Ameeshi

Just finished watching this movie. I'd gone in expecting more teenage hooliganism so I was a little disappointed when I saw that the other boys were getting an out from being held over, and that it was just going to be this one kid with this old, set-in-his-ways teacher. And the mood of the movie started toward this resigned cheerlessness that I originally came to run away from. So I watched reluctantly, hoping to just get through an empty Sunday night, hogging alongside. Slowly, I felt this ache growing in me. It was not tough to see the loneliness of the three - Hunham, Mary, and Tully, each one's hurting my sensibilities and hopes in its own way. As someone who also feels deep loneliness, it was painful to watch them reluctantly accept each other's companies owing to the lack of options. And because these characters felt really human, I couldn't even dissociate from their realities thinking of them as caricatures of themselves. The lives of Mary and Hunham seemed like possibilities I so dread for my own future - mostly alone, grieving, stuck working for someone else, afraid to actually work on my dreams, finding solace in whoever else is also left behind, trying my best to look away from the hollowness of it all, trying to keep my head up, being disliked by most. It hit those existential wounds in its rawness, and in the mediocrity and sorrowfulness of lives depicted. What hit me the hardest was the end. How this set-in-his-ways and righteous teacher chose to honor the life of someone who supposedly has more to see and live than him, someone who probably doesn't have the internal tools to take one more hit. Because to me, as a viewer, Hunham seemed the most pitiful of them all - hollower than Mary, who at least had her grief, her sister, her job, and a strong sense of self, fuelled by something within her, and hollower than Tully, who is young and more pliable and viable, deriving some sense of self from the good grades, from his youth, from his potential. So, for Hunham, to have grown a soft spot for the kid, to deny himself the last of things he held onto, to choose the kid's future was a special kind of ache. Something that hit deeper than the lonelinesses. It didn't seem like just selflessness. It seemed like martyring for love and care. And that's when it felt like this story needed to be told. I think, in that moment, I mourned all the ordinary lives of ordinary people, that sometimes make these extraordinary selfless choices that deserve recognition, a pat on the back, a big hug, but that never quite make it out, in fact even get buried under a more pervasive negative perception. Ahh, the unfairness of it all. And yet, to keep going, treading gently, pushing yourself along, hoping for better, it's truly heartbreaking. I'm unable to see this as a movie - it felt like watching real lives. So I must appreciate the actors who made it feel like so. I was in love with all three of them, by the end. And so ofc the director and everyone else responsible for it. 5 stars, not for entertainment, but for making me feel.

Just spent the last 3 days watching this movie in parts. And what a movie. I read somewhere that this one is a documentary on Delhi and I think that is accurate, with just the caveat of it being a documentary on the upper class. With the little exception of Vijay Raaz and Tillotama's little love story sprinkled throughout the film. Which brings me to - WHAT A STELLAR CAST for something so non-commercial, real and raw. Definitely has to be a thing of the past. And somehow it's taken me 25 years to get to it. I do think I wouldn't have fully appreciated it before that. So let's go: - Cast - Naseeruddin Shah, Lilette Dubey, Shefali Shah, Tillotama and Vijay of course, Randeep Hooda, Rajat Kapoor, to name some. What wonderful casting! Everyone seemed natural in their roles, like they were that person. It was sweet to see Randeep as a kid too. And the bride's brother was perfectly cast too. - Writing - I loved the flow of the film. Character depths unfolding in organic ways. Actually, first of all, I really appreciated how this film was so ahead of its times. You really can't tell that it's something more than 2 decades old. The only things to give it away were B-rolls of Delhi, which a Delhiite can immediately tell apart from present-day Delhi. I have to mention the little boy who had embraced his feminine side, which his parents were afraid to hold space for. That was also done well, except maybe in media now, it would be portrayed with more acceptance, especially in the upper class. Who knows, though. And I would be remiss not to mention the entire child abuse storyline. Shefali Shah, from the very first look when Rajat Kapoor entered, gave it away. And tightly held it together until she had to step in to save her younger cousin. The scenes between Naseeruddin Shah and Shefali Shah made me cry - I cannot imagine a father-like figure stepping in for me. Choosing me. The only thing I cannot see standing true today would be how the to-be-husband accepted the bride's pre-wedding infidelity. I now imagine she would slut-shamed or outed to the family, essentially, shamed in some way. But I did love the happy ending, as one does. - Direction - I loved the colors of the movies, how hand-held and raw many shots were. How music played a very important role throughout. And how this movie became a testament to the music of the times. There's so much more I could say about so many pieces, but I don't think anyone is going to read this much. I just really recommend it, that's all. I definitely recommend it.

Really disliked the movie. I actually hadn't heard of it until around the second release, which is when I found a lot of people gushing over it. I was shocked to learn that Imitiaz had presented something that I was completely unaware of. And just piggybacking on people's enthusiasm, I went to check it out. And I was disappointed by almost all of it. The second half was definitely more stimulating than the first but overall, everything in the screenplay felt half-baked and overdone at the same time. Nothing really felt organic - the love, the attraction, the family feuds, the consequences of the time apart, the reunion, the friends sticking with the protagonists, none of it. It just felt like a forced retelling of a classic, with not enough breathing room given to any of the important plot points. The dialogues were also trite and insipid. The only captivating sequence was that of Qais losing it tbh. And the only moment that made me genuinely laugh was when Qais was convincing his father to take the rishta to Laila's, and he was making fun of his wrath. Also, not to forget, terrible make up and costume.

kept me hooked - great cinematography, juicy and meaty characters, worthy twists and cliffhangers. just didn't enjoy the end too much. thought i'd be left more in awe but maybe i am too numb.

Binge watched this show - that's a feat in itself for a show, for me personally, because lately I don't throw my plans out of the window for binging. I did really enjoy some parts of it - cinematography, production design, sound design, acting. A beautiful setting in the form of a city of Mainjur added charm to every frame. I did, however, find there to be some inconsistencies and some arbitration in the writing that I didn't particularly enjoy.

A friend recommended this show to me in 2018 and I instantly fell in love with it. I initially had trouble understanding the accents but once you get used to it, it is pure joy! I love the characters - Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle, James, Gerry, SISTER MICHAEL (she gives me life), among others! This is so different from everything I've ever seen. Of course, it is a sitcom with an MO you get used to and maybe even tired of, at one point. But I just can't seem to stop enjoying it. The Derry backdrop, the Troubles, the costume design, the cinematography, the writing, I love it! Makes me want to relive my high school with these girls, to learn about the Troubles, to get into their 90s music, and keep watching their lives. I grew up to have a sarcasm that was primarily based on insulting the other person. But with political correctness, and pop-psychology, and being mean, even as a joke, being inappropriate these days, I have slowly started shedding that mean sarcasm layer of me. But it's so validating to see that humor here. It makes me feel like there is still hope for that layer of me. It is set in the 90s so maybe Northern Ireland has grown to shed that layer too, but I sure hope it hasn't!

Wednesday's obsession with working this mystery out and her nonchalance about putting herself and, more importantly, others in dangers got too old too quick. This is aside from the weariness of her not following a single order and stepping on everyone's toes and somehow getting away with it each time. The worst of it was very assertively accusing anyone she suddenly found culpable, and then not even feeling sorry about being wrong, most of the times because the wrongly accused was already dead. The lack of range in the emotions her face could betray also started to get cringey by the 3rd episode. All of what seemed endearing in the first two episodes - the sassiness, the self-assuredness, the one-track mindedness - all started seeming not enough of a personality by the time I was 2 hours into it. 2 stars because it wasn't totally horrible because of Gwendoline Christie's presence and Catherine Zeta Jones' role.