"WANTED" Hindi Film Review

So Salman Khan is back after a long time to be seen in a full throttle action movie and he is back with a bang, specially for crazy Salman's fans. Myself too being a hardcore fan enjoyed the First Day First Show among full house marred with a series of whistles and cheers blown over Salman's antics by the audience.

Well WANTED is a remake of POKIRI, which was a blockbuster in Telugu and Tamil as well. The film reminds you of typical masala flicks which were very popular in pre-2000 era, where good always won over evil, hero over villain. In these times of non-conventional, exprimental and multiplex type films, hats off to Boney Kapoor who took risk and went ahead with WANTED.

The film totally belongs to Salman Khan, he can be seen in each & every frame of the film, in one word Wanted heavily depends on Salman braod shoulders and will click only due to his magical star power and his bigg fan following. Wanted is all about Radhe (Salman Khan) a dreaded criminal and sharpshooter who can do anything for money and works in Mumbai underworld for Golden Gang headed by Gani Bhai (Prakash Raj), who is in war with other gang headed by Data Pawle.

Killing and playing with gun is a child's play for Radhe. Newly appointed Commissioner Ashraf Khan (Govind Namdeo) aim is to make the city crime free for which he has to pay the price of his daughter. Salman's love interest is played by Jhanvi (Ayesha Takia), who I feel is misfit in the film and does not suit with Salman. In between, there is corrupt, Inspector Talpade (Mahesh Manjrekar), who lusts for Jhanvi and wait there is a don's moll also played by Mehek Chahal. For full story and suspense, it's better to go and watch on the big screen.

The film is directed by Prabhu Deva, the dancing star and he does justice to the remake. Though there is nothing new in the film, but he still manges to keep a hold on to the film with fast action and stunts, despite a weak script. Specially the action sequences in the climax are the highlight of movie, where Salman smashes the villains left and right.

Although the first half could have been more brisk, if a couple of songs would have been edited. Choreography is good and bit different, music by Sajid Wajid duo is so so, only JALWA song catches your attention where special appearance by Prabhu Deva, Anil Kapoor and Govinda brings the house on fire.

As regards to acting, Salman Khan has done full justice to the role, infact it seems that no other hero could have matched his performance for this power packed role. Ayesha Takia is OK, but any other actress would have been a better choice.

Bad man played by Prakash Raj is superb. Infact in some scenes he makes you laugh especially where he is held captive by policemen. Mahesh Manjrekar as a corrupt cop is superb. Vinod Khanna in a small role is wasted. Overall there is nothing much to do for others, it's all the way SALMAN KHAN in the movie. And his fans will relish him in this action avtaar after a long time. The film is for the masses and specially it will do wonders in single screens and U.P., Bihar & Maharashtra territories.

Overall the film will be a HIT, it had a bumper opening and then in view of the festive season - ID, DUSHERA and DIWALI, it will only add to the cash registers.

TITLES

Banner : Sahara One Motion Pictures & BSK Films Enterprises

Producer : Boney Kapoor
Released on : September 18, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Action
Director : Prabhu Deva
Cast :

Salman Khan - Radhe

Ayesha Takia - Jhanvi

Mahesh Manjrekar - Inspector Talpade

Prakash Raj - Gani Bhai

Govind Namdeo - Commissioner Ashraf Khan

Music on : T-Series
Main Singers : Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Shreya Ghosal, Soumya Rao, Kamaal Khan, Nikita Nigam, Wajid, Amrita Kak, Suzanne D'Mello, , Hrishikesh Kamerkar, Earl & Salman Khan
Lyrics - Sameer, Wajid, Jalees Sherwani, Arun Bhairav, Shabbir Ahmed, Salman Khan
Music Director : Sajid Wajid
Cinematography : Nirav Shah & S Sriram
Choreography : Prabhu Deva, Raju Sundaram,Vaibhavi Merchant & Rajiv Surti
Action : Vijayan Master
Screenplay : Shiraz Ahmed
Story Writer : Poori Jagannath

SHORT KUT - THE CON IS ON Review

Here comes another remake of a hit Malayalam Mohanlal starrer film UDAYANANU THANAM. SHORT KUT - THE CON IS ON, supposed to be comedy film is produced by Anil Kapoor and involves some interesting personalities who have given many Super Hit Comedies as Anees Bazmee, the Writer and Neeraj Vora, the Director. Thus the film should have guaranteed a good comedy, but unfortunately fails to deliver.

The film is a spoof on on Bollywood, and narrates the story of two strugglers, who aspire to make it big in the film industry. One is Raju (Arshad Warsi) who is a buffoon, a non-actor and still becomes a Superstar after stealing a prized script of the other struggler Shekhar (Akshaye Khanna), who is extremely talented, but unlucky. Shekhar continues to struggle as a director after his script gets stolen.

As a result, Shekhar gets shattered and dejected, and his wife a reigning actress Mansi (Amrita Rao) leaves him, reminds you of Abhimaan plot, clash of ego between Amitabh & Jaya Bhauduri then. Now Shekhar is on a look out to take revenge on Raju and the destiny brings them face to face when Shekhar gets an opportunity to direct his first film with Chandu as a hero.
What follows is a tale of con, treachery, deceit, stardom and then a fall.

The film starts well, but fails extremely after the intermission, all credit to a lack luster, loose, shoddy script which is accompanied by stale humour, silly & childish comedy. In fact everyone in the film shouts and screeches to irritatingly. And to tp it all, the climax is extremely terrible.

As regards to performance, Akshaye Khanna, who is too good in such comedies tries hard and also acts well but is failed by the script. Arshad Warsi gets a more meaty role but fails to impress and sometimes overacts. However, some scenes of Akshaye & Arshad does bring out some smiles due to their comic timing.

And then there is a surprise in the form of Amrita Rao who for change shows lots of skin and surprisingly oozes lot of sex appeal just like Urmila Matondkar in Rangeela and Mast in olden days. But her romantic track with Akshaye lacks consistency and is the worst part of the film. Chunkey Pandey surprisingly as the acting guru-turned-star secretary, manages to give a restrained performance.

Now coming on to direction, Neeraj Vohra, after his successful Hera Pheri (Part 2), fails completely this time, due to lifeless and lousy screenplay. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s music also fails in the film, with no melody. Cinematography is good, showing some exotic locales of Thailand.

Overall, Short Kut – The Con is On lacks the wit, especially given the talented team, the opportunity has gone lost, courtesy lackluster script & outdated comedy. Hence the film disappoints, even the film’s trailor was not upto the mark, which I saw during the screening of Kambakkht Ishq.

I will give 1.5 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : Anil Kapoor Films Company & Studio 18
Released on : July 10, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Comedy
Producer : Anil Kapoor
Director : Neeraj Vora
Star Cast :
Akshaey Khanna -Shekhar

Arshad Warsi - Raju
Amrita Rao – Mansi
Chunkey Pandey – Guru Kapoor
Sanjay Dutt, Anil Kapoor – Special Appearance

Music on : T - Series
Singers : Sonu Nigam, Alka Yagnik, Shreya Ghosal, Shankar Mahadevan, Nikita Nigam, Javed Ali, Kirti Sagathia, Hrishikesh Kamerkar Music : Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Lyrics : Javed Akhtar
Cinematography : Ashok Mehta, Arvind Soni, Johnny Lall
Choreography : Bosco-Caesar
Action : Abbas Ali Moghul
Screenplay : Anees Bazmee
Story : Anees Bazmee

"NEW YORK" - FILM REVIEW

Here comes one of the most awaited Bollywood movie, especially giving a huge relief to film lovers from the draught of movies since April 2009, owing to the strike between Multiplex Owners & Producers.

And no wonders doing justice to the promos, "NEW YORK" surpasses the expectations of audience. Contrary to Kabir Khan’s directorial venture “KABUL EXPRESS”, which was an extended version of a documentary film, he comes back with a hardcore commercial thriller which will be appreciated by one and all.



