Someone has made it big?

It looks like our wedding Videographer has finally made it big in the movie industry!

Watched the latest Ajith movie yesterday and it did not impress me. Yes, it is impressive that Ajith (who is a mainstream hero with probably 3 hits out of 50 films that you can name off the top of your head) decided to play an anti hero role in his 50th movie! That still doesn't make the movie good or different.

There are lot many movies today that are more experimental than this one which are not getting the same hype! Most of the scenes that got claps are copies from other movies, even the song in the background score with the movie title sounds like a rip from Kaminey!

Anyways, it is very difficult for someone like me who has seen way too many movies and remembers things to appreciate "imported" scenes in Tamil movies. If you have seen Angelina Jolie pull James McAvoy into a car as she spins it towards him, it is difficult to appreciate Arjun doing the same thing and clap.

Folks who have not seen "Wanted" will jump up and clap. Again, this post meanders into a movie critique. That was not the intent..

There is one song in this movie, which is a take off from a beer commercial where everything except the people builds itself (the walls, furniture , etc. ) in some kind of self assembly format. The focus is so much on the special effects that you miss the song, the actors and everything else.

Classic case of overdoing a special effect.. kind of like our wedding video!

Ajith multiples in much the same fashion I did in our wedding video! That leaves us to the inescapable conclusion...


Wedding videographers, keep practicing your special effects and one day you too can make it big in the movies!


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A new genre?

After a long time, wife insisted I get out of the house and watch a movie on Friday night.

Guess the gray hair and visually obvious stress was a concern to everyone at home. So off they sent me to watch a new release Tamizh movie called "Sarvam". Did not understand even the title or the context, didn't know who was acting etc. etc.

Went to watch with the cousin and MIL. Before the movie started asked the cousin "so what is this movie about?" and the answer was "romantic thriller".

I was stumped. Romantic thriller? Did not know that there was a genre of movies like that.

In any case, the movie had a romance section in the front half and a disjoint supposed thriller section in the second half. It was a crying shame that the songs were done so well, with fantastic picturization and special effects, although in one or two places the locales and backdrops were so good that all the hero and heroine had to do was walk gracefully to carry the song and they screwed it up with some real bad dance moves. If you have seen the movie, you know exactly what I am talking about.

Sometimes you can give an architect the greatest of Italian Marble, Venetian stained glass, ocean floor sandstone, Burmese teak wood, etc. etc. but he could completely blotch it and make a freaking random heap of rubble out of the whole thing!

Sarvam brings to mind an old grandma adage "kurangu kayil poo maalai" (give a flower garland in the hands of a monkey). The monkey does not know how to appreciate the flower garland and will eventualy rip it to shreads. Someone gave this director a lot of beautiful elements to piece together or he did create a lot of beautiful pieces himself and he eventually......

made Sarvam out of it!

It was good that we went with no expectations. The first half of the movie was entertaining enough to compensate for the second half.

This movie is not just a romantic thriller, it also belongs to another genre, a nonthrilling thriller.



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Goosebumpology

Maybe the study of goosebumps will not be called the obvious Goosebumpology, but will go by something more etymological?! like Piloerectology or Horripilatology?

We are talking of goosebumps because, Balaji and me came out of the theater after watching "Slumdog Millionaire" earlier today and were discussing the movie highlights.

We both told the other person that we got goosebumps at the exact same time when the music hit a crescendo during the scene where a cop chases a bunch of kids in a Mumbai slum.

That got me thinking! Goosebumps are actually a sign of fear or defense, much like when a porcupine gets its quills working. When a guy creates music that is neither scary or intimidating but is able to create a feeling of elation that creates goosebumps across people in the audience (okay 2 is not a big multiple, but this has happened in the past with me and San also) it is to be hailed as something more than an accomplishment.

Slumdog Millionaire is by far the best movie I have seen this year. It will stay on my mind for a long time.

Knowing that it sounds cliched, ARR rocks!

Seriously, how does this guy create goosebumps with that kind of consistancy?



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Rocking on with life

Yeah, the title is a giveaway!

