Saawariya: Akhir Kyu?

Cast: Salman Khan, Rani Mukerji, Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Zohra Sehgal

Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Producer: Sony Pictures Limited and Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Music Director: Monty Sharma, Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Rate: **


The most important aspect that develops from Saawariya: A couple of additions to the swelling number of actors and another landmark in terms of design of a set. And yes, Sanjay Leela Bhansali actually gives credit to the original Russian story.

The story is about a guy, who is shown to be a penniless singer who performs at a local restaurant and how he meets a damsel in distress and falls in love with her only to find that she loves another man who has been out for over a year. The lady awaits the return of her beloved and in the meantime develops a friendship with the singer. With minimal turns in the story, lady luck strikes for the lady’s love and her lover is back leaving the singer alone all over again. The singer is Ranbir, lady is Sonam and her lover is Salman. Rani also tags along in as the unwanted narrator, who falls for the young singer. She of course plays a prostitute.

The story is slow and interrupted by songs every five minutes which are good enough to put you to sleep. There are innumerable problems with the script. The sets which are wonderful and magnificent are what betray the movie. While at times it looks very fake – even though it’s mentioned that the town is fictitious – the sets are what blows up the simple faults in the script. From instant snow to potholes… all fake and unjustified. At the end of it you are left why are you seeing the movie.

From the point of cinematography, lights and editing however the movie is A grade. The music is good too. But who wants it?

Performance wise, Ranbir is one newcomer who does not imitate Shah Rukh. He tries Raj Kapoor instead. Nothing too good. Sonam is no where near her father’s debut performance. May be she should rather be a model. She has the looks to be one. Wonder why Rani seems to be justifying prostitution in her recent movies! In any case she no different from her rest movies. Stgnating. Hats off to Salman for accepting the role. Who would have! He hardly has anything to do except romance a beti-samaan Sonam. The star of the movie is certainly Zohra Sehgal.

Overall, if you call this cinema, it won’t be wrong to say bollywood masala is preferred. Bhansali kept the movie under wraps and that’s the reason for the initial response. Otherwise people would have discovered what it is all about and never gone to the theatre. It’s not worth the money if you are not a photography and lighting student.

The rest of the audience was actually overjoyed when the movie was over. They could leave the theatre. So much for Bhansali’s creativity! Avoid it.

© Noyon Jyoti Parasara

Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag

My review for AOL.in

Rate: **1/2

http://www.aol.in/bollywood/story/2007083107199019000001/index.html
But with all the good factors, one can't deny the fact that there Sholay cannot be remade. Nor can any film match its style. RGV ki Aag thanda hai.

Heyy Babyy


My review for AOL.in
http://www.aol.in/bollywood/story/2007082409269019000001/index.html

Sajid Khan's debut is one movie you can go and watch and leave your brains behind. Go laugh aloud!

Buddha Mar Gaya

Cast: Anupam Kher, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Ranvir Shorey, Rakhi Sawant, Mukesh Tiwari and host of stars. And yes Prem Chopra in a cameo as another
Buddha.

Producer/ Director: Rahul Rawail

Music: Bappi Lahiri

Rate: *



Rahul Rawail is the same director who made films like Arjun and Betaab that once upon a time made stars like Aishwarya Rai, Bobby and Sunny Deol. Buddha Mar Gaya happens to be a venture from the very same director and it's a pity where he stands today. He has not had a hit from the last several efforts and this one does not promise to change his luck for any better.

Buddha Mar Gaya is a black comedy which tries to portray what people could do for money – which includes selling oneself or his or her own father. A slapstick, Buddha Mar Gaya is about LK and what his family does to his dead body in order to keep their money safe with them.

