This is a story of boy meets girl. The boy, Tom Hansen, grew up believing that he’d never truly be happy until the day he met the one. The girl, Summer Finn, did not share this belief. You should know up front this is not a love story.
Decades of romantic movies have successfully convinced generation after generation that everyone on this planet has one and only one soul-mate and irrespective of looks, wealth, intelligence and character, he or she WILL get that one. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the premise of 500 Days of Summer!
Lets take one guy, any guy. He might have been single at sometime or still is and hopes that somewhere out of the blue gets to be with that over-rated “soul mate” of his and if he’s too much of a dreamer, probably hopes to live happily ever after too with that person. He has seen so many romantic movies like the ones doled out every day, the one’s with happy endings where the guy and the girl are opposites and fight and finally get back together in the last scene, and has convinced himself that such love exists.
Now lets take a girl, not any girl. An arrogant and pretty girl who thinks this soul mate idea is silly and believes that she is clear about what she wants and very clear that she doesn’t want a boyfriend.
If you agree with either of these two people, let me tell you, this movie goes out and out to prove you totally wrong and also make you feel good about being wrong. It’s a brutally honest story of one guy who falls in and out of love, told in a comic book style with non-linear screenplay and sticks to it, throughout the 95 minutes, with a narrative script which gives an impression that this has been written with a clear intention of being made into a movie. And boy am I glad it was written. Yes, now is when the reader should know that this IS a wonderful movie.
Tom: Ok but wait–wait. What happens, if you fall in love?
Summer: You don’t believe that, do you?
Tom: It’s love, it’s not Santa Claus.
Plot:
Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as told above, believes in fate and has waited all his life for that one girl who will sweep him off his feet. One day, Tom sees Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) and feels she’s the ONE. Like any other romantic movie, they are totally different and yet they get along perfectly. Summer eventually proposes that they stop seeing each other. Can Tom move on from this “break-up” or will he eventually do all he can to win Summer back?
“To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die”
Screenplay:
Crazily Awesome. An omniscient narrator sets the tone by telling you what’s happening and what is not, taking you through the various scenes in an absolute haphazard manner such that you will never feel bored or even overwhelmed with all the complex scenes and numbers that keep popping up on screen. It jumps to and fro from the days when Tom and Summer are together to when they are apart. Then there are scenes where some non-conventional film styles are used, changes in film color, screen splits. There is a high chance that you might not agree that this is not a love story in nature but who cares?
There’s a killer scene on Reality vs Expectations which is a wonderful idea. (Will use it when I make a movie 
)
Soundtrack:
This movie is the directional debut of a guy who makes music videos. Felt there were some good songs while watching the movie but don’t remember any now to put it up here. Might add later if I like any of those, when I watch again and again .
Acting:
In a very crisp movie, the protagonists do a wonderful job. Joseph Gordon Levitt got a Golden Globe nomination for this. There is no phenomenal performance from any one specifically but sincerely done by all who stick their roles. Zooey Deschanel has done all crazy roles so far and expecting more and more. It’s pretty similar to her role in Yes Man.
Final Verdict:
Romantic films today, concern themselves with cute ideas, take ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ or ‘Serendipity’ for example. They are good, funny etc but not they forget about real people. The couple in (500) Days of Summer have true chemistry. Some of the moments are captured with simplicity that we feel like smiling even if there is a break up on the scene.
In my humble opinion, this movie was probably made with while the director was watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Great effort, almost felt like it’s younger sibling. 100% Recommendation. Watch it NOW!
P.S. Official Promo:
P.P.S. – It’s presently ranked at 233 on IMDB 250.
P.P.P.S. Best quote:
Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin and they end with no lasting memory made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life. May 23rd was a Wednesday.
Ah! I am so glad to be back discussing Music . So, to begin with, there are two songs which are competing for the Song of the Week Title and the winner is – Dil to Bachcha Hai from Ishqiya.
The music is so non-bollywood-ish/non-Pritam-ish that I felt the music director did not even use drums. There is a close resemblance to Raj Kapoor’s – Awara hoon but that’s probably because the theme is about a lonely guy singing a song about love & life and also felt somewhat like a folk song. The essence of the lyrics are the feelings of a guy who is scared to fall in love for the fear of getting hurt but somehow, at the end of the song, it will make one smile despite the theme. So, all in all, I felt good after listening to it.