Saw the Hindi movie "Rock On" last night with the cousins. A movie with a difference about four guys from a college rock band, going their separate ways, then reuniting after a decade for a concert. There seem to be more and more of these beat movies coming out from Bollywood recently. Kudos to these guys!

This movie will probably strike a "chord" with guys/gals in the mid thirties, who went to colleges 10-15 years ago, with college cultural festivals, where there would be a rock concert competition of sorts!

This post is not a review of the movie. It is more about the nuances of the film and a possible "genre" and its appeal.

If you are not a rock music fan and the subtle or open references to Metallica, Enter Sandman, Beatles, Lennon, McCartney, Ono, Green day, Deep purple etc., do not ring any bells, do not be alarmed. You will experience the movie, as a window to a "world" that is mesmerizing! Music, at the end of the day is a really, really powerful medium, that cuts across boundaries, rather large boundaries.

If you grew up listenting to rock music, this movie provides more than a refreshing look at music, rock, concerts, group dynamics, the experience of attending a rock concert! To top things off, if you happened to dedicate your Ph.D. thesis to Bob Dylan, the way "Rock On" has songs that fit hindi words into hard rock, at places, with a folk ballad style, will just bring tears to your eyes.

The nostalgia alone, will be worth this movie. You have to hand it to the director, music directors and the actors. They are able to hit long dormant neurons, and revive them, just by touching your subconsious in one too many places. Take for example the focus on the tattoo in the back of one of the groups lead singer's neck, or the Bille Joe Armstrong look alike, who strums his guitar in similar fashion from one of the competing groups in the final contest!

Farhan Aktar was fantastic. Arjun Rampal was even better. Have never seen such a controlled acting performance from him. They even mimic Freddie and May in some shots where they both share the microphone on stage. You can hear "smoke on the water", slowed down to a barely recognizable tempo in the background! They have condensed, and fed rock music to the masses, within the space of a movie. Very nicely done!


The thing I liked most was how they picturized the audience in a rock concert. At the end of the day, the question from a non rock fan would be "why go to a concert and hear the same thing that you heard over and over again in the music CD?". The answer lies, in the audience. To this day, I cannot forget the tens of thousands of people, with lighters and candles moving their hands across, in a Pink Floyd concert in Philadelphia, in 1994. To sum up that experience:

I was there!!!

After watching the movie, we came home and are now revisiting my 200 strong CD collection from my college days, which have been moved from one apartment to another, one home to the next for the last 15 years! We have not really played anything from that collection, at least after our first daughter was born. Finally feel vindicated for refusing to sell that collection over all these years.




Every one of those CD's has a history and it makes me remember places, people, crowds, songs, and more importantly myself!

Rock on, woke up a dormant part of me, much like it did for the protogonist in the movie.



ps. Spent an hour searching for the Pink Floyd concert ticket stub in my old shoebox. Could not find it! Way too many memorabilia in that box....dangerous memorabilia! The location of the shoe box within the house, was classified information in itself, now it is out in the open. Much fun will be had, over the coming days with the contents of the shoe box.

pps. San's rock music education has begun!

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WANTED - updated

Instant review :

WOW !!!



==========
Now that the movie hangover is gone, more words!
Went to the movie without knowing anything about it. Originally was going to watch the PIXAR movie. Then a last minute change and watched "Wanted". The cousins had already read the reviews of the european release and told me that it was a "good action movie". Knowing nothing else about the movie was actually a plus.


It was a really well made movie. I am tempted to draw parallels with Dasavatharam, but will refrain from doing so.

Assuming that :

Bullets can curve,
Weavers figured out Boolean algebra and boolean representation of the english alphabet a thousand years ago,
the heart can go 400 beats/second (apparently hummingbirds go 1200 and a humans can go 220!)
James McAvoy can be cast as an accountant turned assasin
Angelina can still rock ...

well wait, that last one was not an assumption!, the movie is total entertainment! Keeps you on the edge of your seat, especially after Angelina shows up. The plot, twists given the assumptions are not bad.

There was a certain unique style of displaying everything in this movie (Unique along the lines of Matrix, Sin City, Amelie, etc.) and it was self consistant within the framework of the movie. The director did not violate his own rules, something I always appreciate in a movie. Let me explain. If you are making a movie about flying pigs, and a certain pig is doing sorties, it is within the framework of the movie, because there is a baseline assumption that pigs fly!

