Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Monday, July 28, 2008
Movie Review - Money Hai toh Honey Hai
Verdict - I just couldn't get myself to go and watch this movie (although I am a Govinda fan)
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Movie Review - Partner
I caught the much awaited comedy from David Dhawan starring Salman and Govinda, first day first show yesterday. So here goes.....
Story - The basic premise of the story is that Salman plays a Love guru who helps people not confident in love get the woman they want. Enter Bhaskar Choudhary played by Govinda, a bumbling financial advisor (shocking) in a big company, and in love with the owner played by Katrina Kaif (never seen a dumber CEO ). How Salman helps Govinda woo Katrina is the main story and in the middle of all this, Salman falls in love with a sexy reporter (Lara Datta) who is a single mom as well. And Salman has to woo her kid to get to her and also help Govinda get his love. Phewwwww.
Other than that there are hazaar characters floating in and out of the movie for no apparent reason. Rajpal Yadav plays Chota Don (a spoof on SRK's don) and he is so damn irritating that I wanted to get up and slap him. Lara Dutta plays a photographer who clicks underworld characters and shaadi pics as well, wtf. Puneet Issar has a 3-4 scene role.
There are sequences that have no relation to the story like the rocket chasing Salman sequence in Thailand. I really did not understand why the Thailand story was incorporated into the movie. But there are a few nice scenes where you atleast smile if not laugh. And that is just about saying it all. Also introducing Suresh Menon as the gay friend of Katrina made no sense to the movie.
The sequence where Salman teaches Govinda to dance stylishly on Just Chill is the bright spot in the movie and Govinda is at his best then.
Performances - Salman does what he has been doing best in umpteen movies till date. Act like a cool dude which is now 2nd skin to him. Nothing great acting wise. Govinda takes charge here and gets us to smile in a couple of scenes but we can clearly see that his glory days are long gone and his acting in a David Dhawan movie is not what the public are going to enjoy. Katrina kaif has 3-4 scenes where she has to talk in an accent (a thing she does well for a change) and Lara Dutta plays a reporter who has a longer role than Katrina. Lara does well in the comedy scenes. Rajpal Yadav gives the worst performance of his life and the kid who plays Lara's son does well.
Music - Dissapointing. Not one song is a stand out song. The "you're my love" love has a catchy beat to it and that about all. I guess it's time Salman gets Himesh to compose for his films.
Direction / Cinematography - David Dhawan directs the movie and as usual it makes no sense at all. There is no control over the narration - it feels more like he trying to showcase Salman's and Govinda's acting and friendship. Absolutely confused direction. David better get his socks up now, the audience has becoming more demanding and clever. The cinematography is good and glossy.
Verdict - 1.75/5. If its laughs you are looking for, please rent the dvd of No Entry and watch it again. That movie is 1000 times more funny than this one. I say you can safely stay away from this Partner.
Story - The basic premise of the story is that Salman plays a Love guru who helps people not confident in love get the woman they want. Enter Bhaskar Choudhary played by Govinda, a bumbling financial advisor (shocking) in a big company, and in love with the owner played by Katrina Kaif (never seen a dumber CEO ). How Salman helps Govinda woo Katrina is the main story and in the middle of all this, Salman falls in love with a sexy reporter (Lara Datta) who is a single mom as well. And Salman has to woo her kid to get to her and also help Govinda get his love. Phewwwww.
Other than that there are hazaar characters floating in and out of the movie for no apparent reason. Rajpal Yadav plays Chota Don (a spoof on SRK's don) and he is so damn irritating that I wanted to get up and slap him. Lara Dutta plays a photographer who clicks underworld characters and shaadi pics as well, wtf. Puneet Issar has a 3-4 scene role.
There are sequences that have no relation to the story like the rocket chasing Salman sequence in Thailand. I really did not understand why the Thailand story was incorporated into the movie. But there are a few nice scenes where you atleast smile if not laugh. And that is just about saying it all. Also introducing Suresh Menon as the gay friend of Katrina made no sense to the movie.
The sequence where Salman teaches Govinda to dance stylishly on Just Chill is the bright spot in the movie and Govinda is at his best then.
Performances - Salman does what he has been doing best in umpteen movies till date. Act like a cool dude which is now 2nd skin to him. Nothing great acting wise. Govinda takes charge here and gets us to smile in a couple of scenes but we can clearly see that his glory days are long gone and his acting in a David Dhawan movie is not what the public are going to enjoy. Katrina kaif has 3-4 scenes where she has to talk in an accent (a thing she does well for a change) and Lara Dutta plays a reporter who has a longer role than Katrina. Lara does well in the comedy scenes. Rajpal Yadav gives the worst performance of his life and the kid who plays Lara's son does well.
Music - Dissapointing. Not one song is a stand out song. The "you're my love" love has a catchy beat to it and that about all. I guess it's time Salman gets Himesh to compose for his films.
Direction / Cinematography - David Dhawan directs the movie and as usual it makes no sense at all. There is no control over the narration - it feels more like he trying to showcase Salman's and Govinda's acting and friendship. Absolutely confused direction. David better get his socks up now, the audience has becoming more demanding and clever. The cinematography is good and glossy.
Verdict - 1.75/5. If its laughs you are looking for, please rent the dvd of No Entry and watch it again. That movie is 1000 times more funny than this one. I say you can safely stay away from this Partner.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Movie Review - Apne
Apne - The much talked about movie as it gets togather Dharmendra and his 2 sons Sunny and Bobby for the 1st time in their career. Finally got to catch it the other day. So how did it stack up ?