LK or Laxmikant Kapadia played by Anupam Kher is one the richest people in India, who has made his way up to his stature from being just a scrap seller. He has launched an IPO and on the party night to celebrate this venture he dies while trying to get naughty in bed with Kim (Rakhi Sawant), who is a struggler willing to compromise on anything to become 'world famous in India'. When the family comes to know that LK is dead they decide to keep it a secret till all the shares on offer at the IPO is sold out as the death could send the whole empire tumbling. The only person outside the family who knows about the death is obviously Kim who is made to believe that she is a Vishkanya by Vidyut baba (Om Puri), who is the one person who the whole family seems to listen to. Kim therefore does not tell anyone about the death as that would mean she is the killer.

Amidst loads of confusion, a story about each member of the family is told smartly. While the two sons are good for nothing they have two wives who compliment them in everyway. While one enjoys with his wife, who he picked up from a beer bar, the other hardly speaks to his wife as he is always shown talking to his love interest over the phone and promises not to give anything to his wife and son from his property. But the chaos increases as you find out that Vidyut Baba is actually sleeping with LK's sister and elder son simultaneously, hence pointing that the elder son Sameer (Mukesh Tiwari) is actually gay. So how does he have a son? This is answered when Sameer's wife admits that the son is LK's hence making Sameer a brother to his son.

After the initial confusion in the family when they finally decides that they would announce the death, enters Murli Sharma who is an agent from the government. And now orders that the declarations need to be stalled for a few more days till the government money is safely taken out of LK’s account. Such incidents lead them to first declare that LK's best friend and then his cousin brother are dead. In comes Ranvir Shorey who sells his own father's dead body and later his uncle's to the Kapadias, so that they can cremate it as their uncle and father's best friend.

Rakhi Sawant returns every now and then with her own struggle at different places. But unfortunately whoever she sleeps with dies, leading her to reinstate her belief that she is indeed a Vishkanya.

The movie is a complete jumble till the end when the Kapadia family is arrested. Talking about the technical aspects the editing is not stylish but for slapsticks you don't need much style. The story hardly takes your fancy nor does the screenplay. There are instances which were brought in merely to create more laughter rather than to carry the story forward. There also scenes ripped from funny ads and old films making the film novelty factor. The dialogues are trying quite hard to make you laugh. But that too goes overboard at times and becomes boring rather than making you smile. The music – both the background and playback hardly impress. In fact, the only song in the movie sounds more like an advertisement for the film and the music is nowhere near pleasant.

Actingwise there is hardly anything substantial to do for each character. Anupam Kher does a good job of maintaining the same look throughout the movie and hence a good dead man. Paresh Rawal is wasted in his role. Om Puri does make you laugh once in a while. Prem Chopra being a veteran is wasted doing such a cameo. Rakhi Sawant is inconsistent - good at times and bad at others.

Overall, the audience would like more intelligent comedies. Especially, when people have other options to opt for. Director Rahul Rawail might sit and wail as one more his venture goes down the drain. Next please… yawn!

Dharm: Excellent

http://www.aol.in/bollywood/story/2007060802369019000001/index.html

Red Swatik

Cast: Menaka Chopra (Sherlyn Chopra), Harsh Chhaya, Deepraz, Deepshikha
Producer / Director: Vinod Pande

Rate: *

What shocks me is how could a person who has been in the industry since almost thirty years can come up with such substandard products! Vinod Pande has directed films like Yeh Nazdeekiyan and serials like Reporter and now it seems like he has fallen too much in love with his work. He is upset that this film has not received a good release but being kind towards the audience, they would do well to stay away.

The film, as has already talked about, is inspired from the Hollywood film 'I Spit on your grave' but lets put it straight away that the inspiration didn't quite work.

The film is the story of psychotic women who kills whoever she sleeps with – and that she does pretty regularly. Rohini (Maneka Chopra) is the victim of a gang rape after which she is left by her fiancé. She also gives birth to a child who dies in a car crash while still a toddler. The collective impact of al these take away Rohini's sanity. She could never cope with the fact that her son was no more with her. She turns a call girl with financial burden of feeding herself but kills every one of her clients. And Sarika (Deepshika), a magazine editor, happens to be the person Rohini calls friend. So after Rohini kills someone she calls Sarika up.