“NEW YORK” is a story of friendship set against the backdrop of New York and post 9/11 happenings. Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh) who goes to USA for the first time and meets Sam (John Abraham) and Maya (Katrina Kaif). It is the story of these 3 friends who are enjoying their life in New York, but suddenly one day the world around them changes post 9/11 WTC attack and their lives are turned upside down. The turning point comes with the introduction of FBI undercover agent Roshan (Irrfan Khan).

The scenes involving FBI and how it rounds up the 9/11 suspects have been brilliantly shot just like a Hollywood film, kudos to Kabir Khan for bring genuinity to the film contrary to typical Bollywood masala flicks. He has deftly depicted the mentality of USA after 9/11 attacks, specially the way this country handled and tortured the suspects, in the absence of proper evidences.

Kabir Khan skillfully keeps the film under his control, properly with an optimum balance of offbeat & commercial ingredients. The film has all the ingredients of a blockbuster such as – pace, thrill, drama, emotion, action etc., which keeps the audience on the edge of the seat.

As regards to acting, surprise package is Neil Nitin Mukesh, who does justice to the most intricate role among the three protagonists.

John Abraham comes out of his Dostana trunks and in place of his well toned body shows his acting potential, which has been well exploited by Kabir Khan, especially the scenes of his detention are spine chilling plus his interaction scenes with Irrfan Khan are worth mentioning. In one of his interviews John rightly said that public will get to see altogether John in NEW YORK.


Katrina Kaif looks beautiful as usual and also does justice to her role. Her chemistry with both John & Neil is amazing. The performance by all 3 can easily be termed as the best ones of their career. Irrfan Khan once again is fantastic.

The other star of the film is it’s story by Aditya Chopra, which never looses the grip. Cinematography too is beautiful. Seems that the whole team is gonna ensure that "NEW YORK" strikes gold in most of the award functions.

Overall, “NEW YORK” is a must watch and bring backs Yash Raj banner once again to the form, since few of their last films have been duds.

I will give 4 out of 5 to the film, which surely has all the ingredients of a Box Office Blockbuster.

TITLES
Banner : Yash Raj Films
Released on : June 26, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Action/ Thriller
Producer : Aditya Chopra
Director : Kabir Khan
Star Cast :
Neil Nitin Mukesh - Omar

John Abraham - Samir

Katrina Kaif – Maya
Irrfan Khan - Roshan

Music on : YRF Music
Singers : KK, Sunidhi Chauhan, Mohit Chauhan, Pankaj Awasthi, Caraleisa Monteiro Music : Pritam Chakraborty, Pankaj Awasthi
Cinematography : Aseem Mishra
Choreography : Ahmed Khan
Action : Shyam Kaushal
Screenplay : Sandeep Srivastava
Story : Aditya Chopra

AA DEKHEN ZARA : FILM REVIEW

AA DEKHEN ZARA : FILM REVIEW
Here comes a thriller movie which opens up with lots of potential, arising from a new idea, but on the whole failing to live up to the expectations. OK, without wasting any time, let’s get down to the story.

The film protagonist is Ray [Neil Nitin Mukesh], a struggling photographer, not doing well in life, until he comes across a very special camera inherited from his grandfather. And his life gets completely changed, courtesy the magical camera which has the ability to see the future. Along his success story of rags to riches, he meets his love life in the form of Simi [Bipasha Basu], a DJ.
And akin to typical Bollywood film, our Hero has to face and fight against the evil forces and his destiny.

The film’s first half carries a lot of promise and starts off with a fizz, but gradually the script and story let’s you down and finally ends up leaving the audience confused.

As regards to performances, Neil Nitin Mukesh, grandson of legendry singer Mukesh, he lives upto the expectations as displayed in his debut movie Johnny Gaddar. Bipasha Basu, as usual sails thru’ her role. Surprisingly Rahul Dev impresses in the negative character.

Director Jehangir Surti impresses with his style of presentation, visuals, but alas the script lets him down. Especially if you are dealing in a suspense thriller, one has to be very careful as to how to unravel the mystery systematically and keeping the curiosity factor intact. Here in the case of AA DEKHEN ZARA, on the contrary, the climax is confusing and chaotic.

The plus points of the film is VISUALS, PEPPY & ENERGETIC MUSIC, SLICK CINEMATOGRAPHY and some thrilling ACTION Sequences. The title song AA DEKHEN ZARA is sung by Neil Nitin Mukesh himself. Overall, the film will attract the young audience and it’s peppy music coupled up with long weekend will open up well, but gradually will fail to sustain later on.

I will give 2 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : Eros Entertainment
Released on : March 27, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Thriller
Producer : Viki Rajani
Director : Jehangir Surti
Star Cast :
Neil Nitin Mukesh - Ray Acharya

Bipasha Basu - Simi Chatterjee

Rahul Dev – Captain
Biswajeet Chatterjee - Dr. Animesh Joshi
Sophie Choudry - Bindiya Avasthi

Bobby Vatsa - Puri
Music on : Eros Music

Singers : Neil Nitin Mukesh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan, Dibyendu Mukherji, Sunaina, AkrutI Kakkar & Shweta Vijay

Music : Pritam Chakraborty, Gourov Dasgupta
Cinematography : Jehangir Chowdhury
Choreography : Ahmed Khan, Harshall & Vitthal
Action : Shyam Kaushal
Screenplay & Story : Sheershak Anand & Shantanu Ray Chhibber

GULAAL - FILM REVIEW

GULAAL : FILM REVIEW
Here comes another hard hitting movie from Anurag Kashyap after his recent emotional atyachaar “DEV D”, which was critically acclaimed a lot and interestingly did good business at the Box Office. Anurag belongs to those breed of directors who think differently and comes out with a different serving, though it calls for a lot of risk taking and courage contrary to run-of –the mill Directors who rarely dare to tread from their so called Box Office formula.

And do you know that GULAAL was made much before DEV D, call it luck or whatever, Anurag released it at the right time following the success of DVE D and alos during the festival of HOLI in tune with it’s title GULAAL.
Gulaal deals about several plots as love, greed, but mainly talks about STUDENT POLITICS.
The story is set in the background of Rajasthan and the Rajputs, where the general rule of law does not work. It is about the movement which aims at recouping an independent Rajputana state by launching a civil war against the government headed by Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon).

Dilip Singh (Raj Singh Chaudhary) lands in Jaipur to study, where he meets Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon), Rananjay Singh Ransa (Abhimanyu Singh), Anuja (Jesse Randhawa), and Kiran (Ayesha Mohan).

On the request of Dukey Bana, Ransa agrees to contest the college elections for Rajputana party, where he stands opposite Kiran to fight for General Secretary's post. The story takes a violent turn when Ransa is murdered by Karan (Aditya Srivastava), as a result Dilip is forced to contest elections, which incidentally is won by him, thanks to polls rigging. This adds to a bitter taste and embarassment in their rivals, the brother sister duo of Karan & Kiran. They are ready to go down to any extent to take revenge and hence gain the power, no matter Kiran first lures Dileep and makes him fall in love with her. She gains his trust and makes him believes that Deleep is being used by Dukey. Gradually she takes charge as General Secretary and then gets close to Dukey by seducing him. This act of hers makes rejected Dileep frustrated and abusive and the plot becomes more violent.

Anurag Kashyap offers us a riveting first half but he fails to hold the momentum in the second half, where the film looses the sheen and even the story goes awry.
As regards to performances, Kay Kay Menon as usual is in top form and to a certain extent holds the film. Raj Singh Chaudhary though has the talent but somehow does not manage to impress. Ayesha Mohan is just superb. Piyush Mishra & Deepak Dobriyal are excellent. Aditya Srivastav & Jesse Randhawa do not get enough scope to perform. Mahie Gill as a mistress, MUJRA girl once again after DEV d, charms the viewers in a small role.