Story - Apne's story is the story of a boxer (Dharmendra) who won a silver medal for India but was falsely implicated in a doping scandal and banned from boxing for 50 years. He wanted to avenge that humiliation and for that he trains his elder son (Sunny Deol) but just when things were looking good, Sunny drops the boxing and becomes an agriculturalist. This is too much for Dharmendra to bear and his relations with Sunny are strained. But they all live in the same house alongwith Kiron Kher (Dharmendra's wife), Shilpa Shetty (Sunny's wife) and the mandatory kid (Sunny and Shilpa's). Also staying with them is younger son Bobby Deol a musician with a left hand thats paralysed due to an accident in his young days.
Dharmendra's friend Victor Banerji cajoles Dharmendra to train a boxer (Aryan Vaid) for a competition where the best boxer from will fight against the current World heavy Weight Champion Luca Garcia (played by an black actor) in America. But after learning the tricks of the trade from Dharmendra, Aryan dumps him and opts to be trained by an Australian coach (a dig at Guru Greg ? ). Dharmendra is shattered but just at that moment Bobby's hand is mysteriously heeled (Bollywood Cinematic Liberty) and he now gets set to go and challenge Luca Garcia but he has to fight his way to become the top contender. And in another cliche - his 1st match is against Dharmendra's former student Aryan Vaid. Bobby manages to beat Aryan and the ensuing competiton to go to America and fight Luca.
So father and son set out to America to challenge the Champion. But Money Rules and Luca wants to fix the match and Dharmendra disagrees - setting up a exciting confrontation between Bobby and Luca. They fight a fierce battle and Bobby is upto the challenge lasting till the 12th round but then oh no !!!!
Near the end of the fight things start to go wrong ......................................
Dharmendra is shattered again. So will he be able to clear his tainted name ? Will an Indian boxer become a champion as he had promised the world ?
Performances - The movie absolutely revolves around Dharmendra and he simply ROCKS. He holds the movie and does not let it go. His is the performance of the movie be it as the bitter boxer , loving dad, tough coach - he excels. And he is supported brilliantly by Sunny (so underplaying his role , its actually unbeleivable) and Bobby (sincere). Kiron Kher as Dharmendra's wife has another punjabi housewife act to do - she does it simply, after all playing a punjabi house wife is 2nd skin to her now. The heroines Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif - only there for the glamour part and song list. Aryan Vaid is adequate in his small role and Victor Banerji does well too in his longer than the heroines role.
Music - The 1st movie where Himesh has flopped. Music is a disaster. Absolutely flat, the movie is let down by Himesh's music. Not one song is such that you remember after the movie.
Direction / Cinematography - CInematography is adequate as is the direction. Anil Sharma has grip over the movie, never allowing it to wander. Also he has 2-3 sentimental scenes where you just might get the hankies out. The boxing scenes stand out. A boxing choreographer was hired for the movie and it shows. Boxing scenes are way better than what we have seen in Bollywood.
Verdict - I give it 3.5/5. Its a family movie that has sentimentality running through the story and it also touches upon the sport of boxing. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND watching it atleast once.
Story - Apne's story is the story of a boxer (Dharmendra) who won a silver medal for India but was falsely implicated in a doping scandal and banned from boxing for 50 years. He wanted to avenge that humiliation and for that he trains his elder son (Sunny Deol) but just when things were looking good, Sunny drops the boxing and becomes an agriculturalist. This is too much for Dharmendra to bear and his relations with Sunny are strained. But they all live in the same house alongwith Kiron Kher (Dharmendra's wife), Shilpa Shetty (Sunny's wife) and the mandatory kid (Sunny and Shilpa's). Also staying with them is younger son Bobby Deol a musician with a left hand thats paralysed due to an accident in his young days.
Dharmendra's friend Victor Banerji cajoles Dharmendra to train a boxer (Aryan Vaid) for a competition where the best boxer from will fight against the current World heavy Weight Champion Luca Garcia (played by an black actor) in America. But after learning the tricks of the trade from Dharmendra, Aryan dumps him and opts to be trained by an Australian coach (a dig at Guru Greg ? ). Dharmendra is shattered but just at that moment Bobby's hand is mysteriously heeled (Bollywood Cinematic Liberty) and he now gets set to go and challenge Luca Garcia but he has to fight his way to become the top contender. And in another cliche - his 1st match is against Dharmendra's former student Aryan Vaid. Bobby manages to beat Aryan and the ensuing competiton to go to America and fight Luca.
So father and son set out to America to challenge the Champion. But Money Rules and Luca wants to fix the match and Dharmendra disagrees - setting up a exciting confrontation between Bobby and Luca. They fight a fierce battle and Bobby is upto the challenge lasting till the 12th round but then oh no !!!!
Near the end of the fight things start to go wrong ......................................
Dharmendra is shattered again. So will he be able to clear his tainted name ? Will an Indian boxer become a champion as he had promised the world ?
Performances - The movie absolutely revolves around Dharmendra and he simply ROCKS. He holds the movie and does not let it go. His is the performance of the movie be it as the bitter boxer , loving dad, tough coach - he excels. And he is supported brilliantly by Sunny (so underplaying his role , its actually unbeleivable) and Bobby (sincere). Kiron Kher as Dharmendra's wife has another punjabi housewife act to do - she does it simply, after all playing a punjabi house wife is 2nd skin to her now. The heroines Shilpa Shetty and Katrina Kaif - only there for the glamour part and song list. Aryan Vaid is adequate in his small role and Victor Banerji does well too in his longer than the heroines role.
Music - The 1st movie where Himesh has flopped. Music is a disaster. Absolutely flat, the movie is let down by Himesh's music. Not one song is such that you remember after the movie.
Direction / Cinematography - CInematography is adequate as is the direction. Anil Sharma has grip over the movie, never allowing it to wander. Also he has 2-3 sentimental scenes where you just might get the hankies out. The boxing scenes stand out. A boxing choreographer was hired for the movie and it shows. Boxing scenes are way better than what we have seen in Bollywood.
Verdict - I give it 3.5/5. Its a family movie that has sentimentality running through the story and it also touches upon the sport of boxing. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND watching it atleast once.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Movie Review - Don : The chase begins again
Don ko pakadna mushkil hi nahi , na mumkin hai !