Enough of talking, here are the lyrics -
Aisi ulji nazar unse hatt ti nahi,Daant se reshmi dor katt ti nahi,Umar kab ki baras ke safaid ho gayi,Kaari badari jawani ki chatt ti nahi;
Walla ye dhadkan bhadne lagi hai,Chehre ki rangat udne lagi hai,Darr lagta hai tanha sone mein ji;
Dil to bachcha hai ji,Dil to bachcha hai ji,Thoda kaccha hai ji,Haan dil to baccha hai ji…
Aisi ulji nazar unse hatt ti nahi,Daant se reshmi dor katt ti nahi,
Umar kab ki baras ke safaid ho gayi,
Kaari badari jawani ki chatt ti nahi,
Ra ra ra…
Kisko pataa tha pehlu mein rakha,Dil aisa baaji bhi hoga,Hum to hamesha samajhte the koi,Hum jaisa haaji hi hoga;
Hai zor karein,Kitna shor karein,Bewaja baatein pe ainwe gaur karein;
Dilsa koi kameena nahi,Koi to rokey, koi to tokey,Iss umar mein ab khaogey dhokhe,Darr lagta hai ishq karne mein ji;
Aisi udhaasi baithi hai dil pe,Hassne se ghabra rahe hain,Saari jawani katra ke kaati,Piri mein takra gaye hain;
Dil dhadakta hai to aise lagta hai woh,Aa raha hai yahin dekhta hi na woh,Prem ki maarein kataar re,Taubah ye lamhe katt te nahi kyun,Aankhein se meri hatt te nahi kyun,Darr lagta hai mujhse kehne mein ji;
Listen to the album at in.com – Ishqiya
This song on Youtube – Dil to Bachcha Hai Ji
Yes. This movie is produced by Vishal Bharadwaj – the maker of Kaminey!
A free wallpaper from the official site
- Watch the Movie in a theater
Well no. I am not talking of the driving ability nor the agility with which the careful & sensitive Hyderabadi Cab & Auto drivers traverse through the busy and polluted roads, just to take us to our destinations safely. No.
The objective of this essay is to help you understand the greatest fact of life: “Himesh Reshammiya is THE Almighty” – with the motto: When there is faith, there is no fear.
Picture this: You are sitting on the back seat of a Tata Sumo at 11:30 in the night and that too after 9 to 15 hours of mind numbing work. The driver is half asleep and so are the rest of your “cab-buddies”. The folks who have iPods or MP3 phones, plug them into their ears and snore away into oblivion and that leaves you alone, the aam admi/aurat, at the mercy of the driver’s awesome MP3 collection or his favourite FM Station. Everything seems innocent and before you know what hit you, a loud “Dhin-Chik Dhin-Chik” sound starts coming from right under your own seat. The speaker system is so state-of-art that the seat atcs like a trampoline. If you understand the language of that chart-busting song, you will understand the lyrics of the song. Incase you have never tried that or don’t understand the language of that song, try it the next time.
To cut your curiosity short, I present a very popular song on which our very own Abhishek Bachchan (of Paaaaa fame) dances to:
Appudi Phode Phode Phode
Asathi Phodu kannaale
Ippudi Phodu Phodu Phodu
Izhuthu Phodu kayyaale
Which literally translates to:
Put it like this,
Put it like that,
Mesmerize me and,
Put it like that,
Put it like this,
Pull & put, like this, like that!
Hmm. So. Well, I leave it to you to imagine what happens to that one person, listening to this song at 12 in the night in a cab/auto. I am no hater of the dhin-chic clan of music but THIS setting is too much for probably even Mithunda’s biggest fan to digest.
The driver, you see, is a bloody egoistic guy (haven’t come across a female driver). He does not like the rest of the folks listening to their own music on iPods & MP3 players while he’s playing such excellent music. And out of uncontrollable anger, he increases the volume. One of the daring folks requests the driver:
“Bhaiyya, thoda volume kam karo please”.
