Raavan@Movie Review Hindi 2010 | Abhishek, Aish

Movie: Raavan, Villian
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Govinda, Ravi Kishan
Direction: Mani Ratnam

Story: Cop Dev Pratap Sharma (Vikram) has just one mission in his life. He wants to capture the local outlaw, Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) who may be a Robin Hood for the tribals around, nevertheless, he is a law breaker. More importantly, he has kidnapped the cop's beautiful wife, Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) to avenge a personal grouse and has escaped into the dense jungles. Turn ofevents: the kidnapper falls in love with his trophy victim who too gets indecisive about where her loyalties lie....

Movie Review: The epics return again to contemporary cinema. After a re-telling of the Mahabharata against a political backdrop in Prakash Jha's Raajneeti, cineastes can now feast their eyes on a modern-day rewrite of the Ramayana, against a cops-and-robbers canvas.

Feast? Yes. The high point of Mani Ratnam's film is primarily its visual opulence. The film is literally a work of art where one luminescent frame follows another as the scenes keep shifting from one wet and rocky landscape to another misty mountainscape. You can't seem to get enough of the montages that leave you breathless with the excellent camera artistry by Santosh Sivan and Manikandan. From the opening sequences where Beera (Abhishek) smashes his boat into wide-eyed Aishwarya's canoe, to the fleeing, flinging, fulminating visage of Aishwarya, captured against wild waterfalls, turbulent tidal rivers, crumbling trees and silken drizzle, the film is a string of breath taking images. So much so, you seem to forget -- and almost forgive -- the fact that the first half hardly has any story. It is essentially just one prolonged chase, where cop Dev (Vikram) relentlessly pursues criminal Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) in order to rescue his wife (Ragini) and book the fugitive who garners great local support.

The paper-thin plot in the first half, does get you somewhat restless, despite a seminal scene where Sita-esque Aishwarya suddenly discovers a strange new emotion for a Raavan-esque Abhishek. After having labelled him beastly and brutish, a complete low-life when compared to her devta-like husband Dev, she finds herself being involuntarily drawn towards her kidnapper, despite his muddy visage and his gory past. And herein lies the second hook that draws you to the film: it's revisionist tale of a Sita-like heroine flipping for a Raavan-like anti-hero, even as the traditional hero gets imbued in grey tones.... The anti-hero has always remained an alluring figure in cinema lore and Mani Ratnam carries his charisma forward with Raavan.

The second half of the film does get a semblance of story, with adequate twists and turns which reflect the Surpanakha legend (again revised), the Hanuman-Sita encounter, the Agni-pariksha demand (re-interpreted again as a polygraph test) and the film moves from sheer visual to visceral too. There are enough punches in the second half to keep the momentum going, but by and large, the film scores mostly on art and aesthete. Everything seems to be geared to make Raavan an object d'art, including the music (AR Rahman and Gulzar create a few foot-tapping numbers), the stunts, the cinematography and the no-make-up and heavily-made-up look of Aishwarya and Abhishek respectively. However, a little more attention to the narrative was desperately needed in Raavan.

In terms of performance, Aishwarya stands out as the lead actor, with her competent rendition of a woman who is torn between her love and loyalty towards her husband and her attraction towards a misunderstood brigand, with a heart of gold. Vikram, by and large remains a side hero: somewhat undefined and formless while Govinda's Hanuman-like rendition of the forest guard is flippant. Which brings us to Beera: Abhishek Bachchan is immensely watchable, but he fails to lift the character of the anti-hero to another level altogether. Maybe, a less of multani mitti (mud packs) and `bagad billa' antics would have allowed the natural actor in him to surface and bloom. Also, his other two outings with Mani Ratnam -- Yuva and Guru -- definitely tower above Beera.

But hey, Raavan is chicken soup for the senses. Go, indulge yourself.

A word about:

Performances: Aishwarya leads, Abhishek follows, Vikram lags behind, Govinda's going nowhere.

Story: The screenplay by Mani Ratnam needed more substance and bite.

Cinematography: Absolutely riveting! The camera artistry by Santosh Sivan and Manikandan is the heart and soul of Raavan.

Music: AR Rahman and Gulzar create an interesting audio track, although Rahman's earlier associations with Mani Ratnam remain unforgettable. Numbers to watch out for: Beera, Behne De and Khili Re.

Styling: Sabyasachi Mukherji's costumes are apt, blending modernity with tradition, just as the film tries to do. Aishwarya's no-make-up look is a winner.