The line above - is a Legend. And director Farhan Akhtar has attempted to do it once more, has he managed to do it ? The answer is YES. So how does this Don line up against the 1978 "AB's" Don ? Well.........
Story - The plot is simple - basically taken from the 1978 movie. A DCP hot on the trail of a dreaded criminal called Don, finally manages to shoot him but the Don does not survive. Now to get hold of the Don and his gang's secrets, the DCP trains and lets loose a duplicate Don (a hamshakal of the Don) in the gang. But just as the duplicate Don is about to get all the info, the DCP kicks the bucket , leaving Don between the devil and the deep sea to fend himself with both the police and his own cronies after him.
But it is here that Farhan excels, throws in a couple of twists in the tale - one comes bang in the middle and the other right at the end.
When the movie begins - you feel you are in a time wrap , the costumes and styling remind you of the old movie - you will tend to compare the going ons on the screen with the original and all the names will come rushing back to you - Ramesh, Narang, Don, D’silva.................but after a while you find that though the movie is a remake , its DIFFERENT. After you get through tthe initial feel , you watch it not as a remake but as a movie on its own and thats where Farhan scores.
The performances - SRK has a tough job to do filling into Big B’s shoes and he does that admirably as Don. Stylish, sauve and debonair , SRK carries off this act as Don beautifully. As Vijay , in my personal opinion SRK falls short of Big B. He cant do the bhaiyya act convincingly and its shows.
Priyanka - Frankly put I did not like her in the movie one bit. She lost weight for the movie and it does not go well with her thin and wiry frame. And her plot with Don hasnt got much importance.
Kareena - plays Helen's role and as much as I tried to put the comparision with Helen out of my head and review her performance , still she left me cold.
Boman Irani - He gets a meaty role and does full justice. People have told me they dont like Boman in the movie but I think that this is the 1st time Boman has got to play a normal character and maybe thats why people havent liked him. They expect a character that stays in the minds and beleive me Boman’s DCP will be there like Iftekar is always there in our minds.
Arjun Rampal - Playing Pran's role here is completely wasted. It would have made no difference if his character was not present as Pran's was in the old movie.
Rest of the cast - Om Puri is wasted and Pawan Malhotra gets meaty role after a while. Rest all are adequate. And what exactly was Isha Koppikar doing in the movie ?
Music - Frankly the music is dissapointing. The 2 songs retained from the original being the major culprits more so the Khaike Paan Banaraswala song. Of the rest the title track and the club song are nice, thats just about it.
Direction / Cinematography - Farhan excels again. As a director he has complete grip over the movie and his introducing the 2 twists works beautifully. Cinematography as I said - perfect. Paris, Malaysia, Mumbai - all captured nicely. The movie could have 15 minutes trimmed off easily from the 2nd half to make it more tighter.
Verdict - I say 3.5 / 5. So Don ko pakadna hai ?? Watch it. You wont regret it. But be warned , try not to compare it scene by scene to the original and you will enjoy more.
The line above - is a Legend. And director Farhan Akhtar has attempted to do it once more, has he managed to do it ? The answer is YES. So how does this Don line up against the 1978 "AB's" Don ? Well.........
Story - The plot is simple - basically taken from the 1978 movie. A DCP hot on the trail of a dreaded criminal called Don, finally manages to shoot him but the Don does not survive. Now to get hold of the Don and his gang's secrets, the DCP trains and lets loose a duplicate Don (a hamshakal of the Don) in the gang. But just as the duplicate Don is about to get all the info, the DCP kicks the bucket , leaving Don between the devil and the deep sea to fend himself with both the police and his own cronies after him.
But it is here that Farhan excels, throws in a couple of twists in the tale - one comes bang in the middle and the other right at the end.
When the movie begins - you feel you are in a time wrap , the costumes and styling remind you of the old movie - you will tend to compare the going ons on the screen with the original and all the names will come rushing back to you - Ramesh, Narang, Don, D’silva.................but after a while you find that though the movie is a remake , its DIFFERENT. After you get through tthe initial feel , you watch it not as a remake but as a movie on its own and thats where Farhan scores.
The performances - SRK has a tough job to do filling into Big B’s shoes and he does that admirably as Don. Stylish, sauve and debonair , SRK carries off this act as Don beautifully. As Vijay , in my personal opinion SRK falls short of Big B. He cant do the bhaiyya act convincingly and its shows.
Priyanka - Frankly put I did not like her in the movie one bit. She lost weight for the movie and it does not go well with her thin and wiry frame. And her plot with Don hasnt got much importance.
Kareena - plays Helen's role and as much as I tried to put the comparision with Helen out of my head and review her performance , still she left me cold.
Boman Irani - He gets a meaty role and does full justice. People have told me they dont like Boman in the movie but I think that this is the 1st time Boman has got to play a normal character and maybe thats why people havent liked him. They expect a character that stays in the minds and beleive me Boman’s DCP will be there like Iftekar is always there in our minds.
Arjun Rampal - Playing Pran's role here is completely wasted. It would have made no difference if his character was not present as Pran's was in the old movie.
Rest of the cast - Om Puri is wasted and Pawan Malhotra gets meaty role after a while. Rest all are adequate. And what exactly was Isha Koppikar doing in the movie ?
Music - Frankly the music is dissapointing. The 2 songs retained from the original being the major culprits more so the Khaike Paan Banaraswala song. Of the rest the title track and the club song are nice, thats just about it.
Direction / Cinematography - Farhan excels again. As a director he has complete grip over the movie and his introducing the 2 twists works beautifully. Cinematography as I said - perfect. Paris, Malaysia, Mumbai - all captured nicely. The movie could have 15 minutes trimmed off easily from the 2nd half to make it more tighter.