GULAAL is a dark, violent, intense and thought provoking movie and is interesting in bits and pieces. The dialogues are powerful, but there are lots of expletives used in the film, which could have been avoided. Lyrics by Piyush Mishra are powerful and are worth mentioning.
Overall, film will fare well in multiplexes, but is not recommended for female owing to it’s violent stream and expletives used in the dialogues.
I will give 2.5 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : ZEE Limelight
Released on : March 13, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Social & Drama
Director : Anurag Kashyap
Star Cast :
Kay Kay Menon - Dukey Bana
Raj Singh Chaudhary – Dileep SinghAyesha Mohan – Kiran
Aditya Srivastava - Karan
Piyush Mishra – Prithvi Singh
Deepak Dobriyal - Bhatti

Jessy Randhawa - Anuja

Mahi Gill - Madhuri

Abhimanyu Shekhar Singh - Rananjay Singh
Music on - T-Series
Music - Piyush Mishra
Main Singers - Piyush Mishra, Rekha Bharadwaj, Shilpa Rao, Swanand Kirkire, Rahul Ram
Cinematography - Rajeev Rai
Story : Anurag Kashyap, Aparna Chaturvedi & Raja Chaudhary

DELHI-6 : FILM REVIEW

DELHI-6 REVIEW
Here comes Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s latest offering DELHI-6, riding on the success of his 2006’s Blockbuster RANG DE BASANTI, a film about Indian Youth, their dreams and disillusionments and which has created a revolution.

Thru’ DELHI-6, Director Mehra makes an another attempt but I am afraid will not be successful this time in his latest venture, reasons – loose script with too many sub-plots and lots n lots of messages or lectures.

Well, now coming on to the story, film is about the journey of NRI Roshan (Abhishek Bachchan) who lives is in New York and comes to Delhi, India with his ailing Dadi (Waheeda Rehman), since she wants to see her family home in Old Delhi, in her last days of her life.
Dadi & Roshan are welcomed back home with open heart by their family friend Ali Baig (Rishi Kapoor), who once was madly in love with Roshan's mother Fatima (Tanvi Azmi).
The film is all about the experiences of Roshan in Old Delhi leading to which he decides to stay in India. Initially it’s a cultural shock to him, but gradually he gets charmed by the joint family bonding, food and mixed culture, simplicity of people, Hindu Muslim love hate relations etc. etc.
He then also falls in love with a typical Delhi Girl Bittu (Sonam Kapoor) wanting to become an Indian Idol, she is the daughter of Madan Gopal (Om Puri), , in war with his brother Pawan Malhotra. This is not enough, there is an array of characters as untouchable garbage collector Jalebi (Divya Dutta) always spilling bad words (gaalis), jalebi seller, moneylender Lala Bhairam (Prem Chopra), his wife, photographer, Haji Sulaiman KK Raina, Baba Akhilendra Mishra, Atul Kulkarni, Supriya Pathak, Vijay Raaj as Inspector etc. etc. and to top it all the KAALA BANDAR aka MONKEY MAN. And pardon me, if I missed to mention a few characters.
Now you must be wondering who this Monkeyman is, hope you remember the histrionics of a mysterious Monkey Man some years ago, who played havoc in Delhi. By introducing this Monkeyman plot, it is where Mr. Mehra looses his film’s plot and goes haywire plus the DELHI-6 Ram Lila Committee and a loud Sadhavi, further makes the script messy and confusing.
Hang on there is more in the form of Hindu Muslim riots spark and our Hero Bachchan gets embroiled in the controversy leading to the climax, for which it’s better to watch the movie if you wish to. There are also doubts in the film as regards to the religion of Monkeyman whether he is a Muslim or Hindu ?
The problems in the film are plenty. No. 1 - Rakesh Mehra has tried to lecture so many messages in the film as Hindu Muslim Harmony, joint family culture and bonding, Indian youth opting to stay in India, plus he also portrays both the backwards of India as superstitions, caste/ arranged marriages, as wells as Indian progress vide recently launched Chandrayaan. Hence the film gets too preachy and boring.
No. 2 – Portrayal of lots of characters. No. 3 – Loose Script. Pre-intermission Mehra gets busy in building up and introducing the characters and then post intermission, Kaala Bandar controversy picks up. Even the Ram Lila sequences gets irritating and are too loud. Moreover the Love Story track between Biitu & Roshan is not inspiring and is very weak, barring some sequences, which are currently being aired on TV Promos.

Let’s now come on to the PLUS points, No.1 is the MUSIC by A.R. RAHMAN, which is just superb and outstanding and brings relief to our ears, his creations like “Masakali, Rehna Tu, Genda,n Ye Dilli Hai Mere Yaar, Maula” are just out of the world.

No.2 is the CINEMATOGRAPHY by Binod Pradhan, which is breathtaking and captures the mood of Old Delhi bylanes and it’s surroundings, although most of the sets are recreated in Sambhar, a small Rajasthan town. No.3 is BITTU (SONAM KAPOOR), who is just wonderful and fantastic while portraying a Delhi girl character. She looks simply beautiful and one would easily fall in love with her, the way she speaks “HAINJI”, and her MASAKKALI dance stpes are too good.

Coming on to the performances, unfortunately Abhishek disappoints, he gets lost among so many veteran actors. Sonam surprisingly is top class. Waheeda seen after a long time does justice to her role. Rishi Kapoor and Atul Kulkarni have been wasted in the film. Besides, Om Puri as usual is great, Vijay Raaj and Deepak Dobriyal are natural, Divya Dutta too is worth a praise. Others as Supriya Pathak, KK Raina, Akhilendra Mishra, Tanvi Azmi have played well to their characters. And last but not the least there is a special appearance by BIG B Amitabh Bachchan, in the climax, which unfortunately does not raise the excitement level.

Overall, the film is not up to the mark and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, with whom we had lots of expectation, lets us down this time. Screenplay by Rakesh Mehra, Kamlesh Pandey & Prasoon Joshi is just too loose and lacklustre. Mehra as a Director is OK, but no match to his earlier job in RANG DE BASANTI.

As regards to film’s prospects at Box Office, it will garner a good opening, but I doubt it will sustain later on.

I will give it 2 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : UTV Motion Pictures & Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra Pictures
Released on : February 20, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Drama & Social
Producer : Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra & Ronnie Screwvala
Director : Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra
Star Cast :
Abhishek Bachchan - Roshan
Waheeda Rehman – Dadi
Sonam Kapoor – Bittu
Rishi Kapoor – Ali Baig
Om puri – Madan Gopal
Prem Chopra – Lala Bhairam
Atul Kulkarni - Gobar
Divya Dutta – Jalebi
Tanvi Azmi – Fatima
Supriya Pathak - Vimla
AND Vijay Raaj, Deepak Dobriyal, Akhilendra Mishra, KK Raina, Cyrus Sahukar, Pawan Malhotra, etc.
Music on : T-Series
Music : A.R. Rahman
Main Singers : AR Rahman, Shreya Ghosal, Kailash Kher, Benny Dayal, Mohit Chauhan, Javed Ali, Naresh, Rekha Bharadwaj, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Shraddha Pandit, Karthik, Amitabh Bachchan…
Cinematography : Binod Pradhan
Choreography : Saroj Khan & Vaibhavi Merchant
Story : Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra & Kamlesh Pandey

Screenplay : Rakesh Mehra, Kamlesh Pandey & Prasoon Joshi

Photo Courtesy : "DELHI-6" Official Site

BILLU - FILM REVIEW

REVIEW : BILLU

Finally after the name change controversy BILLU arrives in theatres today and I must say he has not disappointed at all.

BILLU originally titled BILLU BARBER is a remake of Tamil film KUSELAN, starring RAJNIKANTH, which although surprisingly was not a hit as expected. But Priyadarshan has well adapted the film to Hindi fraternity with some beautiful moments of friendship and simplicity. Plus a superb job done by BILLU aka IRRFAN KHAN as title role has done wonders for the film.

