Crossplanet

Slumdog millionnaire... such a good movie. Made be happy, happy to get back to Victoria station, Mumbai, to the Taj mahal, to the qtmosphere of India. As usual the music from A.R. Rahman is really good, recently oscarized. It feels good to see this kind of low-budget movie be praised by the public and the film industry. Ok, it's not an indian movie, but it's got a real taste of India.

The least I can say is that this year I'm in absolutely no mood for Christmas! I kept forgetting about it, till yesterday when I had to admit that wether I like it or not, there will be a Christmas day to live through.

No mood at all for Xmas boogie woogie, and trying to find something nice to think about it, I remembered Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas, and somehow it lightened the days to come. Nice images and music to remember during Xmas dinner in family. I recommend the whole movie! Merry Xmas to you all (and peace on earth for men of good will)!

It's been a few months that I don't choose my "music of the month". Since I'm almost (D-11) on the way to India, I couldn't resist to "Des Rangeela", a nice song from Fanaa, one of my favourite indian movies. This sequence takes place on Independence Day (August 15), and for the occasion Kajol sings the beauty of the country of colours (des rangeela).

From Dor, a beautiful movie I've seen lately, here is a song of hope, a song to keep on going. It's called "Ye Honsla", more or less it says "I cannot lose my courage, even if the path is difficult I must go on, autumn will end, a new day will dawn". A quiet and peaceful song.

The movie tells a beautiful story about the friendship between 2 young women from different backgrounds, facing a hard period of their life. Quite different from a "regular" bolly movie, no super stars, no glamour, practically no music, just a plain simple story, well told. It's been shot in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan, at some locations I'd like to visit next summer.

Since this week-end it's Holi, the festival of colours, here is a beautiful Holi scene from Deepa Mehta's Water. Happy holi for all!

The music for this month will be a beautiful love song from "Salaam-e-Ishq", the last movie from Nikhil Advani. Released in January in India, we were lucky enough to have it on screen in Paris too. It's a rather pleasant movie, a remake of Love Actually, Bollywood version, which mea 3h40 instead of 1h30, beautiful pictures and colours, plus a few music numbers.

This song is called "Ya Rabba" (Oh Lord) and is about the confused state one is in, when trying to find the light to path his way. I haven't found a translation yet, but I will. The lyrics are really beautiful, expressing the confusion of the heart not knowing what to do with those feelings. The voice of Kailash Kher also expresses so well the worries and sadness of the moment.

The list of the nominations for the next Oscar ceremony has been published and Water, from Deepa Mehta, representing Canada, will compete for the Best Foreign Movie, with Le labyrinthe de Pan (Mexico), Indigènes (Algérie), After the wedding (Denmark), The lives of others (Germany).

Here is some music from the movie. 

Finally I have seen KANK (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Never say farewell), not on the big screen though, but on DVD. With such a casting expectations were great, and so were fears since the director Karan Johar has a tendency for big romantic dramas... But all in all that's a good movie (could be shorter though!) about extra-marital relationships, which is rather "osé" for an indian movie.

There is one music I didn't really notice or like at the beginning, but for the last days it's been playing around and around my mind, a happy and funny music  for November. It's called "Rock'n'roll soniye", or how to rock'n'roll with a sari (yes some like to play it hard on them!).

The video is a beauty with the Bacchans, father and son, rather awkward at dancing and Shahrukh Khan... should I say "pissed off"? 

Last week I went to see "the inconvenient truth". Scary images even I already knew a bit about global warming, even if I've seen pictures about Kilimandjaro or other places where the effects are already dramatic. Necessary documentary to give a good shaking to our ideas about the problem and to wake up to reality.

To be seen absolutely, not only as another documentary but as a first step to take action in our daily life.

More on global warming: 

www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/

http://globalwarming.enviroweb.org/

Information and ideas to take action : Défi pour la Terre 

I've talked several times about Water, the movie from Deepa Mehta. It took some new actuality lately because it's on the screens in France, and also in Portugal.

Several friends have commented it with me, on the msn or by email. I like to think that even if we're far away from each others, we can still watch the same movies at the same time.

In this movie there is a beautiful scene, when the monsoon arrives and it begins to rain. No monsoon here in Europe, but it seems that the rainy season has arrived! Today when it rained, I tried to recall that song and the streets seemed less grey and the drops were funnily falling down!

The music is called Aayo Re Sakii (sorry I don't have the translation), available here, the video is here.