My earliest memories of Sherlock Holmes are that of a pipe smoking, round hat wearing, sharp nosed tall gentleman, who could pretty much deduce an entire day's happenings, and maybe even more just from a speck of dirt or tobacco stain on another person's sleeve or any other part of his dress. Such was Holmes' reputation for deductive reasoning that he had gained legendary status in my mind, and to this date remains one of the best detectives of all times. The fact that I devoured a complete anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories in no time when it was gifted to me stands testimony to my admiration for this character. However, that being said, I absolutely loved Guy Ritchie's wonderful interpretation and adaptation of this wonderful detective. The pizzazz and panache with which both Holmes and his friend and confidante Watson have been presented in this movie has to be seen to be believed.

Not one frame in this movie has been wasted. Right from the very first sequence where Holmes is shown rescuing a hapless girl from a ritual murder which leads to the arrest of Lord Blackwood, the movie takes viewers on a riveting adventure. The story revolves around the series of murders committed by Lord Blackwood into which Holmes gets drawn deeper and deeper into. The movie also features Irene Adler, Holmes' muse, the only adversary who has convincingly managed to outwit him on more than one occassion in the past. What adds to the fun though is Holmes' unfettered admiration and at times, even adolescent infatuation for Adler which leads him into trouble, more than once in this movie itself.

The plot takes a serious turn when more murders are committed by the supposedly dead Lord Blackwood, and what happens during Holmes' investigation pretty much forms the rest of the movie. The ending especially has die-hard Holmes fans, and anybody who liked this movie licking their lips and waiting for more, reason being one name which is mentioned, which surely conjures up visions of an equally good sequel to this movie.

One couldn't have asked for more competent actors than Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law to play Holmes and Watson. The bonhomie and camraderie shared by both these guys on screen is nothing short of brilliant, and the chemistry between them has to be seen to be believed. In my opinion, Guy Ritchie's casting of Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes is brilliant, because he brings to screen his already quirky and edgy traits which the character of Holmes so rightly deserves. Anybody who has read the stories long and hard enough will realize that this could very well be the most apt interpretation of the character on screen ever. Plus the fact that Ritchie picked the action-movie route for this movie rather than a drab, dry detective movie which involved solving a case after the crime had been committed speaks volumes for his foresightedness. He enjoys giving the viewers some nice action sequences in the form of fist fights, situations where Holmes and Watson find themselves hopelessly outnumbered yet try to fight their way out of the same. All in all, a nice movie, which will leave you eagerly waiting for the second instalment.

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A couple of reasons why I watched ‘Before the Rains’ were Santosh Sivan, its director and Nandita Das, its lead character. While I am a huge fan of Santosh Sivan’s cinematography in almost all of the movies in which he collaborated with Mani Ratnam (Roja, Iruvar, Dil Se, Raavanan, need I say more), the fact that I had seen quite a few interviews of his and he came across as this amazingly imaginative person who knows how to get the maximum detail in each and every frame of his piqued my interest in him. Santosh Sivan is almost like an university of cinematography and the script that he picked up for this movie lent itself to be filmed extraordinarily beautifully.

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