BILLU is a very simple film of an ordinary man Billu aka Bilas Rao Pardesi (Irrfan Khan) who is a skilled barber in a small village, but somehow his business is not flourishing. But his life changes once his childhood buddy Sahir Khan (Shah Rukh Khan), who is a film Superstar and arrives in his village for his film shooting.

In their childhood days Billu who is somewhat better-off then and Sahir were close friends sharing their school tiffin. So much so that Billu sells off his gold ear rings so that his friend Sahir can go to Mumbai and fulfill his dreams in filmworld.

Once they are separated, Blllu leads his life in poverty with his wife Bindiya (Lara Dutta) and two children, running his barber shop which is not doing well.

And now when filmstar Sahir is back in his life, it takes a U-turn, when villagers come to know about their old friendship, now everybody in the village like Rajpal Yadav (a poet), Om Puri (money lender), Rasika Joshi (School Principal) etc. expects favour from Billu. But on the contrary Billu is bit hesitant and feels embarrassed to use his friendship for his village folks and himself, inspite of whole village threatening to boycott him.

Nowadays Bollywood is focusing on simple man’s life, be it A WEDNESDAY, RAB NE BANA DI JODI, MUMBAI MERI JAAN, SINGH IS KINNG and surprisingly all such films are doing well, seems they easily connect with real life ordinary man’s character.

BILLU is a beautiful simple film well directed by Priyadarshan depicting the similarity between poor Sudama and Lord Krishna fable. Infact, BILLU can be termed as one of his finest jobs much above is silly loud run-of-the mill comedies, being churned out from him every now and then. Direction is well supported by tight Screenplay from Mushtaq Shiekh and Priyadarshan.

As far as performances are considered Irrfan Khan as usual is fantastic and simply slips into the character of a poor barber, wonder if anybody else could have carried it off so superbly. Lara Dutta surprisingly fits well into a deglamourised village belle character. Shah Rukh Khan and his item songs with Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone and, Kareena Kapoor add glamour and Star Value to the film. Not only this, credit should be given to SRK the producer in the sense that he does not overshadow Irrfan Khan who plays the main lead in the film and moreover SRK as an actor excels in the Climax of the film, which is brilliant.

Music by Pritam is situational and gells well with the film, especially “Mar Jani” with Kareena Kapoor. Photogaraphy is superb, well capturing the beautiful locales of Kerala Village.

Overall, BILLU is a sweet, simple and a beautiful film depicting simplicity and a tale of friendship in a simple heartwarming way.
It has opened up very well throughout the country, let’s see how it copes up after the first week.

I will give 3 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : Red Chillies Entertainment
Released on : February 13, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Drama & Social
Producer : Gauri Khan
Director : Priyadarshan
Star Cast :
Shahrukh Khan - Sahir Khan
Irrfan Khan - Bilas Rao PardesiLara Dutta – Bindiya
Om Puri – Damchand
Rajpal Yadav – Jhallan Prasad
Rasika Joshi - Gahlot
SPECIAL APPEARANCES : Kareena Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone
Music on : T-Series
Music : Pritam
Main Singers : Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Neeraj Shridhar, KK, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Abhijeet, Tulsi Kumar, Dominique, Monali, Rana Majumdar, Soham
Cinematography : V. Manikanandan
Choreography : Farah Khan, Prasanna & Pony Verma
Story : Shrinivasan & Kanika Dhillon
Screenplay : Mushtaq Sheikh & Priyadarshan

LUCK BY CHANCE - REVIEW

REVIEW – LUCK BY CHANCE
Here comes another movie this week on India’s another favourite passion i.e, BOLLYWOOD, in competition with VICTORY based on other Passion CRICKET.

LUCK BY CHANCE is directed by Debutante JOYA AKHTAR, daughter of legendry Javed Akhtar and sister of ROCK ON star Farhan Akhtar. The film showcases the ins & outs of our Indian Film Industry (Bollywood), how it works, it pluses, it’s minuses, strugglers, backstage scenes and intricacies, manipulations, exploitations etc. etc.

LUCK BY CHANCE is all about the story of Vikram (Farhan Akhtar), who hails from Delhi and shifts to Mumbai with dream of making it big in Bollywood. On way to his path of struggle, he comes across Sona (Konkona Sen Sharma), who also lands in Mumbai to become a star in film industry. Gradually they both fall in love.

Now enters is Rolly (Rishi Kapoor), a superstitious producer, who gets in trouble when Super Star Zaffer Khan (Hrithik Roshan) drives him mad by opting out of his dream film, in which he is launching Niki (Isha Sharwani), daughter of yesteryear superstar Neena (Dimple Kapadia).
As luck would be, Rolly decides to cast a newcomer and the role falls in the lap of Vikram. During his shooting stint, both Vikram and Niki gets attracted towards each other, thus drawing him away from Sona. Finally what Vikram gets – Sona, Niki or Stardom, for this you better go and watch the film on Big Screen.

Now coming on to the performances, Konkona Sen Sharma, as usual is brilliant and natural. Farhan as really evolved after ROCK ON and here also, he carries on his good work ahead with a superb performance. Hrithik Roshan as Superstar is unbelievable. Rishi Kapoor once again shows sparks of his talent, followed by Dimple Kapadia. Shah Rukh Khan in a small role leaves an impact.

Zoya Akhtar has done a wonderful job as a Director and as well as writer with some interesting sequences, though the script is bit predictable, but she still manages to show her talent and has fully utilized his filmy background to the fullest. Dialogues by Javed Akhtar are worth mentioning. Though music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio is not up to the mark, he delivers another mediocre piece after Chandni Chowk To China.

Overall, LUCK BY CHANCE is a good film, high above average, but I doubt it will make big on Box Office, it’s a film for film lovers, with some good performances.

TITLES

Banner : Big Pictures, Excel Entertainment
Released On : January 30, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Drama
Producer : Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, Zoya Akhtar
Director : Zoya Akhtar
Star Cast :

Rishi Kapoor - Rommy Rolly

Farhan Akhtar - Vikram Jaisingh

Konkona Sen Sharma - Sona Mishra

Dimple Kapadia - Neena Walia

Juhi Chawla - Minty Rolly

Isha Sharwani - Nikki Walia

Sanjay Kapoor - Ranjit Rolly

Hrithik Roshan - Zaffar Khan

Aly Khan - Chaudhary

Saurabh Shukla - Asst. director

GUEST APPEARANCES BY - Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, Karan Johar, Vivek Oberoi

Music on : Big Music
Singers : Shankar Mahadevan, Loy Mendonca, Sunidhi Chauhan, Ila Arun, Mahalakshmi Iyer, Mumay Khan, Babu Khan, Manzoor Khan, Rajab Khan, & Amit Paul

Lyrics & Dialogues : Javed Akhtar
Music By : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Cinematography : Carlos Catalan
Choreography : Vaibhavi Merchant, Megha Narkar & Rajiv Surti

Story / Writer : Zoya Akhtar

VICTORY REVIEW

REVIEW - VICTORY
In India, game of Cricket is a passion, obsession & to some extent religion, besides FILMS. Every 2nd person either wants to be in Indian team or in Film world. Even my young son of 12 years is a big fan of cricket and he dreams to be in Indian Cricket Team.

VICTORY is one such film based on the story of a middle class family hailing from Jaisalmer, headed by father Ram (Anupam Kher), who dreams of his son Vijay Shekhawat (Harman S Baweja) representing the Indian Cricket Team. Their hard work and dedication pays off and Vijay becomes the Indian team batting sensation.

But there is a twist to the tale, as Vijay is unable to digest superstardom and falls to the glamour, money and advertisement world, so much so that his attention gets diverted from Cricket, as a result his form dips miserably thereby leading to his ouster from Indian Cricket Eleven. This leads to displeasure among his fans, but the turning moment comes when his father suffers a paralytic stroke.
This tragedy opens Vijay’s eyes and he determines to redeem his honour and once again makes a comeback in the team and gets tom play against Australia in the Champion’s Trophy Finals. And as predicted, plays a key role in winning the Finals for India, his father and his fans. In between there are some twists and turns, when Vijay is injured in between and gets hospitalized. And when India are on the verge of losing, our Hero returns to bat, inspite of his injury and pulls of an incredible VICTORY.

