Movie Review - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Another movie from the Excel Entertainment team. This time directed by Zoya Akhtar.

Since the time the promos of ZNMD have hit the air, it has been comapred to Farhan Akhtar's DCH. The feel, the look, the male bonding.....this time it was being directed by a woman. I was intrigued - what would it be like ? Another road trip / romance ? Something more maybe ?

Put your doubts to rest - the movie has a feel like DCH but it's not a copy of DCH. It's a mature DCH I say !

The movie is about a road trip that 3 friends undertake before one of them gets married, so it turns out to be his bachelor's party as well. So they head to Spain and start their journey. But there are issues to be sorted on the way. emotions to be unloaded, to be felt, to be experienced, life changing moments, love and men being boys - some really great male bonding and sillyness !

They encounter a few people on their journey who are instrumental in bringing about a change in the 3 distinct characters that they are.

Performances are great - the boys really bond well (Hrithik, Farhan and Abhay) and have loads of fun. Katrina looks like a million bucks and Kalki is good but wasted in a role like this. Abhay Deol walks away with the honours in the acting department while Farhan shows a lot of improvement in the acting department, the way he plays his character and Hrithik is good as usual.

The music is good - more so when watched with the movie progressing. The Tomatina festival song is really good.

The dialogues are funny, not in your face funny but subtle and the male bonding scenes will have you wanting to go silly with your best buds.

The direction is very assured and Spain makes for some very pretty locales and scenes.

Verdict - 3/5. It's a one time watch for sure.

The cons -

I felt the movie was a bit too long, could be trimmed by 20 minutes.

I feel it won't really connect with all the audience but the multiplex audience would surely lap it up.

The life changing moments do not really come across very cleanly - Hrithik's one being the main culprit. (The sky diving sequence is longer and the best - you really want to jump off into thin air and feel free)

Other than that all well.

Another "QUEUE" tale

Yesterday afternoon I walk into HDFC bank in Powai, filled up the pay in slip for cash deposit and went and stood in a queue. There are 3 counters out of which 1 was closed, 1 was handling the cheque deposits only (God only knows why only cheques !) and the 3rd was shut. There were about 10-12 people in the queue.

Now a HDFC bank employee comes and announces that the closed counter is now open and cash deposits can be done here too...a couple of people hear him (including yours truly) and we form a queue at that counter which puts me in 2nd place in the queue.....now the fun starts.

A guy from the previous queue comes and asks the guy in front of me if cash deposits can be made in this queue and on receiving an positive reply....he tells the fellow that he will stand behind him !

I got pissed...and here is the conversation between us,

Me - Hello ? What are you doing ?

Him - I was standing behind him in the earlier queue !

Me - So that gives you the authority to be behind him wherever he goes ? I guess you should be at the end of this queue.

Him - Then I will have to go the previous queue or go to the end of this one.

Me - Yes Einstien, now move !

I mean what kind of chuts are these people ?? I mean the whole country now thinks it can get away with anything or what ? No civic sense at all !!

Movie Review - Delhi Belly

The promos for this movie threw everyone into a tizzy - Bhaag DK Bose rocked the Indian youth and grabbed the nation by it's balls. The movie was being discussed everywhere - good or bad - did not matter. It promised a few laughs and we all were waiting for it to release. It did release this Friday.

The movie is about 3 room-mates and friends , 2 of them who work to-gather, one as a Journalist and the other as his Photographer while the 3rd guy works in an ad agency. The Journalist has a girl friend to whom he is getting married but she is involved in some dangerous activities although unknowingly......how this activity of hers takes these 3 guys through hell and high water and what fate awaits them...is what the movie is all about.

There are a few more characters in the mix - the landlord, the gangster and his cronies, the cops which add up to pretty interesting bunch.

The script is zany and funny and quick. It's pretty solid how things join in at the end....and trust me the dialogues are a riot. The direction and editing add to the fun factor without making the movie tiresome.

The performances are first rate - everyone has done a fab job in the roles assigned to them. The 3 guys Imraan, Vir and Kunaal are very good - the girls fit in well and the odd assortment of other whacky characters are in super form too.

The language of the movie - the dialogues is what will divide the opinion amongst the movie watching junta. The movie is released in 2 versions - Hinglish and Hindi. I happened to watch the Hindi version, which is a dubbed version. The dialogues were as normal as we talk in real life ....a conversation between 3 great buddies is sure to be peppered with words like gandu, bhenchot, gand...et al - and that's the way it is in the movie. No beeps, no cuts - just the way it is. I like.

A lot of people are going to be pissed off with the censors allowing this kind of language for a movie that is aimed squarely at the youth but then those people either live in a bubble or do not want to acknowledge that the youth speak this way. It's their loss

Verdict - 4.5/5 - A full on comedy that grabs your balls and doesn't let go until they are squeezed dry ! :)

Things you will like about the movie -

1) 90 minutes long and no intervals

2) Great Acting, zany screenplay and nifty editing.

3) The language and dialogues.

Things I did not like in the movie -

1) Inspite of working and being pretty well off - the 3 guys live in a real run down home, wonder why ?

2) The Aamir Khan number at the end - people seemed to love this . I hated this - why not have the Bhaag DK Bose video that was specially shot ?? Aamir seems to have gone the SRK way - a BIG thumbs down from me.

The censors have taken a big risk in letting this movie through without cuts - will it start a trend ? Will Bollywood grow out of it's nice clean image that it potrays ? Who the fuck cares ?

For now - Bhaag Bose DK - jaa Delhi Belly dekh aur mast reh.