It's a proven fact by now that Akshay Kumar in a comedy is the safest bet for an audience. It's always been a paisa wasool affair so far and this time also Akshay doesn't disappoint his fans. There is bonus also in Nana Patekar and Anil Kapoor. Katrina Kaif is so beautiful that I wont mind spending 200 bucks just to see her. Overall it was a must watch for me and so I did this Saturday. Also, this movie proves that Fardeen has learned his acting skills from his dad. You seem to dislike the film whenever Firoz Khan is on the screen. Why did he come back from his retirement.
The movie is the story of Rajiv (Askhay Kumar), whose mama (Paresh Rawal) is looking for a girl to marry him. But there is one condition, the girl should be from a shareef and izzatdar khandan. During the course of events Rajiv falls in love with Sanjana (Katrina Kaif), who happens to be the sister of don Uday Shetty (Nana Patekar). Who along with his friend and fellow bhai Majnoo Bhai (Anil Kapoor) is also looking for a shareef khandan to marry his sister. The movie is about how Rajiv convinces his mama to let him marry Sanjana. There is also the efforts of Uday and Majnoo to add to the laughter. The story makes you laugh with some twists here and there and some really funny scenes in between.
Akshay, Nana and Anil are first rate in the acting department. Paresh Rawal is also good as Rajiv's mama. Malaika Arora adds to the oomph with the item song "hoth raseele". There is Mallika Sherawat also, she has done OK. The only person who really irritates you with his overacting is Firoz Khan. The story is OK, full of twists here and there to keep the audience occupied and every twist add to the laughter. I also did not like the climax of the movie. It really didn't suit the mood of the film. I think Anees Bazmi didn't really found a good way to end an otherwise good film.
Overall I would rate this movie as 7 out of 10. Watch it and enjoy your Christmas.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Best Debut 2007: Darsheel Safary
When something is done with heart, it shows. Like everyone else I was also waiting to see Aamir Khan, the Director, since he has already proved himself as an actor and a producer. So it was obvious to have high expectations from the film. The promotions being aired on TV made it clear that it's different and it added even more to the expectations. Finally, after watching the film I can't stop myself from admiring the Director in Aamir Khan.
The film got a lot of media attention when it was being made. The film was supposed to be directed by Amol Gupte, writer of the film. Aamir was criticized by some people for taking Amol's film away, but I think Amol should be happy with the way the film has turned up. Amol would have also thought that Aamir is giving a better shape to the mold he has cast and probably that is the reason he has let Aamir direct the film. By the way, I don't think any other film star of recent times would have backed this idea, but Aamir did (that could be another reason for Amol to stick with Aamir) and has pulled it of well.
The movie revolves around one dyslexic child Ishan (Darsheel Safary) but it is not about dyslexia. Ishan represents every child who is trying to survive in this competitive world. No body wants to have an underachiever in his/her family and when parents think their child might remain an underachiever, they be hard on him without understanding what child actually wants and sometimes the child is not able to survive the hardness. Every parent can relate with Ishan's parents. When 8 year old Ishan is not able to perform up to the expectations in his school, his parents decide to send him to boarding. There also Ishan is not able to survive the curse of being an underachiever and he even stops doing what he used to love, painting. He is noticed by an unconventional art teacher Nikumbh (Aamir) and Nikumbh decides to take care of that boy and presents a different, more confident and talented Ishan to this world and to Ishan's parents. How he does that is worth a watch.
Entire movie belongs to Darsheel and the boy have done a brilliant job. The boy is so good that you don't even realize that Aamir Khan is missing for the entire first half. Second half is a bit slow, but it is bound to happen with this script. Aamir Khan, the actor is good as usual. Direction is first grade, and the way Aamir has pulled of such a difficult subject, hats off to him. All the songs have been picturised very well and help the story. Thanks to Prasoon Joshi for beautiful lyrics. Music is refreshing. Over and above everything, this movie is with a message. This movie should be watched by every teacher and parents to learn how to deal with children. They should not be treated as machines, all they need is love and care.
I would rate this movie as 8 out of 10. A must watch.
The film got a lot of media attention when it was being made. The film was supposed to be directed by Amol Gupte, writer of the film. Aamir was criticized by some people for taking Amol's film away, but I think Amol should be happy with the way the film has turned up. Amol would have also thought that Aamir is giving a better shape to the mold he has cast and probably that is the reason he has let Aamir direct the film. By the way, I don't think any other film star of recent times would have backed this idea, but Aamir did (that could be another reason for Amol to stick with Aamir) and has pulled it of well.
The movie revolves around one dyslexic child Ishan (Darsheel Safary) but it is not about dyslexia. Ishan represents every child who is trying to survive in this competitive world. No body wants to have an underachiever in his/her family and when parents think their child might remain an underachiever, they be hard on him without understanding what child actually wants and sometimes the child is not able to survive the hardness. Every parent can relate with Ishan's parents. When 8 year old Ishan is not able to perform up to the expectations in his school, his parents decide to send him to boarding. There also Ishan is not able to survive the curse of being an underachiever and he even stops doing what he used to love, painting. He is noticed by an unconventional art teacher Nikumbh (Aamir) and Nikumbh decides to take care of that boy and presents a different, more confident and talented Ishan to this world and to Ishan's parents. How he does that is worth a watch.
Entire movie belongs to Darsheel and the boy have done a brilliant job. The boy is so good that you don't even realize that Aamir Khan is missing for the entire first half. Second half is a bit slow, but it is bound to happen with this script. Aamir Khan, the actor is good as usual. Direction is first grade, and the way Aamir has pulled of such a difficult subject, hats off to him. All the songs have been picturised very well and help the story. Thanks to Prasoon Joshi for beautiful lyrics. Music is refreshing. Over and above everything, this movie is with a message. This movie should be watched by every teacher and parents to learn how to deal with children. They should not be treated as machines, all they need is love and care.
I would rate this movie as 8 out of 10. A must watch.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
I AM LEGEND
I am Legend is a movie where you see only one character for the most part of the movie and believe these movies are difficult to make. One such movie I remember is Cast Away, where you get to see only Tom Hanks for the most of the movie. I mean when there is no one else, there can not possibly be any conversations. The writing of whole screenplay becomes difficult. And with minimum dialogs you have to convey all the happenings in the movie to the audience. Such movies are difficult to write, difficult to direct and difficult to act in.
Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a great scientist, who is the only person alive in New York city. He is immune to the virus that turned every living person in earth into night seekers (zombies). He is dedicated to the task of creating a cure to the virus and reversing the process. He has been alone for three years, all these years he has spent finding other survivors and the cure to the virus. The only living companion he has is his dog.
Zombies in I am Legend are different from the ones we have seen in other movies. They are intelligent, fast, powerful, emotional. They are also full of rage and are not able to control it.
Will Smith has again proved his acting prowess, any lesser actor wouldn't have been able to pull this off. The screenplay is brilliantly written. The way Will Smith is shown talking to mannequins is brilliant. The only and the biggest problem with the movie is, it fails to hold the audience for two hours. Somehow the idea of zombie movies is still not welcome in India.
Robert Neville (Will Smith) is a great scientist, who is the only person alive in New York city. He is immune to the virus that turned every living person in earth into night seekers (zombies). He is dedicated to the task of creating a cure to the virus and reversing the process. He has been alone for three years, all these years he has spent finding other survivors and the cure to the virus. The only living companion he has is his dog.
Zombies in I am Legend are different from the ones we have seen in other movies. They are intelligent, fast, powerful, emotional. They are also full of rage and are not able to control it.
Will Smith has again proved his acting prowess, any lesser actor wouldn't have been able to pull this off. The screenplay is brilliantly written. The way Will Smith is shown talking to mannequins is brilliant. The only and the biggest problem with the movie is, it fails to hold the audience for two hours. Somehow the idea of zombie movies is still not welcome in India.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Ant & Grasshopper
I received this forward sometime back and was thinking to put this here. Go through the story and let me know, if you are also one of the ants. I think the ants in the story is a metaphor for all Honest Indian Tax Payers. Here it goes:
Original Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
Modern Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bharat Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial inquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes ' Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it 'A Triumph of Justice'.
Lalu calls it ' Socialistic Justice '.
CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.
Many years later...
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley .
100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India...
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country !!!
Original Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant is a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the Ant is warm and well fed. The Grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.
Modern Version:
The Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the summer away.
Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.
The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.
Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter.
Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Indian Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.
The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).
Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bharat Bandh' in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial inquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and Grasshoppers.
Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.
Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the ' Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act' [POTAGA], with effect from the beginning of the winter.
Arjun Singh makes ' Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & in Government Services.
The Ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.
Arundhati Roy calls it 'A Triumph of Justice'.
Lalu calls it ' Socialistic Justice '.
CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '
Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.
Many years later...
The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley .
100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India...
As a result of loosing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the Grasshoppers, India is still a developing country !!!
65th Annual Golden Globes: Nominations
Complete list of nominations for the 65th Annual Golden Globes:
FILM
Best Motion Picture, Drama
* American Gangster
* Atonement
* Eastern Promises
* The Great Debaters
* Michael Clayton
* No Country for Old Men
* There Will Be Blood
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
* George Clooney, Michael Clayton
* Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
* James McAvoy, Atonement
* Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
* Denzel Washington, American Gangster
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
* Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
* Julie Christie, Away from Her
* Jodie Foster, The Brave One
* Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
* Keira Knightley, Atonement
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
* Across the Universe
* Charlie Wilson's War
* Hairspray
* Juno
* Sweeney Todd
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
* Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
* Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
* Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War
* Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
* John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
* Amy Adams, Enchanted
* Nikki Blonsky, Hairspray
* Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd
* Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
* Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
* Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
* Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson's War
* Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
* Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
* Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
* Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
* Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
* Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
* John Travolta, Hairspray
* Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Best Director
* Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
* Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
* Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
* Ridley Scott, American Gangster
* Joe Wright, Atonement
Best Screenplay
* Diablo Cody, Juno
* Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
* Christopher Hampton, Atonement
* Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
* Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson's War
Best Foreign Language Film
* 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania)
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France/U.S.)
* The Kite Runner (U.S.)
* Lust, Caution (Taiwan)
* Perseopolis (France)
Best Animated Film
* Bee Movie
* Ratatouille
* The Simpsons Movie
Best Original Score
* Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild
* Clint Eastwood, Grace Is Gone
* Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner
* Dario Marianelli, Atonement
* Howard Shore, Eastern Promises
Best Original Song
* "Despedida," Love in the Time of Cholera
* "Grace Is Gone," Grace Is Gone
* "Guaranteed," Into the Wild
* "That's How You Know," Enchanted
* "Walk Hard," Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
TELEVISION
Best Series, Drama
* Big Love
* Damages
* Grey's Anatomy
* House
* Mad Men
* The Tudors
Best Actor, Drama Series
* Michael C. Hall, Dexter
* Jon Hamm, Mad Men
* Hugh Laurie, House
* Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors
* Bill Paxton, Big Love
Best Actress, Drama Series
* Patricia Arquette, Medium
* Glenn Close, Damages
* Minnie Driver, The Riches
* Edie Falco, The Sopranos
* Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
* Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
* Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Best Series, Comedy or Musical
* 30 Rock
* Californication
* Entourage
* Extras
* Pushing Daisies
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical Series
* Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
* America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
* Tina Fey, 30 Rock
* Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
* Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical Series
* Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
* Steve Carell, The Office
* David Duchovny, Californication
* Ricky Gervais, Extras
* Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Rose Byrne, Damages
* Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
* Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
* Samantha Morton, Longford
* Anna Paquin, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
* Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl
Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Ted Danson, Damages
* Kevin Dillon, Entourage
* Jeremy Piven, Entourage
* Andy Serkis, Longford
* William Shatner, Boston Legal
* Donald Sutherland, Dirty Sexy Money
Best Miniseries or TV Movie
* Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
* The Company
* Five Days
* Longford
* The State Within
Best Actress, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Bryce Dallas Howard, As You Like It
* Debra Messing, The Starter Wife
* Queen Latifah, Life Support
* Sissy Spacek, Pictures of Hollis Woods
* Ruth Wilson, Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre)
Best Actor, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Adam Beach, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
* Ernest Borgnine, A Grandpa for Christmas
* Jim Broadbent, Longford
* Jason Isaacs, The State Within
* James Nesbitt, Jekyll
FILM
Best Motion Picture, Drama
* American Gangster
* Atonement
* Eastern Promises
* The Great Debaters
* Michael Clayton
* No Country for Old Men
* There Will Be Blood
Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
* George Clooney, Michael Clayton
* Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
* James McAvoy, Atonement
* Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises
* Denzel Washington, American Gangster
Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
* Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
* Julie Christie, Away from Her
* Jodie Foster, The Brave One
* Angelina Jolie, A Mighty Heart
* Keira Knightley, Atonement
Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
* Across the Universe
* Charlie Wilson's War
* Hairspray
* Juno
* Sweeney Todd
Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
* Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
* Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
* Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War
* Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
* John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Best Actress, Musical or Comedy
* Amy Adams, Enchanted
* Nikki Blonsky, Hairspray
* Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd
* Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
* Ellen Page, Juno
Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
* Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
* Julia Roberts, Charlie Wilson's War
* Saoirse Ronan, Atonement
* Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
* Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
* Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
* Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
* Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War
* John Travolta, Hairspray
* Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton
Best Director
* Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
* Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
* Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
* Ridley Scott, American Gangster
* Joe Wright, Atonement
Best Screenplay
* Diablo Cody, Juno
* Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
* Christopher Hampton, Atonement
* Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
* Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Wilson's War
Best Foreign Language Film
* 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania)
* The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France/U.S.)
* The Kite Runner (U.S.)
* Lust, Caution (Taiwan)
* Perseopolis (France)
Best Animated Film
* Bee Movie
* Ratatouille
* The Simpsons Movie
Best Original Score
* Michael Brook, Kaki King, Eddie Vedder, Into the Wild
* Clint Eastwood, Grace Is Gone
* Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner
* Dario Marianelli, Atonement
* Howard Shore, Eastern Promises
Best Original Song
* "Despedida," Love in the Time of Cholera
* "Grace Is Gone," Grace Is Gone
* "Guaranteed," Into the Wild
* "That's How You Know," Enchanted
* "Walk Hard," Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
TELEVISION
Best Series, Drama
* Big Love
* Damages
* Grey's Anatomy
* House
* Mad Men
* The Tudors
Best Actor, Drama Series
* Michael C. Hall, Dexter
* Jon Hamm, Mad Men
* Hugh Laurie, House
* Jonathan Rhys Meyers, The Tudors
* Bill Paxton, Big Love
Best Actress, Drama Series
* Patricia Arquette, Medium
* Glenn Close, Damages
* Minnie Driver, The Riches
* Edie Falco, The Sopranos
* Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
* Holly Hunter, Saving Grace
* Kyra Sedgwick, The Closer
Best Series, Comedy or Musical
* 30 Rock
* Californication
* Entourage
* Extras
* Pushing Daisies
Best Actress, Comedy or Musical Series
* Christina Applegate, Samantha Who?
* America Ferrera, Ugly Betty
* Tina Fey, 30 Rock
* Anna Friel, Pushing Daisies
* Mary-Louise Parker, Weeds
Best Actor, Comedy or Musical Series
* Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
* Steve Carell, The Office
* David Duchovny, Californication
* Ricky Gervais, Extras
* Lee Pace, Pushing Daisies
Best Supporting Actress, Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Rose Byrne, Damages
* Rachel Griffiths, Brothers & Sisters
* Katherine Heigl, Grey's Anatomy
* Samantha Morton, Longford
* Anna Paquin, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
* Jaime Pressly, My Name Is Earl
Best Supporting Actor, Series, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Ted Danson, Damages
* Kevin Dillon, Entourage
* Jeremy Piven, Entourage
* Andy Serkis, Longford
* William Shatner, Boston Legal
* Donald Sutherland, Dirty Sexy Money
Best Miniseries or TV Movie
* Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
* The Company
* Five Days
* Longford
* The State Within
Best Actress, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Bryce Dallas Howard, As You Like It
* Debra Messing, The Starter Wife
* Queen Latifah, Life Support
* Sissy Spacek, Pictures of Hollis Woods
* Ruth Wilson, Jane Eyre (Masterpiece Theatre)
Best Actor, Miniseries or TV Movie
* Adam Beach, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
* Ernest Borgnine, A Grandpa for Christmas
* Jim Broadbent, Longford
* Jason Isaacs, The State Within
* James Nesbitt, Jekyll
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Khoya Khoya Chand
Some wise man said sometime back, "Never bite more than you can chew." Sudhir Mishra probably did not hear of this, otherwise his film could have been a masterpiece. It could even qualify for screenings in film academies for teaching students about film making during 50s and 60s. The film actually takes you that era with ease. The only problem with this film is that the director has tried to show too much. He has actually tried to cover entire film industry of 50s and 60s with the help of 5-6 lead characters, which I think is very difficult. He actually succeeds, but in pieces.