The problem with the film is it’s loose and predictable Story and Screenplay, which matches no way to the earlier legendry films based on Cricket - LAGAAN and IQBAL.

First half is bit dull, but 2nd half and Climax make up for the poor 1st half.

Ajitpal Mangat makes a promising debut as Director, but the script lets him down.

However some excitement and eagerness will be there in the form of bunch of true life Cricketers’ presence as – Brett Lee, Stuart Clarke, Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin, Brad Hogg, Simon Katich, Allan Border, Dean Jones, Muralitharan, Jayasuriya, Vaas, Maharoof, Fernando, Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Graeme Smith, Morkel Brothers, Andre Nel, Harbhajan Singh, Yousuf Pathan, Praveen Kumar, R.P. Singh, Ashish Nehra, Ramesh Pawar, Dinesh Karthick etc.

As regards to performance, veteran Anupam Kher as expected once again excels as a father. Surprisingly Harman S. Baweja impresses, he really has worked hard and looks like a cricketer, his body language, confidence, expressions seem perfect and he seems to be a right choice to play the lead role. One can’t fail to draw similarities between Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and his character in the film.
Gulshan Grover ovceracts. Amrita Rao has nothing much to do but does justice to the role of a simple middle class girl.

Music bu Anu Malik is so so, Songs like – Money Money and Balla Utha look good in the film. However Cinematography by Vikas Shivraman is just superb and worth praising.

Overall, VICTORY is a an average film and can be seen once for time pass.

TITLES
Banner : Walkwater Media & Victory Moving Pictures
Producer : Manmohan Shetty & Ajitpal Mangat
Released On : January 30, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Sports
Director : Ajitpal Mangat
Star Cast :
Anupam Kher - Ram Shekhawat, Harman Baweja - Vijay Shekhawat, Amrita Rao - Nandini, Gulshan Grover - Andy Singh, Dalip Tahil - Dilip Malhotra &
Scores of Real Cricket Stars.
Music on : T-Series
Music By : Anu Malik
Singers : Sonu Nigam, Sukhwinder Singh, Suresh Wadekar, Shaan, KK, Kailash Kher, Daler Mehndi, Anushka Manchanda, Krishna, Sudesh Bhosle, Mahalaxmi Iyer,
Cinematography : Vikas Shivraman
Choreography : Ganesh Acharya and Remo
Story : Ajitpal Mangat & Kanna Iyer

RAAZ – THE MYSTERY CONTINUES : FILM REVIEW

REVIEW : RAAZ – THE MYSTERY CONTINUES

VISHESH Films (Mahesh & Mukesh Bhatt) are back again after seven years to recreate the success of their Super Hit Thriller RAAZ starring Bipasha Basu. Though their new film is not a sequel, but the ingredients are same as the earlier RAAZ, same spooky affair, scary moments, chill factor, good music etc.

The Story is about a successful psychic Painter Prithvi (Emraan Hashmi), who paints death on his canvas. He begins having disturbing visions and one of his paintings shows a woman whose life is in danger. He becomes disturbed and manages to trace down the lady Nandita (Kangana Ranaut). When he warns her about her death Nandita refuse to buy her theory, but when she starts facing the incidents shown in the paintings, she has no options left but to believe Prithvi. And when her death is predicted in one of his paintings, she gears up and starts her journey to unravel the scary mystery with his help, which also forces her to stay away from her boyfriend Yash (Adhyayan Suman).

What happens next and What is the secret ???? For this you better watch the movie..

Director Mohit Suri has once again done a wonderful job and has rightly built up the atmosphere and horror which is the most important factor in this genre. He is ably backed-up by well written script, tight screenplay, perfect casting, gripping cinematography, some fine performances and good music. What else you need in a movie ?

About performances, Emraan has once again come up with a brilliant performance, he really is unpredictable and is well matched-up by equally competitive Kangana Raut. Newcomer Adhyayan surprisingly has shown a strong potential and is confident. Jackie in a small role is okay.

Overall, this ghost story is upto the expectations with all the scary moment, chills and thrills. The first half starts off well with even more interesting 2nd half, though the climax could have been a far better and is less convincing. The pace of the movie is perfect for a horror genre. Some scenes are worth mentioning as – Kangana transformation into abusive man, ATM & Bath tub sequence, Bulls attacking Kangana & Emraan etc. are superb.

To sum up, the movie is worth a watch and will turn out to be a winner for Bhatts at the Box office. Go and enjoy the long weekend.

Photo Courtesy : RAAZ – The Mystery Continues official site

TITLES
Banner : Vishesh Films/ Sony BMG
Released on : January 23, 2009
Language : Hindi
Genre : Horror & Thriller
Producer : Mukesh Bhatt
Director : Mohit Suri
Star Cast :
Emraan Hashmi - Prithvi
Kangana Ranaut - Nandini
Adhyayan Suman – Yash

Music on : Sony Music
Music by : Raju Singh, Toshi, Sharib Sabri, Gourov Dasgupta
Singers : Sonu Nigam, KK, Shreya Ghosal, Toshi, Neeraj Shridhar, Krishna, DJ Suketu
Cinematography : Ravj Walia
Story & Screenplay : Shagufta Rafique

CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA - FILM REVIEW

REVIEW : CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA

So here comes the first biggie of the New Year 2009, much awaited CHANDNI CHOWK TO CHINA (CC2C). Akshay Kumar during all his promotional visits has rightly urged his fans to leave their brains at home while watching his movie.

Rightly said Akshay, although you have once again give your best in the film, but director Nikhil Advani and story writers lets us down. In trying to make a Masala film, he has ended up in making a mess or I will say KHICHDI, with no taste. Although the film has everything right from comedy to action to drama, but when I came out of the theatre, I was not satisfied, something was missing, which I felt in Akshay’s last film SINGH IS KINNG also, that’s an another story that it was a big hit.

Coming on to story, film is all about Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) who makes his earnings by cutting vegetables in a Dhaba based in Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi. He instead of working hard believes in short cuts, roadside astrologers, which becomes a worry for his Dada (Mithun Chakraborty), who is like a father to him.

A twist in Film takes him to China, where he lands up in a village run by brutal smuggler Hojo [Gordon Liu]. On his way he meets Sakhi (Deepika Padukone), who is going to China to pay homage her dead father, and also meet her twin Meow (Deepika in Double Role). Again the story leads to Hojo killing Dada and now we are left up to watch Akshay taking revenge with Hojo, usual Bollywood style. He learns us Kung Fu and Martial arts with some thrilling training sequences in the 2nd half of the film. Also, sequences of GREAT WALL OF CHINA are well captured.

As far as action is considered, kids may like the martial arts, but the problem is that they have been so much brought up on Jackie Chan movies that the action in CC2C may not excite them. Also we are also so used to Akshay sense of comedy and his comic expressions that even in serious scenes, we can’t stop laughing. Moreover, humour in action sequences spoils the fun and thrill.

The music of the film is disappointing with no soft hummable song in it. As far as direction is considered, Nikhil Advani has miserable failed us after his good show in Kal Ho Na Ho and Salaam-E-Ishq. He had everything with him to show to audience, Akshay’s comedy, Kung Fu action, big banner, but somehow fails to do justice and ends up in a mess. The story and script is pathetic and senseless.

Hats off to Akshay to carry the film on his shoulders all alone. The film will surely take a big opening courtesy Akshay, lets see how it fares in the weeks to follow.

Deepika has done justice to her roles, Mithun & Ranvir are wasted in the film.

It’s a big surprise how Gordon Liu agreed to do this film, may be due to Warner Bros, who has for the first time taken a dip in a Bollywood Production.