Duh! The driver has all his Ayn Rand Objectivism in place, like “he exists only for himself” and “he is the only one who controls the volume button of the music system” blah blah blah. Basically, he’s pissed. First you make him a universal brother Bhaiyya and also dare to speak to him in Hindi? When in Telangana be a Telanganite, he thinks! And further up goes the volume. Aaah, Oooh! 4000Watts of unadulterated bliss and all coming from under your own seat. How fortunate are you that you spend almost 2-3 hours of every single day of your pointless existence listening to these soul rising and life fulfilling songs. Who the hell needs Zakir Hussain & Pandit Ravi Shankar after these or even A R Rahman? God is there, very much, and looking down upon you and smiling his heart out. And, at this point I would like to let you know that the protagonist of this story is not you but my humble self, I.
At that moment, when the whole world seemed so hazy and I felt so close to God, the historian in me came alive and tried to figure out where this all started. Well folks, remember the Summer of 2006? No, not Mumbai Train attacks nor the nuclear treaty. It was that glorious summer that a new star rose in India and took Indian music industry to an all new level. He had been around but then created hysteria… a huge fat guy with a cap started a sensation called
“Tera Tera Teraaaa Surrrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooo
oooooooooouuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnnnnrrrrrrrrrrr”.
(the nnn was added for the nasal effects)
Remember that? Yes, yes … I can see that expression on your face – “Aaaah” (a full faced smile with moist eyes) I know. It was an unprecedented hit and almost got him a few Grammies, just that the silly Americans could not understand what was being sung. Duh! Morons. What the heck is Jai Ho or even Roja in front of that. For his achievements in that glorious summer, the “All India Auto & Cab Drivers Union” named him their “Man of the Century”. To prove his cynical critics that he’s not overrated and and he’s got the talent to deserve the award the next year too, he doled out “Aap Kaa Suroor”, the movie. Thanks to India’s popular and favourite news channels Headlines Today & India TV, this was the Song of the Year 2006 in both the channels and was used as background score for various Automobile ads. Those years, his popularity threatened folks like SRK, Shashi Tharoor and Aamir Khan that Shashi joined Twitter, SRK bought an IPL team and Aamir went crazy and made Mangal Pandey. We all know what happened to their efforts. Huh. Who can even come close to Himessss? To please his fans/followers/devotees he doled out 3 films and numerous albums since then and there are several more in the pipeline. There is also a story of how an auto-wallah learnt english and html and created a page for him on Wikipedia. If that is not enough, the rest of the folks at All India Auto & Cab Drivers Union, in order to show their belief that God exists and has come down to the earth in the form of Himesssss, have passed a fatwa to play his songs in all vehicles and thereby, also enlighten those folks who work so hard and miss out these basic essentials of life.
Himess is God. Period. If you dare to disagree and think you can go and do a hunger strike and people will listen to you, you are mistaken! The driver will just turn the volume further high. Peace.
Phew. On another note, who the bloody hell introduced Drums & Remixes to the India music industry. Ass. I humbly wish to play “Appudi Phode Phode” & “Suroor” on the day of that crackpot’s funeral eve.
One of my fav’s …
“Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light.
Centuries later, the first man invented the wheel. He was probably torn on the rack he had taught his brothers to build. He was considered a transgressor who ventured into forbidden terrritory. But thereafter, men could travel past any horizon. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had opened the roads of the world.
“That man, the unsubmissive and first, stands in the opening chapter of every legend mankind has recorded about its beginning. Prometheus was chained to a rock and torn by vultures—because he had stolen the fire of the gods. Adam was condemned to suffer—because he had eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Whatever the legend, somewhere in the shadows of its memory mankind knew that its glory began with one and that that one paid for his courage.
“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received—hatred. The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.
Yes. This happens to be my 3rd post & 4th mention about this movie and that goes on to show how much I loved it!. The current song am obsessed with is:
Guaranteed:
On bended knee is no way to be free
Lifting up an empty cup I ask silently
That all my destinations will accept the one that’s me
So I can breath…
Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
Half their lives they say goodnight to wives’ they’ll never know
Got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul
So it goes…
Don’t come closer or I’ll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you…
Everyone I come across in cages they bought
They think of me and my wandering
But I’m never what they thought
Got my indignation but I’m pure in all my thoughts
I’m alive…
Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
Underneath my being is a road that disappeared
Late at night I hear the trees
They’re singing with the dead
Overhead…
Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite for ever orbiting
I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed…
Watch it on YouTube:
I have never written a proper movie review for this and came across this summary:
Into the Wild is based on a true story and the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless (Hirsch) abandons his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
Courtesy: Apple
Also, a Music Review by a Pearl Jam fan:
For all those Pearl Jam fans out there, the release of what is essentially a solo acoustic Eddie Vedder album is manna from heaven. Of course, most PJ fans out there these days are in their 4th or 5th decade of life, and there are many young folks who view PJ as outmoded and other naysayers who have grown tired of Ed’s gruff, mumbly baritone. But I belong to the first group, so I think this little album is pretty great.
