as a success at the award ceremonies.

What’s the deal with Aamir and his yearly releases in December ? It appears as if he has some sort of secret pact with Santa Claus and has vowed to spread the Christmas cheer amongst Indian audiences, cause that is certainly what 3 Idiots manages to do.

Loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone, 3 Idiots is a rip roaring comedy that aims to drive home a point about the Indian education system which encourages rote-learning and high grades rather than learning for the purpose of gaining knowledge and real-life application of concepts. Aamir plays the central role of Rancchoddas Shyamaldas Chanchad or Rancho, the natural genius who believes in studying for learning rather than high grades and does it with perfection. There are very few 45 year olds in this world who can gracefully pull off the role of a 20 something character and Aamir is certainly one of them.

The movie displays shades of Munnabhai MBBS given the rivalry between the Dean of the Engineering ( Boman Irani as Viru Sahastrabudhhe aka ViruS) college and Rancho as well as Taare Zameen Par as Aamir yet agains tries to drive home the message of the flawed Indian education system and the pressures that Indian families, especially fathers lay on their sons.

Speaking from personal experience (I too completed my engineering in India and thereafter pursued higher studies abroad) there is no doubt about the fact that the Indian Education system is decades behind the International education system in its form and content, a fact that is driving a large number of bright Indian students to foreign shores. Imagine studying at a top Indian institute and having open-book exams, take home exams or no exams at all (just projects based on research and application of concepts). That’s the kind of school that Aamir or Phunsuk Wangdu (his real name in the movie) builds towards the end of the movie.

All in all, 3 Idiots is an amazing entertainer and is probably a tad too funny for an Aamir Khan movie, given his penchant for embedding impactful social messages in his movies. The message of the movie tends to get slightly lost in the middle of the all the comedy and entertainment. Performances by all the artists are stupendous and the songs are well-placed as well, an art that Aamir seems to have mastered.

So if you haven’t had a dekko of 3 Idiots yet, then you’re certainly missing out on a yet another Aamir Khan classic and some useful lessons for life.

Love Aaj Kal portrays how couples treat love and relationships as of today, and how relationships happened in the yesteryears. While the styles and the frenetic pace of today’s lifestyle has changed, the underlying emotions remain the same.

Love Aaj Kal tries to enunciate these very differences, in periods and in thought process while at the same time underlining the commonalities through two parallel plots, one in the current setting and the other in “good ol days” (Delhi in the 1960′s or 1970′s).

Saif Ali Khan does a double role, playing a young and hep Jai (Jai Vardhan Singh) and Veer. Deepika Padukone plays Saif’s love interest (Meera Pandit). Both Saif and Deepika are outstanding, although Saif could have done better at the role of the Sardar. Not much is known about Harleen (A punjabi girl who is Veer’s love interest)

The film has a soft and light feel, it moves at a melancholic pace and very soon you start building an association with the characters of film. There is a generation gap bridging element of the movie, which is the hallmark of the film. As has been portrayed in a few other films (like Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na) which showcase emotions of people finding love only after they have broken up, the realization of what you have lost comes only after you have lost it.

Transition is one term which the movie thrives on, from period oriented transitions, to locale specific transitions to mindsets. I in particular liked how the transitions in the emotions, the energy and the thought process of Jai are showcased towards the end of the film. From being a person full of energy and life, feasting on sandwiches and living an independent life, realizations dawn on what he has so far been ignoring. The need for something life-long, without feeling that you have committed a mistake or committed too soon are reflective of couples in today’s times.

The songs have already become a huge hit and Pritam’s music in Twist, Aahun Aahun and Chor Bazari are infectious.

The film leaves us with an important learning “Don’t marry someone with whom you can live, Marry someone without whom you cannot live“. Think about it!!

Before you starting reading this review, let me request you to please leave aside all other reviews you may have read, which have criticized this movie. Ghajini is quite an exceptional movie. It’s not your typical romance flick which for some reason gets better reviews by some of the high profile critics. Ghajini is Grippling(Gripping + Thrilling) and keeps you riveted to your seat for the entire duration of the movie.