Overall, despite all the big names behind him, i.e. Akshay, Warner Bros, Ramesh Sippy, Gordon Liu etc., Nikhil Advani has served a terrible Chinese cum Bollywood Masala, which is not upto the expectations.

Let’s wish that film does well and relieves pressure on Akshay’s shoulders, which were burdened by the success of SRK’s RAB NE BAN DI JODI & Aaamir’s GHAJINI.

Photo Courtesy : CC2C official site

TITLES
Banner : Warner Bros, R S Entertainment, Orion Pictures
Released on : January 16, 2008
Language : Hindi
Genre : Action & Comedy
Producer : Ramesh Sippy, Rohan Sippy & Mukesh Talreja
Director : Nikhil Advani
Star Cast :
Akshay Kumar - Siddhu Sharma
Deepika Padukone - Sakhi & Meow
Mithun Chakraborty – Dada
Ranvir Shorey – Chopstick
Gordon Liu - Hojo
Roger Yuan – Chiang (Deepika’s father)
Music on : T-Series
Music by : Shankar Mahadevan, Bappi Lahiri, Bappa Lahri, Loy Mendonca, Kailash Kher, Ehsaan Noorani, Bohemia, Paresh, Naresh
Singers : Shankar Mahadevan, Shreya Ghosal, Kailash Kher, Neeraj Shridhar, Bappi Lahiri, Anushka Manchandani, Ravi Khanwilkar, Akshay Kumar & Bohemia
Cinematography : Himman Dhamija & V Manikanandan
Choreography : Pony Verma
Story : Sridhar Raghavan & Rajat Arora

GHAJINI - REVIEW

REVIEW : GHAJINI

Aamir Khan’s much awaited and hyped and highly promoted film 'GHAJINI' has finally arrived and I must say that it has lived upto the expectations. As written in my earlier blog, it has broken all the records in the Bollywood film industry, with cent percent opening i.e. 100%, even surpassing Akshay Kumar’s “SINGH IS KINNG”, which had a 90% opening and 3 times more than SRK’s “RAB NE BANA DI JODI”. It was released worldwide with staggering 1450 prints, 1200 in India & 250 overseas.

I would term GHAJINI, in few words a POWERFUL REVENGE saga, with a SPELLBINDING Script and a GRIPPING direction by A.R. Murugadoss, and to top it all FIRST CLASS MESMERISING performance by AAMIR KHAN.

About the story, Sanjay Singhania (Aamir Khan) suffers with acute short term memory (he can recall events only for 15 minutes), which triggered off due to the murder of his due to his girlfriend Kalpana (Asin). He sets off painstakingly to take revenge inspite of his handicap, he has a Polaroid Camera as his helping tool, by which he takes the photograph of any piece of hint and gets it tattooed on his body, so as to remember his grief, and strengthen his anger & will power to take revenge whenever he sees them. Dr. Sunita (Jiah Khan) also helps him in his quest. Well I won’t reveal more in the sense it will kill all the suspense and thrill, best is to go and watch the film in the theatre and get charmed by Aamir’s histrionics. Also, you will get to know who is GHAJINI, since Aamir plays Sanjay Singhania in the film.

Coming on to the performances, Aamir, as usual has delivered a world-class top notch riveted memorable performance, in fact I would rate as one of the best rather his BEST act of Aamir’s career. It also justifies the fact that when Aamir saw the original Tamil version of Ghajini and when he was offered to play the lead role, he himself was surprised and wondered whether he will pull-off such a strong, violent character. No wonder, he worked hard foe several months to build-up his 8-pack body. Also, Aamir has very few dialogues to speak in the film, what speaks is his eyes, his facial expressions and his body language. Especially the scenes where he depicts his pain of not remembering anything. He has carried off both his characters of a business moghul and that of a revengeful, brutal one with élan.

Asin, who is already a hit in South Indian film industry has made a sparkling debut in Bollywood and seems to throw a challenge for other top heroines. She has a photogenic and a fresh new look. Jiah Khan also impresses and does justice to her role. But the surprise packet is the villain portrayed by Pradeep Rawat, a surprise choice.

About the direction, Director A.R. Murugadoss has done a remarkable job, especially the treatment and the way he has presented the film, especially the action scenes depicting VIOLENCE are out of the world. The story and script as written earlier, is gripping, exciting, stimulating and fast paced and leaves you guessing with it’s twists. Yes, we can say the film is violent and is a strict no-no for the kids.

About the Music, A.R. Rehman is bit different, but is a winner once again and yes his music is certainly better than his recent works – Jodhaa Akbar, Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na & Yuvvraaj. Two of the songs - 'Guzarish' & 'Behka' are already on top of the charts.

Overall, GHAJINI is a BLOCKBUSTER and will be a SUPER DUPER HIT. Go and enjoy it in the Christmas & NEW YEAR vacations.

Photo Courtesy : Ghajini official site

TITLES
Release Date : December 24, 2008
Language : Hindi
Genre : Action Thriller
Producer : Allu Arvind & Madhu Varma
Director : A.R. Murugadoss
Star Cast :
Aamir Khan - Sanjay Singhania
Asin - Kalpana
Jiah Khan - SunitaPradep Rawat – ???
Music on : T-Series
Music by : A.R. Rehman
Singers : Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghosal, Javed Ali, Beni Dayal, Suzanne D’Mello, Karthik & Pravin Mani
Cinematography : Ravi K. Chandran
Choreography : Ahmed Khan
Story & Screenplay : A.R. Murugadoss

"RAB NE BANA DI JODI" REVIEW

REVIEW : RAB NE BANA DI JODI

It seems that finally RAB (GOD) has listened to the prayers of YASH RAJ FILMS (YRF), whose continuous stretch of FLOP FILMS, seems to break, courtesy the presence of SHAH RUKH KHAN in their new film “RAB NE BANA DI JODI”, after their successful association in YRF’s last film “CHAK DE INDIA”.

The DUO of ADITYA CHOPRA & SRK which brought blockbusters like “DILWAALE DULHANIA LE JAAYENGE & MOHABATTEIN” has done it again with “RAB NE BANA DI JODI” and seems to have resulted into a successful comeback of Aditya Chopra as Director.

And one more surprise, RNBDJ, unlike other good looking YRF Films is not shot in YASH CHOPRA’s hot favourite SWITZERLAND locales, does not showcase sprawling BUNGALOWS, LATEST FASHION TRENDS etc., rather it’s a simple story (set up in a Indian city of Amritsar) of a simple next door ordinary honest person Surinder Sahni, who can easily be spotted around us in our daily life.

SRK plays Surinder Sahni, who lives in the crowded by-lanes of Amritsar and works for Punjab Power. His life undergoes a complete spin around when he sees a lively bubbly girl Taani played by debutante young ANUSHKA SHARMA.

Circumstances lead to the marriage of Surinder & Taani, on the condition put by Taani that she will try to be a good wife, but will never be able to love him. Surinder immediately accepts the deal, thinking what better he can deserve in his life for an ordinary person like him.

The film takes a twist when Taani wishes to participate in a Dance Competition and our simple Surinder gets himself a complete makeover (removing his moustache with flashy goggles, hip hop clothes etc.) with the help of his friend flamboyant Bobby (Vinay Pathak) and turns himself into Raj Kapoor and becomes a dance partner of Taani in the competition.

But the shocking fact is that Taani being a housewife is not able to recognize and differentiate between Surinder and Raj. This is rather difficult to digest and which is one of the main flaw in the script.

Still for it’s flaws, the film is very much watchable and enjoyable, courtesy King Khan, who as a nerd introvert Surinder Sahni has given a magical performance, backed-up by the accent, get-up with moustache, pleated trousers, very much like an ordinary man hailing from a small town.

His character is a proper mix of emotions, romance and simplicity which he carries with élan. SRK has always surprised us with the variety of performances he has given in YRF BANNER films such as DDLJ, DARR, MOHABATTEIN, CHAK DE INDIA and now RNBDJ.