This movie has some amazing fight sequences, chases, special effects, and style, and style and more style!

All said and done, came out thinking

a. worth the ticket price
b. If this is an indicator of the summer movies this year, will be watching a lot of good movies.

WallE, Get Smart, Hancock are already on the growing list!


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Dus Kahaniyaan

Saw this Hindi movie recently.

It was different.

Ten short stories, told one after the other.

All of them engrossing. I still have some of the characters in my head.

It was amazing to watch the stories start, unfold and end every 10-15 minutes or so.

The titles for the movie were also amazing. One of the most memorable title sequences I have seen in recent times (Guru comes to mind!)

Loved it!

10 short stories are way better than one long masala!


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A quote - in context

The lonliest person is not one who loses all his near and dear ones, it is one who has lost his own mind!

- in the movie "Maine Gandhi Kho Nahin Maara".

I just wish that I do not have to live after I have lost my mind.


Well there was more to that post than that quote.

I have been sick since wednesday night. I made the mistake of going to work on thursday and my condition just went from bad to worse. So much that I could not keep my eyes open on Friday morning. Just drank some theraflu packets and stayed in bed for most of friday, saturday and today!

Feel a lot better. As fate would have it, the wife and me thought I should get some distraction and we look in the mail and what do we have?

"Maine Gandhi Kho Nahin Maara" which came via Blockbuster Online. Started watching it and became downright depressed. You do not want to watch a movie about Alzheimers disease when you are drugged with Theraflu. Your mind plays tricks on the tricks it can possibly play! and that is scary.

I do not know anyone personally who has been affected by this disease or who has someone they know go through this disease. I really feel for them.

All that said, it is back to one last big bout of sleep before the Monday morning blues kick in...



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Shah Rukh Magic

Watched Chak De India over the weekend. I came out all teary eyed. I would have gone and watched it anyways being an SRK fan, and sooner if it werent for the hectic trip to the east coast.

It is the only movie which I have watched to this date where I have come out and said "I would watch this again!". I still cannot get the visuals out of my head or the Maula Mere song that still keeps running in the background.

It is a movie to be watched on the big screen. A very realistic sports movie with a message on todays reality when it comes to :

1. how women are treated
2. how sports are treated
3. how sportswomen are treated
4. how religion gets into sports
5. how the general public reacts to sporting events

There are multiple messages that come out in this movie, but they are all told in a very subtle sublime way, without pushing the message across forcefully or melodramatically.

On a side note, if you want to get back memories of being cooped up in a small common room in a dormitory with 100 other students to watch world cup cricket or soccer and you are holding on to go to the restroom.. drink a large coke while watching Chak De India. Makes the movie watching more interesting towards the climax!


SRK rocks!


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:) :) :) :) :) and then some...

The local movie distributors for Sivaji finally decided to drop the ticket price to 11 bucks (close enough to the normal 10$) and I had instantly booked two tickets. The added bonus was watching the movie with Balaji, who managed to recreate the original first show ambience for me!

Now this post is not a movie review. I do not think I qualify as a reviewer. Also, I am not sure if a review by default has to be unbiased. I am a Rajni fan (but not a fanatic. I strictly turn off the fan in the attic when I watch Rajni movies) and I am very biased!

In retrospect, my wow (sabatham) to watch the movie only after ticket prices dropped to the regular levels was stupid. I should have just gone three weeks ago, just to take in the audience factor. What the hell was I thinking ? I slept on the pavement at Chestnut and 38th(?)in Philadelphia 15 years ago, outside a ticketmaster window, when there was a foot of snow on the ground, just to get Pink Floyd tickets for a third show that was added last minute. The first two shows had sold out in 8 minutes with people buying tickets over the phone, and did I forget to mention that I was 15th or 16th in line and the queue of people in the pavement was more than 100 ? Stupid, stupid stupid me!