A live testimonial of the above fact can be gauged from the reactions of the audience. It so happened that twice during the movie (in the second half), when the power went off , the Audience was in utter distress. They could not wait for the movie to start back again, because the plot which was being built up so beautifully had gripped everyone.

The selling point of this movie is not the Eight Pack Abs which Aamir has built. The selling point of the movie is the plot. With a storyline like Ghajini, which revolves around vendetta and revenge, it’s quite easy to loose the plot mid-way, or churn out the same violence filled saga of a romantically savaged lover, seeking to kill the killers of his lover. This however doesn’t happen with Ghajini.

Aamir essays the role of Sanjay Singhania a rich telecom businessman, who suffers from anterograde amnesia. How he goes about reminding himself of his life, his belongings, his friends and his enemies is a treat to watch and experience. The plot moves between the flashback on Sanjay’s life and the present time pretty effortlessly. The high point is that even when you are watching the flashback on Sanjay’s life, his present as someone with a disability remains on your mind.The comedy routines essayed during the flashback are also quite pleasing and keep the movie light and romantic for most of the first half. However the songs were not quite needed and seem out of place at most times. The movie could have well been done without the song and dance routines.

Asin Thottumkal plays Kalpana, a bubbly and vivacious model who has a heart of gold. She is ever so keen to help people in distress, the disabled, the blind. She keeps the movie light and chirpy with her screen presence. Jiah Khan plays Sunita and a curious medical student who gets behind Sanjay’s life as part of her study project. There isn’t too much to write about her character per se.

Seldom does one find a movie whose title is on the name of the villain in the movie. To my mind I can’t remember seeing any such movie in all my life. However there is a reason to this, which centers around the fact that the hero of the movie has to continuously remember the villain, and remind himself that he needs to seek revenge by killing Ghajini, even when he cannot remember the face of the villian.

The perfectionist in Aamir comes to the fore again, the way he goes about playing a disabled amnesia patient is a treat to watch. Ghajini is a must watch and one of the perfect ways to celebrate Christmas and the end of the year. After all it’s hard to resist an Aamir Khan movie, as he’s probably the most Intelligent person in Indian Cinema.

Have you ever seen Shah Rukh Khan play Superman ? After last year’s success of his 6 pack starrer Om Shanti Om SRK is back with his only major movie of the year, Yash Raj Films Rab Ne Bana De Jodi, which also sees the comeback of Aditya Chopra as a script writer and director. As the title would suggest this movie is yet another love story from the YRF stable starring SRK. Mr.Khan is undoubtedly the king when it comes to romantic movies and for some reason he always chooses to repeat the same kind of roles again and again. One really hopes that the lethal combination of YRF and SRK would make more films like Chak De India which showcased SRK’s real acting capabilities and was a refreshing change from the mushy love stories that keep coming out in Bollywood.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (RNBDJ) is however slightly different from other love stories as it shows SRK do a Superman as he dons two different egos and personalities as he tries make his wife fall in love with him. After a tragic series of events SRK(as Surinder Sahni) ends up getting married to Anshuka Sharma(as Taani). While the meek and timid Surinder loves his wife to the core, she chooses to lead a life of denial and refuses to accept her husband’s love. It takes a Dance Show to bring back some life into Tania and provides Surinder the opportunity to make his wife fall in love with him as he dons the hat of his alter ego, Raj, naam to suna hi hoga.

From there on starts the long and rather boring track of how he shuffles between the characters of Raj and Surinder. The movie is interspersed with some good songs that for once come up at the right times, except for a masala number featuring SRK in 5 different attires aping 5 different bollywood greats dancing around with 5 different bollywood divas (haven’t we had enough of that). The movie is also funny at many places and the audiences just loved SRK’s portrayal of the simple and naive Surinder Sahni. Vinay Pathak as Surinder’s best friend Bobby does a brilliant job as well and his chemistry with SRK keeps the audience in splits.

