Oldboy - A review - * * * * *

I bought this movie solely because I had heard that Zinda was a remake of it. Though I was pretty disappointed with Zinda, the thought of watching a Korean movie for the first time, together with the fact that the DVD cost only 75 bucks made me reach out to my wallet. And (old)boy, was it a good investment!

If you've seen Zinda, and you thought the movie has an edgy and queer feel to it, then Oldboy will leave you astounded. The movie starts with the main protagonist of the movie, Oh-Dae-Su (apparently, thats the way Koreans like to name themselves. Further on, In this review you will notice that I do not use any other names of characters, purely because the names are too wierd for me to remember) being kidnapped, and locked away. Why? He doesn't know. Where? He doesn't know. Who did this? He doesn't know. He keeps waiting for his release, which never comes. His whole life revolves round the television, which is his teacher, guide, friend, philosopher, lover. Then one day, 15 years later, he's set free. And he's told to find out why this was done to him. In 5 days......

There, thats the crux of the story. Zinda was about a school prank gone wrong and a guy avenging the outcome. Oldboy, though with the same plot outline, is about incest. Please do not watch it if your sensibilities are fragile, because if so, then you are bound to be scandalized by the movie. If you thought Zinda was violent and gory, Oldboy is a frickin blood bank. Some ofthe stuff includes Oh dae Su eating a live octopus, stuffing it into his mouth and chewing on it (Poor Guy, you gotta forgive him for that, coz for 15 years he's had nothing but wontons), gouging out teeth usng a hammer (shamelessly copied in Zinda), slitting throats with a broken tothbrush etc, cutting off one's tongue with a scissor... I hope you get the picture.Zinda had the milleniums worst ending, lame duck to the extreme. Oldboy will leave you stunned.

After the movie, I was left amazed by the deft screenplay, the cinematography and overall, the bravado of the director in bringing such a (potentially)controversial movie to light.

Finally, I'd like to thank Sanjay Gupta for being the plagarist that he is, beacuse if he'd not done what he's best at i.e. plagarise, then i'd have never heard about Oldboy. But Mr. Gupta, you goofed up this time. Zinda is a shame compared to Oldboy.

Addendum : This ones from Rediff.
"Sanjay Gupta call Zinda his tribute to every Korean movie he's seen. It's pretty obvious that he's seen only Oldboy"