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.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
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
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