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.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
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.
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