The story revolves around Zafar (a budding author/scriptwriter turned director), Nikhat (struggling actress turned star), Prem Kumar (super star), Khosa (producer), Ratnabala (star), Shyamal (AD turned star secretary turned producer), Noni Da (director) and Ravinder (rising star). The whole story revolves around all these characters. I actually got confused, if it was primarily the story of entire film industry or about Zafar and Nikhat. The director has shown all the possible combinations of relationships between the lead characters Zafar, Nikhat and Prem Kumar. At some point of time it starts becoming so complicated that you actually get confused that what these guys really want. The story starts with Nikhat meeting Prem Kumar, and Prem Kumar helping her in her career. During shooting of a film, Nikhat meets Jafar and both fall for each other. But for Nikhat's career it's important to stay with Prem Kumar. Finally they both decide to marry but they don't, again it's career or something else, you don't clearly understand. Nikhat is not able to do Zafar's first directorial venture, and Zafar is not able to handle this fact. He does his movie with Ratnabala and the movie is a flop. Heartbroken Zafar disappears from Mumbai. He comes back again and makes the best movie of his and Nikhat's filmy career "Khoya Khoya Chand", which is actually based on real life story of Zafar.
The movie actually takes you to the 50's thanks to the way it is shot and the set design. All the actors have done good job. Shiney Ahuja has to really learn how to act in sad scenes. Soha Ali Khan looks cute. Editor has probably done overtime for this movie, because the scenes seem to end and start abruptly some times. Some dialogs are really witty like the scene when Prem Kumar finds out about Zafar and Nikhat's relationship. The scene I liked most was where Nikhat and Zafar throw stones at the Producer's house, whom she met at the age of 14. The direction sometimes lack the old Sudhir Mishra of Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi and Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi. The story could also have been more gripping, if they would have concentrated on one of the relationships and tried to make it less complicated for the audience. Music is really good and I liked all the songs. Shantanu Moitra-Swanand Kirkire combination does it again. Overall I would rate this movie as 5 out of 10.
The story revolves around Zafar (a budding author/scriptwriter turned director), Nikhat (struggling actress turned star), Prem Kumar (super star), Khosa (producer), Ratnabala (star), Shyamal (AD turned star secretary turned producer), Noni Da (director) and Ravinder (rising star). The whole story revolves around all these characters. I actually got confused, if it was primarily the story of entire film industry or about Zafar and Nikhat. The director has shown all the possible combinations of relationships between the lead characters Zafar, Nikhat and Prem Kumar. At some point of time it starts becoming so complicated that you actually get confused that what these guys really want. The story starts with Nikhat meeting Prem Kumar, and Prem Kumar helping her in her career. During shooting of a film, Nikhat meets Jafar and both fall for each other. But for Nikhat's career it's important to stay with Prem Kumar. Finally they both decide to marry but they don't, again it's career or something else, you don't clearly understand. Nikhat is not able to do Zafar's first directorial venture, and Zafar is not able to handle this fact. He does his movie with Ratnabala and the movie is a flop. Heartbroken Zafar disappears from Mumbai. He comes back again and makes the best movie of his and Nikhat's filmy career "Khoya Khoya Chand", which is actually based on real life story of Zafar.
The movie actually takes you to the 50's thanks to the way it is shot and the set design. All the actors have done good job. Shiney Ahuja has to really learn how to act in sad scenes. Soha Ali Khan looks cute. Editor has probably done overtime for this movie, because the scenes seem to end and start abruptly some times. Some dialogs are really witty like the scene when Prem Kumar finds out about Zafar and Nikhat's relationship. The scene I liked most was where Nikhat and Zafar throw stones at the Producer's house, whom she met at the age of 14. The direction sometimes lack the old Sudhir Mishra of Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi and Hazaaron Khwahishein Aisi. The story could also have been more gripping, if they would have concentrated on one of the relationships and tried to make it less complicated for the audience. Music is really good and I liked all the songs. Shantanu Moitra-Swanand Kirkire combination does it again. Overall I would rate this movie as 5 out of 10.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Move over Moulin Rouge: We have learnt how to make musicals
One of the most recent (claimed)musical I saw is Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, and my reaction was, we can not make good musicals. The same thought has changed now after watching Aja Nachle. All the filmmakers (who want to make a musical) in bollywood should watch this film and learn. This movie is different. The entire story moves forward with the help of song and dance. Madhuri Dixit could never have got a better comeback film. The entire film revolves around her and she carries it off well.
Ajanta theater is being demolished in two months and Dia (Madhuri) takes the responsibility of saving it, because the place is a symbol of art in the city and she has some of her very fond memories attached to it. She decides to do so by awaking the actor/dancer buried inside the people of the town. And she decides to do so by doing a play on Laila-Majnu at Ajanta. The entire story revolves around Dia's effort to convince people to act/dance in her musical, train them and finally putting up a show beyond imagination. For once we get to see one MP, who is not corrupt and thinks about doing, what people want. The characters in the movie are much real than shown in many films. The cast of the play Laila-Majnu consists of a local gunda (Kunal Kapoor), a restaurant owner (Ranveer Shorey), a government servant (Vinay Pathak), an irritating girl (Konkana Sen Sharma), a stock broker and few other (I should not reveal those here).
The movie is a musical, so the music has to be good. Dance sequences are very well choreographed. Thanks to Jaideep Sahani, he does it again. The script is different from traditional musicals and it's good. All the actors have done justice with their roles with special mention to Madhuri for the brilliant comeback. The movie is clearly one of the best musicals made in bollywood recently. The only sad part was the empty theater. When would Indian audience learn to appreciate a good movie.
I would rate this one as 8 out of 10 and would recommend it to anyone who likes to watch movies.
Ajanta theater is being demolished in two months and Dia (Madhuri) takes the responsibility of saving it, because the place is a symbol of art in the city and she has some of her very fond memories attached to it. She decides to do so by awaking the actor/dancer buried inside the people of the town. And she decides to do so by doing a play on Laila-Majnu at Ajanta. The entire story revolves around Dia's effort to convince people to act/dance in her musical, train them and finally putting up a show beyond imagination. For once we get to see one MP, who is not corrupt and thinks about doing, what people want. The characters in the movie are much real than shown in many films. The cast of the play Laila-Majnu consists of a local gunda (Kunal Kapoor), a restaurant owner (Ranveer Shorey), a government servant (Vinay Pathak), an irritating girl (Konkana Sen Sharma), a stock broker and few other (I should not reveal those here).
The movie is a musical, so the music has to be good. Dance sequences are very well choreographed. Thanks to Jaideep Sahani, he does it again. The script is different from traditional musicals and it's good. All the actors have done justice with their roles with special mention to Madhuri for the brilliant comeback. The movie is clearly one of the best musicals made in bollywood recently. The only sad part was the empty theater. When would Indian audience learn to appreciate a good movie.
I would rate this one as 8 out of 10 and would recommend it to anyone who likes to watch movies.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal
What do you think when a football team, which has not won any match in last 25 years, where average age of the team is 35; wins a tournament in UK and that too without any good training. The person coaching this team has no prior coaching experience and hasn't probably been to football field in last 25 years. I know what you must be thinking. What rubbish, that's absurd. Well that's what this movie is.
The movie is about a football club Southall United, which doesn't have any sponsor, any coach and they probably wont have any ground, if they don't win this year's football championship. Captain of the team Shan (Arshad Warsi) is the only decent footballer in the team (no other player in the team is able to hit the ball straight to goalpost). Coach of the team Tony Singh (Boman Irani) is running from his past, because he let his team down when they needed him most 25 years ago (Deja Vu, remember Kabir Khan from ChakDe India). According to coach the most important things to win the tournament are team jersey, team bus and a physiotherapist (what about football, coach?). The team is able to arrange for these three things somehow but loose first two games in the tournament. Now the coach realizes, they need a good striker. The coach select Sunny (John Abraham) for the job, who despite being the best is not selected in the Aston team because he is an Indian. No points for guessing what happens in the end.
I wonder how a film based on football can be so dull. The film is full of a lot many loopholes. Director hasn't bothered to develop any of the characters and that is probably the weakest point of the movie. Because of lack of character development, you don't seem connected to the characters. This disconnect lead to disinterest. The relationship between John and his father is awkward. The way coach tries to bring Shan and Sunny together is very lame and there are some enforced emotional scenes. I think Vivek should have waited for sometime and should have watched ChakDe before starting this film. There isn't much to talk about acting, except the actor playing Shan's wife none of them are impressive. John, Bipasha, Arshad and Boman are strictly OK. All other are either confused or overacting. Fortunately there are only two songs in the movie. The direction is poor.
Overall the movie is not as good as it could have been. I would rate this as 4 out of 10.
The movie is about a football club Southall United, which doesn't have any sponsor, any coach and they probably wont have any ground, if they don't win this year's football championship. Captain of the team Shan (Arshad Warsi) is the only decent footballer in the team (no other player in the team is able to hit the ball straight to goalpost). Coach of the team Tony Singh (Boman Irani) is running from his past, because he let his team down when they needed him most 25 years ago (Deja Vu, remember Kabir Khan from ChakDe India). According to coach the most important things to win the tournament are team jersey, team bus and a physiotherapist (what about football, coach?). The team is able to arrange for these three things somehow but loose first two games in the tournament. Now the coach realizes, they need a good striker. The coach select Sunny (John Abraham) for the job, who despite being the best is not selected in the Aston team because he is an Indian. No points for guessing what happens in the end.
I wonder how a film based on football can be so dull. The film is full of a lot many loopholes. Director hasn't bothered to develop any of the characters and that is probably the weakest point of the movie. Because of lack of character development, you don't seem connected to the characters. This disconnect lead to disinterest. The relationship between John and his father is awkward. The way coach tries to bring Shan and Sunny together is very lame and there are some enforced emotional scenes. I think Vivek should have waited for sometime and should have watched ChakDe before starting this film. There isn't much to talk about acting, except the actor playing Shan's wife none of them are impressive. John, Bipasha, Arshad and Boman are strictly OK. All other are either confused or overacting. Fortunately there are only two songs in the movie. The direction is poor.
Overall the movie is not as good as it could have been. I would rate this as 4 out of 10.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Beowulf: Tale of a Hero
Robert Zemeckis' last movie I saw was Cast Away (missed Polar Express) and was impressed by his way of storytelling. The other reason to go for this movie was Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie.
The movie is about making of a hero (Beowulf) and this hero is not from another planet, he does not have superhuman qualities, he is very human and has weaknesses of normal human being. He is confident, powerful, daring but he also is hungry for fame, wealth and power and is seduced by beauty. The tale has been told beautifully with a lot of help from CGI. I really liked the climax of the film as it tells you the essence of heroism.
There was not much to expect as far as acting is concerned, it was all about visuals. The story is good and has been directed well. Sets and background has all been created by CGI and it looks like watching an animation at times. Overall, the movie is worth a watch, if nothing, watch it for the climax.
The movie is about making of a hero (Beowulf) and this hero is not from another planet, he does not have superhuman qualities, he is very human and has weaknesses of normal human being. He is confident, powerful, daring but he also is hungry for fame, wealth and power and is seduced by beauty. The tale has been told beautifully with a lot of help from CGI. I really liked the climax of the film as it tells you the essence of heroism.
There was not much to expect as far as acting is concerned, it was all about visuals. The story is good and has been directed well. Sets and background has all been created by CGI and it looks like watching an animation at times. Overall, the movie is worth a watch, if nothing, watch it for the climax.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Dil me mere hai dard(-e-disco)
Finally I watched it tonight and have seen Indian cinema being murdered. I also saw many people who are a part of it enjoying it. This does not mean that it's the worst film ever made or something like it. I am sad looking at the rave reviews this movie has got from many famous reviewers (yes, I did read reviews of Om Shanti Om, before going for the movie). I am sad about the fact that movies like Dil Dosti etc., Johnny Gaddaar, Manorama SFU didn't get the audience they deserved, while Om Shanti Om is running houseful even on a week day. Does this mean, with good marketing, money and star power anything which can be shown on a 70mm screen can be called a good movie. If this is what is gonna happen, god save Indian film Industry.
I was waiting with my tickets in my hand to let the crowd pass before I enter the theater and the crowd didn't seem to end and that too for a 10:45 show on a week day. When the movie started I got the feeling that this seems to be a spoof of Karz (the movie started with the famous Om Shanti Om song). I am not against spoofs, they make people laugh. They are sometimes more entertaining than the original film. But you can't call them a movie. The movie starts in the 70s, with everyone overacting, wearing flashy colorful costumes, imitating some of the stars of 70s, this went on till interval. There were some moments, which made me laugh, like the picture on Manoj Kumar's driving license. Just before the interval both our leading characters die and SRK's character Om Prakash Makhkhija, reincarnates as Om Kapoor. Post interval there is only one scene that made me laugh and that was Return Of Khiladi trailer played during filmfare award function and that too was picked up from somewhere. Click on this link to see the original video.
The only good thing about the movie is Deepika Padukone. She is so beautiful that her presence is more than enough to bring a smile on my face. It was sad to see SRK doing something like this after a great performance in Chak De India, though he made me laugh sometime with his overacting. Kirron Kher and Shreyas Talpade have given the worst performance of their career in this film. Arjun Rampal looks good in his new avtar (only first half) but he also is not able to impress me with his acting abilities (which I doubt he has any). Dialogues could have been better and some of them have been repeated so many times that you start hating it when they are delivered for 3rd or 4th time. Shirish Kunder should have used his scissors more generously and should have kept the climax a bit shorter. One thing worth mentioning is films music, Vishal-Shekhar and Sandeep Chauta have done good job in that department. Oh! how can I forget about mentioning the the much talked about SRK's six pack abs, well he looks like a coal miner. SRK please leave this to Salman and john.
In the end I would rate Om Shanti Om 5 out of 10 as a spoof and 2 out of 10 as a movie.
I was waiting with my tickets in my hand to let the crowd pass before I enter the theater and the crowd didn't seem to end and that too for a 10:45 show on a week day. When the movie started I got the feeling that this seems to be a spoof of Karz (the movie started with the famous Om Shanti Om song). I am not against spoofs, they make people laugh. They are sometimes more entertaining than the original film. But you can't call them a movie. The movie starts in the 70s, with everyone overacting, wearing flashy colorful costumes, imitating some of the stars of 70s, this went on till interval. There were some moments, which made me laugh, like the picture on Manoj Kumar's driving license. Just before the interval both our leading characters die and SRK's character Om Prakash Makhkhija, reincarnates as Om Kapoor. Post interval there is only one scene that made me laugh and that was Return Of Khiladi trailer played during filmfare award function and that too was picked up from somewhere. Click on this link to see the original video.
The only good thing about the movie is Deepika Padukone. She is so beautiful that her presence is more than enough to bring a smile on my face. It was sad to see SRK doing something like this after a great performance in Chak De India, though he made me laugh sometime with his overacting. Kirron Kher and Shreyas Talpade have given the worst performance of their career in this film. Arjun Rampal looks good in his new avtar (only first half) but he also is not able to impress me with his acting abilities (which I doubt he has any). Dialogues could have been better and some of them have been repeated so many times that you start hating it when they are delivered for 3rd or 4th time. Shirish Kunder should have used his scissors more generously and should have kept the climax a bit shorter. One thing worth mentioning is films music, Vishal-Shekhar and Sandeep Chauta have done good job in that department. Oh! how can I forget about mentioning the the much talked about SRK's six pack abs, well he looks like a coal miner. SRK please leave this to Salman and john.
In the end I would rate Om Shanti Om 5 out of 10 as a spoof and 2 out of 10 as a movie.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Talking about the less talked about.
I have been reading about movies like RGV ki Aag, LCMD, JBJ etc all over internet (I have also been participating in the discussions in some blogs) and felt bad about movies, which people either chose not to watch or not to talk about, although they are better work of art and far more entertaining than all the films mentioned above and many others being discussed around. There are movies I watched in recent past and really liked them, but when I ask my friends about those movies, they seem to either not have heard of the movie or chose not to watch it, because they were made by some not so famous people and lacked good promotions (may be because of budget restrictions). Here I am listing some of these films, which I think deserved better fate at box office.