Still, the San Jose crowd doesnt fail to disappoint. Half an hour before opening time, there was a line of around 200 people. The non-desi onlookers were giving the line the amused look. They have probably not seen a desi line that long in downtown san Jose at 7:30 in the evening. We did get nice seats and there was no dearth of whistles and catcalls once the movie started. If the audience was slow to react to some stylish manouvers by Thalaivar, there was always the BB's in the audience who would start the whisling! More than once I pinched myself, just to check if I had died and gone to Rajni heaven.

Rajni cannot top this performance when it comes to style. He has simply outdone himself. The only question a Rajni fan can ask after coming out of the movie is, what next?

If you go to a Shiva temple, you are supposed to sit down for a second before you come out. It has almost become customary for people who write Sivaji reviews or movie experiences to say at least one thing that bothered them during the movie.

The one and only thing that bothered me during the entire 3 hours ?

Well, picture the height of style, the height of glamour, the most amazing set design, art direction and the music starts for a song.. and then the voice and pronunciation just kills it for you! Aaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.. Simply stated in BHU lingo from two decades ago, it was KLPD! You guys probably know exactly what I am talking about!

In spite of that, the movie was worth every penny. I am not talking about my 11 bucks here. I am talking about the millions of dollars spent in making this movie!

Rajni rocks !!


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:) :) :) :) :)

(A Tanglish Post!)

POnen


Utkarndhen


Paaaathutten!!!


for puLLi vivarams, see puLLi


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Sivaji - Reviewview

Preface : This is about the Tamizh Movie "Sivaji" staring Super Star Rajni!

So what is different about this Re-view-view ?

Well, you have to see a movie to review it! I am going to violate all known ethical codes by writing a review for a movie that I have not yet seen. But I am not the first one. I have actually seen a lot of posts which say review, but talk about the hype and what to expect and promise to write the real review after watching the movie. I will join that bandwagon.

Who is who ? What is What ?

I will now proceed to set minds to rest over the various questions that people might have with respect to this post. Why should it be even relevant ? Well, people are asked a few questions in the United States and binned accordingly ! Are you a republican or democrat, are you pro-life or pro-choice, are you okay with homosexuals or are you a homophobe, etc. etc. But in Tamizhnadu they also ask you, do you like Super Star or not, do you like Sivaji or not, etc. Plus any post with Sivaji in the title is immediately judged. The author is judged on his % Pro Rajni-ness! and is promptly lauded or flamed. Considering I am sarcastic by default, I better answer these questions..

So lets proceed :

Do I like Rajni ? Yes
Do I like movies ? Yes
Do I like Rajni movies ? Mostly!
Do I still like him after he is old and tries to act young ? Yes (except the romance part).
Did I like Baba ? No
Did I like Chandramukhi ? Yes
Did I watch FDFS (first day first show) for Baba ? No
same for Chandramukhi ? Yes
When did I really watch Baba ? After it came out on DVD.
Will I wait for Sivaji to come out on DVD ? probably not!
Then why the $*%& am I waiting ? For tickets to drop to 10$
Have I made up my opinion on this movie yet ? No (seriously!)
Will my wife throw me out if I watch the movie and say it sucks ? No
Will my wife make me vadai, payaasam, etc. if I watch the movie and say I loved it ? No
Do the above two answers prove that I will express my honest opinion when I do see the movie ? Yes!
Do I expect this to be a good movie ? No.
Do I expect this to be a good Rajni movie ? Yes.
Will I watch it only for Rajni and ARR ? Yes.
Will I actually come back and write a real review later ? Hell NO! That would become an insignificant post. "Bay area man writes the 646,259,946745'th Sivaji Review" would be the headline. No Sir, not me.

Now here is my Re?View based on all the gazillion reviews I have read in the one week since this movie has been released to the general public! Practically everyone and their dog has a review of Sivaji!

Ahem...

Sivaji is a mass entertainer, where Super Star still shows that Style always rules over substance when it comes to this genre of movies. If Tom Cruise had half the style of Rajnikant, MI-III would have been a real blockbuster. It had the same hype and the money thrown in, with Cruise Star power, possibly the biggest hollywood could boast at the time, but the results were not even close. .(Well I havent seen Sivaji, but everyone else has and ergo, style has ruled over substance. As for lack of substance, that seems to be in unanimous agreement as well!).