Inspiration: The film is a modern day, revisionist adaptation of the epic, Ramayana.

RATING: 2.5/5

Rajneeti @movie review 2010

Film: Rajneeti
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee, Nana Patekar, Sarah Thompson
Genre: Drama
Direction: Prakash Jha
Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes
Ratings-4.5/5.
Language-Hindi.
Pros-Powerful acting and a superb thrilling-like narration. Cons-Gets a little confusing in the beginning. Introduction-Prakash Jha’s new Hindi film, Raajneeti, takes a hard-hitting and no non sense view of Indian politics. We all know how dirty, cruel and ruthless politics can be and Jha has managed to impress us with his accurate portrayal of engaging situations and characters which often crosses the thin line between the good and the evil. Even though there have been speculations that the movie is loosely based on the life of Sonia Gandhi, Jha seems to have based his film on two main sources-Godfather and our very own epic Mahabharata. Well people might cry hoarse how Jha took inspiration, but we don’t really mind it, simply because we loved getting engrossed in the ruthless battle for power and victory. Plot- Cousins Veerendra Pratap Singh (Manoj Bajpayee) and Prithvi Pratap Singh(Arjun Rampal) play heirs of a powerful political part and when Prithvi is given greater responsibility, Veerendra gets offended. To take revenge, a he joins hand with backward class leader Sooraj (Ajay Devgan).His motive is to evict Prithvi from the party at any cost. Meanwhile Prithvi’s younger brother Samar (Ranbir Kapoor) is happy leading a quiet and peaceful life abroad. However change of circumstances brings him back to his roots and thereafter he starts getting more and more entangled in this complex war for power. Thereafter he learns rules of the game pretty fast and has got senior party and family member Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar) to guide him. He takes charge of the messy political condition of the state and makes Prithvi contest against Veerendra.

The battle then shifts to the election grounds and this is what forms of the crux of the film. General Reviews-All the actors have given power packed and compelling performances. While Ranbir and Arjun are brilliant in their respective roles, Katrina has given her heart and soul in this role. She is extremely convincing, so much so that it makes you wonder what made Ranbir choose a thanda foreigner over this spunky woman. Manoj Bajpayee shines once again in this role and it makes you remember his brilliant performances in films like Satya and Zubeida. Ajay Devgan returns once again to his angry-man avatar and we are absolutely mesmerized by his brooding and intense character. The script does not undermine the intelligence of the audience and the narration is extremely fast. Though it’s a little confusing in the beginning, but soon we find ourselves getting sucked into this drama more and more. Conclusion-We would say go for it. If you have become bored these days watching mindless comedies or scripts that fail to provide any logic, it’s time you experience the magic of a brilliant story coming alive before your eyes.

Kites@Movie Review Hindi 2010 | hrithik

Released On : Friday, 21-May-2010
Cast : Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangna Ranaut, Kabir Bedi, Anand Tiwari, Yuri Suri and others
Director : Anurag Basu
Music : Rajesh Roshan
Produced By : Rakesh Roshan

Expert Review : Look out! Here’s a part epic love story-part crime caper, that’s folded in with some neat action.

This assortment is baffling mostly, swinging you up and down like a yo-yo. Because when, in the middle of a situation where our protagonists risk losing their lives, we suddenly hear the background score turn flirty and the camera shows us a random character’s comical expression.

Or the time when the central characters hijack a car at gunpoint, only to have the owner charmingly turn interpreter between them. Not to be mistaken for dark comedy, this kind of insinuated humour is only trying to be cute; admittedly you tend to ignore these intrusions into the real story.

So we meet Jai (Hrithik), a refreshing change from the regular Hindi film hero. He’s a weak man, falling to the extent of courting a girl Gina (Kangana) he doesn’t like, just because he happened to see the car she travels in. Immediately falling in lust with her money, he behaves like the perfect lover, even charming her casino-owning, influential family.

Before this, we see him making a living as a dance teacher in Las Vegas with a side business of marrying illegal immigrants. What follows his fake interest in Gina is an introduction to new cars and the high-life. When he meets Gina’s brother Tony (a comic-book like villain, growling and abusive), he’s in for a shock.

A Mexican woman Linda (Barbara) he had earlier 'married' and had felt a spark for, turns out to be Tony’s fiancé. Their stories are the same - born into poverty and in the relationship for the money. Both similar people, they’re instantly drawn to each other. Of course, their language barrier – she manages only broken English – is the least of their problems.

The dilemmas are many: to choose money or love? To stay safe or risk their lives by daring to upset the mega-powerful family?