Chaudhari (Harsh Chhaya) is a police official who along with his subordinate Ranadey (Deepraz) is on the trail. Ranadey gets killed when he finds striking similarities between his one-night old girlfriend and the killer.

The story looks patchy with the script taking liberty to switch Rohini's traveling preference between a taxi and her car at its own convenience. There are other goof ups like another call girl saying that only Rohini contacts her when required. This after she was shown calling Rohini up to fix a client. And also who would ever wear sexy lingerie, which reveals almost everything, when an unknown person is visiting you. She might be a call girl but this is still far fetched and does not look anything more than a desperate attempt to catch eyeballs.

One thing that repels the eyes throughout the film is terrible make up. All the characters, especially Rohini looks terrible with the foundation almost screaming out. And to add this was a strange use of Close ups through out the film. Most of the scene of Rohini had extreme close up revealing her bad make up and of course complete lack expressions. There are some subtle references to the schizophrenic state of the killer through the camera, which sometimes work but sometimes fall flat.

Lighting in the film is a problem, there being no uniformity even in the same scenes. For example some scenes in the police station are really ill-lit. The dubbing could have been better. There are scenes where it's evident that the whole thing wasn't done at the same time.

The direction could have been better. There were scenes where a little common sense could have made a whole lot of differences. Like the scene when the security guard finds that Rohini is a mental case. That was when she was talking to he non existent son in front of him. The position of hands and eyes of the lady could have been better if they kept in mind how old the child was. Also the love scene between Rohini and Ranadey is stretched a bit too long and there is no justification to the girl being shown topless. If he tried creating a classic lovemaking session like the one in 'Desperado' he has failed miserably.

But he can't really help when he is handling a complete non-actor like Maneka Chopra (also known as Sherlyn Chopra). She is a classic case of how less cloths does not necessarily mean sexy. Harsh Chhaya and Deepshika do well for themselves but still don't quite make it to the good acting bracket for this particular film.

It's hard to point out a single point that was good about the movie. And there is no harm in not wasting time. Don't even bother.

Shootout At Lokhandwala: Not as exciting as reality

http://www.aol.in/bollywood/story/2007052507109019000001/index.html

Raqeeb: Tale of twists and turns

http://www.aol.in/bollywood/story/2007051807469019000001/index.html

Thank God it's Friday!

The trailers were funny and promised something different.

Rajat Kapoor is the owner of a music company and like all his friends works hard the whole week before meeting for the dinner on Friday. This is their stress buster. Not the food but the talent that accompanies each of them. The ‘talent’ is a person who does something funny. The friends judge the ‘talents’ and the winner is the one who makes them laugh the most. And these ‘talents’ perform all this while thinking they are in fact appreciated.

Vinay Pathak is a wannabe singer who meets Rajat Kapoor through one of Kapoor’s friends. And Kapoor decides that Vinay would be his talent for the next Friday.

Sarika is Kapoor’s wife and a singer who is not quite pleased with her husband’s Friday adventures. And Milind Soman is her ex- husband and Kapoor’s ex-friend. They are no longer friends as Kapoor steals Milind’s wife!

The fun begins when Kapoor invites Bharat Bhusan played by Vinay to his place before they go out to dinner. And then Kapoor hurts his back so bad that he can’t really make it to the dinner and gets stuck with Vinay in his house. What follows after that is sheer madness. Vinay’s enthusiasm and Kapoor’s endurance while they try to solve problems that has suddenly fallen on to Kapoor is hilarious.

Vinay’s portrayal of a person who is an idiot who is very ever-enthusiastic and ever ready to help people is superb. He draws in laughter with his delivery and expression. And Kapoor is no less. The duo combine to deliver a powerhouse performance. Milind Soman surely has improved on his acting and Sarika was effective as a loving yet dejected wife. The entry of Ranvir Shorey brings in cheer. As an honest income tax officer who had even raided his own house once, Ranvir is brilliant.