That said, there are still a lot of gripes over the lack of a proper storyline, coherence, poor chemistry between the hero and heroine, songs that come up suddenly, length of the movie, etc. etc. The blogosphere seems to be polarized between two extremes on this one.

Some reviews say that these things while considered flaws for an average movie, do not really matter in a Rajni movie where the audience pays, just to see the man strutt his style on the big screen and utter punch dialogues. As a guy who stood 764'th in line at AMC Mercado to watch first day first show of "End of Days" or the dude who stood 1234'th in line to watch "The 6th Day" at the same theater, just to watch Arnold utter punch dialogues and throw people in the air, I can totally understand this type of review.

The next type of review goes on to pay its respects to "Thalaivar" (Rajni's nick name), his style etc., and bashes everyone else involved in making this movie with the exception of ARR. Shankar and Sujatha are prime targets with the producer being the secondary target, for wasting his money and not keeping an eye on the quality of the film! Now, how many of you can claim that you have watched two free movies in the same year, by just using your AMC movie watcher card? San and me can. That means, in the year we got married, we watched "at least" a movie a week, in theaters!! One day, we went to the 21 theater complex and found to our dismay that there was only one movie that was playing in all 21 rooms that we hadn't watched. So we watched it as well. As irony would have it, the movie was "Superstar", a film that left us speechless! We considered it an all time low in our movie watching life. As someone who has seen enough and more movies which lack substance or logic, my guess is that these guys are probably right. But a Rajni movie has to have all the Rajni elements or it would cease to be a Rajni movie. It is a self fulfiling prophecy! After Muthu was released, the Japanese have discovered the "Rajniberg Uncertainity principle", which states that it is impossible to have Rajni and Logic in the same movie and any attempt to precisely fix logic in the movie will make the Rajni part questionable!

Finally, we come to the hardcore "nay" sayers, who write, "Rajni is obligated to give his fans a decent movie", "A movie should not insult the audience's intelligence", "who will bell this commercial cat" (okay, okay, I came up with that last one), etc. etc. These are reviewers, who have either tried to judge this movie by the average movie standards or have reviewed it with an underdog mentality or trying to reason with mass hysteria, with an aim of being the sane voice. These are the ones who are promptly lauded for their guts and honesty for daring to say the truth and are also flamed in the comment box. I offer my deep condolences to this type of reviewer. India, or the USA for that matter is not free country. The internet does not have freedom of speech. If you do speak against mass hysteria you WILL be flamed! I can write a book about this! Once again, this is like saying bad things about WWF (and fear getting beaten up by some big dude next to you who is a fan), or saying bad things about Harry Potter (and fear getting beaten up by an angry teenager) or saying bad things about George W Bush (and fear getting beaten up by the government)! Apparently there are consequences if you dont agree with the general public. I would also point out to these reviewers that "Rajni is not obligated to do diddly squat!". He has made his money, and made his die hard fans happy, which were about the only things he was obligated to do, and even that obligation is questionable!

As for fans demanding more from their star and fans making or breaking a star, Rajni would have ceased to be a star a long time ago if his movies are judged by the average movie reviewer standards. The average Rajni fan is more of a fanatic. (Er, what I mean to say respectable Sir's and Madam's, is that you tend to watch Ranji movies with your FAN on in the AtTIC). That means box office logic does not apply to Rajni movies either!

Neenga ellam review than ezhduveenga. Naan reviewvukke review ezhudhuven! Idhu eppidi irukku ?

Translation (without Rajni style): You guys only write reviews. I write reviews of your reviews. How is that ?

:)


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Vadivelu revisted ?

Recently a video was chosen (not by me) from the local Indian Grocery store for the usual weekend viewing.

This one said "Vaigaipuyal Vadivelu acting superbly in 9 roles"!



Vadivelu is by far the reigning comedian in Tamizh movies today. He has become increasingly popular in the last three or four years. We had never heard of him doing 9 roles in any movie.

Once the wife and MIL started watching this movie, they were in for a rude shock.
Vadivelu was not the main focus of the movie. At least not in the first 20 minutes. They got sick of it and returned the movie.