Haasil (2003) *ing: Irfan, Jimmy Shergil, Hrishita Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana
Written and directed by first time director Tigmanshu Dhulia, this movie is one of my all time favorite, I have watched it more than 20 times already and I can watch it infinite times without getting bored of it. The movie is a love story in the background of UP college politics. You get to see great acting from Irfan and Ashutosh Rana. The dialogues are so good that we even repeat them in our day today conversations. The language is exactly the same as being used in UP and dialogue delivery by actors is top class. The story is well researched and gripping.
This is one movie I would rate 9 out of 10. I wish Tigmanshu makes many more such movies.
Sehar (2005) *ing: Arshad Warsi, Sushant Singh, Pankaj Kapoor
Written and directed by Kabeer Kaushik (has anyone heard of him ever, what is he up to these days), this movie is one of the best Hindi movies released in 2005. The movie is based on the story of Lucknow STF (Special Task Force) in pursuit of UP railway mafia. This is one of the very few movies showing the Police business in great details and the difficulties faced by them in tracking down and eliminating the criminals. You get to see great performances by Pankaj Kapoor and Sushant Singh. I still can't forget the seen where Pankaj Kapoor's gun hating professor character picks up a gun and shoots Sushant Singh. Today's actors should learn some things from this great performer.
The movie has been made with very limited budget and probably makers of the film did not have enough money to promote it well. It hurts when such movies get unnoticed. Hope someday big banner and stars start supporting such efforts.
There are many other movies in the same category like Manorama SFU, Dil Dosti etc, Johnny Gaddar, Maqbool and many more. I wish after reading this post people go and watch these movies and support these talented film makers in serving the Hindi film industry to the extent they are capable of.
signing off, with best wishes to the talented budding film makers of bollywood and hope they get the support they need from industry and audience.
Haasil (2003) *ing: Irfan, Jimmy Shergil, Hrishita Bhatt, Ashutosh Rana
Written and directed by first time director Tigmanshu Dhulia, this movie is one of my all time favorite, I have watched it more than 20 times already and I can watch it infinite times without getting bored of it. The movie is a love story in the background of UP college politics. You get to see great acting from Irfan and Ashutosh Rana. The dialogues are so good that we even repeat them in our day today conversations. The language is exactly the same as being used in UP and dialogue delivery by actors is top class. The story is well researched and gripping.
This is one movie I would rate 9 out of 10. I wish Tigmanshu makes many more such movies.
Sehar (2005) *ing: Arshad Warsi, Sushant Singh, Pankaj Kapoor
Written and directed by Kabeer Kaushik (has anyone heard of him ever, what is he up to these days), this movie is one of the best Hindi movies released in 2005. The movie is based on the story of Lucknow STF (Special Task Force) in pursuit of UP railway mafia. This is one of the very few movies showing the Police business in great details and the difficulties faced by them in tracking down and eliminating the criminals. You get to see great performances by Pankaj Kapoor and Sushant Singh. I still can't forget the seen where Pankaj Kapoor's gun hating professor character picks up a gun and shoots Sushant Singh. Today's actors should learn some things from this great performer.
The movie has been made with very limited budget and probably makers of the film did not have enough money to promote it well. It hurts when such movies get unnoticed. Hope someday big banner and stars start supporting such efforts.
There are many other movies in the same category like Manorama SFU, Dil Dosti etc, Johnny Gaddar, Maqbool and many more. I wish after reading this post people go and watch these movies and support these talented film makers in serving the Hindi film industry to the extent they are capable of.
signing off, with best wishes to the talented budding film makers of bollywood and hope they get the support they need from industry and audience.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
No Smoking
When I went to watch this movie, I knew it will be different and yes, it was different. I was glued to the screen while watching the movie. I wanted to know what will happen in the next scene. All this while I didn't talk to my friends sitting beside me (which is very unlikely), as I was trying to understand, what the filmmaker is up to. What is in the director's mind. What is he trying to say. Frankly speaking, I did not understand the movie and that is why I am not in a position to say that it was a good or bad film. That is the reason, this post is not a review of the movie. This is just what I thought while watching the movie.
After watching the film, there were several thoughts in my mind. Like
1. Is this movie about a man's struggle to live in this bad bad world on his own terms? Smoking is used as a symbol. K wants to live his life the way he wants, but the world around him is not letting him do so. Finally he gives up and starts living his life the way others want him to.
2. The movie has been shot from two different points of view, one is how K sees himself and other is how others see him. Whatever you see in most of the movie is probably his hallucinations although to others he looks normal. Baba Bangali, his Prayogshala, the character following him all are in his mind.
3. You have to loose your soul in order to survive in this world, because there are people around you, who have expectation from you and there are people whom you care about. All these things does not let you live the way you would have wanted to. If you do something without approval of others, your loved ones might get hurt (K's brother committing suicide) or you will be forced not to do it (baba bangali and his tactics). There are always people telling you to live your life in a certain way (K's wife and friends)and somewhere down the line you give up.
4. If you do something wrong you are punished (cutting fingers, torturing your loved ones, making you deaf), but same can be undone if you repent and make up for your mistakes. (fingers coming back for recommending another client).
I am sure Anurag Kashyap also has different interpretations to this in his mind. After all it's his child and he only understands it the best.
After watching the film, there were several thoughts in my mind. Like
1. Is this movie about a man's struggle to live in this bad bad world on his own terms? Smoking is used as a symbol. K wants to live his life the way he wants, but the world around him is not letting him do so. Finally he gives up and starts living his life the way others want him to.
2. The movie has been shot from two different points of view, one is how K sees himself and other is how others see him. Whatever you see in most of the movie is probably his hallucinations although to others he looks normal. Baba Bangali, his Prayogshala, the character following him all are in his mind.
3. You have to loose your soul in order to survive in this world, because there are people around you, who have expectation from you and there are people whom you care about. All these things does not let you live the way you would have wanted to. If you do something without approval of others, your loved ones might get hurt (K's brother committing suicide) or you will be forced not to do it (baba bangali and his tactics). There are always people telling you to live your life in a certain way (K's wife and friends)and somewhere down the line you give up.
4. If you do something wrong you are punished (cutting fingers, torturing your loved ones, making you deaf), but same can be undone if you repent and make up for your mistakes. (fingers coming back for recommending another client).
I am sure Anurag Kashyap also has different interpretations to this in his mind. After all it's his child and he only understands it the best.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Speed: BAD
This is what happens when you have a bunch of bad actors coming together to act in movie, which has it's story borrowed from a not so successful Hollywood thriller (cellular). It could have been watchable, if it was an exact copy of cellular. So here our great filmmakers have done some changes in the script, which makes it even worse. Can you imagine an Indian PM, visiting London and addressing a conference, without anyone from British government escorting her.
The story involves an Indian (Zayed Khan), visiting England to propose to his girlfriend (Tanushree Dutta), an MI5 agent (Sanjay Suri), his wife (Urmila) and son, a stone faced, expressionless Indian terrorist (Aftab, in a negative role), who has some weird reasons to kill the Indian PM, Head of Security for PM (Ashish Chaudhary). All the actors have tried their best not to act in the movie. (what else would you expect from these highly talented actors). Only actor who has done a decent job is Urmila, other are just irritating.
Story is bad. None of the songs are worth listening. Well, this is one of the very few movies I have seen, where dubbing is bad. You can at some occasions notice an audio-video lag. What were the makers thinking, when they decided to make this movie. I think everyone knew from the beginning how bad the movie would be and that justifies only 20 (i actually counted) people in the hall, including 3 of us.
The story involves an Indian (Zayed Khan), visiting England to propose to his girlfriend (Tanushree Dutta), an MI5 agent (Sanjay Suri), his wife (Urmila) and son, a stone faced, expressionless Indian terrorist (Aftab, in a negative role), who has some weird reasons to kill the Indian PM, Head of Security for PM (Ashish Chaudhary). All the actors have tried their best not to act in the movie. (what else would you expect from these highly talented actors). Only actor who has done a decent job is Urmila, other are just irritating.
Story is bad. None of the songs are worth listening. Well, this is one of the very few movies I have seen, where dubbing is bad. You can at some occasions notice an audio-video lag. What were the makers thinking, when they decided to make this movie. I think everyone knew from the beginning how bad the movie would be and that justifies only 20 (i actually counted) people in the hall, including 3 of us.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Bhool Bhulaiya: No Hera Pheri This Time
When I saw Virasat, I thought Priyadarshan is a good director, then he made Hera Pheri and people really loved it (it was actually good). Then he made 8 more Hera Pheri(Yeh Teraa Ghar Yeh Meraa Ghar, Hungama, Hulchul, Garam Masala, Malamaal Weekly, Chup Chup Ke, Bhagam Bhag and Dhol). I started thinking that Priyan can not do anything other than comedy of errors. This Friday I saw his latest release Bhool Bhulaiya. After his last 9 films everyone was expecting it to be a comedy of errors, with Akki in the film expectations were even higher. And this was one of the factors against this movie, but I take Priyan getting out of Hera Pheri mode as a good sign and now I am expecting another Virasat from him.
After so many takes on comedy, Priyan-Akki combo is back, but this time it's not a comedy (though there are some funny moments), it's horror. It's not a typical horror movie though, it tries to present a scientific approach to exorcism. I would have liked the movie a bit more, if Akki's entry was earlier, climax was a bit shorter, no song between Shiney and Vidya and better placement of Hare Rama song (it plays during end credits).
The treatment is new. Akki is top class, Rajpal's character is forced, Paresh Rawal is underutilized, Shiney Ahuja some times seems to be trying too hard, Amisha Patel is good for a change, Viday Balan has also played her part well. Other actors have done decent job. Dialogues could have been better, they are really weak sometimes. Out of two releases this weekend, this one is better choice.
After so many takes on comedy, Priyan-Akki combo is back, but this time it's not a comedy (though there are some funny moments), it's horror. It's not a typical horror movie though, it tries to present a scientific approach to exorcism. I would have liked the movie a bit more, if Akki's entry was earlier, climax was a bit shorter, no song between Shiney and Vidya and better placement of Hare Rama song (it plays during end credits).
The treatment is new. Akki is top class, Rajpal's character is forced, Paresh Rawal is underutilized, Shiney Ahuja some times seems to be trying too hard, Amisha Patel is good for a change, Viday Balan has also played her part well. Other actors have done decent job. Dialogues could have been better, they are really weak sometimes. Out of two releases this weekend, this one is better choice.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Laga Chunari Me Daag: Surf Excel Hai Naa
"Agar kuchh accha karne me daag lag jate hain, to daag acche hain." (borrowed from "Daag Acche Hain" campaign of Surf Excel) should have been the concluding line of the movie. That was the only conclusion after watching 3 hour long ad campaign, unfortunately the product YRF chose to endorse was Lux , not Surf. I am not sure how many women across India will buy Lux, if they come to know that they will look like Konkana SenSharma (no offense, she is a great actor, but that's not the face someone would choose to model for a beauty soap) after using this beauty soap.
Oops, I dragged a bit from the objective. Well, the movie is about two young girls Vibhavari (Rani) and Shubhavari (Konkana), living in Banaras with their parents (Anupam Kher and Jaya Bacchan).The movie starts with introducing the two sisters with a song "hum to aise hain bhaiya". What am I doing? Doesn't everyone already know the story. Will summarize for the ignorant ones. To financially support her family the elder sister becomes a high profile escort serving to 5 star clients staying in 5 star hotels in Mumbai. (is entering this highly competitive business that easy?)
I learned one thing about female oriented films, i.e. all the male characters in such movies are either losers (Anupam Kher), haramkhor (Sushant Singh, Tinu Anand, Harsh Chhaya) or not important (Abhishek Bacchan, Kunal Kapoor). Konkana has acted beautifully in a role, which is suffering from a decease called weak characterization. Her character is so dumb that she is never aware of the financial condition of the family, even though she was living in the same home. (yaar kisi hostel me hi rakh dete use) This in not the only thing, there are so many weak spots in the movie and the biggest one is the story. The story has been used so many times in our movies and in so many forms that everyone knew about the next scene before it even played on screen. Couldn't understand the blackmailing angle. Why have irrelevant scenes in the movie just to enhance the plight of the lead character? (ek ladki ke galat decision ko justify karne ke liye kitne logon ko bura dikhaoge) Some props are so out of place that you start wondering, what was in director's mind when he decided to use such props. Like the telephone booth in front of CST station, the phone in that telephone booth (it was not one rupee coin one, may be Indian Telcos have decided to provide free calling facility for girls under distress), the old phone with round dialer in a Mumbai flat (who uses those, unless someone is interested in antiques).
This time Sarkar fails big time in telling the story or is that YashRaj effect. You can see the parineeta director only when the story stays in Banaras, once it reaches Mumbai, the director is lost. Except for the first and last songs all other are forced into the story. In the end, don't watch this film and apni chunari me daag lagne se bacha lo (mere kapdon me to itne daag lag gaye hain ki ab log ise naya fashion samajh ke maf kar dete hain).
Oops, I dragged a bit from the objective. Well, the movie is about two young girls Vibhavari (Rani) and Shubhavari (Konkana), living in Banaras with their parents (Anupam Kher and Jaya Bacchan).The movie starts with introducing the two sisters with a song "hum to aise hain bhaiya". What am I doing? Doesn't everyone already know the story. Will summarize for the ignorant ones. To financially support her family the elder sister becomes a high profile escort serving to 5 star clients staying in 5 star hotels in Mumbai. (is entering this highly competitive business that easy?)
I learned one thing about female oriented films, i.e. all the male characters in such movies are either losers (Anupam Kher), haramkhor (Sushant Singh, Tinu Anand, Harsh Chhaya) or not important (Abhishek Bacchan, Kunal Kapoor). Konkana has acted beautifully in a role, which is suffering from a decease called weak characterization. Her character is so dumb that she is never aware of the financial condition of the family, even though she was living in the same home. (yaar kisi hostel me hi rakh dete use) This in not the only thing, there are so many weak spots in the movie and the biggest one is the story. The story has been used so many times in our movies and in so many forms that everyone knew about the next scene before it even played on screen. Couldn't understand the blackmailing angle. Why have irrelevant scenes in the movie just to enhance the plight of the lead character? (ek ladki ke galat decision ko justify karne ke liye kitne logon ko bura dikhaoge) Some props are so out of place that you start wondering, what was in director's mind when he decided to use such props. Like the telephone booth in front of CST station, the phone in that telephone booth (it was not one rupee coin one, may be Indian Telcos have decided to provide free calling facility for girls under distress), the old phone with round dialer in a Mumbai flat (who uses those, unless someone is interested in antiques).
This time Sarkar fails big time in telling the story or is that YashRaj effect. You can see the parineeta director only when the story stays in Banaras, once it reaches Mumbai, the director is lost. Except for the first and last songs all other are forced into the story. In the end, don't watch this film and apni chunari me daag lagne se bacha lo (mere kapdon me to itne daag lag gaye hain ki ab log ise naya fashion samajh ke maf kar dete hain).
Monday, October 8, 2007
Karan Johar's Interview on Tehelka.com
I read the following interview on tehelka.com and found it really enlightening. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main34.asp?filename=hub061007IWish.asp
This interview has enabled me to look at Karan Johar's films in new light. I now understand why his movies are like the way they are. Why people always say that his movies are for NRIs. Why there are no bhukkha Indians in his movies. Why someone disowned by his rich parents decides to settle in London. Why rich use helicopters and poor convertible BMWs in his films.
You might think, how I have got so much insight to understand Karan's movies in such great details. Well at one point in his interview Karan says, "We used to live in a really tiny flat in Malabar Hill — it was like a 1,000 square feet." that's because his father was losing money on movies and was having really tough time financially. So that's the toughest time he has seen in his entire life, living in a 1000 sq ft flat at Malabar Hills. (Bhagwan mujhe bhi aise bure din dikhaye) After reading this line first thing that came to mind was, how the interviewer must have felt who is probably living in a 500 sq ft flat and that too at Borivali. Was he trying to mock at the interviewer or he is really that innocent. (arrey koi ise asli duniya dikhao)
If KJo made Sharabi, he would have shown Amitabh Bacchan settling in NY with Munshi ji after leaving his father's house. He would not be sleeping on temple stairs. After all in tough times people can manage at least that. They might not use helicopters for traveling, but at least they can afford a nice apartment in NY.
In our movies, poor hungry street children will not turn thief stealing a piece of bread (has anyone counted the no of movies showing this scene), oh! I am sorry, there wont be any poor hungry street children in KJo's movies. People will turn thief because they would probably want an AC to be installed in their bedroom and are not able to afford that.