For all the hype about the explicit scenes, the movie’s tame by today’s standards. And quite dignified, too (no excessive body shots when the heroine’s wearing a bikini).

There are some more filmi elements that'll put you off: a dance number insinuated to remind you how well Roshan Jr. moves, his character jumping on trains when he’s injured, and the usual best friend track that materialises to take the story forward.

Hrithik Roshan is impressive and evocative. His is a character we dislike at the outset, but begin to warm up to as the film progresses. Roshan plays this up-and-down track with aplomb.

Barbara Mori is immediately impressive, handling the intensity of her character’s range masterfully, and adding her natural effervescence ever so often. Their cracking chemistry is the highlight of the film, exploited every inch by co-writer-director Anurag Basu.

After Gangster and Life in a Metro, Basu shows a change in storytelling style; this time he chooses the non-linear narrative hopping between the past and present, and keeping the pace laid-back.

The songs with mostly melodious numbers, reflects this too. In keeping with the film’s dual-personality, the love story is marked with chases (including an air-balloon scene), a thumping background score, and great action. The topography ranging from the vast Mexican desert, to crystal waters, to the blingy Vegas streets is a treat.

Kites’s essential flaw is the story unfolding at a pace that’s too relaxed. One is certain this would have been a far better film with snappier editing. But then how many films do you see where you can remember the characters long after the film is done?

Linda and Jai’s love story unfolds predictably, but there’s a rebellious innocence to it that draws you.

Indeed, the film is at its most fun when we’re soaking in the playful chemistry between the two central characters.

Rating: 2.75/5

Badmaash Company Hindi Movie Review 2010 | shahid | anushka

By Subhash K Jha

Starring Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Meiyang Chang, Vir Das

Written & Directed by Parmeet Sethi

Theres a longish sequence in an American eatery in the second-half of this deeply flawed and yet refreshingly cool urbane casual and yet highly cinematic work where Shahid Kapoors Karan, by now on the road to seemingly irredeemable moral degeneration is told by his partner, played by newcomer Vir Das, that he wants out.

The way that sequence progresses and the manner in which the two actors play out a conventional friends-falling-apart moment, just makes you forgive all the excesses of inflated self-worth that the script suffers from in the last 90 minutes of this endearing though exasperating experience.

Badmaash Company is a film that is too smart for its own good. The main characters, four friends bonded by the collective will to grow rich overnight, go through a series of caper experiences.

Not all of it is either convincing or even interesting. After a point, we know exactly where this quartet is hurling to. And the slide out of moral degeneration is never touching enough to make us shed a tear for these misguided over-reachers.

The doom comes none too soon, and then the narrative proceeds without a proper graph.

By the time Karan (Shahid Kapoor)s spunky girl Bulbul (Anushka Sharma) leaves him the script begins to look like one of those subverted morality tales from the house of the Bhatts where the heroes talk with clenched fists and heroines weep in their pillows as their companions come home in a drunken stupor.

Weve been here before. But wait. There is a sense of intuitive cockiness about the narrative which just sees the films improbable mixture of the trendy and the trite (in how many ways will the upright father ask the devil-may-care son to leave home as the mother bites her lips and wrings her hands???) to the final stretch of predictable moral redemption.

There is a sense of the predictable and yet the unpredictable in the storytelling. Debutant director Parmeet Sethis screenplay is one of those things that you want to believe merely because it sounds so smart on paper.

But not all of this makes complete or even incomplete sense. The climax about colour-bleeding shirts being sold to America as the Next Best Thing is much too far-fetched to work even as a part of a con caper.

Nonetheless Badmaash Company has a lot going for itself. The first-half when Karan meets Bulbul, Chandu and Chang to create an instantly materialistic energy, gets you interested in these out-of-control lives.

You dont quite empathize with their overweening goals. But at least they seem to know their minds, even if on occasions the plot doesnt seem to know what its doing.

Theres something pitch-friendly about the four actors and the way they tackle the plot -material which never seems fully sure of itself. Its sometimes cool sometimes over-reaching itself.

If the film holds together its because of the bonafide enthusiasm and unconditional surrender to the proceedings of the actors.

Shahid Kapoor pitches in another perfectly poised and subtle performance even though his characters graph gets blurred towards the end. You cant stop caring for Karans character because Shahid doesnt let go of his centre even when the narrative gets shaky.

Anushka Sharma in a stunning makeover conveys her characters spirit and spunk through her well-toned body language and that twinkle in the eye. Tragically a lot of her speech and morality, and this goes for a lot of films careless periodicity, is not 1990s (the films setting) at all.