Finally, new comer Anshuka Sharma is a refreshing change form the regular staple of limited bollywood actresses and potrays her role well. One just hopes that she won’t fade away into anonymity like some SRK’s other co-stars, Gaytri Joshi his Swades co-star being an example. Overall the movie is worth a watch although it has a very low repeat value, is rather long and has a slighty stretched second half. Watch it for SRK’s only movie of the year, his entertaining performance as Surinder and for the charming effervescence of Anushuka.

Before we start with this review we would like to give a super standing ovation to Aamir Khan for making movies which make a difference. In a previous article too (check here) we had highlighted the fact that aamir is one of the very few people in Indian Cinema who shows great responsibility and maturity in the movies that he makes, something which the so called “superstars” shah rukh, salman etc don’t.

Coming back to this movie, it is undoubtedly “the best” movie of the year and even if it doesn’t make as much money as any of the other hits in this year the truth is that money isn’t the only measure of success. A film that can touch your heart, make you cry, play with your emotions and most importantly teach you a life long lesson is far more successful than a top grossing masala movie. In his debut as director aamir once again manages to send out a strong message just like he did with Rang De Basanti and this time it is directed towards the parents who hold in their hands the power to mould the future of the nation.

Taare Zameen Par(TZP) is the story of a 9 year old dyslexic child Ishaan Awasthi(brillantly potrayed by Darsheel Safary ). Ishaan studies in class 3 and has a problem with recognizing characters and numbers, as a result of which he never does well in his studies. This disability of his is never understood by his teachers or parents who accuse him of showing lack of interest in his studies. Ishaan is constantly ridiculed by his parents, classmates and teachers as a result of which he becomes highly rebellious. In an attempt to reform him, his parents send him off to boarding school where his state further deteriorates till aamir khan steps in. Well, we won’t tell you the whole story but the movie gets really interesting after this point.

The film starts off in a wacky style with animated credits and the central character is brought to the fore right from the beginning itself. The first half is dedicated completely towards the central character Ishaan and his family and tells the story of how he lands up in boarding school. Tisca chopra as Maya Awasthi and Vipin Sharma as Nand Kishore Awasthi put in good performances as Ishaan’s parents. Aamir uses the first half to highlight the disability of the central character and his state of mind. Being constantly ridiculed by your peers is tough for a person at any age but is crushing for a 9 year old child. Perhaps, aamir over does the first half a little bit as it tends to get a little boring towards the end. A word of caution here for those people who tend to make early judgements, if you walk out after the interval you’ll make the biggest mistake of your life and would do a disservice to the people by giving them your wrong opinion of the movie.

Aamir as an actor comes in only in the second half of the movie and carries it forward from there with great elegance and charisma. Sorry, shahrukh but six pack abs are not essential to make a movie a hit, good acting in a movie with a strong script is what makes a movie experience memorable. The 2^nd half of the movie is the one that actually carries the message of the film. The film depicts how India has for decades had, an imperfect education system where creative freedom and the ability to think differently was punished and rote learning was encouraged. These flaws are slowly being removed with many good schools adopting alternative curriculum for children till the age of 10.

In TMZ Ishaan is a dyslexic child who has problems in reading and writing but has free spirit and a highly creative and innovative mind. Creativity is the seed of innovation and the some of the most successful inventors of all time like edison, einstein, da vinci and many more were dyslexic. So the most important message that the film gives out is that let children be children. Don’t take away their childhood because you want to prepare them for the rat race of life, don’t kill your childs creativity and don’t assume that he is a failure if he doesn’t score a high percentage in exams. Perfection is not the goal, living your life in your way is. Thus, although the movie is all about children it actually carries a strong message for the parents.

Wow, isn’t that a lot of knowledge to get after watching a 3 hour movie. If you’ve reached here then it’s certain that you are gonna catch this flick and if you just jumped here to get our last word, then rest assure that TZP is a must watch. It’s the first movie to get a 5 star rating on DelhiPlanet and will probably be the only one in a long time to come. So head out and catch this flick, it’ll surely touch your heart and transport you back to your childhood days.