Hey! that's only a part of the answer to first question and I would have really loved to talk about the entire interview. God, I hope I did not have my office tomorrow.
This interview has enabled me to look at Karan Johar's films in new light. I now understand why his movies are like the way they are. Why people always say that his movies are for NRIs. Why there are no bhukkha Indians in his movies. Why someone disowned by his rich parents decides to settle in London. Why rich use helicopters and poor convertible BMWs in his films.
You might think, how I have got so much insight to understand Karan's movies in such great details. Well at one point in his interview Karan says, "We used to live in a really tiny flat in Malabar Hill — it was like a 1,000 square feet." that's because his father was losing money on movies and was having really tough time financially. So that's the toughest time he has seen in his entire life, living in a 1000 sq ft flat at Malabar Hills. (Bhagwan mujhe bhi aise bure din dikhaye) After reading this line first thing that came to mind was, how the interviewer must have felt who is probably living in a 500 sq ft flat and that too at Borivali. Was he trying to mock at the interviewer or he is really that innocent. (arrey koi ise asli duniya dikhao)
If KJo made Sharabi, he would have shown Amitabh Bacchan settling in NY with Munshi ji after leaving his father's house. He would not be sleeping on temple stairs. After all in tough times people can manage at least that. They might not use helicopters for traveling, but at least they can afford a nice apartment in NY.
In our movies, poor hungry street children will not turn thief stealing a piece of bread (has anyone counted the no of movies showing this scene), oh! I am sorry, there wont be any poor hungry street children in KJo's movies. People will turn thief because they would probably want an AC to be installed in their bedroom and are not able to afford that.
Hey! that's only a part of the answer to first question and I would have really loved to talk about the entire interview. God, I hope I did not have my office tomorrow.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The Contract: don't watch it, it's boring
After watching "Lions of Punjab Presents" it was 7:15 pm and we still a lot of time to kill, so on our way back home, we decided to stop by the multiplex on the way and watch any movie, which we haven't yet watched (The contract was only movie that qualified the criteria). I now hope there were other options available.
The movie is about Ray Keene (John Cusack), who is out camping with his son Chris. They happen to meet Frank Cardin (Morgan Freeman), who is a contract killer and is being searched by his four friends. Whatever follows is neither interesting nor very exciting.
I was wandering what these two seasoned actors were doing in this film. It was actually boring and slow paced. After the movie I got a brilliant idea, may be all these multiplex managers should implement it. If you see audience sleepy or bored, play some hot item songs in the end. Yaar, kuchh to paisa wasool hoga. ;-)
The movie is about Ray Keene (John Cusack), who is out camping with his son Chris. They happen to meet Frank Cardin (Morgan Freeman), who is a contract killer and is being searched by his four friends. Whatever follows is neither interesting nor very exciting.
I was wandering what these two seasoned actors were doing in this film. It was actually boring and slow paced. After the movie I got a brilliant idea, may be all these multiplex managers should implement it. If you see audience sleepy or bored, play some hot item songs in the end. Yaar, kuchh to paisa wasool hoga. ;-)
Lions of Punjab Presents: laugh and nothing else
The movie is a take on talent hunt shows, which are growing like mushroom on every channel. When the background of the movie is talent hunt shows, the movie has to be funny and yes, it is funny.
The movie is all about a talent hunt in USA, "Desi Idol" organized by "Lions of Punjab" and managed by "Bokade Event Management Company". The participants are 17 year old Priti Patel (Who comes for the contest accompanied by her entire family, they have really funny way of speaking English and have really funny habits), Sania Rehman (An aspiring Indian actress, who doesn't know Hindi but pretends to know the same. Which again leads to some interesting turn in the movie), Rrita Kapoor (Who is participating in the contest, so that she can win the prize money and donate the same to her fund raiser. Oh, don't doubt her to be very kind hearted. She is doing it just because Bubbles has done something similar and she wants to do it bigger and better than her), Joshua Cohen (Who is participating just because her girlfriend wants that. Only two Hindi songs he knows are "Bombay Meri Jaan" and "Jana Gana Man"). Well there are other characters also and they keep on adding to the funny element.
The whole movie is about the contest and how each one tries to win the same. Every scene has something funny and makes you laugh. The movie doesn't qualify as a great piece of art but it makes you laugh.
The movie is all about a talent hunt in USA, "Desi Idol" organized by "Lions of Punjab" and managed by "Bokade Event Management Company". The participants are 17 year old Priti Patel (Who comes for the contest accompanied by her entire family, they have really funny way of speaking English and have really funny habits), Sania Rehman (An aspiring Indian actress, who doesn't know Hindi but pretends to know the same. Which again leads to some interesting turn in the movie), Rrita Kapoor (Who is participating in the contest, so that she can win the prize money and donate the same to her fund raiser. Oh, don't doubt her to be very kind hearted. She is doing it just because Bubbles has done something similar and she wants to do it bigger and better than her), Joshua Cohen (Who is participating just because her girlfriend wants that. Only two Hindi songs he knows are "Bombay Meri Jaan" and "Jana Gana Man"). Well there are other characters also and they keep on adding to the funny element.
The whole movie is about the contest and how each one tries to win the same. Every scene has something funny and makes you laugh. The movie doesn't qualify as a great piece of art but it makes you laugh.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Johnny Gaddar
Whenever I go to watch some movie in a hall, I gauge its interest quotient by looking at the time i took to take out my cell and start playing silly games on it. In Manorama, I was restless after 45 minutes (maybe because i didnt smoke in past 3 hrs) while in Dhamaal, most of the time i was busy with my cell. In the case of Johnny Gaddar (JG), my cell was in my pocket for good 95% of the movie. That should tell how gripping its story is, even though during the end i got restless(bored would not be a right word for this movie). Most of the thrillers are based on who dunnit or why dunnit, even nearly all the heist movies are based on the formula of how dunnit but JG stands apart amongst all these. Most of the viewers with intelligence level greater than that of a new born baby would have got the idea that who is JG by looking at the trailers itself . The director also shows no signs to conceal who is gaddar in first half an hour of the movie itself. Even we are told about how dunnit portion in the first half only!!( An average K-series tv director takes atleast 90 episodes to show this stuff :P). Second half of the movie shows the struggle of the gaddar and how one crime leads to another. Its during the later part of the second half that the movie seems to drag along and you wish that the director would have done something better.
The movie borrows many scenes from various movies and whats good is the fact that director is totally unapologetic about it. Parwana (Do watch this AB, Navin Nischol starrer if u havent) is mentioned more than twice in the movie. Homage to Vijay Anand and Chase is apparent throughout the movie. To top it all there's one scene where Dharam Paji says, "Aisa kuchh to Scarface me bhi tha na!!". Now thats known as coming of age homage.
Coming to the things that I loved in JG; First and foremost , the opening credits. That was creativeness maximized and even after watching the whole movie, the thing that I loved the most remains the opening credit. Then comes Vinay Pathak , this man seems to hit boundaries on every delivery he gets(ya there are some dot balls like Buddha Mar Gaya, about that some other day). Last week it was Manorama, and he betters it by giving yet another awesome performance in JG. In his last scene when he knows the truth about JG and knows his fate next, we can literally feel what Prakash (his character's name) is feeling at that moment. Nowadays even Om Puri sahab can not do that magic. Zakir Hussain comes next on my list. He was typecast earlier as sincere looking(idiot inside) villain by RGV in Sarkar, Shiva and some other RGV movies which i'll never see but here he is given full chance to prove his acting skill and he come out with flying colors( somewhat similar to the printed shirts he is made to wear in JG :P). Neil Mukesh looks impressive in his debut but his dialog delivery seemed patchy in some scenes and he lacked what some call chemistry in the scenes with Rimi sen. During most part of the movie his facial expressions remain more or less same but I would give benefit of doubt to him as all these acts suit his character in the movie. Even if he doesnt "act" in few more movies still his future looks bright thanks to his great looks(Common John is doing the same!!). Background score of the movie is rocking and sometimes takes back to 70's. DharamPaaji is good in parts but why did the director give him English lines when he looks soooooo good speaking Punju-hindi/Urdu. Mr. Raghwan should have taken some cue from Anurag Basu who although showed Dharam paji as an NRI but still all his dialogs in Metro were in Hindi/Urdu. (Even the letter that he wrote to Nafisa was in Urdu). Rimi sen is forgettable once again. Only an actor of her caliber can do such poor job in a role which didnt require any histrionic. Supporting cast includes Vinay Ptahak's wife (Ashwini Kalsekar) who is simply brilliant but I felt she overdid herself in the last scene. Scenes between Vinay and Ashwini are not only written brilliantly but these two seasoned performers have shown that how good scenes on paper are made better on screen. Govind Namdev overacts in his short cameo and even his southie accent is on and off throughout his cameo. It seems he thought that he will sleepwalk through the role but surely he falls flat.
The pace of the movie is just fine, neither too racy, nor too sluggish. All thanks some crisp editing. The DoP has done some brilliant job and some of the shots look really good. The way music is included in the movie shows the director's music sense. One last thing for the dialog writer: Bhai kya dhansu dialog likhe hia, agar main yeh movie single theater cinema hall me dekh rah hota to seeti zaroor bajata.
This movie is worth watching, once atleast.
---Dubey
The movie borrows many scenes from various movies and whats good is the fact that director is totally unapologetic about it. Parwana (Do watch this AB, Navin Nischol starrer if u havent) is mentioned more than twice in the movie. Homage to Vijay Anand and Chase is apparent throughout the movie. To top it all there's one scene where Dharam Paji says, "Aisa kuchh to Scarface me bhi tha na!!". Now thats known as coming of age homage.
Coming to the things that I loved in JG; First and foremost , the opening credits. That was creativeness maximized and even after watching the whole movie, the thing that I loved the most remains the opening credit. Then comes Vinay Pathak , this man seems to hit boundaries on every delivery he gets(ya there are some dot balls like Buddha Mar Gaya, about that some other day). Last week it was Manorama, and he betters it by giving yet another awesome performance in JG. In his last scene when he knows the truth about JG and knows his fate next, we can literally feel what Prakash (his character's name) is feeling at that moment. Nowadays even Om Puri sahab can not do that magic. Zakir Hussain comes next on my list. He was typecast earlier as sincere looking(idiot inside) villain by RGV in Sarkar, Shiva and some other RGV movies which i'll never see but here he is given full chance to prove his acting skill and he come out with flying colors( somewhat similar to the printed shirts he is made to wear in JG :P). Neil Mukesh looks impressive in his debut but his dialog delivery seemed patchy in some scenes and he lacked what some call chemistry in the scenes with Rimi sen. During most part of the movie his facial expressions remain more or less same but I would give benefit of doubt to him as all these acts suit his character in the movie. Even if he doesnt "act" in few more movies still his future looks bright thanks to his great looks(Common John is doing the same!!). Background score of the movie is rocking and sometimes takes back to 70's. DharamPaaji is good in parts but why did the director give him English lines when he looks soooooo good speaking Punju-hindi/Urdu. Mr. Raghwan should have taken some cue from Anurag Basu who although showed Dharam paji as an NRI but still all his dialogs in Metro were in Hindi/Urdu. (Even the letter that he wrote to Nafisa was in Urdu). Rimi sen is forgettable once again. Only an actor of her caliber can do such poor job in a role which didnt require any histrionic. Supporting cast includes Vinay Ptahak's wife (Ashwini Kalsekar) who is simply brilliant but I felt she overdid herself in the last scene. Scenes between Vinay and Ashwini are not only written brilliantly but these two seasoned performers have shown that how good scenes on paper are made better on screen. Govind Namdev overacts in his short cameo and even his southie accent is on and off throughout his cameo. It seems he thought that he will sleepwalk through the role but surely he falls flat.
The pace of the movie is just fine, neither too racy, nor too sluggish. All thanks some crisp editing. The DoP has done some brilliant job and some of the shots look really good. The way music is included in the movie shows the director's music sense. One last thing for the dialog writer: Bhai kya dhansu dialog likhe hia, agar main yeh movie single theater cinema hall me dekh rah hota to seeti zaroor bajata.
This movie is worth watching, once atleast.
---Dubey
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Dil Dosti etc: Hat Trick
Wah Tiwary ji! kya movie banayi hai. Maza aa gaya. Aapne meri bhi hat trick karwa di (last three movies I have seen are brilliant)
The movie is about two students Sanjay Mishra (Shreyash Talpade) and Apurva (Immad). Sanjay is a student politician, who is from Bihar and knows what he wants in life. Apurva is a rich guy, trying to enjoy life by buying sex and flirting with girls. Sanjay is going for the post of college President. He falls in love with future supermodel Prerna. Apurva, when challenged by Sanjay starts looking for love. The whole story revolves around these two characters, while showing the delhi college life to some extent (that is not the motive of the movie).
Shreyash Talpade has done a brilliant job. Immad needs to work on his acting, may be he can take some tips from his very talented father. The direction is great. Background of the movie is DU, and I was expecting Haasil, but the movie does not disappoint. Still Haasil remains the best bollywood movie about college politics in my books.
After a long time I have seen a movie, which has made me think. I was quite (which is very rare) for sometime after watching this flick. I would rate this one as 7 out of 10. Some scenes/events should have been justified and also the ending. I would have made it end differently, wont mention it here because I don't want to reveal how it ends.
The movie is about two students Sanjay Mishra (Shreyash Talpade) and Apurva (Immad). Sanjay is a student politician, who is from Bihar and knows what he wants in life. Apurva is a rich guy, trying to enjoy life by buying sex and flirting with girls. Sanjay is going for the post of college President. He falls in love with future supermodel Prerna. Apurva, when challenged by Sanjay starts looking for love. The whole story revolves around these two characters, while showing the delhi college life to some extent (that is not the motive of the movie).
Shreyash Talpade has done a brilliant job. Immad needs to work on his acting, may be he can take some tips from his very talented father. The direction is great. Background of the movie is DU, and I was expecting Haasil, but the movie does not disappoint. Still Haasil remains the best bollywood movie about college politics in my books.
After a long time I have seen a movie, which has made me think. I was quite (which is very rare) for sometime after watching this flick. I would rate this one as 7 out of 10. Some scenes/events should have been justified and also the ending. I would have made it end differently, wont mention it here because I don't want to reveal how it ends.
Johnny Gaddar: treat to watch
I went to watch "Johnny G" with great expectations and I am glad, the movie was up to what I expected and sometimes even exceeded my expectations. Sriram Raghavan is clearly one of the best directors in the Industry these days. I really liked "Ek Hasina Thi" and was expecting a thriller, which makes me sit straight and enjoy each and every scene. This is a thriller where the suspense is not about who, it's about what. You know who is Johnny Gaddar, but you don't know what is gonna happen next. Your brain is trying to work out the next scene but the director keeps surprises in store for you.
The movie is about and gang of 5 people, Sheshadri (Dharmendra), Shardul (Zakir Hussain), Prakash (Vinay Pathak), Shiva (Daya Shetty) and Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh). Sheshadri gets a call from his police inspector friend in B'lore (Govind Namdev), they are about to earn 2.5 crore in 5 days out of it. Vikram is in love with Mini (Rimi Sen) and is planning to start another life with her (again there is a surprise for you). Introduction scenes of each character describe the characters well. The movie is all about this gang and the 2.5 crore deal. All other characters complete the story and are important for the story. The movie is really fast pace and there is no dull moment.
This movie again proves that script is the real hero of the film. The script is really gripping. All the actors have played there part beautifully. Neil Nitin Mukesh is discovery, he will go places, considering he keeps on working with good directors. The scenes in the movie are inspired by various flicks Johnny Mera Naam, Parvana, Scraface to name a few, and the director is not making an attempt to deny that. He on the other hand is accepting the same by showing the scenes from these movies or mentioning them. However the movie is not a copy of any of these movies.
Do a favour to youself, spend some money and take yourself for a treat to watch one of the best suspense thrillers made in bollywood in recent times. I would rate this one as 8 on a scale of 10.
The movie is about and gang of 5 people, Sheshadri (Dharmendra), Shardul (Zakir Hussain), Prakash (Vinay Pathak), Shiva (Daya Shetty) and Vikram (Neil Nitin Mukesh). Sheshadri gets a call from his police inspector friend in B'lore (Govind Namdev), they are about to earn 2.5 crore in 5 days out of it. Vikram is in love with Mini (Rimi Sen) and is planning to start another life with her (again there is a surprise for you). Introduction scenes of each character describe the characters well. The movie is all about this gang and the 2.5 crore deal. All other characters complete the story and are important for the story. The movie is really fast pace and there is no dull moment.