Verdict - I say 3.5 / 5. So Don ko pakadna hai ?? Watch it. You wont regret it. But be warned , try not to compare it scene by scene to the original and you will enjoy more.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
My Favorite Comedy Movies in Bollywood
Every body likes to laugh. And if it's a movie that makes you laugh when ever you watch it, nothing like it. Precisely for this reason, I would like to list down the top comedy movies from Bollywood that bring a smile to my face everytime I even think about them.
1) Golmaal - Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt.The leading comic duo of feel good movies in the 1970's. Amol Palekar is forced to take on a twin brother identity because of his mustache obsessed boss played by Utpal Dutt. He has to keep his nerve as he plays 2 roles and pataos his boss' daughter as well. I do not remember the name of the female actor who helps out as the fake mother but she was a riot as well. I end up on the floor everytime I watch it.
2) Shaukeen - A story about 3 old men ( Ashok Kumar, AK Hangal and Utpal Dutt ). Seems innocent right ? But it is not when the 3 old men have the hearts of teenagers. Their daily dose of fun includes changing spectacles to watch young girls walking on the beach right upto holding the hand of the female PG a wee bit longer. In the absence of the wife, Ashok Kumar plans a trip for all 3 of them that includes getting laid. So they want a driver to take them out of Bombay. In steps our Mithunda and he manipulates the destination of the 3 oldies to Goa so that he can meet his GF, Rati Agnihotri. But what happens when the 3 leering old men lay their eyes on Rati ? Will they get laid ? Watch the movie - it's amazing fun.
3) Chashme Baddoor - A Sai Paranjpe classic. 3 friends and 1 girl ( the object of the trios affection). Hilarious the way all 3 try to patao her. So who gets her in the end ? The shayar , the sauve stud or the studious and serious guy ? Farukh Shaikh and Deepti Naval excel supported brilliantly by Rakesh Bedi , Ravi Baswani and Saeed Jaffery.
4) Chupke Chupke - The best straight faced comedy ever. Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore get married and Dharmendra fed up of hearing praises of Om Prakash (Sharmila's B-I-L) plans to turn the table. Dharmendra is superb and Amitabh very good as usual. The scene stealer here is Om Prakash. And with a support cast that includes Jaya Bhaduri, Asrani and Kesto Mukherji, this is movie that never loses it's charm.
5) Jaane bhi do Yaaron - One of my all time favorite movies and Bollywood's blackest comedy to date I think. Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani are bumbling photographers who stumble upon all kinds of information , goings on, dead bodies and people, when they are handed an assignment to spy on 2 crook builders played absolutely brilliantly by Pankaj Kapur and Om Puri. Satish shah is in there too as the Municipal Commisioner and Bhakti Barve excels as the manipulative editor of a newspaper. Satish Kaushik and Neena Gupta play important roles too. The climax with all characters playing some role or the other from the Mahabharata is ROCKING. A talking point to date.
6) Choti si Baat - That man Amol Palekar again ! This time supported by Ashok Kumar and Asrani. A classy movie about how a nervous, shy and timid man (Amol )overcomes his shyness and timidness with some help from Ashok Kumar (playing a retired Colonel)to counter a oversmart opponent (Asrani) in his love story. Vidya Sinha plays the lady over whom Amol and Asrani lock horns. All the actors perform brilliantly. The movie touches a cord somewhere because if we look around us we can see the characters played by Amol and Asrani, dime a dozen even today. Do not miss it.
8) Coolie No. 1 - Another favorite of mine. Govinda fools Kader Khan by making him believe that he is a rich guy and marries his daughter, karisma Kapur. When Kader Khan sends Shakti Kapoor to check on them, Govinda manufactures a twin brother to fool Kader Khan, himself. Kader Khan turns the tables by wanting to marry off his 2nd daughter to Govinda as well. Its similar to Golmaal but has the trade mark Govinda style. Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Harish give rollicking support.
9) Baton Baton Mein - Not exactly a comedy but the movie has its moments that keep the smiles coming. The movies deals with the Christian community in the 1970's. Amol Palekar (again) and Tina Munim (wow) fall in love on the most common sight in Mumbai, the local trains albiet with a little support from David (playing Tina's guardian). Tina's mom is the ever worrying mom wanting a nice khandaan ka earning guy for her daughter. There is a silent lover for Tina lurking in the background too. The treatment of the movie is so real and the feel and look so amazingly brilliant that you feel you are a part of the movie yourself.
Well there are lots of other movies that make the grade, but I will put them down later. Till then try to catch these movies and smile along.
1) Golmaal - Amol Palekar and Utpal Dutt.The leading comic duo of feel good movies in the 1970's. Amol Palekar is forced to take on a twin brother identity because of his mustache obsessed boss played by Utpal Dutt. He has to keep his nerve as he plays 2 roles and pataos his boss' daughter as well. I do not remember the name of the female actor who helps out as the fake mother but she was a riot as well. I end up on the floor everytime I watch it.
2) Shaukeen - A story about 3 old men ( Ashok Kumar, AK Hangal and Utpal Dutt ). Seems innocent right ? But it is not when the 3 old men have the hearts of teenagers. Their daily dose of fun includes changing spectacles to watch young girls walking on the beach right upto holding the hand of the female PG a wee bit longer. In the absence of the wife, Ashok Kumar plans a trip for all 3 of them that includes getting laid. So they want a driver to take them out of Bombay. In steps our Mithunda and he manipulates the destination of the 3 oldies to Goa so that he can meet his GF, Rati Agnihotri. But what happens when the 3 leering old men lay their eyes on Rati ? Will they get laid ? Watch the movie - it's amazing fun.
3) Chashme Baddoor - A Sai Paranjpe classic. 3 friends and 1 girl ( the object of the trios affection). Hilarious the way all 3 try to patao her. So who gets her in the end ? The shayar , the sauve stud or the studious and serious guy ? Farukh Shaikh and Deepti Naval excel supported brilliantly by Rakesh Bedi , Ravi Baswani and Saeed Jaffery.