I have selected a few bad movies in the past. Looks like my track record has improved, just because I did NOT select "Thesiya Paravai"!!


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Mozhi

Last week, same time, I was finding the best seat in a near empty theater to watch Mozhi. It was a very well made movie in a great theater with a big screen. This theater usually plays English movies that have been taken off the mainstream theaters for lower fares. Now that they are screening Indian movies here, it is quite a blessing. Nice seats, relatively kid free! audience, great sound, not to mention super toilets! I am seriously considering watching more movies in theaters, after this experience.

This is one clean movie. No violence, no double meaning dialogues, no crude humor! Well, you probably got all that from the movie review pros! However, I couldn't help notice the similarities in some of the situations between this movie and "Children of a lesser God", something that was not mentioned in any of the regular reviews! I had no idea what Mozhi was all about, but within the first 20 minutes, I could guess how many of the scenes were going to end.

I guess "Children of a lesser God" was probably not a popular movie in India. It came out in the late eighties. I watched it on cable (in bits and pieces) when I was in grad school. Got to watch the full movie only a few years ago. But it is one of my favorites of all time. I just can't forget Marlee Matlin in that movie. She was gorgeous and she could speak with her eyes. Later when I learnt that she is deaf in real life, I probably felt something along the lines of what Prithviraj feels in the hospital lobby in Mozhi!!

The catch though is, if you liked "Children of a lesser god" , you would definitely like "Mozhi", but not vice versa. The english movie has some nudity and strong language. So, wouldn't exactly call it a movie that you can watch with the whole family. It is a very serious movie compared to Mozhi, which has you smiling for the most part. You have to watch this movie. It got a best actress oscar for Marlee!

Now back to Mozhi! I have really taken a liking ot the soundtrack of this movie. I must have heard the song "Pesa Madandhaiye" a dozen times!! Had actually closed my eyes for a second just listening to the song. Well written, well sung and nicely directed! I did feel that it was a cross between "Deivam thandha veedu" from the movie Aval Oru Thodarkadhai, and "Evano oruvan" from Alaipayudhe. Again, I was surprised to find out that the singer is not KJ Yesudas or his son, but Madhu Balakrishnan. Let's just say that Madhu has a new fan!

If I have heard this song a dozen times, then I have been listening to "Sevvanam .." a few dozen times. Just love it. It is also Jr.'s current favorite song ("in the whole world" if I might add!). The funny thing is that when I listen to songs where I have heard the song for the first time while watching the movie, I tend to get the movie when I close my eyes and picturize the song. I get to do my own choreography in my head if I have heard the song without seeing the movie! Yes, I am actually doing the dancing. This song however is unique. For some reason, I get San in my vision instead of the heroine!

Was humming "computer kandavalo, karate katravalo" (maybe she has learnt Computers, Karate) thinking "damn, I am one lucky bastard to have married someone who knows computers and karate!" and at that precise moment San tells me: "please stop singing that song. every time you start singing it, either Jr. is coughing or the little one starts throwing up or bad things happen. That song is not good for our family!".

I burst out laughing at the irony of the situation. Considering that Jr. is the president and CEO of Virus Inc. and the litte one has recently been promoted to CTO of Germcorp, my singing has little do to with the state of affairs in the house. But an order is an order!. So, I stopped humming, we took one look at the kids, and we both started laughing!

Jokes apart, do go see Mozhi and if possible watch Children of a Lesser God too..

Wah Guru Wah !!

Watched

Guru

last night with my MIL at the Sion CINEPLEX..

You cannot beat watching a great movie in a great theater with the right ambience..

Still cant get "tere bina beswaadi.." song out of my head..

don't want to!

ARR rocks !!!

This experience more than made up for not watching Hindi movies in the US with all the babysitting duties. Go watch this movie if you get a chance..Worth every penny!

India has come a long way.. the movie watching experience here is a lot better than watching it in an AMC !!

You order tickets online and a delivery boy gets the tickets to your house !!!
You order snacks and coffee online and it gets delivered to your seat in the intermission !!
The theaters are absolutely clean and the sound quality is near perfect!
and the audience is well behaved !!

Hats off to Mumbai Cinema !!