Vir Das as the film buff with a roving eye negotiates his character with gentle care. Heres one actor who knows what hes doing even when his character doesnt. And Meiyang Chang as the chinky-eyed alcohol guzzling Gangtok-guy seems made for his character.

Badmaash Company is an extremely smart and smart-looking film. But its sassy all-knowing tone cannot hide a certain bankruptcy of genuinely inventive ideas. This is a fatally-flawed film about seriously flawed characters. The packaging is glamorous but not over-done. The dialogues convey a ring of truth without bending backwards to be cool.

And though guilty of extravagant flights of fancy (the way our quartet of protagonists plunder the American Dream can only be called wishful thinking) Badmaash Company has enough going for itself to make it an experience worth our while.

And never mind the blind spots. Whoever said life in the movies was meant to be a bed of roses?

Rating: 2.5/5

Housefull 2010@movie review

After a long painful drought (thanks to the exam season and IPL matches) of plain boring to irritating films arrives Sajid Khan’s Housefull. While in totality it does fall short of being the big great summer entertainer that it is been claiming to be, it however manages to bring many laughs for you. However, eventually it settles down in familiar territory.

narrates the tale of Aarush (Akshay), a perpetually unlucky bloke and a loser in life who moves into the house of his best buddy cum another loser, Bob (Ritesh) and his wife Hetal (Lara). But things continue to go wrong for Aarush. Convinced that true love can fade away his bad luck jinx, a desperate Aarush enters into many complicated situations while seeking it. Thus enter Sandy (Deepika) and Devika (Jiah) in his life. Things complicate further with the arrival of Sandy’s angry brother Major Krishna Rao (Arjun Rampal) and Hetal’s estranged dad Batuk Patel (Boman Irani). How Aarush and Bob in an attempt to hoodwink Krishna Rao and Batuk go on creating more confusion leading to a mirthful chaos forms the rest of the plot.

Much was expected from Sajid Khan who has been literally claiming from rooftops for weeks now that he has made the year’s biggest blockbuster. Though he has not entirely let us down, you do wish he could have opted for a more innovative plot. The second half ends up being more of an Anees Bazmee film what with characters trying to hide identities and going on a lying spree. Sajid Khan also seems to have taken the slap stick humour bit quiet seriously what with so many slaps happening within the film. A ‘slapathon’ sequence reminding of his Heyy Babyy takes place too. The film loses its tempo with the introduction of Jiah’s character. But thankfully gets it back right in the second half where Akshay and Ritesh’s histrionics to hide the truth from Arjun Rampal and Boman Irani.

To give Sajid due credit, he has created many rip roaringly funny situations that are further elevated by his actors. Amongst the most hilarious sequences are most of the scenes featuring Akshay and Ritesh together. They share terrific chemistry. The climax set in the Queen of England’s Buckingham Palace is a laugh riot (literally). The film is high on glamour quotient what with three attractive bodied heroines (Deepika, Lara and Jiah) parading in skimpy outfits most of the time.

Akshay Kumar is back in terrific form, evoking huge laughter with his poker faced humour. Ritesh Deshmukh is another great comic talent who often gets his timing right. Arjun Rampal suits the part and looks dapper. While Deepika looks sizzling hot, Lara manages to score over her in the comedy department. Jiah tries hard and ends up being just about passable. Boman Irani goes over the top as usual. Making a come back on screen after a long gap, Randhir Kapoor playing Jiah’s Sindhi dad doesn’t get much scope. Chunky Pandey is plain irritating playing Akhiri Pasta an Italian hotelier. His fake Italiano accent grates on your nerves.

Director: Sajid Khan

City Of Gold@Hindi Movie Review 2010

Movie: 'City Of Gold'

Director: Mahesh Manjrekar

Cast: Seema Biswas, Karan Patel, Ankush Chowdhary, Satish Kaushik and Kashmira Shah

Rating: 2.4/5

There is no room for artifice in Mahesh Manjrekar's latest work. A raw, gritty look at the world of the ravaged, 'City Of Gold' is as powerful in portraying a bereft working class as 'Molly Maguires' was about Irish mine workers... Except for the fact that there is no room for pretty visuals in 'City Of Gold'.