This movie again proves that script is the real hero of the film. The script is really gripping. All the actors have played there part beautifully. Neil Nitin Mukesh is discovery, he will go places, considering he keeps on working with good directors. The scenes in the movie are inspired by various flicks Johnny Mera Naam, Parvana, Scraface to name a few, and the director is not making an attempt to deny that. He on the other hand is accepting the same by showing the scenes from these movies or mentioning them. However the movie is not a copy of any of these movies.
Do a favour to youself, spend some money and take yourself for a treat to watch one of the best suspense thrillers made in bollywood in recent times. I would rate this one as 8 on a scale of 10.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Bourne Ultimatum
Jason Bourne starts his search of himself from his last known location Moscow. There are still some people at high positions in CIA think that he is dangerous and should be eliminated. Chase begins again, but Bourne is always one step ahead of his prosecutors. In the middle of high speed action he keeps on unfolding some more truths about his past.
Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon had really big challenge to keep this movie up to the expectations raised by last two movies of the series and he does not disappoint. One thing I like about Jason Bourne is that whatever he does can be done in real world and is humanly possible and that's the USP of the series. This movie also shows some great work with the camera. It seems cameraman didn't know what the next scene will be, camera seems to follow the movements.
This is a fitting finale to a great series. Hope they are not planning movies on The Bourne Legacy and The Bourne Betrayal.
PS: Don't try to relate the movie with the Book. The character is from the book not the story.
Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon had really big challenge to keep this movie up to the expectations raised by last two movies of the series and he does not disappoint. One thing I like about Jason Bourne is that whatever he does can be done in real world and is humanly possible and that's the USP of the series. This movie also shows some great work with the camera. It seems cameraman didn't know what the next scene will be, camera seems to follow the movements.
This is a fitting finale to a great series. Hope they are not planning movies on The Bourne Legacy and The Bourne Betrayal.
PS: Don't try to relate the movie with the Book. The character is from the book not the story.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Manorama SFU
Before starting to write my views (i am not qualified enough to churn out a review :P) I must confess that I have read numerous reviews, previews, behind the scene diaries etc etc and any resemblance to any such article is purely co-incidental. :D
Khair, I went to watch Manorama with loads of expectations (as it was recommended by Mr. Anurag Kashyap himself) and to sum it all, I didn't return empty handed. Since its a thriller involving lots of twists and turns (sadly most of them happen during second half) so i would not divulge into the details of the story but surely i would like to tell that in spite of being a thriller, it appears to be too slow esp in the first half. The knowledgeable people call it paying homage to the "Noir" genre of 50's but only question I would like to ask is that wasn't the director thinking about aam junta who payed 175 bucks to watch the movie.
Still that takes nothing away from the debutant director Navdeep who shows his brilliance in EVERY frame of the movie. The story is set in Lakhot district in Rajasthan and I am very glad with the way Navdeep has shown the small town and its very small details in the movie. One cant help but notice the funny posters that are a very normal scene in any small town in North India. Also the introduction scene of Vinay Pathak is shown very intelligently. These things showed that the director and his team did their homework well and god how well have they done it!!
Coming to the performances, Abhay Deol delivers yet another good performance but his voice modulation lacks the knockout punch. He looks well prepared physically for the role of a man who has a kid and a wife but wants something more for himself but Abhay looked unprepared mentally for the role. Trivia: Irrfan Khan was to play Abhay's part in the movie but due to lack of finances the director had to settle with Abhay. Surely Irrfan would have taken the movie to another level. Gul Panag is right on target in a role which is of a real(not a saas bahu type) housewife who runs a saloon. She essays the role with such an ease that we wonder why the industry hasn't given her more chances. Only thing which i didn't appreciate in her role was her posh accent which could have been altered for the role which shows her to hail from Rohtak. Raima Sen average in her outing but clearly needs to improve on the dialog delivery. The supporting cast is TOPNOTCH. The character of Abhay's intruding/jealous yet submissive neighbor is simply too good (played by the same guy who played Suggi in Haasil). Even the tiny one-second-zero-dialog role of his wife and her neighbor is amazing. Sarika doesnt has much to do in the movie and Kulbhushan Kharbanda is yet again totally reliable as a scheming politician. Vinay Pathak is simply awesome and I wished he had some more of the screen time. Lastly the characters of two goons are quite properly etched and provide some relief in the first half.
Though it was slowly paced in first half, still i liked the movie due to the braveness of the director and the treatment he gave to the subject. This movie stands out amongst the Dhamaals, Hey babyys and Dhols which are being lapped up by the junta. I was disheartened to see quite few people in the audi and heard that Dhol had 80% opening.
Lastly I want to confess that I havent seen Chinatown yet and even if the director has copied frame by frame of the classic (which i dont think is true), still i would laud his effort as very few people would have done Chinatown in Lakhot and fewer would have done it so brillantly.
(I dont like to give stars to the movie so dont scroll down for stars or ratings :P)
EDIT-- I missed out on Vinay Pathak (That happens when u blog while in office)..khair added it now!!
--Dubey
Khair, I went to watch Manorama with loads of expectations (as it was recommended by Mr. Anurag Kashyap himself) and to sum it all, I didn't return empty handed. Since its a thriller involving lots of twists and turns (sadly most of them happen during second half) so i would not divulge into the details of the story but surely i would like to tell that in spite of being a thriller, it appears to be too slow esp in the first half. The knowledgeable people call it paying homage to the "Noir" genre of 50's but only question I would like to ask is that wasn't the director thinking about aam junta who payed 175 bucks to watch the movie.
Still that takes nothing away from the debutant director Navdeep who shows his brilliance in EVERY frame of the movie. The story is set in Lakhot district in Rajasthan and I am very glad with the way Navdeep has shown the small town and its very small details in the movie. One cant help but notice the funny posters that are a very normal scene in any small town in North India. Also the introduction scene of Vinay Pathak is shown very intelligently. These things showed that the director and his team did their homework well and god how well have they done it!!
Coming to the performances, Abhay Deol delivers yet another good performance but his voice modulation lacks the knockout punch. He looks well prepared physically for the role of a man who has a kid and a wife but wants something more for himself but Abhay looked unprepared mentally for the role. Trivia: Irrfan Khan was to play Abhay's part in the movie but due to lack of finances the director had to settle with Abhay. Surely Irrfan would have taken the movie to another level. Gul Panag is right on target in a role which is of a real(not a saas bahu type) housewife who runs a saloon. She essays the role with such an ease that we wonder why the industry hasn't given her more chances. Only thing which i didn't appreciate in her role was her posh accent which could have been altered for the role which shows her to hail from Rohtak. Raima Sen average in her outing but clearly needs to improve on the dialog delivery. The supporting cast is TOPNOTCH. The character of Abhay's intruding/jealous yet submissive neighbor is simply too good (played by the same guy who played Suggi in Haasil). Even the tiny one-second-zero-dialog role of his wife and her neighbor is amazing. Sarika doesnt has much to do in the movie and Kulbhushan Kharbanda is yet again totally reliable as a scheming politician. Vinay Pathak is simply awesome and I wished he had some more of the screen time. Lastly the characters of two goons are quite properly etched and provide some relief in the first half.
Though it was slowly paced in first half, still i liked the movie due to the braveness of the director and the treatment he gave to the subject. This movie stands out amongst the Dhamaals, Hey babyys and Dhols which are being lapped up by the junta. I was disheartened to see quite few people in the audi and heard that Dhol had 80% opening.
Lastly I want to confess that I havent seen Chinatown yet and even if the director has copied frame by frame of the classic (which i dont think is true), still i would laud his effort as very few people would have done Chinatown in Lakhot and fewer would have done it so brillantly.
(I dont like to give stars to the movie so dont scroll down for stars or ratings :P)
EDIT-- I missed out on Vinay Pathak (That happens when u blog while in office)..khair added it now!!
--Dubey
Dhol: Same Priyadarshan Again
Priyadarshan is the most repetitive director of recent times in Bollywood. Why can't he be more creative with his films and give the viewers something new for a changes. It started with Hera Pheri (Don't know about any of Priyan's hit comedy before that), but just because Hera Pheri worked does not mean you keep on repeating the same stuff in your every film.
Every Priyan movie is a comedy of errors, where actors get into certain situations because of some mistake of their or someone else. Dhol is again the same. Our four leading characters Kunal, Sharman, Tushar and Rajpal always find themselves in certain situations they did not expect in order to follow their dream of being rich by marrying some rich girl. Then there is a dhol in the middle of all the confusion, which is sought-after by Zikomo. So before interval it's the girl Tanushree and after interval it's the dhol, but there is confusion everywhere.
Some parts of the film are good and actually make you laugh. Rajpal is excellent, all other are OK. Last fight scene is something we see in all Priyan comedies and this time it does not make you laugh as it did in Hera Pheri. I think editor has forgotten to use his scissors on certain scenes. Overall, the movie will be liked by Priyan's fans but I would recommend Priyan and Neeraj Vohra to be more creative (they are capable of doing better). I would rate this movie as 5 out of 10.
Every Priyan movie is a comedy of errors, where actors get into certain situations because of some mistake of their or someone else. Dhol is again the same. Our four leading characters Kunal, Sharman, Tushar and Rajpal always find themselves in certain situations they did not expect in order to follow their dream of being rich by marrying some rich girl. Then there is a dhol in the middle of all the confusion, which is sought-after by Zikomo. So before interval it's the girl Tanushree and after interval it's the dhol, but there is confusion everywhere.
Some parts of the film are good and actually make you laugh. Rajpal is excellent, all other are OK. Last fight scene is something we see in all Priyan comedies and this time it does not make you laugh as it did in Hera Pheri. I think editor has forgotten to use his scissors on certain scenes. Overall, the movie will be liked by Priyan's fans but I would recommend Priyan and Neeraj Vohra to be more creative (they are capable of doing better). I would rate this movie as 5 out of 10.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Why do I like sports flicks?
Yesterday I was watching "The Greatest Game Ever Played", again. Though I had already seen the flick before, I knew what is gonna happen (that's the case with all sports flick I guess, you already know, what will be the ending). Still I was watching it with interest and was excited at every shot played by Harry or Francis (two main characters of the film). Though I don't know the rules of Golf, I never watch it on ESPN, still while watching the movie I kinda felt associated with the characters and the game. Same is the case with all the sports flick (except few).
Take example of recent release "ChakDe India", although it was based on a game I personally am not very interested in (I think that's the case with most of the people who watched the film and made it a hit). Still I rate it as the best sports flick ever made in Bollywood. I have watched this one twice already and did not loose interest while watching it for the second time. (ChakDe is one of the few movies I have seen more than once in theater)
My all time favorite Hindi film is "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar". I have seen the last race more than 100 times by now and I always watch it with equal interest. I am as excited as I was when I watched it for the first time (I think the excitement wouldn't have been more, if I was watching it live, why? Will answer this why in later part of the post). I feel like cheering for Sanju (it was Sanju, I cheer for, not Amir Khan), I feel like telling Sanju to change gear at times. I feel more excitement than the character Ratan is.
List of my all time favorite movies include "JJWS", "Cinderella Man", "Rocky", "ChakDe", "Lagaan", "Remember the Titans" and many more, which I might not have seen yet.
Why I find these sports flick more exciting than a live match? When I am watching a live match I don't associate with the players as closely as I do while watching a movie. I know the real life players from newspapers, TV etc, but while watching a movie I virtually live with the players. I know the struggle these players have gone through before playing the game. There is always a story associated with the game, which in all cases is climax of the movie and by that time, I want the hero/s to win the game. Because till the time match starts, those players are not unknown to me, they are like my friends/neighbors, who have gone through a lot of struggle/training to reach the stage they are right now. To top it all, there is always an emotion attached, like in Cinderella Man, Russel Crowe was fighting to earn bread for his family, in JJWS, Amir was racing for revenge and pride, Lagaan match was for lives of so many families and ChakDe was again for regaining lost pride. I think these emotions make the game bigger than live matches.
I hope that even more such movies are made in future and I keep on enjoying the game as well as the movie. It's kind of combo offer, watch the movie and get to watch one very exciting tournament as bonus.
Take example of recent release "ChakDe India", although it was based on a game I personally am not very interested in (I think that's the case with most of the people who watched the film and made it a hit). Still I rate it as the best sports flick ever made in Bollywood. I have watched this one twice already and did not loose interest while watching it for the second time. (ChakDe is one of the few movies I have seen more than once in theater)
My all time favorite Hindi film is "Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar". I have seen the last race more than 100 times by now and I always watch it with equal interest. I am as excited as I was when I watched it for the first time (I think the excitement wouldn't have been more, if I was watching it live, why? Will answer this why in later part of the post). I feel like cheering for Sanju (it was Sanju, I cheer for, not Amir Khan), I feel like telling Sanju to change gear at times. I feel more excitement than the character Ratan is.
List of my all time favorite movies include "JJWS", "Cinderella Man", "Rocky", "ChakDe", "Lagaan", "Remember the Titans" and many more, which I might not have seen yet.
Why I find these sports flick more exciting than a live match? When I am watching a live match I don't associate with the players as closely as I do while watching a movie. I know the real life players from newspapers, TV etc, but while watching a movie I virtually live with the players. I know the struggle these players have gone through before playing the game. There is always a story associated with the game, which in all cases is climax of the movie and by that time, I want the hero/s to win the game. Because till the time match starts, those players are not unknown to me, they are like my friends/neighbors, who have gone through a lot of struggle/training to reach the stage they are right now. To top it all, there is always an emotion attached, like in Cinderella Man, Russel Crowe was fighting to earn bread for his family, in JJWS, Amir was racing for revenge and pride, Lagaan match was for lives of so many families and ChakDe was again for regaining lost pride. I think these emotions make the game bigger than live matches.
I hope that even more such movies are made in future and I keep on enjoying the game as well as the movie. It's kind of combo offer, watch the movie and get to watch one very exciting tournament as bonus.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Dhamaal: Good in pieces
After a lot of thought finally I decided to go for Dhamaal this weekend. Frankly I did not expect much from the movie. The movie isn't a great work of art. It's full of jokes you have already heard and scenes you have already scene. But at some places it works. I actually laughed at some of the jokes, I have heard so many times. But some scenes are stretched unnecessarily, like the aeroplane scene.
Ending does not fit with the mood of the movie. yaar, itna senti marne ke kya jaroorat thi. Overall, if you don't have anything to do, you can watch this film once. It's a light fun film, and I would rate it 6 out of 10.
Ending does not fit with the mood of the movie. yaar, itna senti marne ke kya jaroorat thi. Overall, if you don't have anything to do, you can watch this film once. It's a light fun film, and I would rate it 6 out of 10.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Missing Shiva Gang
This weekend I wanted to watch the much hyped and publicized Ram Gopal Verma ki AAG, but thanks to the bad reviews and feedback, I could not. I could not find a company to go for this so called tribute to one of the biggest commercial success in bollywood, Sholay.
It's not that I had some great expectations from the movie. After watching the various trailers in TV, I had an idea that this is going to be one of the worst movies made by Ram Gopal Verma. All the reviews proved me right. Still I want to watch this film, just to see how bad it is. I want to see if this movie is directed by the same person, who debuted in bollywood with Shiva and directed movies like Rangeela, Satya, Company, Sarkar and produced movies like Shool, Ek Hasina Thi and Ab Tak Chhappan. I wanted to see how someone like Ram Gopal Verma can fail to deliver, even with a tried and tested script. I wanted to see how someone can make, three national award winning actors Mohanlal (4 times), Amitabh Bacchan (2 times) and Ajay Devgan (2 times) act so badly.
From the trailers, it is evident that Bacchan is over expressive in all the scenes, and Ajay isn't even bothering to show any expression. I know that the Veeru-Basanti (Heero-Ghungroo) romance would be one of the worst parts of the film. Still I want to see the film.
I can't blame my friends for not coming with me to watch this film, because I know it takes a lot of guts to see such a film, which has been bashed by reviewers so badly. That is why I am missing the Shiva gang. I would have watched this film if any of them were in Mumbai this weekend.
It's not that I had some great expectations from the movie. After watching the various trailers in TV, I had an idea that this is going to be one of the worst movies made by Ram Gopal Verma. All the reviews proved me right. Still I want to watch this film, just to see how bad it is. I want to see if this movie is directed by the same person, who debuted in bollywood with Shiva and directed movies like Rangeela, Satya, Company, Sarkar and produced movies like Shool, Ek Hasina Thi and Ab Tak Chhappan. I wanted to see how someone like Ram Gopal Verma can fail to deliver, even with a tried and tested script. I wanted to see how someone can make, three national award winning actors Mohanlal (4 times), Amitabh Bacchan (2 times) and Ajay Devgan (2 times) act so badly.
