It’s fun and refreshing, pure entertainment but also reflective on the youth and relationships in many ways.

Thankfully my ability to objectively look at cinema for what it truly is and how it appeals to my senses and intelligence or even appreciation of entertainment on the screen has not been diminished by my love for Harry Potter.

I looked forward to this movie because it was going to be interesting as to how they were going to adapt the long, slow and probably my least favourite of all the books in the series so far.

I was extremely disappointed. I found the movie to be a shoddy work where people who have read the books will gasp at the poor editing job and people who haven’t read the books will have no clue as to what the hell is happening. I found the casting of new the characters really good – Luna, Bellatrix and Umbridge but I wish the movie hadn’t dragged on and on forever. The greatest flaw lay in the fact that the movie ignores the prime foundation of book 5 – Harry’s isolation from everyone else that only seems to deepen as the novel progresses.

I would have given this movie a five star rating had it not been for the absurd and the messy way in which the movie ends. The character of ‘Sexy’ while an interesting addition and well played by the child actor Swini, did not blend in with the rest of the movie. And the latter half with Paresh Rawal really drags on with an unnecessary dose of sentimental confusion.

But I would still watch this movie again for its funny moments and the believable performances of Amitabh and Tabu.

Beautifully crafted. It explores the life of street children from various angles and ties it neatly with other social issues of poverty, prostitution, drug-peddling, desolation and so on. I think Mira Nair has done a wonderful job, as she does not go overboard with the plot and the emotions in the typical “Bollywood” fashion but tells it like it really is.

Apparently, most of the child actors in the movie were in reality street children handpicked by Nair for the role. Which makes their performance even more authentic.

I don’t know why I waited so long to see this movie but to anyone who hasn’t seen it as yet, it is a must watch!

This book is an incredible waste of time. No depth in characters, no flow in the story and overall just an exercise in brain numbing mediocrity. I am in shock that R. K. Narayan wrote this book.