Manjrekar's chawl-life, captured on camera with merciless frankness by Ajit Reddy, is a bleak world of dreamers and losers who are often the one and the same. His heroes (if we may call the young characters that) are offered no hope of solace or redemption. This is the side of the slum that Danny Boyle missed when he made 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

'City Of Gold' is neither stylish nor swanky enough to attract elitist readings of poverty. Fiercely radical in thought and intensely socialistic in execution, the film plunges beneath the poverty line to emerge with characters whose despair is not an act for the camera. The sweat and grime, the corruption and crime are characters of their own in Manjrekar's chaotic world.

Mumbai never looked murkier and less inviting.

Taking a panoramic look at the lives of thousands of mill workers in Mumbai who went on an indefinite strike in 1982 is like trying to hold the ocean in a tea cup. Manjrekar, in what could easily be rated as his finest, most cogent work to date, does just that.

He holds a universe in the eye of the camera. It is a world of the doomed and damned, no frills attached.

His return to fine form and the enrapturing energy level that sweeps across a multitude of lives without trivializing any of the characters are reasons enough to celebrate the joys of neo-realistic cinema.

But wait... 'City Of Gold' not only marks the return of a storyteller who tells it like it is, without the comfort of shortcuts. It's also a macroscopic look at people who populate the fringes. Their silent protests are seldom heard in cinema.

Not for a second do we feel any comforting distance from the misery of Manjrekar's characters.

Manjrekar shoots his characters' emotions in tight, comprehensive close-ups but wastes no time shedding excessive tears over their lives. The editor (Sarvesh Parab) cuts the raw material with ruthless economy, leaving no room for humbug and certainly no space for commercial embellishments.

So the question, what happened to those thousands of mill workers who were overnight rendered bankrupt after the mills closed down? You will find some uncomfortable answers in 'City Of Gold'. But most of the time you will be faced with questions about the quality of life we choose to hand over to those who are economically and emotionally weak.

Would this film have worked without the actors who don't look like they are facing a camera? The whole batallion of characters flicker to life as though they were a part of an extended family shot by hidden cameras for a reality show

Paathshaala@Movie Review Hindi 2010|shahid kapoor

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Ayesha Takia, Nana Pateka, Saurabh Shukla, Sushant Singh, Swini Khara, Dwij Yadav, Avika Gor, Anjan Srivastava

Director: Milind Ukey

There are few films, a star does for friendship and some with the lure of working under a big banner, irrespective of their content.

An extremely choosy actor Shahid Kapoor after giving big hits like Vivaah, Jab We Met and Kaminey has been giving duds like Dil Bole Hadippa (Yash Raj Films), Chance Pe Dance (UTV) and an equally bad follow up with Paathshaala.

Shahids friendship with producer of the film, ace choreographer Ahmed Khan is well known. But still we wish, he should have not blindly trusted his buddy when it came to a film!

Shahid plays Rahul Prakash Udyawar the new English teacher joining Saraswati Vidya Mandir, a school established in 1941. Since the school doesnt have a music teacher, he ends up being one as well.

He gets help in this from the school's nutritionist-cum-admin girl, Anjali Mathur (Ayesha Takia). School principal Aditya Sahay (Nana Patekar).

Anjali ends up falling for Rahul during this process. Sahay who has nurtured the school for 32 years, cannot see it going down financially. So, he gives in to the management's demands of generating more revenue by commercialising the operations of the school.

This is met with intense opposition from the teachers, but they eventually have to comply to save their respective jobs. The school management even decides t hired PR experts to change its image.

Thus began, film and ad shoots happen on campus wherein students are used as extras. And before they know it, all kids have to now keep aside studies for 10 days and prepare for a reality show audition.

The rest of the film is about how the reality show thing tortures the students and how Rahul stands against it.

Director Milind Ukey who gave us the very lovable animated film Hanuman has got a good topical subject on hand but falters big time in the script written by producer Ahmed Khan himself.

While it identifies the problems perfectly, a proper solution is not offered in the end. Also what happens to the school finally is also not made clear.



Bad dialogues are made only worse by loud acting by most of the cast. Certain emotional scenes leave you either bored or end up making you laugh. Hanif Sheikhs music barring the Lucky Ali number Aye Khuda is nothing much to praise about.

In an attempt to showcase how education goes for a toss in private schools as the managements aims to earn the extra buck the makers also dont lose out a chance to make a satire out of the media, shifting focus from his original aim.

The pathetic climax is unintentionally hilarious with no conclusion to what happened to the villains of commercialization and all suddenly become well!

Shahid Kapoor and Nana Patekar are the only saving graces of the film with their well nuanced performances. The rest including Ayesha Takia dont really make a difference. The child stars are just about okay. Avoid this Paathshaala if you are in no mood for a badly written gyan giving film.