From the trailers, it is evident that Bacchan is over expressive in all the scenes, and Ajay isn't even bothering to show any expression. I know that the Veeru-Basanti (Heero-Ghungroo) romance would be one of the worst parts of the film. Still I want to see the film.
I can't blame my friends for not coming with me to watch this film, because I know it takes a lot of guts to see such a film, which has been bashed by reviewers so badly. That is why I am missing the Shiva gang. I would have watched this film if any of them were in Mumbai this weekend.
Friday, August 24, 2007
Heyy Babyy: Watch it baby!
Unlike many mindless comedies (leave aside Bheja Fry and Khosla ka Ghosla) of recent times, this one has an story. It's not just a set of gags put together to look like a movie. Sajid Khan has done a brilliant job in his first effort towards direction. He knows what he wants to show and is to the point most of time.
Start credits roll with the title song showing all the flop actresses of bollywood and our three heroes flirting with them. The song is enough to draw the character sketch of these three. The movie starts with a baby being dropped at the doors of these three friends, and how they struggle with the new problem in hand, i.e. raising the baby. That's not it. The movie is full of surprises. The story unfolds with these guys bonding with the baby and then baby being taken away from them. The second half is all about how these guys get the baby back in their lives.
All the characters have done fair job with the role they have been given to play. Akshay proves that he is good even when he is not doing comedy; watch out for the hospital scene. Riteish Deshmukh has a long way to go. He handles his character with ease. Boman Irani doesn't have much to do but he makes his presence felt. Vidya Balan is again great at her part. Fardeen Khan seems to be learning, still there is a lot for him to learn. Finally last but not the least Angel. It's really amazing how the director Sajid Khan has made the baby act. SRK does his bit of overacting in the small cameo; however the reference to DDLJ is funny. There are some scenes not as good as they could have been, like the restaurent scene, where Akshay and Riteish are dressed as arabs. BTW who is that girl Devika, she is really HOT. ;-)
Would rate this one 5 out of 10.
Start credits roll with the title song showing all the flop actresses of bollywood and our three heroes flirting with them. The song is enough to draw the character sketch of these three. The movie starts with a baby being dropped at the doors of these three friends, and how they struggle with the new problem in hand, i.e. raising the baby. That's not it. The movie is full of surprises. The story unfolds with these guys bonding with the baby and then baby being taken away from them. The second half is all about how these guys get the baby back in their lives.
All the characters have done fair job with the role they have been given to play. Akshay proves that he is good even when he is not doing comedy; watch out for the hospital scene. Riteish Deshmukh has a long way to go. He handles his character with ease. Boman Irani doesn't have much to do but he makes his presence felt. Vidya Balan is again great at her part. Fardeen Khan seems to be learning, still there is a lot for him to learn. Finally last but not the least Angel. It's really amazing how the director Sajid Khan has made the baby act. SRK does his bit of overacting in the small cameo; however the reference to DDLJ is funny. There are some scenes not as good as they could have been, like the restaurent scene, where Akshay and Riteish are dressed as arabs. BTW who is that girl Devika, she is really HOT. ;-)
Would rate this one 5 out of 10.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Are you also fed up of these calls?
You are sitting on the comfortable sofa in your living room. You have just come back from a tiring day in office and trying to relax in front of TV. Before switching on TV, you have kept all the stuff in your pockets on the table. Now you are watching TV, you don't want to move for next 15-30mins at least. Suddenly you hear your phone ringing.
You think. You think it could be someone from office (may be something went wrong), it could be your girlfriend (why she calls up at odd times always), it could be your school friend (he is in town for last 2 days, and this is the suitable time for this bugger to call up) or whoever it is, it could be something important which needs your immediate attention. Buried in these thoughts cursing the person who invented cellphone, you get up from your comfortable sofa to pick up the phone. You look at the display. It's an unknown number.
Who it can be? May be some bugger has dialed a wrong no. You are gonna be really mad at the guy, you are going to teach him some dos and don'ts before dialing any no. Today is the bad day for the person who has just called you, by mistake may be.
You angrily, cursing the person who doesn't look at the keypad before dialing any no, pick up the phone. The conversation goes as below:
You: Hello, who's this?
Caller: Hello sir, this is X, calling on behalf of ABC.
You: What is it all about?
Caller: Sir, do you hold an ABC Bank credit card?
You: Yes (thinking, has there been any fraud on your card and bank is trying to report it. See, this is the benefit with these banks, they are so concerned about their customers)
Caller: Sir, we have a very exciting offer for you. (Before you can say anything) Sir, we are offering you a health insurance worth Rs Y Lacs on your credit card. Whenever you visit hospital and pay for medicines, just use your ABC Bank credit card and all your money will be reimbursed.
You: That's really good. (See, I told you, this bank is really concerned about their customers)
Caller: Sir, for that you just have to verify some details and the facility will be made available to you.
You: Isn't this facility provided by default to all your card holders?
Caller: No Sir! we are providing this to some of our most preferred customer. (You, feel proud. Oh! so I am their preferred customer.)
Caller: Sir, your date of birth please. (This rings a bell inside your head, why the hell they are asking for my date of birth)
You: Why are you asking for my date of birth? Can you explain to me in details about your offer.
Caller: Sir, we are offering you a health insurance worth Rs Y Lac, for that you will have to a premium of x Rs quarterly.
You: That part you did not tell me earlier.
Caller: Sir, but you don't have to do anything about it. It will come as part of your statement.
You: But I'll have to pay the bills, right?
Caller: Yes, Sir!
You: Then? (Now you are thinking, all of them are cheats, they just want to earn money, no matter how they do so. If you hadn't asked for those details, they almost convinced you for that.) I don't want any insurance, I already have health insurance and don't need one. Please don't call me again for this.
You hang up cursing your credit card company.
If you are already fed up of such calls, then the conversation could go somewhat like this:
You: Hello, tell me! (you have probably guess who is on the other side)
Caller: Sir! this is X calling from ABC.
You: Why are you calling ME then?
Caller: Sir! we have a very exciting offer for you.
You: I am not interested in any of your offers and don't ever call me again.
Or something like this:
You: Hello!
Caller: Sir! this is X calling from ABC
You hang up.
It's even more irritating if the conversation is as follows:
You: Hello!
Caller (an IVR): Download kijiye latest ringtones........
Now you don't even have anyone on the other line to scream at.
I always wonder how many such calls actually mange to impress the customer and end up in successful selling.
You think. You think it could be someone from office (may be something went wrong), it could be your girlfriend (why she calls up at odd times always), it could be your school friend (he is in town for last 2 days, and this is the suitable time for this bugger to call up) or whoever it is, it could be something important which needs your immediate attention. Buried in these thoughts cursing the person who invented cellphone, you get up from your comfortable sofa to pick up the phone. You look at the display. It's an unknown number.
Who it can be? May be some bugger has dialed a wrong no. You are gonna be really mad at the guy, you are going to teach him some dos and don'ts before dialing any no. Today is the bad day for the person who has just called you, by mistake may be.
You angrily, cursing the person who doesn't look at the keypad before dialing any no, pick up the phone. The conversation goes as below:
You: Hello, who's this?
Caller: Hello sir, this is X, calling on behalf of ABC.
You: What is it all about?
Caller: Sir, do you hold an ABC Bank credit card?
You: Yes (thinking, has there been any fraud on your card and bank is trying to report it. See, this is the benefit with these banks, they are so concerned about their customers)
Caller: Sir, we have a very exciting offer for you. (Before you can say anything) Sir, we are offering you a health insurance worth Rs Y Lacs on your credit card. Whenever you visit hospital and pay for medicines, just use your ABC Bank credit card and all your money will be reimbursed.
You: That's really good. (See, I told you, this bank is really concerned about their customers)
Caller: Sir, for that you just have to verify some details and the facility will be made available to you.
You: Isn't this facility provided by default to all your card holders?
Caller: No Sir! we are providing this to some of our most preferred customer. (You, feel proud. Oh! so I am their preferred customer.)
Caller: Sir, your date of birth please. (This rings a bell inside your head, why the hell they are asking for my date of birth)
You: Why are you asking for my date of birth? Can you explain to me in details about your offer.
Caller: Sir, we are offering you a health insurance worth Rs Y Lac, for that you will have to a premium of x Rs quarterly.
You: That part you did not tell me earlier.
Caller: Sir, but you don't have to do anything about it. It will come as part of your statement.
You: But I'll have to pay the bills, right?
Caller: Yes, Sir!
You: Then? (Now you are thinking, all of them are cheats, they just want to earn money, no matter how they do so. If you hadn't asked for those details, they almost convinced you for that.) I don't want any insurance, I already have health insurance and don't need one. Please don't call me again for this.
You hang up cursing your credit card company.
If you are already fed up of such calls, then the conversation could go somewhat like this:
You: Hello, tell me! (you have probably guess who is on the other side)
Caller: Sir! this is X calling from ABC.
You: Why are you calling ME then?
Caller: Sir! we have a very exciting offer for you.
You: I am not interested in any of your offers and don't ever call me again.
Or something like this:
You: Hello!
Caller: Sir! this is X calling from ABC
You hang up.
It's even more irritating if the conversation is as follows:
You: Hello!
Caller (an IVR): Download kijiye latest ringtones........
Now you don't even have anyone on the other line to scream at.
I always wonder how many such calls actually mange to impress the customer and end up in successful selling.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Vinashak-Destroyer: The most meaningful ending ever
If you have seen Vinashak starring Suniel Shetty, Raveena Tandon and Danny, you would relate to the post and if you haven't, after reading this post you would want to see it. I was amazed by the knowledge and insight of the director (Ravi Dewan) and screenplay writer (Rajkumar Santoshi) of this movie. They have definitely done a lot of thinking before writing this movie. Every scene has a message hidden in it and has a broader significance. Climax and ending of the movie are really remarkable and well thought of.
In the climax of the movie our Hero Anna Shetty kills one of the villains Azghar (Mukesh Rishi) by burning him alive. The scene goes like this, there is fight going on between Anna and Azghar and Azghar falls in the water. Anna Shetty throws petrol on the water and burns him alive. After a few minutes Danny arrives at the scene and he sees his body getting explode. (I couldn't understand, how?) After some thought, I realized the brilliance of Santoshi and Dewan. Since the body was burnt in cold water, it was cold outside and hot inside. Due to inside heat of the body which was dying to come out but was not able to because of the cold water surrounding the body, it exploded. The knowledge of science of Rajkumar Santoshi is extraordinary.
Ending of the movie carries even deeper meaning. Lankeshwar (Danny) and Arjun (Anna Shetty) are in the same jail, whose staff is controlled by Danny. Fight breaks out between jail staff and Anna Shetty. Looking at Anna Shetty fighting many to one, one of the jail staff having sympathy with Anna Shetty decides to open another front for jail staff and sets all the prisoners free. At first prisoners fight with jail staff and then they start running carrying Charkhe (Gandhi ji style). I thought probably they will use these Charkhe for breaking out from the jail, but to my astonishment sab ek circle me baith ke sut katne lage. I was wandering ki ye log sut kyon kat rahe hain. Suddenly I saw all the threads converging at one point and at the center one person was joining all the threads. Then I realised the deeper meaning of the scene. They were preparing a rope to hang Lankeshwar. Finally in the end Lankeshwar was hanged by Anna Shetty using the rope made by all those threads. After watching the scene I remembered one quote from Gandhi ji, "If I had to choose between cowardice and violence, I would choose violence." This one scene says it all. Imagine the brilliance of Rajkumar Santoshi and Raj Dewan. This scene clearly says ki agar Anna Shetty ki jagah Gandhi ji bhi hote to wo bhi yahi karte.
I really salute Santoshi and Dewan. Every aspiring script/screenplay writer should worship these talented writer/director.
In the climax of the movie our Hero Anna Shetty kills one of the villains Azghar (Mukesh Rishi) by burning him alive. The scene goes like this, there is fight going on between Anna and Azghar and Azghar falls in the water. Anna Shetty throws petrol on the water and burns him alive. After a few minutes Danny arrives at the scene and he sees his body getting explode. (I couldn't understand, how?) After some thought, I realized the brilliance of Santoshi and Dewan. Since the body was burnt in cold water, it was cold outside and hot inside. Due to inside heat of the body which was dying to come out but was not able to because of the cold water surrounding the body, it exploded. The knowledge of science of Rajkumar Santoshi is extraordinary.
Ending of the movie carries even deeper meaning. Lankeshwar (Danny) and Arjun (Anna Shetty) are in the same jail, whose staff is controlled by Danny. Fight breaks out between jail staff and Anna Shetty. Looking at Anna Shetty fighting many to one, one of the jail staff having sympathy with Anna Shetty decides to open another front for jail staff and sets all the prisoners free. At first prisoners fight with jail staff and then they start running carrying Charkhe (Gandhi ji style). I thought probably they will use these Charkhe for breaking out from the jail, but to my astonishment sab ek circle me baith ke sut katne lage. I was wandering ki ye log sut kyon kat rahe hain. Suddenly I saw all the threads converging at one point and at the center one person was joining all the threads. Then I realised the deeper meaning of the scene. They were preparing a rope to hang Lankeshwar. Finally in the end Lankeshwar was hanged by Anna Shetty using the rope made by all those threads. After watching the scene I remembered one quote from Gandhi ji, "If I had to choose between cowardice and violence, I would choose violence." This one scene says it all. Imagine the brilliance of Rajkumar Santoshi and Raj Dewan. This scene clearly says ki agar Anna Shetty ki jagah Gandhi ji bhi hote to wo bhi yahi karte.
I really salute Santoshi and Dewan. Every aspiring script/screenplay writer should worship these talented writer/director.
Monday, August 13, 2007
ChakDe India: It's nice to see SRK ACTagain after long time
Watching ChakDe India is like watching a fixed match whose result you already know, but you still feel the excitement. I give full credits to Shimit Amin for the excellent direction. Watching SRK act is a treat, he should do more such films which showcase his acting not his King Khan image. This is an sports flick and unlike other sports flick it concentrates only on our national sport. Thanks to SRK, a lot many people now know that there Hockey is a 70 minutes game with two halves of 35 minutes each and a lot more about a sport which no one cares to watch these days. It's undoubtedly the best sports movie made in Hindi film industry.
The movie is well made with good screenplay and dialogues. Some dialogues are really touchy and some make you smi0le. All the girls though not very good actors have done there part well, specially the girl who played Komal Chautala. I also liked the songs, they are really inspiring and suit the mood of the film.
With all these plus points, there are some negatives also, like some scenes have been dramatized unnecessarily (YRF effect may be), like the end and the climax. But overall packaging is really beautiful to conceal all other negatives. It's a must watch, and I would rate this movie as 8 out of ten.
The movie is well made with good screenplay and dialogues. Some dialogues are really touchy and some make you smi0le. All the girls though not very good actors have done there part well, specially the girl who played Komal Chautala. I also liked the songs, they are really inspiring and suit the mood of the film.
With all these plus points, there are some negatives also, like some scenes have been dramatized unnecessarily (YRF effect may be), like the end and the climax. But overall packaging is really beautiful to conceal all other negatives. It's a must watch, and I would rate this movie as 8 out of ten.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Cash FAQs
Some questions are crawling in mind after watching the great movie Cash. No movie other than Gunda has left me with an itching brain. Thanks to certain community and blogs, Gunda FAQs are answered. Can someone be kind enough to answer the following questions about this masterpiece made by Anubhav Sinha:
1. What kind of engineer Ajay Devgan was (It has been told in the movie that he was an engineer, but which stream)?
2. Why so many scenes were animated?
3. What happened to the businessman's son from whom the third diamond was stolen?
4. What was Chinese mafia doing throughout the movie after stealing the third diamond?
5. How many devices Ajay Devgan actually places on the bridge where Shamita Shetty’s car breaks down? (If you see the entire seem closely the no of devices switches from 2 to 1 and then again 2 and this keeps on repeating till the seen ends)?
6. What was the use of those gadgets placed on the bridge by Ajay?
7. Why Shamita Shetty did not hear any sound, when Ajay’s cellphone fell down and then Ajay himself?
8. Why was the police following Zayed Khan after Riteish Deshmukh throws the painting to him in the water?
9. What was the IQ of Shamita Shetty’s character in the movie?
10. When Zayed Khan meets Esha Deol in Capetown for the first time, he says he’ll need her help in the assignment he is there for. What, when and where did Esha help Zayed in that particular assignment i.e. stealing the painting?