4) Chupke Chupke - The best straight faced comedy ever. Dharmendra and Sharmila Tagore get married and Dharmendra fed up of hearing praises of Om Prakash (Sharmila's B-I-L) plans to turn the table. Dharmendra is superb and Amitabh very good as usual. The scene stealer here is Om Prakash. And with a support cast that includes Jaya Bhaduri, Asrani and Kesto Mukherji, this is movie that never loses it's charm.
5) Jaane bhi do Yaaron - One of my all time favorite movies and Bollywood's blackest comedy to date I think. Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani are bumbling photographers who stumble upon all kinds of information , goings on, dead bodies and people, when they are handed an assignment to spy on 2 crook builders played absolutely brilliantly by Pankaj Kapur and Om Puri. Satish shah is in there too as the Municipal Commisioner and Bhakti Barve excels as the manipulative editor of a newspaper. Satish Kaushik and Neena Gupta play important roles too. The climax with all characters playing some role or the other from the Mahabharata is ROCKING. A talking point to date.
6) Choti si Baat - That man Amol Palekar again ! This time supported by Ashok Kumar and Asrani. A classy movie about how a nervous, shy and timid man (Amol )overcomes his shyness and timidness with some help from Ashok Kumar (playing a retired Colonel)to counter a oversmart opponent (Asrani) in his love story. Vidya Sinha plays the lady over whom Amol and Asrani lock horns. All the actors perform brilliantly. The movie touches a cord somewhere because if we look around us we can see the characters played by Amol and Asrani, dime a dozen even today. Do not miss it.
8) Coolie No. 1 - Another favorite of mine. Govinda fools Kader Khan by making him believe that he is a rich guy and marries his daughter, karisma Kapur. When Kader Khan sends Shakti Kapoor to check on them, Govinda manufactures a twin brother to fool Kader Khan, himself. Kader Khan turns the tables by wanting to marry off his 2nd daughter to Govinda as well. Its similar to Golmaal but has the trade mark Govinda style. Kader Khan, Shakti Kapoor and Harish give rollicking support.
9) Baton Baton Mein - Not exactly a comedy but the movie has its moments that keep the smiles coming. The movies deals with the Christian community in the 1970's. Amol Palekar (again) and Tina Munim (wow) fall in love on the most common sight in Mumbai, the local trains albiet with a little support from David (playing Tina's guardian). Tina's mom is the ever worrying mom wanting a nice khandaan ka earning guy for her daughter. There is a silent lover for Tina lurking in the background too. The treatment of the movie is so real and the feel and look so amazingly brilliant that you feel you are a part of the movie yourself.
Well there are lots of other movies that make the grade, but I will put them down later. Till then try to catch these movies and smile along.
Movie Review - Saaya
The Bhatts are back with anotther inspired from Hollywood movie.Saaya is a movie said to be inspired by the Kevin Costner flick Dragonfly. I haven't seen Dragonfly but now after watching Saaya I have an urge to see Dragonfly. Read on for the review.
Story -The movie basically deals with the story of a husband and wife doctor duo (John Abraham and Tara Sharma). The wife, who is pregnant, dies on relief duty somewhere in the northeastern Indian State of Nagaland. The husband can't get over the fact that his beloved is gone and he immerses himself in work and starts working in the hospital continuously. He also gets himself shifted to the same ward where his wife used to work and then things start happening to him. He starts hearing his wife's voice and strange things happen to him. Water starts falling from the ceiling; dead children come alive and tell him they have met his wife. His home starts turning into a waterfall cum swimming pool but only he can see this and feel this. All other people find this strange and think that he has lost his mind and gone crazy due to his wife's death. But an encounter with a former nurse turned nun who believes in life after death, the doctor starts to believe the his wife wants to communicate with him? Does he manage to communicate with his dead wife or has he done crazy ? As he gets closer to his dead wife, the truth emerges. Watch the movie to find out what happens next. The climax of the movie is good, not quite what I expected.
Performances - John Abraham is good but he needs to improve quickly. He carries of his role with his trademark pained expression through the movie. A couple or more of other expressions would have been welcome. Tara Sharma looks cute and doesn't have much of acting to do but she is adequate. Of the supporting cast Mahima Choudhary as the friend, looks and acts well and the rest of the cast is ok.
Music -The songs of the movie are slow, love songs and they gel with the movie. There are some really lovely soulful songs in the movie. The background score is good too.
Direction / Cinematography -The picturisation of songs is good and Kerela looks oh so inviting in the first song itself. The Director Anurag Basu is a new director and he has impressed in his first movie. Certain scenes like the dead child waking up suddenly to stare in the doctor's eyes are well done, handled well.
Verdict - I give it 3.5/5. The producers have another small budget movie that I think should do better than what people are expecting. Overall it's a 2-hour movie that feels slow but will keep you interested without boring you. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND this movie.
Story -The movie basically deals with the story of a husband and wife doctor duo (John Abraham and Tara Sharma). The wife, who is pregnant, dies on relief duty somewhere in the northeastern Indian State of Nagaland. The husband can't get over the fact that his beloved is gone and he immerses himself in work and starts working in the hospital continuously. He also gets himself shifted to the same ward where his wife used to work and then things start happening to him. He starts hearing his wife's voice and strange things happen to him. Water starts falling from the ceiling; dead children come alive and tell him they have met his wife. His home starts turning into a waterfall cum swimming pool but only he can see this and feel this. All other people find this strange and think that he has lost his mind and gone crazy due to his wife's death. But an encounter with a former nurse turned nun who believes in life after death, the doctor starts to believe the his wife wants to communicate with him? Does he manage to communicate with his dead wife or has he done crazy ? As he gets closer to his dead wife, the truth emerges. Watch the movie to find out what happens next. The climax of the movie is good, not quite what I expected.
