Blue, certainly breath-taking in all its visual splendors of the sea, a certain first for a bollywood movie. The sea comes alive with all the amazing underwater cinematography done by Pete Zuccarini, who has ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ under his belt as one his few works. But apart from the visuals the seams starts slowly showing when it comes to the depth in the storyline, you see quite apparent depth everywhere else (look under visuals), pardon the pun but the story has a lot that is lacking.

The movie boast of a solid cast of Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Sanjay Dutt, Zayed Khan and Rahul Dev. You can say Blue has provided character where it is lacking in depth. The movie is worth the cost of the ticket with Akshay Kumar providing his charm on the big screen, flashing his pearly whites. On the other hand the many scenes with the Bikini-clad Lara Dutta was enough to keep most of the audience, well at least the male audience on the edges of their seats. But sadly the story didn’t have the same effect on the audience, male and female alike. Debutant director Anthony D’Souza has certainly pulled off a decent work though, with the stunning visuals, cinematography and the well executed stunts, the movie is an entertainer. Songs pack a punch and are catchy, and I envision people Chiggy-Wiggying with Kylie Minogue in their heads for quite some time.

‘Blue’ starts off in 1949 where a Treasure-Laden ship, ‘The lady in the Blue’ traveling from England to India sinks somewhere along the Bahamas. Now we fast-forward to present times and back to the Bahamas. We observe the comradeship of Aarav (Akshay Kumar) and Sagar (Sanjay Dutt). They fish together, have sparring matches, good times. Aarav is an arrogant,too-good-to be true, hell-as-rich Businessman and Sagar is happily married to Mona (Lara Dutta). Life is simple and good.

Now we switch to Sam (Zayed Khan) , Sagar’s younger brother who ran away from home and is biding his time as a street racer (meet fast and the furious on bikes) in Bangkok. He tangles up with the local mafia Don played by (Rahul Dev). Katrina Kaif plays the sympathetic inside girl who suggests Sam to go someplace till things cool off. He flees to the Bahamas to his brother.

Eventually he is tracked down by the Don and things go bad. Sam’s sins catch up with is brother where the lone Sagar and sobbing Mona is besieged by Rahul Dev’s Henchmen at their home. He kidnaps Mona in a scene where Sagar has his home blown up a style reminiscent of the movie Bad Boys 2. He is given a deadline to cough up 50 mil.
Both Sam and Aarav knows that Sagar has some ties with ‘ The Lady in the Blue’, some deep dark past where Sagar fears to tread upon. But seeing that this is their only resort to save Mona and get Sam off the hook, Sagar agrees to lead them to the location of the sunken ship. Some under-sea action scenes ensue in the process as twists are hurled onto the treasure hunters. This is where the storyline sort of just lets you down. The climax was so feebly constructed, it cast a derelict shadow across the otherwise well produced film.

Lara Dutta’s bikini clad body certainly helps add thrill to the otherwise damp movie, Katrina Kaif as sensuous as always, Looking heavenly spectacular although only having a cameo role. Music usually cannot be expected to have any significance in an action thriller but A.R. Rahman’s manages to give us a reason to think otherwise. The few notable tracks are ‘Chiggy Wiggy’,'Aaj Dil’ and ‘Fiqrana’. I would say the movie is worth a watch in the theaters for the sake of movie ‘experience’ and the visuals but for those who rather rough it out on a television, wait for the DVD’s.

I would give the movie a 6.5/10 and its worth the leap of faith.

In association with Corporation of Cochin & I&PRD, Govt Of India, Kochi will be looking forward to kickstart the October Revolution Film Festival. Which starts off on the 18th of October and concludes on the 22th at the E.M.S memmorial town hall, Ernakulam.