Anushka, for her first film has shown lots of confidence and she should be given credit to match up and face a star of SRK status. Vinay Pathak as usual has given an incredible lively performance.

Film is interesting in pieces such as a cute dream sequence paying tribute to old filmstars and their songs. Then the pre-climax where Taani is ready to run away with Raj and finally the climax leading to the dance competition finale and the end credits showing the honeymoon of Sahni couple in Japan is excellent.

Aditya Chopra let downs with the loose story and screenplay, with interesting and gripping first 30 minutes and climax. Also, the music by Salim-Sulaiman is no match as compared to his earlier films, except for 2 songs – DANCE PE CHANCE and HAULE HAULE.

Overall, RNBDJ is a simple film which however does not live upto the expectation of Aditya Chopra’s caliber and also is no match to DDLJ & MOHABATTEIN. But for SRK’s wonderful performance and Anushka’s debut it is still enjoyable and cannot be ignored. It has opened up very well throughout the country and overseas as well, the challenge is whether the box office collections sustains after the first week.

I will give 2.5 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : YASH RAJ FILMS
Released on : December 12, 2008
Language : Hindi
Genre : Romance & Musical
Producer : Yash Chopra & Aditya Chopra
Director : Aditya Chopra
Star Cast :
Shahrukh Khan - Surinder Sahni
Anushka Sharma - Taani

Vinay Pathak – Bobby
SPECIAL APPEARANCES : Kajol, Preity Zinta, Rani Mukherjee, Priyanka Chopra
Music on : YRF Music
Music : Salim-Sulaiman
Singers : Sukhwinder Singh, Sonu Nigam, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghosa, Roop Kumar Rathod, Labh Jajua
Cinematography : Ravi K. Chandran
Choreography : Vaibhavi Merchant & Shiamak Dawar
Story, Screenplay & Dialogue : Aditya Chopra

"MEERABAI NOT OUT" FILM REVIEW

FILM REVIEW :
MEERABAI NOT OUT

The film was supposed to be released earlier during the Cricket World Cup, but since India fared badly, it was postponed. According to film leading lady, Mandira Bedi, many films have been made on sports like LAGAAN, GOAL, CHAK DE INDIA, but very few films have been made on SPORTS FANS, and MEERABAI NOT OUT is once such simple film about a die hard cricket fan of cricketer Anil Kumble, to such an extent that she misses her engagement while watching a cricket match, which goes over the top and looks unbelievable, but anything is possible in films.

Story revolves around Mandira Bedi, who is a typical middle class deglamorised be-spectacled Maharashtrian (Shivaji Park) lady Meera Achrekar with spectacles. She, is a Mathematcis teacher who teaches Maths using Cricket Statistics and is a cricket fanatic, with madly in love with cricketer Anil Kumble. She is a favourite among her students and even other teachers are jealous of her and make fun of hers. Mahesh Manjrekar, to be seen after a long time, plays her brother and Vandana Gupte her mother. Her family wants her to get married, since she is becoming old but cricket is her only passion.

Film male lead is Dr. Arjun Awasthi (Eijaz Khan), who falls in love with Meera Acharekar. Soon she is transformed, with contact lenses replacing her glasses and also behnji type oily hairstyle gets converted into hip hop trendy one. But

She is soon converted to contact lenses and trendy hairstyle, but her passion for cricket remains same. Meera and Arjun are soon to get married, but her madness for cricket lands her into trouble, when she fails to turn up on her engagement day, while watching a cricket match, can you believe it. You will have to and hence she becomes an eye sore for her to be father-in-law Mr. Awasthi (Anupam Kher).

Rest is how their problem gets solved…

I liked the 1st half of the film which is good and interesting. Plus some funny scenes make you laugh like Anil Kumble getting hiccups everytime Meera remembers him and the cricket match between her brother & boyfriend. And also the scene in which Meera is compared to Mandira Bedi. But the film lets you down in it’s 2nd half, where it becomes a bit overstretched and drags.

About the performances, Mandira Bedi has done a good job with some lively expressions. But the viewers will miss her noodle straps blouses which brought her to limelight during World Cup commentary on TV. Eijaz Khan is OK, but not a hero material; good for a supporting actor. Mahesh Manjrekar and Anupam Kher are good too and do justice to their roles. But Vandana Gupte as Mandira’s mother has done a wonderful job. Anil Kumble is so so, but adds to the film

Director Chandrakant Kulkarni, from theatre and Marathi films has perfectly depicted the middle-class Maharashtrian environment. But the script is suitable for a TV sitcom series, but not good enough for a full length 2 hour feature film.

There is nothing to talk about the Music of the film, except for the sole promotional track in the start of the film.

Well, some films are not fit for big screens, they look better while watching them on your television set, in the comforts of your living room and MEERABAI NOT OUT is one such film, so guys wait for the DVD to come.

One can well foretell the film’s fate, and the testimony to this is that there were around 20 people in the first day first show which I watched, with some young couple, who understandably were more interested in their usual activities, rather than the film.

I will give 1 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : Pritish Nandy Communications
Producer : Rangita Pritish Nandy, Pritish Nandy
Executive Producer / Co-Producer : Bobbie Ghosh
Released on : December 5, 2008
Language : Hindi
Genre : Sports
Director : Chandrakant Kulkarni

Star Cast :

Anupam Kher - Dr. Awasthi
Mandira Bedi - Meera Achrekar

Eijaz Khan - Arjun Awasthi

Mahesh Manjrekar - Manoj Anant Achrekar

Vandana Gupte - Meera'a Mother

Prateeksha Lonkar - Neelima

Anil Kumble & Charu Sharma

Music on : Sony Music
Singers : Sukhwinder Singh, Shaan, Sandesh Shandilya, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kunal Ganjawala, Neeraj Shridhar, Vijay Prakash, Neha Kakkad

Music Director : Sandesh Shandilya
Cinematography : Rajeev Jain
Choreography : Piyush Panchal, Sonia Jhaffar, Ravi Botalje
Screenplay & Story : Soumik Sen

DIL KABADDI - REVIEW

BOLLYWOOD MOVIE REVIEW

DIL KABADDI

Take a closer look to see what’s happening behind the doors. That’s the tag line in the film’s site http://www.dilkabaddi.com/ and which sums up the mood of the film.

Well, it seams that Bollywood is changing fast as far as adult themes are considered. Now everybody is talking about the 3-letter word SEX in open, which till few days back was a strict NO-NO.

DIL KABADDI, directed by debutante Director Anil Senior is a film about 2 couples and their bedroom happenings, their sex talks etc. It deals with the lives of young couples – Rahul Bose (Rishi) & Konkona Sen Sharma (Simi) and Irfan Khan (Samit) & Sohal Ali Khan (Mita), who are bored with their married lives and are looking for something exciting to spice up their lives. The story is all about how they all keep on experimenting to add vigour and fun to their relations.

Rishi is infatuated by his student Saba (Raga), Payal Rohtagi as Kaya comes in between Samit & Mita. Rahul Khanna as VEER has a sting with Mita, while Simi is attracted to Veer.

The film spurs up in bits and pieces, lacks the continuity because of it’s script. Chemistry and some scenes between Rahul Bose & Konkona Sen Sharma are superb.

Performance wise, Irrfan Khan is fanatastic, Rahul Bose & Konkona as usual natural and brilliant, Soha has surprisingly done a good job. And Rahul Khanna is also not left behind and is first class.
Music is situational & OK, once you move out of the theatre you forget the songs. However, photography is remarkable with some smart hand-held camerawork. .

On the whole, the film has no such script and instead is an assortment of various scenes, sequences and incidents, more inspired by Hollywood style. With it’s bold theme where SEX word is openly discussed, it caters to more of a city and multiplex audience and is unlikely to make money.