Performances - John Abraham is good but he needs to improve quickly. He carries of his role with his trademark pained expression through the movie. A couple or more of other expressions would have been welcome. Tara Sharma looks cute and doesn't have much of acting to do but she is adequate. Of the supporting cast Mahima Choudhary as the friend, looks and acts well and the rest of the cast is ok.
Music -The songs of the movie are slow, love songs and they gel with the movie. There are some really lovely soulful songs in the movie. The background score is good too.
Direction / Cinematography -The picturisation of songs is good and Kerela looks oh so inviting in the first song itself. The Director Anurag Basu is a new director and he has impressed in his first movie. Certain scenes like the dead child waking up suddenly to stare in the doctor's eyes are well done, handled well.
Verdict - I give it 3.5/5. The producers have another small budget movie that I think should do better than what people are expecting. Overall it's a 2-hour movie that feels slow but will keep you interested without boring you. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND this movie.
Movie Review - Main Madhuri Dixit Banna chahati hoon
Yawn - another movie from the factory of RGV. But wait, Main Madhuri Dixit banna chahti hoon is a very different kind of a movie to come out from Ram Gopal Varma productions.
Story - The movie tells the story of Chutki ( Antara Mali ) , a Madhuri Dixit wannabe who lives in a village called Gajaorla. Raja ( Rajpal Yadav) is her childhood friend who loves her and wants her to realise all her dreams. Chutki’s dreams are that of becoming the next Madhuri Dixit. When chutki’s parents want to get her forcibly married, Raja understands her problem and steps in and marries Chutki and takes her to Bombay , where he wants to help her in realising her dreams.
From here the struggle for Chutki starts, visiting studios, getting thrown out of offices and studios. A chance encounter with a film extra that makes her realise that she has to change the way she looks. So Chutki tries to get the modern look and finally bags a movie after she does a music album but the movie has in the cast, duplicates of all possible stalwarts of Bollywood. But after some persuasion from the model co-ordinator and Raja , Chutki signs the movie and is promptly devasted as on the 1 st day, the movie opens to empty theatres and flops.
Raja and Chutki decide to hang up their boots and return to Gajoarla but there is a silver lining at the end. Catch the movie to find out.
Performances - A movie like this needed good performances from the lead actors and I must say both the lead actors are fantastic. Antara as Chutki is better in the 2nd half of the movie when she is emotional. Her performance had the spark that a main character needed. She doesnt quite look like Madhuri in all her dances but is good though a stiffer than Madhuri in dance movements. Rajpal as Raja had a supporting role to Antara , but this guy is amazing. HIS IS THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE MOVIE. Amazingly real and restrained, he steals the show completely. The rest of the supporting cast is good too.
Music - The music is just about ok , so-so infact but this movie is not a musical .
Direction / Cinematography - The Direction is Absolutely Fantastic for a guy in his 1st directorial venture. Chandan Arora has done a very good job in keeping the narrative unidirectional and has absolute control over the story. The cinematography is in sync with the look of the film.
Verdict - I give it 4/5. Overall this is a movie that leaves you feeling happy and warm after you walk out of the theatre. There are many funny and emotional scenes in the movie . The scene in the empty movie theatre is poingant.
Go on catch the movie fast . There are not many of these kinds of movies made these days.
ONE THING THOUGH - THE MOVIE HAS TAKEN A LOOK AT HOW THE FILM INDUSTRY WORKS , IT HAS LEFT OUT THE PART RELATED TO CASTING COUCHES. wouldn’t we have loved to see this part addressed so naturally. if only wishes were horses!!!!
Story - The movie tells the story of Chutki ( Antara Mali ) , a Madhuri Dixit wannabe who lives in a village called Gajaorla. Raja ( Rajpal Yadav) is her childhood friend who loves her and wants her to realise all her dreams. Chutki’s dreams are that of becoming the next Madhuri Dixit. When chutki’s parents want to get her forcibly married, Raja understands her problem and steps in and marries Chutki and takes her to Bombay , where he wants to help her in realising her dreams.
From here the struggle for Chutki starts, visiting studios, getting thrown out of offices and studios. A chance encounter with a film extra that makes her realise that she has to change the way she looks. So Chutki tries to get the modern look and finally bags a movie after she does a music album but the movie has in the cast, duplicates of all possible stalwarts of Bollywood. But after some persuasion from the model co-ordinator and Raja , Chutki signs the movie and is promptly devasted as on the 1 st day, the movie opens to empty theatres and flops.
Raja and Chutki decide to hang up their boots and return to Gajoarla but there is a silver lining at the end. Catch the movie to find out.
Performances - A movie like this needed good performances from the lead actors and I must say both the lead actors are fantastic. Antara as Chutki is better in the 2nd half of the movie when she is emotional. Her performance had the spark that a main character needed. She doesnt quite look like Madhuri in all her dances but is good though a stiffer than Madhuri in dance movements. Rajpal as Raja had a supporting role to Antara , but this guy is amazing. HIS IS THE BEST PERFORMANCE OF THE MOVIE. Amazingly real and restrained, he steals the show completely. The rest of the supporting cast is good too.
Music - The music is just about ok , so-so infact but this movie is not a musical .
Direction / Cinematography - The Direction is Absolutely Fantastic for a guy in his 1st directorial venture. Chandan Arora has done a very good job in keeping the narrative unidirectional and has absolute control over the story. The cinematography is in sync with the look of the film.
Verdict - I give it 4/5. Overall this is a movie that leaves you feeling happy and warm after you walk out of the theatre. There are many funny and emotional scenes in the movie . The scene in the empty movie theatre is poingant.
Go on catch the movie fast . There are not many of these kinds of movies made these days.