“Into the Wild” is a 30-minutish album that has Eddie playing a variety of acoustic instruments over 11 short tracks. It’s classic Vedder, but stripped-down and bare, kind of in the balladic “No Code” or “Binaural” vein with more acoustic strumming and minimal accompaniment. The tunes were written as a movie soundtrack, and having seen the film, it’s hard not to picture Emile Hirsch traipsing over hill and dale during the songs. On the other hand, most of the numbers do have lyrics, which is a bit unusual for a soundtrack, and was sometimes distracting for me in the theater. But this review is about the music…
Many of the tunes are upbeat, rocky-mountain-high, kind of anthems, as on “Setting Forth,” “Far Behind,” and the all-instrumental “Tuolumne.” The other half are more introspective, balladic numbers (in keeping with the kind of celebration of freedom/wasteful tragedy duality of Chris McCandless’ tale), as on the banjo-inflected “No Ceiling,” “Rise” (the ukulele invokes Ed’s “Soon Forget” from Binaural or “Goodbye” from A Broke Down Melody — I’m thinking an all uke-vocal album by Ed would be pretty great), “Long Nights,” “Society,” and “The End of the Road.” “Hard Sun” is a stand-out in a number of ways — clearly the one number that might either get radio-play or be released as B-side single. Also, it’s written by Robert Peterson (aka Indio) and features some backing chorus vocals by Sleater-Kinney frontwoman Corin Tucker (it would be awesome if Ed made a proper single out of “Modern Girl” and released it with “Hard Sun”). It’s definitely the big anthem of the album and the only tune over 4 minutes long. “Society” is the other track not written by Ed — in this case, the author is Jerry Hannan who also sings back-up underneath. “The Wolf” features Ed doing his Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan inspired vocal howling (reminiscent of “Arc” without the overdubs) over an organ drone. And then there’s “Guaranteed,” a great tune that really has two versions embedded in the same song — first the vocal version that has Ed singing over acoustic guitar (this was played during the end credits of the movie) and later, in a “hidden track,” the “Humming Version” that starts around 4:40 after a minute or two of silence (who invented hidden tracks anyway? why would I want to endure two minutes of silence or have to press fast forward to get to more music?). The humming version is what opens the film, and features Ed humming the sweet soulful melody over the same guitar rhthym. So for me, the standout tracks are “Hard Sun,” “Guaranteed,” “Setting Forth,” “Far Behind”, “Rise,” and “The Wolf.” That’s half the album, so you can see I think it’s all pretty great and will leave fans itching for a real solo album someday.
This review wouldn’t be complete without some discussion about iTunes. iTunes has available, for $2 more, the “deluxe version” of this album (NOT sold here at Amazon), which augments the original soundtrack with 4 more numbers — “No More” (a cover) and “Photographs” (a short instrumental) lifted from the soundtrack to the documentary ‘Body of War,’ a live version of “No More,” and a live version of “Here’s to the State,” one of Ed’s concert staples that has him railing against various operatives in the Bush administration. iTunes also sells “Guaranteed (Humming Version)” as a separate track, but it’s just the “hidden track” from the 7-minute “Guaranteed” that isn’t available as a single downloadable track. Since the original soundtrack is only about a half-hour long, most fans will welcome the extra 12 minutes of music, but the truth is the tunes don’t completely fit with the rest of the album and some will no doubt find the strong political messages of “No More” (War) and “Here’s to the State,” typical of Ed, tiring.
And so, “Into the Wild” is a short little album written as a movie soundtrack that is loaded with little gems by Eddie Vedder on vocals and acoustic strings. If you like Ed and can put up with the brevity of the songs themselves and the album as a whole, it’s sure to please, and leave you wishing there were more. And there is a little more, only if you’re interested you’ll have to get it from iTunes… or somewhere else 
.
Courtesy: Amazon