Rating: 2/5

Phoonk 2 hindi movie@review

Director: Ram Gopal Verma

Rating: * ½.

Ramgopal Varma’s love for horror and supernatural continues. This time, in Phoonk 2, the team behind Phoonk promise more chills, more thrills and more screams. But what you get to hear at the end of the screening is a moan, since Phoonk 2 lacks the chills, thrills and screams that were the mainstay of its first part.

A sequel works if it goes one step ahead of the first part, in terms of content mainly. But Phoonk 2 doesn’t take a step forward, but a step backwards. So what’s the problem? Let’s get into the introspection mode…

The problem is, what does the viewer expect from Phoonk 2? More terrifying and scary moments, right? But Phoonk 2 comes across as one of those usual revenge films, which tries so hard to create an eerie atmosphere, but never succeeds. It’s more of a slasher film actually!

The problem is, the pace of Phoonk 2 is excruciatingly slow, which just doesn’t work for a horror film. The story unravels at a snail’s pace and with hardly any terrifying/eerie moments in those two hours, the film falls flat on its face.

The problem is, Phoonk 2 fails in its writing. The idea is a master stroke and had writer turned director Milind Gadagkar handled it right, Phoonk 2 would’ve scared the daylights out of you. But the film looks incomplete and the viewer keeps wondering, where did the spirit disappear?

Final word? Phoonk 2 lacks the grip of Phoonk. A complete letdown!

Phoonk ends with the killing of Madhu [Ashwini Kalsekar], the woman who casts a black magic spell on Rajiv’s [Sudeep] daughter Raksha [Ahsaas Channa]. Phoonk 2 begins with Madhu’s ghost returning from the grave to seek revenge on the family.

Rajiv moves with his family to a new place. Raksha and her brother Rohan begin exploring the new place and the surroundings -- the lonely beach and then the woods behind the house. The terror begins with Raksha and Rohan finding a doll in the woods and then it progresses to a series of highly traumatizing experiences for the whole family.

Manja [Zakir Hussain], the only man whom Rajiv could turn to, meets a gruesome death at the hands of Madhu’s ghost. Madhu seeks revenge on Rajiv by torturing his loved ones -- his wife Aarti [Amruta Khanvilkar] and their children, Raksha and Rohan -- in unimaginably cruel ways.

Debutante director Milind Gadagkar uses every trick in the book to make Phoonk 2 work – night shots, secluded bungalow, eerie silence, captivating sound design and zany camera angles. Gadagkar does everything right, but conveniently forgets that any film, irrespective of its genre, works if the story is captivating and moves constantly. In this case, the story just doesn’t move in the first hour, except towards the interval point.

The post-interval portions show some movement, but a number of questions remain unanswered. What do Amit Sadh and Neeru see in the jungles that they start running helter-skelter? Also, if the spirit could enter a body [in this case, the wife’s], where does it disappear when the wife falls off the terrace towards the end? Ideally, you expect the spirit to come face to face and battle it out with the already cornered Sudeep and his two kids. But the spirit doesn’t!

Gadagkar had a brilliant idea, but he fails to translate it well on celluloid. To make matters worse, the film just doesn’t scare you one bit. The sound design is right, while the movement of the camera reminds you so much of RGV-directed movies.

Sudeep does a fairly okay job. Amruta Khanvilkar is expressive enough. The kids, Ahsaas and the kid playing her brother – are efficient. Neeru and Amit Sadh don’t get much scope. Ashwini Kalsekar is hardly there. Ganesh Yadav, Zakir Hussain and Jeeva make brief appearances. Anu Ansari is okay.

On the whole, Phoonk 2 is a good idea gone horribly wrong. Disappointing!

Prince hindi movie@review 2010

Directed by Kookie Gulati under a whooping budget of 40 crores, Prince marks the comeback of actor Vivek Oberoi as a hero after a long hiatus. The movie features three leading ladies – Aruna Shields, Nandana Sen and Neeru Singh – each of who play a mysterious character named ‘Maya’. The movie also boasts of special effects that are of Hollywood standards. Sounds promising, but do Vivek Oberoi and co. deliver?