Although other aspects of the film are fine, this movie basically rides on the performances and script. A small budget movie, no big starts involved, no foreign locales, and no action to grab eyeballs and yet it has the power to make you stay put in your seat through the two hours. This one is a commendable effort from Sagar Ballary and no wonder had every in splits in the theatre. It’s dil khush with Bheja Fry. Yummy!

The express looses steam half way

Some couple’s on a honeymoon, traveling in a bus… the director want to point out quite a few facts through this movie… like age doesn’t bar love and marriage, like letting yourself free… and there is lots of humour through out the journey…

The film starts with the beginning of the journey. The couples: Ranvir shorey and Diya Mirza; Boman Irani and Shabana Azmi; Kay Kay and Raima Sen; Abhay Deol and Minisha Lamba; and Amisha Patel and Karan Khanna; and Sandhya Mridul and Vikram Chatwal. All with separate stories… told in chapters in the film. And done in quite an interesting way. Well, at least till the interval. But then onwards… it’s a drag. The humour isn’t working.
The problem I guess is – like every other great journey from which you don’t like returning – the director film fails to move towards an end. Result: Not a very good film.

Technique-wise, the film is a good one. But you need a good story too. That’s the most important factor of a film after all!

The performances are good. Kay Kay is awesome. Shabana Azmi is splendid and so is Boman Irani. Others chip in with measured stuff.

A bright romantic comedy… and a one-time watch!

Black Friday

Save the world from going blind

After much controversy and a two-year ban, this film is released at last. And what a film it has turned out to be. I wont keep you waiting till the last t\line to tell you this is one film that you should watch, without fail.

The film is, of course all of us know that, about the 1993 Mumbai – then Bombay - blasts. And its sticks to the theme without any deviation. In fact, so religiously the director has followed the book on which the film is based, the film is actually divided into chapters. This helps the audience relate and understand an otherwise complex movie.

The film starts with a man in lock up informing the police about blasts that are going to take place in a few days. The police of course hardly believe – until it happens. But I feel the movie actually starts just before the blasts… there is uneasy silence, which is represented by a high decibel continuous sound. The sound gets louder till its unbearable and then the blasts… followed by complete silence. Very interesting indeed. Specially so because usually a tragedy is accompanied by some music but here it was complete silence. Silence that hit you so hard, it pains.

Another aspect of the film – it uses real names, of all the accused and even Tiger Memon.

Elaborate details of the blasts and how the accused were linked let the audience comprehend the whole incident. And yes, the story has skillfully lightened up by the excellent of humour wherever possible, be it Kay Kay eating a banana or eating nothing!

The film is well made. The script and screenplay is terrific. The cinematography is innovative. A lot of red light is used for scene during the interrogation. It’s candid movement just like the human eye. But may be cinematography is not about imitating the eye. The editing makes the film crisp.

The acting department is strong. Loads of underexposed good actors. I would like to mention that the actor playing Dawood looks quite similar! Pavan Malhotra, who plays Tiger Memon has done a brilliant job and so has Kay Kay, who needless to say has always been excellent throughout his career.

And yes the music. Indian Ocean scores. The music is just what was required for a film like this. The film ends with the track ‘Are ruk ja re bandeh’ which has already been quite a big hit since quite some time. The song gives strength to the quote of Gandhiji “An eye for an eye makes the whole blind” with which the films starts and end.

Anurag Basu, you could consider him a debutante as his first film Paanch is yet to release, is one more addition to the ‘different’ breed of film-makers.

The film is a complete closure. The film starts and ends with gandhiji’s quote. But again making an exception I would like to mention the same sound that come back at the end before ‘bandeh’ to be the closure.

I saw a movie after a long time, and boy as they say – patience bears great fruit. I saw a great movie.