ONE THING THOUGH - THE MOVIE HAS TAKEN A LOOK AT HOW THE FILM INDUSTRY WORKS , IT HAS LEFT OUT THE PART RELATED TO CASTING COUCHES. wouldn’t we have loved to see this part addressed so naturally. if only wishes were horses!!!!
Movie Review - Awaarapan
The Bhatt factory rolls out another movie from their assembly line. Presumably the costliest movie to be made under the Bhatt banner. So does it work ? Read on....
Story - The movie is about Shivam (Emraan Hashmi), a fiercely loyal right hand man of a don (Aushutosh Rana) in Hong Kong. The Don and his don brother (Ashish Vidyarthi) have fallen off with each other and are rivals. The brother don has a coke snorting druggie son (Purab the Channel V Vj). The Don has a woman (Mrinalini) whom he bought from a human trafficking gang , he loves her but does not trust her. He trusts Shivam to keep an eye on her when he is gone for some days and find out if she has anyone else. As it turns out, the girl has a lover who wants to free her from the don's bondage. As the don gets to know this from Shivam, he orders Shivam to kill the girl. As it happens Shivam fails. Why ? Because he had a girl friend once (Shreya Saran) who was a muslim and her dad tried to shoot Shivam but shot his daughter instead. She taught Shivam to release birds from cages as they too had the right to be free. This story is told in flashback and Shivam takes it upon himself to protect the don's girl and her lover. Does he manage to do it ?- watch Awaarapan to find out.
Performances - Emraan Hashmi plays the silent, brooding, pining lover with very little dialogue. He does a fair job of it, excelling in some scenes and pretty ordinary in others. 2 heroines, both new comers (Shriya Saran and Mrinalini) make their debut. Shreya is wasted in a 10 minute role and besides has nothing to do in the acting department but look pretty but her make up man messes it up again. Mrinalini has the meatier role but is wooden and stiff and makes a hash of the rocking song "Mahiya" as well. Ashutosh Rana and Ashish Vidyarthi are competent but for me the man who rocks the screen everytime he is on - is Purab. Brilliant performance as a junkie, stunning.
Direction / Cinematography - The Bhatt's blue eyed boy Mohit suri directs this one as well. He does a neat job but the editing should have crisper, a good 20 minutes could be edited out easily. Cinematography is good and the movie is set in Hong Kong which looks good in the movie.
Music - Music is the saving grace. A couple of songs specially the Mahiya song rock. Nice to hear. Thumbs up to the music.
Verdict - 2/5. The movie is slow and tests your patience. The performances are nothing to write about and the music is the highlight. If you are a Emraan fan, or do not get tickets to another movie, watch it else easily avoidable.
Story - The movie is about Shivam (Emraan Hashmi), a fiercely loyal right hand man of a don (Aushutosh Rana) in Hong Kong. The Don and his don brother (Ashish Vidyarthi) have fallen off with each other and are rivals. The brother don has a coke snorting druggie son (Purab the Channel V Vj). The Don has a woman (Mrinalini) whom he bought from a human trafficking gang , he loves her but does not trust her. He trusts Shivam to keep an eye on her when he is gone for some days and find out if she has anyone else. As it turns out, the girl has a lover who wants to free her from the don's bondage. As the don gets to know this from Shivam, he orders Shivam to kill the girl. As it happens Shivam fails. Why ? Because he had a girl friend once (Shreya Saran) who was a muslim and her dad tried to shoot Shivam but shot his daughter instead. She taught Shivam to release birds from cages as they too had the right to be free. This story is told in flashback and Shivam takes it upon himself to protect the don's girl and her lover. Does he manage to do it ?- watch Awaarapan to find out.
Performances - Emraan Hashmi plays the silent, brooding, pining lover with very little dialogue. He does a fair job of it, excelling in some scenes and pretty ordinary in others. 2 heroines, both new comers (Shriya Saran and Mrinalini) make their debut. Shreya is wasted in a 10 minute role and besides has nothing to do in the acting department but look pretty but her make up man messes it up again. Mrinalini has the meatier role but is wooden and stiff and makes a hash of the rocking song "Mahiya" as well. Ashutosh Rana and Ashish Vidyarthi are competent but for me the man who rocks the screen everytime he is on - is Purab. Brilliant performance as a junkie, stunning.
Direction / Cinematography - The Bhatt's blue eyed boy Mohit suri directs this one as well. He does a neat job but the editing should have crisper, a good 20 minutes could be edited out easily. Cinematography is good and the movie is set in Hong Kong which looks good in the movie.
Music - Music is the saving grace. A couple of songs specially the Mahiya song rock. Nice to hear. Thumbs up to the music.
Verdict - 2/5. The movie is slow and tests your patience. The performances are nothing to write about and the music is the highlight. If you are a Emraan fan, or do not get tickets to another movie, watch it else easily avoidable.
Movie Review - Aap Ka Suroor
Finally its released. The much hyped and much awaited (?) movie starring the Indian Rockstar Himesh Reshammiya released yesterday. So does Himesh make the cut or falls out ? Read on...
Story - The movie is about HR (Himesh), a famous Indian rockstar on the German leg of his concert tour with a close friend of his. He meets and falls in love with the event manager of his tour (Hansika Motwani). Also he encounters different people like Concert managers, a sultry lawyer in love with him (Mallika Sherawat) and other sundry characters. Things are looking rosy for Himesh till he downs a few pegs/shots with his friend and the next morning is promptly arrested for the murder of a journalist who had come to take his interview. Now Himesh has to prove his innocence or else his GF's father will get her married to the next available boy (typical bollywood father). So how Himesh manages to prove his innocence and win his love is what the movie is all about.
Performances - Himesh is wooden and stiff. Yes he removes his cap and laughs too (yaay). But he has to really loosen himself if he wants to act as a hero (Noooo). Hansika Motwani as the female lead has nothing to do but to cry and smile (thinking wtf am I doing here) and she does a bad job of it as well. Also she needs a crash course in the make up department (tooooo much of kajal). Mallika Sherawat is the 2nd bright spot of the movie. Looks like a million bucks and really rocks in the Mehbooba song (sad though you have to sit thru the movie as the song comes right at the end). The guy who plays Himesh's friend rocks all the way. He was pretty cool and casual and stole the show when in the same scene with Himesh.