Prince revolves around one man who was once the world’s savviest thief and on the hit list of many federal services – India I Grip and the CBI. One fine morning, Prince wakes up only to realize he has a gunshot wound on his arm and doesn’t remember a thing from the past. Perplexed and disturbed, he sets out to find out his real identity and comes across a girl Maya who claims to be his girlfriend. The more he gets closer to his identity; he encounters two more girls who also claim to be his girlfriend Maya. This makes him feel more conscious about his steps and he realizes that no one could be trusted. How does he unveil the secret behind his memory loss, save his life and save the world, forms the story of Prince.

Inspired from several Hollywood and Indian films from the past, Kookie Gulati has come up with a concept that had immense potential. But Prince suffers mainly because it doesn’t completely pass of as a sci-fi action thriller or a superhero film. It is just yet another masala pot-boiler that defines nothing with too many cinematic liberties, cliched scenes and silly dialogues…

Prince is not a shoddy effort but the inconsistency in maintaining the high IQ makes the whole endeavor look hopeless. If storing someone’s memory in chip sounds, sounds a bit of a stretch of imagination, then tracing the villain to the Afghan-Pakistan border by hiding a device in the villain’s shoes during a simple fight sounds ridiculous. Also what with him having super human abilities? Isn’t it a complete shift of idea? However, the film has its share of positives too.

Plenty of well-choreographed action sequences with chases and fist fights. The film is also entangled within lots of twists and turns that keeps you hooked with its thrill quotient. The first half breezes by, the second is senseless but doesn’t bore. Action director Allan Aamin and cinematographer Vishnu Rao are the real heroes here. Academy Award winner Resul Pookutty’s sound design matches big budget Hollywood flicks.

When it comes to performances, Vivek Oberoi finally does justice to his talent. He is good in his action sequences but hams a bit when it comes to expressing emotions. Except for Nandana Sen, who carries her role with ease, the other two Maya’s have nothing much to do… Isaiah, the new villain of Bollywood, looks ferocious and is good on debut.

To sum up, Prince entertains in bits and pieces. The film has opened to a very good response at the box office. The morning shows were full and many were seen applauding the action sequences. Watch it if you have nothing to do this weekend, else wait for the video release.

Cast & Crew:

Cast: Vivek Oberoi , Aruna Murty , Nandana Sen , Niroo Singh , Isaiah, Sanjay Kapoo, Dalip Tahil , Manish Anand , Mayur Puri, Rajesh Khattar, Mohit Chauhan

Producer: Tips Industries Ltd

Direction: Kookie V Gulati

Source: Nowrunning

Japanese wife movie@review 2010

Cast: Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Chigasu Takaku and Moushmi Chatterjee

Director: Aparna Sen

How much you enjoy Aparna Sen’s The Japanese Wife is directly proportionate to how patient you are.

In the age of instant messaging, this is an old world epistolary romance. And it unfolds at approximately the same speed with which a letter moves from Japan to a village in the Sunderbans.

The film is slow to the point of being painful. And yet, if you stay with it, The Japanese Wife is a rewarding experience. It’s rich with yearning and sadness and yet hopeful, in a quiet way.

Based on a short story by Kunal Basu, The Japanese Wife is about Snehamoy Chatterjee, played by Rahul Bose, a meek Mathematics teacher in a village and his Japanese pen-pal Miyagi.

Both are lonely souls who cannot communicate with people around them but somehow establish a cross-continental connection with each other.

After several years of letters, she proposes marriage. He accepts. This unusual relationship becomes even more difficult when a young widow, Sandhya, played by Raima Sen, moves into Snehamoy’s house. But despite these seemingly insurmountable odds, Snehamoy and Miyagi stay soul-mates until the end.

This isn’t a love story with grand sweep and passion. It’s a minimalist rendering of a chaste, almost surreal love. But Sen makes us believe in it because she tells the story with great empathy and affection.

It will take you a good half hour to get settled into the tale. In the first fifteen minutes, the action almost completely unfolds in the form of letters that Snehamoy and Miyagi write to each other. Their heavily accented English voice-overs are clumsy and distracting.

The Bengali portions of the film are sub-titled but in some scenes, the yellow sub-titles are difficult to read. You are likely to get extremely restless—at the show I was at, one person succumbed to loud snoring—but as I said before, hang in there.

Because The Japanese Wife will grow on you. It has a simplicity and sweetness that is rare in these cacophonous times.

The leads – Rahul Bose, Raima Sen and Moushmi Chatterjee as Snehamoy’s boisterous aunt – hold the film together with strong performances. Sen also uses the landscape effectively. The swelling and ebbing river that dictates so much of Snehamoy’s existence seems to echo his life.