To end it let me remind you guys “AN eye for and eye makes the whole world blind”

KANK: A typical Karan Johar film

Yes, I finally watched it. On DVD as it has long been shown the door of the multiplexes. And hence I thought I might as well share my views on the film, which showed Karan Johar the face of failure.

This is a typical KJo film. Huge star cast and huge budget. The story is about two couples, or rather a person in each couple, both of who have never felt some thing they could call love. It was more less compromises.

Shahrukh is an injured, limping football coach with priety as his wife while Rani is a ‘boring’ school teacher, her hubby being the AB jr. And yes there is the AB sr playing dad to AB jr… and what a dad he plays! Sexy Sam.

The film is about two people with similar grievances becoming friends. Because they understand each other better. First it is Sexy Sam and Kiron Kher becoming good friends. Taking a cur from them, Shahrukh (who surprisingly isn’t named Rahul or Raj but Dev) and Rani becomes friends… but their friendship takes huge leaps as they end up sharing a hotel room! Abhisekh and Preity also become friends to solve similar problems. Quite a lot of friendship in fact.

While Big B and Kiron try to light up each other’s gloomy ol’ days, the others try to save their respective marriages. Well until Shahrukh and Rani realises that they want to be with each other rather than their spouses. Hence begins the love story.

And then mid way they decide to get back to their spouses as they do not want to hurt them anymore… And here’s the fun. The spouses instead of playing angles turn them out of their respective home. Yes Shahrukh lived in Priety’s home!

The film ends on a happy note with the lovers meeting after three year of and coming to know that both actually live alone. Some confusion. Some tragedy.

The film story of the film has not been appreciarted. Well at least by my friends, who say “when you live a person for so many years you automatically tend to fall in love with him or her. Hence they not loving their spouses is strange.” Very true indeed. But you can never rely on the heart and this film is for those who feel incomplete.

The film is well made. The cinematography id picture perfect and the editing is cool.

A couple of songs are good, especially the title track and Mitwa.

Acting wise, all of them are superb. I did like to mention that Big B is excellent as sexy Sam. And then with the ease he shifts gears to a sober father underline his capabilities.

For the mush-loving folks, I recommend this movie, if they haven’t seen it yet. Others, I don’t take responsibility. It’s you call. But this can be watched once.

Bhagam Bhag

A runaway comedy

I went to see this movie as it had Govinda in it. I wanted to see if he stil had it in him. Well, to be honest, he is no more what he was. Nevertheless, he is still awesome...and he proves it. And teh best part: he has lost much weight. Guess running around in his constituency did help after all!

getting back to the movie, it is a story which I havent come across in any other movie. Not that I have watched all the movies ever made. But there is certainly nothing like this Bollywood. A theatre company travelling to London loses its lead actress and the manger com director cum everything else Paresh Rawal promises that whoever gets another heroine to act will get to be the hero. Obviously the race for a heroine starts with Govinda and Akshay trying to outsmart eash other. The story takes an interestin turn when the comedy turns into murder mystery engulfing Govinda, Akshay and Paresh Rawal. It is a race henceforth to prove themselves not guilty.

Like any other Priyadarshan movie, the comedy is woven in a great manner and carried out well. Its fun alright. And the murder brings story into the film. good. But not enough.

The music, i didnt bother to check the director's name, is not good. In fact, its irritating at times. too much of noise. however, the other aspects of the film are quite ok.

The acting department is kind of non-existent. I mean, not much scope for performance. But whatever scope it provides, Paresh Rawal stands out and yes Rajpal Yadav is worth mentioning too. Jackie does justice to his role. Akshay is fine. About Govinda, I started with him so no more mentions.

Overall this movie is a one time watch. dont bother to buy the DVD. Priyadarshan will never be able to climb the hights he reached with Hera Pheri again. But yes, i said one-time watch... so do watch it! you dont want to miss on three hours of laughter.