My friend, Atif, a.k.a. Mullah, bought the tickets with his credit card, online.Arun, a.k.a. Jhumri, went to Mustafa to wrap up his �going-back-to-India� shopping. Atif picked a taxi with a driver who spoke no English. How wonderful. End result: We entered the movie hall 10 minutes late. There was a recap, so we didn�t miss anything.

 My friend, Rohan Ranadive, was with us. So whenever there was a reference to Rohan in the movie, we snickered. The best was when Aragorn calls out to the riders of Rohan, Jhumri said, �Bhai ke aadmi hai, sambhal ke�

 Gollum�s schizophrenia evoked some giggles from the girls in the audience, but I saw the daily conflict we all face, just exacerbated into an outspoken duel. More about the girls in the audience, they seemed to totally love Frodo. Looks like the age of the �man� has passed, it looks like curly haired boys with pale faces devoid of hair are the rage now. But it won�t last, Gangs of New York will usher in another fad. What struck me was the way Frodo stood up for Gollum and believed in him when Sam doubted and abused him.

 Theoden�s silliness in not listening to Gandalf and making a stand at Rohan leads to the disappearance of Aragorn, much to the despair of Eowyn. There was this dreamy sequence where one almost at first thinks that Aragorn is hallucinating, but has actually formed some emotional bond with Aravan, who is emotionally distressed as well, as Elrond tries to convince her to forget Aragorn. I really liked this scene. Someone quipped, �The name is Gorn, Aragorn� and a Chinese girl from the front row turned around and gave us a dirty look.

 While Pippin and Merry make friends with the Ents, trying to convince them that Saruman is evil, Legolas and co. try to help Theoden prepare for the Uruk-hai attack. Saruman raises an army of ten thousand Uruk-hai to take Helm�s deep. With only three hundred men in the garrison, Theoden seems in despair, but Aragorn�s arrival and the reinforcements from Rivendell sent after Elrond has a vision of Galadriel seem to raise some spirits.

 There, in Gondor, Frodo is forced to betray Gollum to save his life, which makes Gollum�s schizophrenia relapse. The weight of the ring starts showing on Frodo. Sam gives him a Gandalfesque pep talk and they convince Faramir to let them go. There, as the Ents attack Saruman for destroying their forests with great effect, our heroes at Helm�s deep are outnumbered. I thought the battle was unrealistically shoddy. given the rest of the movie was brilliant.

Just as the Uruk-hai seem to be overthrowing the keep, who comes to the rescue but Gandalf who goads Hallifax onto a horde of Uruk-hai pikemen. The final battle scene was too Bollywoody for my taste. Have you seen Braveheart? In the battle of Stirling, the Scots used wooden pikes to great effect against English skirmishers, mounted chargers, that is. The Uruk-hai pikes were longer and made of metal, yet they meekly parted as Gandalf and his company charged down the hill. Apart from this mess up, the movie was beautiful. It was worth the money I spent on the cab and the movie ticket. Recommended.