11. In last chase sequence from where Ajay and Riteish get cars, they started the chase on roller board?
12. How many times people change targets in the last chase sequence?
13. Why police is always chasing Esha Deol?
14. Why Riteish Deshmukh always says Kabaddi Kabaddi, when surrounded by Police?
15. Does marking the money means, mark some notes with big black spots?
16. What was in the painting that was stolen by Riteish from exhibition and why the same was stolen?
17. When Dia Mirza exchanged her car keys with Riteish, why didn't he say or do anything? Did he know she had a better car than his?
18. Why police following Zayed Khan started shooting at people on Uncle's boat?
19. Why one helicopter was following Anna Shetty after he shot Uncle?
20. What did the man in the helicopter do when Anna Shetty snatched his gun and threw the same in water? (he must be crying like hell. bahuhu, meri bandook fek di, ab dusari kaon dilayega.)
21. Why Anna Shetty drove the car blindfolded when he first met Dia Mirza in the movie?
22. Ajay Devgan was controlling only one toy plane from the helicopter, who was controlling the others and how?
23. When Shamita Shetty jumped on the van, carrying the money, Ajay was inside the van. How he managed to get out of it, without Shamita Shetty spotting him?
24. When Ajay Devgan smashes the manager of Princess Yacht on the cake, I thought his intentions were to remove the name from the cake, but the same was visible later also. What his real intention was behind smashing the poor guys face on the cake?
25. Does Anubhav Sinha have sleeping disorder and was sleeping during the shooting of various scenes? Why there are so many continuity flaws in the movie?
I would be really grateful to whoever clarifies these doubts. I haven’t slept properly since Friday.
1. What kind of engineer Ajay Devgan was (It has been told in the movie that he was an engineer, but which stream)?
2. Why so many scenes were animated?
3. What happened to the businessman's son from whom the third diamond was stolen?
4. What was Chinese mafia doing throughout the movie after stealing the third diamond?
5. How many devices Ajay Devgan actually places on the bridge where Shamita Shetty’s car breaks down? (If you see the entire seem closely the no of devices switches from 2 to 1 and then again 2 and this keeps on repeating till the seen ends)?
6. What was the use of those gadgets placed on the bridge by Ajay?
7. Why Shamita Shetty did not hear any sound, when Ajay’s cellphone fell down and then Ajay himself?
8. Why was the police following Zayed Khan after Riteish Deshmukh throws the painting to him in the water?
9. What was the IQ of Shamita Shetty’s character in the movie?
10. When Zayed Khan meets Esha Deol in Capetown for the first time, he says he’ll need her help in the assignment he is there for. What, when and where did Esha help Zayed in that particular assignment i.e. stealing the painting?
11. In last chase sequence from where Ajay and Riteish get cars, they started the chase on roller board?
12. How many times people change targets in the last chase sequence?
13. Why police is always chasing Esha Deol?
14. Why Riteish Deshmukh always says Kabaddi Kabaddi, when surrounded by Police?
15. Does marking the money means, mark some notes with big black spots?
16. What was in the painting that was stolen by Riteish from exhibition and why the same was stolen?
17. When Dia Mirza exchanged her car keys with Riteish, why didn't he say or do anything? Did he know she had a better car than his?
18. Why police following Zayed Khan started shooting at people on Uncle's boat?
19. Why one helicopter was following Anna Shetty after he shot Uncle?
20. What did the man in the helicopter do when Anna Shetty snatched his gun and threw the same in water? (he must be crying like hell. bahuhu, meri bandook fek di, ab dusari kaon dilayega.)
21. Why Anna Shetty drove the car blindfolded when he first met Dia Mirza in the movie?
22. Ajay Devgan was controlling only one toy plane from the helicopter, who was controlling the others and how?
23. When Shamita Shetty jumped on the van, carrying the money, Ajay was inside the van. How he managed to get out of it, without Shamita Shetty spotting him?
24. When Ajay Devgan smashes the manager of Princess Yacht on the cake, I thought his intentions were to remove the name from the cake, but the same was visible later also. What his real intention was behind smashing the poor guys face on the cake?
25. Does Anubhav Sinha have sleeping disorder and was sleeping during the shooting of various scenes? Why there are so many continuity flaws in the movie?
I would be really grateful to whoever clarifies these doubts. I haven’t slept properly since Friday.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
Cash: Confused
While watching Cash, one thought that kept on crawling my mind again and again, was am I the only confused one in the hall. The movie is all about confusion (don't get me wrong, it's not the Guy Richie style of movie making I am talking about). Everyone associated with the movie seems to be confused. Scriptwriter did not know what to write, Dialogue writer could not write suitable dialogues to the characters, editor did not know which scene to edit and to what extent, director did not know what he was doing, actors did not read the script/character sketch even once before coming for the shoot and finally last but not the least audience, they seem to be wandering why they took the decision of watching this film.
The film is full of so many flaws that you can not count them on fingers. Continuity has not been taken care of at various occasions. A is chasing B (both are unaware of the reason, why?) may be because the director told them to do so, suddenly director himself forgets, who was chasing whom and next thing you see is, C is chasing B and A is chasing D (how?).
The movie should have been titled Chase (have heard this is the title of Anubhav Sinha's next movie), instead of Cash. In the entire movie someone is chansing someone else with or without a reason. The intentions behind making such film are still unknown, may be further analysis of Anubhav Sinha's brain reveal some facts.
The film is full of so many flaws that you can not count them on fingers. Continuity has not been taken care of at various occasions. A is chasing B (both are unaware of the reason, why?) may be because the director told them to do so, suddenly director himself forgets, who was chasing whom and next thing you see is, C is chasing B and A is chasing D (how?).
The movie should have been titled Chase (have heard this is the title of Anubhav Sinha's next movie), instead of Cash. In the entire movie someone is chansing someone else with or without a reason. The intentions behind making such film are still unknown, may be further analysis of Anubhav Sinha's brain reveal some facts.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Partner: A Series of Conveniently Placed Idiotic Events
For the ones who don't like to read, the title of the post should be enough to understand how the movie would have been. The title has been borrowed from one of my friend's remark on the movie, which completely fits in reference to this movie.
As everyone knows by now that the movie is inspired by Will Smith starer Hitch, except for some sequences, which are as irrelevant to the story as the movie itself, like the missile sequence, Characters Chhota Don (Rajpal Yadav) and Rana From Hariyana (Puneet Issar) and some songs to show Govinda's amazingly funny dance moves.
Since everyone already knows about the script, I would take you through some of the scenes from this latest venture of David Dhawan. When Priya (Katrina Kaif) calls up Bhaskar Diwakar Chaudhary (Graduate from IIMA, 1991 batch and still earning 30,000Rs per month, played by Govinda) for the first time. You have to watch the excitement on Govinda's face and his body language. The scene followed by this is equally funny and Govinda steals the show again. The most funny scene of the movie would be the scene where brides father tells the groom "Sorry, Peter" after calling off the marriage. I wanted to see the expressions on Peter's face.
This movie can truly be called Govinda's comeback film, he has done a brilliant job. He is still one of the best comedians and dancers in bollywood. Katrina Kaif has nothing to do except for looking good, thankfully she has not been given many dialogues. Lara Datta is ok and Salman Khan is being stupid in the entire film. Rajpal Yadav, Suresh Menon are able to make you laugh. Music of the movie is quite decent. Background score played while Rajpal Yadav is on the screen is funny. Editor should have used his scissors a bit more.
Overall I would rate this movie as 3 out of ten. 2 points for Govinda and 1 for two beautiful faces (Katrina and Lara). Except for these two, nothing else is worth mentioning.
As everyone knows by now that the movie is inspired by Will Smith starer Hitch, except for some sequences, which are as irrelevant to the story as the movie itself, like the missile sequence, Characters Chhota Don (Rajpal Yadav) and Rana From Hariyana (Puneet Issar) and some songs to show Govinda's amazingly funny dance moves.
Since everyone already knows about the script, I would take you through some of the scenes from this latest venture of David Dhawan. When Priya (Katrina Kaif) calls up Bhaskar Diwakar Chaudhary (Graduate from IIMA, 1991 batch and still earning 30,000Rs per month, played by Govinda) for the first time. You have to watch the excitement on Govinda's face and his body language. The scene followed by this is equally funny and Govinda steals the show again. The most funny scene of the movie would be the scene where brides father tells the groom "Sorry, Peter" after calling off the marriage. I wanted to see the expressions on Peter's face.
This movie can truly be called Govinda's comeback film, he has done a brilliant job. He is still one of the best comedians and dancers in bollywood. Katrina Kaif has nothing to do except for looking good, thankfully she has not been given many dialogues. Lara Datta is ok and Salman Khan is being stupid in the entire film. Rajpal Yadav, Suresh Menon are able to make you laugh. Music of the movie is quite decent. Background score played while Rajpal Yadav is on the screen is funny. Editor should have used his scissors a bit more.
Overall I would rate this movie as 3 out of ten. 2 points for Govinda and 1 for two beautiful faces (Katrina and Lara). Except for these two, nothing else is worth mentioning.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Nobel Prize for Movies
Nobel Prize for Medicine: This should go to movie Diya aur Toofan, for showing the world about the behavioral changes caused by a brain transplant. Yes, you have read it correctly, in the movie when Mithun is killed by villains, his brain is transplanted into Madhu and she starts thinking like Mithun. She even gets the physical strength to fight the bad guys after the transplant. How?
Nobel Prize for Peace: This one should go to Bill Gates without a doubt. If it wasn't for Bill Gates and Microsoft, we wouldn't be alive. In movie Independence Day if Alien's mother ship was running on some operating system other than windows, how would our heroes could plant a virus in it and save the world.
Nobel Prize for Literature: This has gone to Ramsey Brothers for writing amazing scripts like Purana Mandir, Purani Haveli, Veerana, Samri and many more. They have left behind our Bhojpuri filmmakers with a close margins. Bhojpuri films were nominated in this category for thinking of the innovative names like "Panditji Batai Na Biyah Kab Hoyee", "Sasura Bada Paisewala", "Tohar Bhoujai Humar Lugai" and many more.
Nobel Prize for Economics: This would go to none other than Arindam Chaudhary for proving his super flop movie Rok Sako to Rok Lo hit on paper. I have to understand this great theory from him, using which he managed to do so. If there was a Noble prize for marketing, it would also have been grabbed by him only for the brilliant marketing done for his amazingly beautiful and inspirational movie Rok Sako To Rok Lo.
Nobel Prize for Physics: Nobel academy is grateful to award this to superstar Rajnikant for proving all the Newton's Laws wrong. There were a lot many nominations from across the world in this category including Mithunda for his various movies, Ice Cube for XXX2, but none stood a chance against Rajni-the boss.
Nobel Prize for Chemistry: goes to Evolution, for giving the idea of using a particular anti-dandruff shampoo against those large creepy creatures. They used some weird logic to get to this inference using positions of various materials in periodic table. No wonder, finally it worked and the world was saved.
So these are my choices for Nobel Prize in various categories. Please send in last year's (2006) nominations. Please send in your nominations in different categories justifying the reason for nominations.
Nobel Prize for Peace: This one should go to Bill Gates without a doubt. If it wasn't for Bill Gates and Microsoft, we wouldn't be alive. In movie Independence Day if Alien's mother ship was running on some operating system other than windows, how would our heroes could plant a virus in it and save the world.
Nobel Prize for Literature: This has gone to Ramsey Brothers for writing amazing scripts like Purana Mandir, Purani Haveli, Veerana, Samri and many more. They have left behind our Bhojpuri filmmakers with a close margins. Bhojpuri films were nominated in this category for thinking of the innovative names like "Panditji Batai Na Biyah Kab Hoyee", "Sasura Bada Paisewala", "Tohar Bhoujai Humar Lugai" and many more.
Nobel Prize for Economics: This would go to none other than Arindam Chaudhary for proving his super flop movie Rok Sako to Rok Lo hit on paper. I have to understand this great theory from him, using which he managed to do so. If there was a Noble prize for marketing, it would also have been grabbed by him only for the brilliant marketing done for his amazingly beautiful and inspirational movie Rok Sako To Rok Lo.
Nobel Prize for Physics: Nobel academy is grateful to award this to superstar Rajnikant for proving all the Newton's Laws wrong. There were a lot many nominations from across the world in this category including Mithunda for his various movies, Ice Cube for XXX2, but none stood a chance against Rajni-the boss.
Nobel Prize for Chemistry: goes to Evolution, for giving the idea of using a particular anti-dandruff shampoo against those large creepy creatures. They used some weird logic to get to this inference using positions of various materials in periodic table. No wonder, finally it worked and the world was saved.
So these are my choices for Nobel Prize in various categories. Please send in last year's (2006) nominations. Please send in your nominations in different categories justifying the reason for nominations.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Naqaab: Most Shocking Movie of the Year
The movie is being promoted as the most shocking thriller of the year, well I wont comment on the thriller part, still it's the most shocking movie of the year. I think the real intention behind making any commercial movie is to earn money. Then why would someone make a movie that can only be enjoyed by either people with very high i.q. (it requires good memory to remember all the twists and turns in the movie, there are so many of them and specially in the second half) or people with very low i.q. (they will not bother about remembering the twists and be happy in watching gorgeous Urvashi Sharma).
Since I have mentioned Urvashi Sharma, lets talk about her first. She is good looking (I love her since something something) and knows how to act. It's her first movie, and have heard that she has already signed an eight film contract with some film company. I guess by the time these eight movies are made, she would be a fine actress. In this movie she has played the character of Sophia D'costa who is engaged to multimillionaire Karan Oberoi (Bobby Deol). Sophia meets Vicky (Akshaye Khanna) and falls in love with her. You are being shown camera shots during regular intervals throughout the first half. Second half is all about tying the loose ends followed by multiple twists and turns. I have lost count of how many times story changed it's course in the second half.
Akshaye Khanna is good and the only actor in the movie, who manages to play his part well. Bobby Deol has proved again, that he can not act. Vikas Kalantri is the worst, if he was to be in the movie, he shouldn't be given any dialogues. His dialogue delivery is third grade. There is nothing to do for other characters in the movie. Background music is good and goes well with the thriller genre. There are only two songs in the movie "Ek din teri bahon me", is the one you would want to hear again. Abbas Mastan should know that their style of movie making is outdated now and should change. Why is this affection with Bobby Deol, drop him from all your future projects, please. Take some newcomer, probably you could provide a new Shahrukh Khan to the industry.
The movie is average and would rate this as 5 out of 10. In the end, I enjoyed Aap Kaa Surroor more than this one. Either the movie should be good or bad, average movies don't entertain me much.
Since I have mentioned Urvashi Sharma, lets talk about her first. She is good looking (I love her since something something) and knows how to act. It's her first movie, and have heard that she has already signed an eight film contract with some film company. I guess by the time these eight movies are made, she would be a fine actress. In this movie she has played the character of Sophia D'costa who is engaged to multimillionaire Karan Oberoi (Bobby Deol). Sophia meets Vicky (Akshaye Khanna) and falls in love with her. You are being shown camera shots during regular intervals throughout the first half. Second half is all about tying the loose ends followed by multiple twists and turns. I have lost count of how many times story changed it's course in the second half.
Akshaye Khanna is good and the only actor in the movie, who manages to play his part well. Bobby Deol has proved again, that he can not act. Vikas Kalantri is the worst, if he was to be in the movie, he shouldn't be given any dialogues. His dialogue delivery is third grade. There is nothing to do for other characters in the movie. Background music is good and goes well with the thriller genre. There are only two songs in the movie "Ek din teri bahon me", is the one you would want to hear again. Abbas Mastan should know that their style of movie making is outdated now and should change. Why is this affection with Bobby Deol, drop him from all your future projects, please. Take some newcomer, probably you could provide a new Shahrukh Khan to the industry.
The movie is average and would rate this as 5 out of 10. In the end, I enjoyed Aap Kaa Surroor more than this one. Either the movie should be good or bad, average movies don't entertain me much.
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Shiva Gang: Watching Bad Films
Shiva gang is a group of four friends including myself, who love to watch movies and can watch any movie, no matter how bad the movie is. While watching Shiva, we realized that we can turn any movie into a laugh riot and enjoy every bit of it that is why we have named this group as Shiva Gang. You can imagine how bad the movie (Shiva) would have been, when director/producer of the movie has publicly announced that the actor of the movie is his worst mistake ever.