I would recommend the viewers to wait for the DVD to come, instead of going out and watching in theatres.

I give 2 out of 5.

TITLES :
Banner : Studio 18, Paramhans Creations and Movies N More Pvt. Ltd.
Released on : December 5, 2008
Language : Hindi
Genre : Sex Comedy
Producer : Shailesh R Singh
Director : Anil Senior
Star Cast :
Rahul Bose - Rishi
Konkona Sen Sharma - Simi

Irrfan Khan - Samit

Soha Ali Khan - Mita
Rahul Khanna - Veer

Payal Rohatgi - Kaya

Saba - Raga
Music on : Sony Music
Singers : Mika Singh, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Sachin Gupta, Jaspreet Singh, Aditya Jassi, Monali Poroma
Music Director : Sachin Gupta & Dhruv Dhalla

MAHARATHI REVIEW

REVIEW : MAHARATHI

Now that’s a good news that some of the Bollywood makers are not straightaway inspired by Hollywood films, instead MAHARATHI is an adaptation of old Gujarati play which was a grand success around 20 years back and which was directed by Paresh Rawal and was first staged in 1987 and had had 700 successful shows.

Paresh had a dream of making a movie on this play, which finally has been fulfilled thru’ MAHARATHI. It is e film is a comic thriller and has has an interesting star cast with stalwarts like Naseeruddin Shah, Presh Rawal, Om Puri and Boman Irani (can u believe all the 4 in one package) supported by Neha Dhupia & Tara Sharma.

Story goes like this –
Subhash (PARESH RAWAL) has been unsuccessfully trying to get acting roles in the films for the last 10 years and hence makes his living by committing petty crimes. NASSERUDIN SHAH plays a role of Mr. Adenwalla, a has-been film Director and who ends up marrying wannabe actress Mallika (NEHA DHUPIA). He wastes most of his time in drinking and raging and complaining.

One night he is saved by Subhash, who helps him to his lavish house. Subhash gets shocked to see the grandeur and affluence of Mr. Adenwalla (NASSERUDIN SHAH) and sees an opportunity to make some money. He hence forth becomes the most trusted aide of Adenwalla and is hired as his driver, much to the discomfort of his wife Mallika Adenwalla (NEHA DHUPIA), who leaves no chance of insulting Subhash, since she is suspicious of Subhash taking advantage of her husband’s wealth.

Subhash who has now firmly cemented his place in Adenwallas’ house and heart senses his wife’s evil designs. On the contrary, Adenwalla, driven to the point of madness by his money hungry wife decides to take the ultimate revenge and commits suicide, thus leaving his wife in a catch 22 situation. It’s now when the film starts and becomes exciting.

Subhash grabs this situation as a life time opportunity to get rid him-self of middle class life and poverty and collaborates with Mallika to acquire all the money and property. It is now the that the web of deciet, greed, double-cross and treachery starts building thereby entangling all the characters of the film, including the support of their caretaker (TARA SHARMA) and their family lawyer (BOMAN IRANI). The allure and attraction is in the form of Rs.4 Crore insurance cover, which is a binding thread to all these players.

The guessing game starts with change of loyalties, double-crossing, false alibis, kidnapping, twists & turns etc. i.e. whatever it takes in the world of crime. Till their plans go haywire when ACP Gokhale (OM PURI) and Inspector Borkar (VIVEK SHAUQ) comes into their way. How Subhash gets out of this and manges to save his skin then forms the climax of the film.
The film is nail biting but it takes some time to build-up the excitement of 2nd Half. Also, the script is bit loose, with the film failing to give the valid reason for Naseer’s suicide. Infact he could have killed his wife instead.

But overall, film keeps you on the edge of seat, with some well crafted & engaging sequences, keeping the curiosity level, which essentially is a crux and crust of a THRILLER. But still the script & screenplay leaves a bit more desiring.

As regards to the performance, needless to talk about you have when 4 stalwarts – Naseer, Paresh, Boman & Om Puri, served together for you and it is only for this reason that one should go and watch the film. Surprise is being thrown by Neha Dhupia who manages to stand tall among Fab 4 and seems to be improving with every film of hers.

Director Shivam Nair has done a good job with the script given to him. Cinematography is first class. No place for songs in the film, which is an intelligent move.

To conclude, I would recommend the viewers to watch the film for it’s thriller content and top-notch performance. At least i liked the film
I will give 3 out of 5.

TITLES
Banner : Shree Ashtavinayak Cinevision Ltd
Released on : December 5, 2008
Language : Hindi
Genre : Thriller
Producer : Dhillin Mehta
Director : Shivam Nair
Star Cast :
Naseruddin Shah - Jaisingh Adenwalla
Neha Dhupia - Mallika Adenwalla

Om Puri - ACP Gokhale

Paresh Rawal - Subhash

Boman Irani - AD Merchant

Tara Sharma - Swati

Vivek Shauq - Borkar
Cinematography : Venu Isc
Story, Screenplay & Dialogue : Uttam Gada

"OYE LUCKY LUCKY OYE" FILM REVIEW

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REVIEW : OYE LUCKY ! LUCKY OYE !

Here comes Dibakar Banerjee’s 2nd film after his successful “KHOSLA KA GHOSLA”.

OYE LUCKY ! LUCKY OYE ! plot reminds you of Abhishek -Rani Mukherjee starrer BUNTY AUR BABLI, released couple of years ago, a film about 2 young thieves.

The film is about a boy grown up in a lower middle class family living in dingy Delhi lanes, with electric wires shown tangling with each other in the sky, a typical Chandni Chowk setting of Old Delhi. Starting his first crime by stealing Greeting Cards, he goes on to become a full-fledged thief, who literally picks up everything which comes in his way such as Dry Fruits, Music systems, cars, scooters, crockery, furniture, even a dog so on and on.

The film picks up tracing the journey of a Sikh boy Lucky Singh (Abhay Deol), his first teenage crush, relationship with his father & friends etc etc. Here some scenes are interesting, but when Lucky goes on to become a thief, the film becomes bit repetitive, showing his crimes one by one. His love interest is played by Sonal (Neetu Chandra) of “Traffic Signal & Garam Masala” fame.

The problem with the film is one track script and it’s Delhi flavour & dialect, which will only be popular in Northern part of India and hence will not be well accepted by rest of India, especially the SOUTHERN part of country.

But still one can’t write down and ignore Dibakar Banerjee, he has something in him, specially his natural and authentic style of filming which was visible in “KHOSLA KA GHOSLA”. Here also, the way in which he has filmed Delhi i.e. the body language, their dialect, the setting of middle class working Delhiites is just superb.

Now coming on to the performance, Paresh Rawal, as usual is excellent and here he plays not one not two a TRIPLE role, which is a feast for his fans. His all the roles are totally different from each other and he excels in all.

Abhay Deol is one actor, who is improving gradually film by film, here also impresses with his performance. His choice of films is varied and interesting unlikely his cousins Bobby and Sunny Deol.
Neetu Chandra has not much to perform and has been outshone by Paresh Rawal & Abhay Deol.
About the music, nothing much to say, it is bit loud but goes well with the film’s setting.
Overall, the film can be seen once, specially for Lucky Singh’s unique style of CHORIS (Thefts) and Paresh Rawal’s histrionics.
I will give 2 out of 5.

Producer : Ronnie Screwvala, UTV Motion Pictures
Director : Dibakar Banerjee
Star Cast :
Paresh Rawal – Lucky’s Father / Gogi Bhai / Dr. Handa
Abhay Deol - Lucky, Neetu Chandra - Sonal, Archana Puran Singh - Mrs. Handa, Manu Rishi - Bangali
Music on : T-Series
Singers : Mika Singh, Himani Kapoor, Rajbir, Des Raj Lakhani, Dilbahar, Brijesh Shandilya
Music Director : Sneha Khanwalkar
Cinematography : Kartik Vijay
Screenplay & Story : Dibakar Banerjee & Urmi Juvekar