To those ignorant on what October revolution is, it has nothing to do with the Oktoberfest held in Germany, which is in short, to state in very very few words, a beerfest, so its not even half as close to having that much fun.But in other words it is one of the defining events in history that lead to shape what we call our present world. It is also known as the Soviet revolution or the Bolshevik revolution, a political revolution that began with an armed rebellion in Petrograd,Russia on the 25th of October 1917. This eventually lead to a series of political conflicts and the birth of the Soviet Union in 1922. Although The October Revolution isn’t constrained in screening just film’s on the russin revolution,it just takes the name for the sake of sticking to what it represents. Everything red and socialist, communist in short. Well largely to movies in that genre or anything remotely close to its ideals atleast. So the film festival will cater to both our ‘comrades’ and film buff’s alike.
The Film Festval will be inaugrated on the 18th by Renowned scriptwriter John Paul.

The first film to hit the screen at town hall and start off with the festival on the 18th is ‘The Battleship Potemkin’ directed by Sergei Eisenstei circa 1925. The film potrays the very short spanned 1905 reovlution against brtual regime of the Tsars in Russia. The rebellion occured when Sailors abroad the battleship Ptemkin was given maggot infested food to eat and start to protest. The captain of the ship gives orders to have those who protest be shot. As the shooting squad approaches one of the main character’s Sailor Vakulinchuk he asks, “Brothers! Do you realize who you are shooting?”. They lower their rifles and thus mutiny evokes. Although Battleship Potemkin is a film that produces an impressive punch and despite crtcics claiming that the the film is a perfect example of film structure, Potemkin is said to be an uneven viewing experience.

The second film on the platter, to be held on the 19th is ‘Viva Zapata’ released in 1952, it is the story of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the early 20th century. The story goes like this, in 1909 Emiliano Zapata a poor Mexican Indian from a remote province born of good family, goes to Mexico City to complain about their land being encroached. But things doesnt go well and he finally ends being branded an outlaw after he rescues a prisoner from the local militia. Watch the film to see how the rest of the story goes.

The third film, which will be screend on the 20th is ‘Bolivia’ which came out in 2001, directed by Israel Adrián Caetano.
Its a story based on contemporary Argentina, the story itself is more chrunching than the cinematography. The story set in Buenos Aires, is a very simplistic story which is centered around a neighbourhood coffee shop,one the countless sterotype settings where certain over-the-hedge events and inner expressionism manifests. The main focus is on the cafe’s new cook, a Bolivian immigrant Freddy. The story goes on with how Freddy struggles in life and that is the sweet greatness in the film, as it beautifully portrays the essence of humanity.

The 21st will cater to the fourth film,the 1985 production ‘Come and See’ or ‘Idi i smotri’ directed by Elem Klimov.A boy is unwillingly thrust into the atrocities of war in WWII Byelorussia, fighting for a hopelessly unequipped resistance movement against the ruthless German forces. He witnesses scenes of terrors and atrocities and then accidentally surviving horrifying situations he loses his innocence and then his mind. The movie is horrifyingly realistic, the specialFX are on par with movies such as ‘Saving Private Ryan’,'Thin Red line’,etc.

The fifth day i.e the 22nd will have ‘Kaliyorukkam’ by S Sunil screened, which had won the award for the Best Children’s film in 2007. Its a movie that that more depth to its ‘actors’ than the usual children’s films that has come out in the malayalam film industry lately. The story revolves around a group of children in Kannapuram Panchayath in Kannur District, Kerala.

The 22nd will also be host to the 1925 film ‘Strike’ or ‘Stachka’, which will be screened shortly after ‘Kaliyorukkam’.In Russia’s factory region during Czarist rule, there’s restlessness and plans of a strike among the workers. The management brings in spies and external agents to try control it. When a worker hangs himself after being falsely accused of thievery, the workers strike.As things get worse the military arrives to liquidate strikers. A series of Documentary films will also be screened along side with the Film Fest. These include ‘Bhoomikkoru Charamageetham’ on the 19th , ‘E K Nayanar on the 20th, ‘Aravindan’ on the 21st and ‘M D Ramanathan’ on the 22nd.

Film Festival will screen its movies at 6 pm and entries are free.