Direction / Cinematography - Prashant Chadda directs this movie. He is Himesh's good friend who has directed all his videos and it shows. The movie has been directed like a music video, looks glossy and shiny but is not anything great. Cinematography is good - Germany looks beautiful.
Music - Although all the songs must be coming out of our ears still I say the music is good and a couple of songs are really good to listen to.
Verdict - I give it 2.25/5. Mallika , Himesh's friend and the music contribute heavily to this score. Avoid if you can but if you are a Himesh fan, watch it once.
Story - The movie is about HR (Himesh), a famous Indian rockstar on the German leg of his concert tour with a close friend of his. He meets and falls in love with the event manager of his tour (Hansika Motwani). Also he encounters different people like Concert managers, a sultry lawyer in love with him (Mallika Sherawat) and other sundry characters. Things are looking rosy for Himesh till he downs a few pegs/shots with his friend and the next morning is promptly arrested for the murder of a journalist who had come to take his interview. Now Himesh has to prove his innocence or else his GF's father will get her married to the next available boy (typical bollywood father). So how Himesh manages to prove his innocence and win his love is what the movie is all about.
Performances - Himesh is wooden and stiff. Yes he removes his cap and laughs too (yaay). But he has to really loosen himself if he wants to act as a hero (Noooo). Hansika Motwani as the female lead has nothing to do but to cry and smile (thinking wtf am I doing here) and she does a bad job of it as well. Also she needs a crash course in the make up department (tooooo much of kajal). Mallika Sherawat is the 2nd bright spot of the movie. Looks like a million bucks and really rocks in the Mehbooba song (sad though you have to sit thru the movie as the song comes right at the end). The guy who plays Himesh's friend rocks all the way. He was pretty cool and casual and stole the show when in the same scene with Himesh.
Direction / Cinematography - Prashant Chadda directs this movie. He is Himesh's good friend who has directed all his videos and it shows. The movie has been directed like a music video, looks glossy and shiny but is not anything great. Cinematography is good - Germany looks beautiful.
Music - Although all the songs must be coming out of our ears still I say the music is good and a couple of songs are really good to listen to.
Verdict - I give it 2.25/5. Mallika , Himesh's friend and the music contribute heavily to this score. Avoid if you can but if you are a Himesh fan, watch it once.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Movie Review - Sivaji - The Boss
So yesterday I walked into PVR cinemas at Mulund and check that no new intersting movies have released. So decided I should catch Sivaji - the Rajnikant starrer that has gripped the whole nation in it's frenzy. And it was in Tamil. So I get tickets easily enough , am surprised and walk into the hall. Its about 20 % full. I find that strange because all of us were led to believe that the movie was rocking everywhere.
Finally the movie starts. There quite a few non Tamil speaking people in the hall and thats surprising to me. As we watch Rajni do his antics , people are enjoying it in good spirits. The 1st half is a rom-com while the 2nd half is a revenge-action set. Nothing new in the movie , nothing great but still the movie keeps you entertained. Something like Manmohan Desai movies back in the 1970's. A couple of songs are nice, AR Rehman's music sounds , nothing like AR Rehman's music. The sets are good specially the glass set for a song.
Rajni struts his stuff and director Shankar aids him ably. Flipping coins and chewing gum in different ways, to imaginative action choreography and different looks for Rajni - its all thrown in at breakneck speed. And it works to an extent.
The female lead Shreya has nothing more to do than flutter her eyelashes and cry and be there compulsorily in the mandatory song sequences. She looks good enough though.
But after the movie - I could see one thing. Rajni has become old and that was most obvious in the dance and fight sequences. Special effects come to the rescue. Rajni has slowed down now, quite a bit. Age has caught up with him but he rocks.
His trade way of walking with a scowl on his face during a romantic song sequence had me in splits. Which again brought me to the question that the whole of India is debating - Is Rajni better and bigger than AB ?
As an actor - AB is leagues ahead of Rajni. As a style king , Rajni is leagues ahead of any actor in Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood and Hollywood put togather.
All in all - it was a fun filled experience. And yes me not knowing Tamil, was not of any consequence. Thats the magic of movies.
Finally the movie starts. There quite a few non Tamil speaking people in the hall and thats surprising to me. As we watch Rajni do his antics , people are enjoying it in good spirits. The 1st half is a rom-com while the 2nd half is a revenge-action set. Nothing new in the movie , nothing great but still the movie keeps you entertained. Something like Manmohan Desai movies back in the 1970's. A couple of songs are nice, AR Rehman's music sounds , nothing like AR Rehman's music. The sets are good specially the glass set for a song.
Rajni struts his stuff and director Shankar aids him ably. Flipping coins and chewing gum in different ways, to imaginative action choreography and different looks for Rajni - its all thrown in at breakneck speed. And it works to an extent.
The female lead Shreya has nothing more to do than flutter her eyelashes and cry and be there compulsorily in the mandatory song sequences. She looks good enough though.
But after the movie - I could see one thing. Rajni has become old and that was most obvious in the dance and fight sequences. Special effects come to the rescue. Rajni has slowed down now, quite a bit. Age has caught up with him but he rocks.
His trade way of walking with a scowl on his face during a romantic song sequence had me in splits. Which again brought me to the question that the whole of India is debating - Is Rajni better and bigger than AB ?
As an actor - AB is leagues ahead of Rajni. As a style king , Rajni is leagues ahead of any actor in Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood and Hollywood put togather.
All in all - it was a fun filled experience. And yes me not knowing Tamil, was not of any consequence. Thats the magic of movies.
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