We feel that there are elements of humor hidden in every film. These elements are not put in there deliberately, but when something goes wrong it always results into something good (sometimes people don't notice it and sometimes they do). Since we are talking about movies, let me take you through one such scene from Shiva and notice the humor element.
In movie Shiva, there is an international gangster named Katni (probably he was born in Katni, MP or may be he was named so because he used to cut some body part of the person he is angry at) is called from Malaysia to kill Shiva. The next scene is shown a guy, who is really dark (has used cherry blossom on his face to keep the shine), and hardly 5 feet tall. He is standing in small fishing boat, which drops him at Mumbai (probably he is so poor that he can not afford the flight cost, I really pity the two guys maneuvering the boat). In next scene, this short guy cuts the nose of a six feet tall guy, because he said that Katni does not stand a chance in front of Shiva (may be he was trying to say that he will cut Shiva's nose in same fashion and this was his way of communicating, since he hasn't spoken a single word in the entire movie).
Next scene is the most hilarious fight sequence I have ever scene (this one beats Jakie Chan movies). Shiva and his girlfriend are visiting a shopping mall and Katni attacks Shiva, hiding between the clothes hanged for display. Words can not describe the whole sequence. But another interesting part of the whole sequence is that the Heroine never leaves Shiva's hand while he is fighting Katni with his other hand (May be she was also paid by the villain to do so).
to be continued...
We feel that there are elements of humor hidden in every film. These elements are not put in there deliberately, but when something goes wrong it always results into something good (sometimes people don't notice it and sometimes they do). Since we are talking about movies, let me take you through one such scene from Shiva and notice the humor element.
In movie Shiva, there is an international gangster named Katni (probably he was born in Katni, MP or may be he was named so because he used to cut some body part of the person he is angry at) is called from Malaysia to kill Shiva. The next scene is shown a guy, who is really dark (has used cherry blossom on his face to keep the shine), and hardly 5 feet tall. He is standing in small fishing boat, which drops him at Mumbai (probably he is so poor that he can not afford the flight cost, I really pity the two guys maneuvering the boat). In next scene, this short guy cuts the nose of a six feet tall guy, because he said that Katni does not stand a chance in front of Shiva (may be he was trying to say that he will cut Shiva's nose in same fashion and this was his way of communicating, since he hasn't spoken a single word in the entire movie).
Next scene is the most hilarious fight sequence I have ever scene (this one beats Jakie Chan movies). Shiva and his girlfriend are visiting a shopping mall and Katni attacks Shiva, hiding between the clothes hanged for display. Words can not describe the whole sequence. But another interesting part of the whole sequence is that the Heroine never leaves Shiva's hand while he is fighting Katni with his other hand (May be she was also paid by the villain to do so).
to be continued...
Shiva gang strikes again.
Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about some college boys trying to bring a revolution or a lone policeman trying to set this world free from corruption. I am talking about a gang of four friends who are there to start a revolution in bollywood. They go for the worst of the movies together and enjoy them to the fullest. They are there to teach the public, how to enjoy movies like Apne. Yes, you guessed it right yesterday four of us went for Apne together. Guess what, it was a laugh riot, not because the movie was funny, it was supposedly the most serious movie released this year so far. We were laughing because, when Shiva gang is there to watch a movie, no matter how bad it is, we enjoy. Shiva gang rocks. We are planning to watch Makadmanav (Bhojpuri version of Spiderman)next.
Oh, I think I got carried away. Right now my aim here is to let you guys know about my experience of watching Apne. So I will hit straight to the point. Well what do you expect when a bunch of worst of the actors from bollywood (Bobby Deol leading the bandwagn along with Aryan Vaid (why don't they put him in Madam Tussad's), Katrina Kaif(though I don't have any problem with her, she is beautiful ;))) and some not so bad actors (Sunny Deol (when he is angry, he is the best), Shilpa Shetty) and some good actors (Dharmendra, Kiron Kher) are put together to act in a movie with a script, which could have been good, a decent screenplay (climax and ending of the movie is really bad), which has the worst of the cinematography (what with all the close up shots whenever there is an emotional scene).
The movie could have been better if the song apne to apne hote hain and Bobby Deol were not there. Bobby Deol should have worked on his body if he knew he is going to play a boxer. The movie reminds you of Rocky (all six parts), Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby and Boxer (Starring Mithun da) in bits and pieces. But it's nowhere near any of these movies except Mithun da starrer Boxer. One more thing I didn't understand is why there always has to be cheating in a bollywood sports flick.
Well clearly this movie does not deserves passing marks, so I decide not to give any couse I don't know what Deol family of boxers will do to me. So I decide not to rate this one.
Oh, I think I got carried away. Right now my aim here is to let you guys know about my experience of watching Apne. So I will hit straight to the point. Well what do you expect when a bunch of worst of the actors from bollywood (Bobby Deol leading the bandwagn along with Aryan Vaid (why don't they put him in Madam Tussad's), Katrina Kaif(though I don't have any problem with her, she is beautiful ;))) and some not so bad actors (Sunny Deol (when he is angry, he is the best), Shilpa Shetty) and some good actors (Dharmendra, Kiron Kher) are put together to act in a movie with a script, which could have been good, a decent screenplay (climax and ending of the movie is really bad), which has the worst of the cinematography (what with all the close up shots whenever there is an emotional scene).
The movie could have been better if the song apne to apne hote hain and Bobby Deol were not there. Bobby Deol should have worked on his body if he knew he is going to play a boxer. The movie reminds you of Rocky (all six parts), Cinderella Man, Million Dollar Baby and Boxer (Starring Mithun da) in bits and pieces. But it's nowhere near any of these movies except Mithun da starrer Boxer. One more thing I didn't understand is why there always has to be cheating in a bollywood sports flick.
Well clearly this movie does not deserves passing marks, so I decide not to give any couse I don't know what Deol family of boxers will do to me. So I decide not to rate this one.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Go Extreme: Suroonnooonnnonooor
Some days back, I read somewhere, 10 things to do before you turn 30. Go extreme was one of them. So I tried going extreme tonight. I arranged one red baseball cap, wore a lose jeans and a jacket. I with one of my friend left for nearest multiplex on a bike. Since we were in hurry, on the way we brushed with a best bus and I had to sacrifice my jeans. But finally we managed to reach the multiplex on time. We asked the person at ticket counter, two tickets, Aap Kaa Suroor, current show. People around the ticket counter were looking at us with curiosity. We looked like die hard Himesh Reshamia fan from our get up but our discussion suggested otherwise. I had full confidence on Himesh Reshamia's acting talent. I knew none of the actors could have performed well. I did never heard of the director of this movie before. I am not a fan of Himesh Reshamia's singing either. But this was the way of going extreme for myself and my anonymous friend (will not name him to save the embarrassment for him).
When we entered the theater, we were surprised to see almost 10-15 people in the theater (We were expecting a lot less than that). The movie started showing German police pulling dead body of a white girl from water. Suddenly we were told that she was a journalist Nadia Merchant, daughter of ex-cop Firoz Merchant (Raj Babbar). Believe me, she did not look like Raj Babbar's daughter from any angle. Raj Babbar has probably mistaken someone else's daughter as his own (may be his wife had some extramarital affair). This is quite possible considering the kind of fool he has been shown in the movie. He actually goes to prison to beat Himesh to death and unwillingly end up helping him run away from prison. I was hoping "Escape from Alcatraz", but it turned out to be "Escape from Tihad".
Himesh Reshamia is no less than Krrish. Like Krrish, he has also got many superpowers, like he can predict future (he knows something is going to go wrong since the begining), he has such a good sense of sound that he actually manages to open one custom made safe using the same, and last but not the least suroor. Using his suroor superpower he manages to call some Mumbai rickshaws to Germany to help him escape from police custody. Using the same superpower he manages to set one of the cars he was chasing to fire. And I think it was the same superpower that prompted the father of the bride to watch TV during feras. Well Himesh seems to be greater superhero than Krrish. Why don't Rakesh Roshan and Himesh jointly release a combined sequel to both the films having two superheroes?
Mallika Sherawat has done the best job in acting department among all the actors in the movie. Now you can imagine how badly everyone has acted. While watching initial credits I noticed 6 choreographers have been used in the movie. I think 4 of them were used only to choreograph Himesh's every movement. His every movement looked so fake that if you actually notice it, you will not stop laughing throughout the movie.
Only thing to talk about in the costume department is various caps worn by Himesh. No body can count the no of caps he has worn in the movie or the no of times he has changed his cap. Well in next season of KBC, this could very well be the one crore rs question, and I am sure no body will be able to answer it. (considering whoever watches this movie more than once will not survive). Himesh Reshamia is the hero with worst physic in recent times. You can clearly see his tummy dying to come out from the tight t-shirts he is wearing. It's really difficult to believe how Himesh delivers all the dialogues without any expression coming to his face. This could be because of one of his many superpowers. It's really remarkable.
I read in one of the review of this movie, that you should respect Himesh's confidence. Well, let me tell that particular reviewer that this is not confidence, we have another word in the dictionary and that is overconfidence. In future if I had to write an example of overconfidence somewhere, i would definitely write, Himesh Reshamia making Aap Kaa Suroor-The Moviee: The Real Luv Story. Himesh, do you think Indian movie goers are so dumb that they will believe the crap shown in the movie to be real. Himesh Reshamia should actually be charged with fraud, for claiming such story to be real. There is one good news for roadies lovers, Bani is there in the movie.
Somewhere in the middle of the movie it is told that, Himesh has lost his smile after his brother's death. Well I have also lost my smile after watching the movie. May some girl like Ria come in my life also to teach me how to smile again.
Well, this movie is beyond any rating and I would not insult the movie by rating it out of 10. I would actually rate it 1 out of 100000000000. Sorry Himesh, that's the best your movie deserves.
When we entered the theater, we were surprised to see almost 10-15 people in the theater (We were expecting a lot less than that). The movie started showing German police pulling dead body of a white girl from water. Suddenly we were told that she was a journalist Nadia Merchant, daughter of ex-cop Firoz Merchant (Raj Babbar). Believe me, she did not look like Raj Babbar's daughter from any angle. Raj Babbar has probably mistaken someone else's daughter as his own (may be his wife had some extramarital affair). This is quite possible considering the kind of fool he has been shown in the movie. He actually goes to prison to beat Himesh to death and unwillingly end up helping him run away from prison. I was hoping "Escape from Alcatraz", but it turned out to be "Escape from Tihad".
Himesh Reshamia is no less than Krrish. Like Krrish, he has also got many superpowers, like he can predict future (he knows something is going to go wrong since the begining), he has such a good sense of sound that he actually manages to open one custom made safe using the same, and last but not the least suroor. Using his suroor superpower he manages to call some Mumbai rickshaws to Germany to help him escape from police custody. Using the same superpower he manages to set one of the cars he was chasing to fire. And I think it was the same superpower that prompted the father of the bride to watch TV during feras. Well Himesh seems to be greater superhero than Krrish. Why don't Rakesh Roshan and Himesh jointly release a combined sequel to both the films having two superheroes?
Mallika Sherawat has done the best job in acting department among all the actors in the movie. Now you can imagine how badly everyone has acted. While watching initial credits I noticed 6 choreographers have been used in the movie. I think 4 of them were used only to choreograph Himesh's every movement. His every movement looked so fake that if you actually notice it, you will not stop laughing throughout the movie.
Only thing to talk about in the costume department is various caps worn by Himesh. No body can count the no of caps he has worn in the movie or the no of times he has changed his cap. Well in next season of KBC, this could very well be the one crore rs question, and I am sure no body will be able to answer it. (considering whoever watches this movie more than once will not survive). Himesh Reshamia is the hero with worst physic in recent times. You can clearly see his tummy dying to come out from the tight t-shirts he is wearing. It's really difficult to believe how Himesh delivers all the dialogues without any expression coming to his face. This could be because of one of his many superpowers. It's really remarkable.
I read in one of the review of this movie, that you should respect Himesh's confidence. Well, let me tell that particular reviewer that this is not confidence, we have another word in the dictionary and that is overconfidence. In future if I had to write an example of overconfidence somewhere, i would definitely write, Himesh Reshamia making Aap Kaa Suroor-The Moviee: The Real Luv Story. Himesh, do you think Indian movie goers are so dumb that they will believe the crap shown in the movie to be real. Himesh Reshamia should actually be charged with fraud, for claiming such story to be real. There is one good news for roadies lovers, Bani is there in the movie.
Somewhere in the middle of the movie it is told that, Himesh has lost his smile after his brother's death. Well I have also lost my smile after watching the movie. May some girl like Ria come in my life also to teach me how to smile again.
Well, this movie is beyond any rating and I would not insult the movie by rating it out of 10. I would actually rate it 1 out of 100000000000. Sorry Himesh, that's the best your movie deserves.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Awarapan: Nice Effort
I chose to watch this movie, because I didn't want to go for Aap Kaa Suroor (not a Himesh Reshamia fan) or Apne (It's difficult to see watch one Deol, how can one watch three of them together). After watching the movie, I realized, it wasn't really a bad decision. The movie is not very great but it is not bad either. Both the actresses are looking gorgeous, specially Shreya Saran. But to everyone's disappointment, Emran Hashmi does not kiss any of the two in the movie.
The movie starts with a scene showing some girls being traded in Hongcong. After the opening scene movie takes one year leap and (Shivam)Emran Hashmi is shown releasing som pigeons from a cage. Some sequence of events reveal that he is working for Bharat Malick (Ashutosh Rana) and is incharge of one of the various hotels owned by him. Bharat's brother Rajan (Ashish Vidyarthi), nephew Munna (Purab Kohli) and son Ronnie don't really like Shivam and the kind of reputation he shares with Bharat. He actually gets Munna arrested for a murder committed in his hotel. Bharat asks Shivam to follow his mistress Reema (Mrinalini Sharma) and find out if there is anyone else in her life. Reema reminds Shivam of his lost love played by beautiful Mrinalini Sharma (has been shown through flashback).
Soon Shivam finds out that there is someone else in Reema's life, Bilal (her love interest, before she was abducted from Pakistan). Bharat tells Shivam to kill her, but he could not do so. He decides to reunite Reema and Bilal. There is his best friend Kabeer also, playing an important part in the story. To know what happens next, you should watch the movie. There are some twists, which should not be revealed here.
I am really impressed with director Mohit Suri, he is learning with each of his movie. The most important thing he has learnt is using his actors efficiently. He found out through his past three movies that, Emran Hashmi is bad at dialogue delivery and he has given him very few dialogues. Emran Hashmi has also learnt some new expressions. All the characters have played their part well, except Bilal and Kabeer. The script is good and is inspired by a Korean film. In first half you will see some elements of Koyla (this one is far better than Koyala). The music across the border is good and there is one bhajan also in the movie, you will not know until you watch the video. Overall, the movie is decent and can be watched once. I would rate this movie 6 out of 10.
The movie starts with a scene showing some girls being traded in Hongcong. After the opening scene movie takes one year leap and (Shivam)Emran Hashmi is shown releasing som pigeons from a cage. Some sequence of events reveal that he is working for Bharat Malick (Ashutosh Rana) and is incharge of one of the various hotels owned by him. Bharat's brother Rajan (Ashish Vidyarthi), nephew Munna (Purab Kohli) and son Ronnie don't really like Shivam and the kind of reputation he shares with Bharat. He actually gets Munna arrested for a murder committed in his hotel. Bharat asks Shivam to follow his mistress Reema (Mrinalini Sharma) and find out if there is anyone else in her life. Reema reminds Shivam of his lost love played by beautiful Mrinalini Sharma (has been shown through flashback).
Soon Shivam finds out that there is someone else in Reema's life, Bilal (her love interest, before she was abducted from Pakistan). Bharat tells Shivam to kill her, but he could not do so. He decides to reunite Reema and Bilal. There is his best friend Kabeer also, playing an important part in the story. To know what happens next, you should watch the movie. There are some twists, which should not be revealed here.
I am really impressed with director Mohit Suri, he is learning with each of his movie. The most important thing he has learnt is using his actors efficiently. He found out through his past three movies that, Emran Hashmi is bad at dialogue delivery and he has given him very few dialogues. Emran Hashmi has also learnt some new expressions. All the characters have played their part well, except Bilal and Kabeer. The script is good and is inspired by a Korean film. In first half you will see some elements of Koyla (this one is far better than Koyala). The music across the border is good and there is one bhajan also in the movie, you will not know until you watch the video. Overall, the movie is decent and can be watched once. I would rate this movie 6 out of 10.
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