A quiet surface hides the turbulence beneath. Snehamoy’s life is heart-breaking and yet his devotion and the sustenance he gets from Miyagi’s letters suggest that it is perhaps better to have loved and never met rather than never to have loved at all.

The Japanese Wife is an acquired taste. But if you’re the type of viewer who is willing to sacrifice pacing for poignance, I recommend you go for it.

3\5(Romance)

Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai@Movie Review Hindi 2010

Starring: Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez, Ruslaan Mumtaaz, Sonal Sehgal and Vishal Malhotra

Director: Milap Milan Jhaveri

Rating: 3/5

Rajesh Parekh (Ritesh) is an eternal loser in love since he was a child. Now working as a third assistant director (read clapper boy) of hotshot filmmaker Farah Khan (in a hilarious cameo), Rajesh's heart skips a beat when he sees his film's hero, superstar Desh's (Ruslaan) sister Natasha (Sonal Sehgal) for the first time.

She joins their unit as Farah's assistant and Rajesh gets to spend a lot of time with her. But unfortunately for him, Natasha considers him a good friend and nothing else.

Heartbroken, he vents out his frustration sitting at his regular hangout, a now dilapidated drive in theatre. But immediately thereafter, Rajesh has a very pretty woman fall from the sky right into his hands.

She is Tara (Jacqueline) who has come from Venus in search of love on our planet. Rajesh takes her home where he is joined by his best pal Kaushal (Vishal).



Tara tells them she has just two days to find love before going back.

She comes to know Desh is the most loved person in India thanks to his huge female fan following and decides to fall in love with him. What happens after Rajesh decides to help her in it forms the rest of the film.

Milap Milan Jhaveri, the writer of super hits like Jhankaar Beats, Masti and Heyy Babbyy making his directorial with Jaane Kaha Se Aayi Hai delivers a fairly entertaining film.

Full marks to Milap for penning some extremely witty one liners and maintaining a good comic undertone throughout the film. The cameo by stars such as Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Karan Johar and Sajid Khan are genuine laugh out loud moments.

The opening sequence where Ritesh explains his childhood to adult journey of being a loser in love is one of the highlights of the movie. In fact the first half of the film is interspersed with a lot delightfully funny moments.

The Pink Pussy Cat track is supremely hilarious. However, it is in the last 40 minutes when the film starts getting utterly predictable because of which one feels the climax being stretched. The music by Sajid Wajid barring the title track doesn't impress much. The special effects are good.



Ritesh is always likeable in romantic comedies and his fan following might just increase watching him in this one.

While his Shah Rukh Khan hangover especially in the climatic emotional moments cannot be escaped, he is very good as usual in the comic sequences. Jacqueline (voice not dubbed) has amazing screen presence and her chemistry with Ritesh works wonderfully well.

Ruslaan 100% looks the young heart throb that he has portrayed in the film. Sonal Sehgal is good. Vishal is hilarious and gets the best one liners. Satish Shah and Supriya Pilgaonkar as Ritesh's parents are very funny. Amrita Rao making an entry in the climax looks super alluring.

Jaane Kaha Se Aayi Hai is a harmless entertainer that will have you in splits for most of the time. Don't miss it if you are a romantic comedy fan. But be prepared to experience a very predictable climax.

The Great Indian Butterfly Movie @Review

Movie: The Great Indian Butterfly

Starring: Aamir Bashir, Sandhya Mridul, Barry John and Koel Purie

Director: Sarthak Dasgupta

Rating: **1/2

The Great Indian Butterfly narrates the tale of a young urban couple Krish (Aamir Bashir) and Meera (Sandhya Mridul). Forgetting their hectic lives, both Krish and Meera set out on their long impending vacation to Goa.

While Meera wants to unwind on the beaches and scenic places, Krish has another agenda that is to search for the great Indian Butterfly.

Last seen by an unknown Portuguese explorer Carodiguez, the mythical Indian butterfly is symbolic of luck, peace and happiness. All through out their journey they never for once are at peace with the other and the banter goes on till it gets worse.

But then do they eventually find the Butterfly? Does happiness elude them once more or does their relationship get a second chance? It is all unravelled through the rest of the plot.

Debutante director Sarthak Dasgupta has done a decent job where showing the conflict between the couple is concerned. He has also touched upon rare emotions and conveyed his point without much confusion.

One of the most interesting parts of the film are the ones where the fights between the couple. It gives an insight of the metro cities staying couples face in reality.


However, the letdown parts are the never ending monologues about happiness, butterfly and the symbolic valley that are too stretched. Despite its short running time of over 100 minutes the plot appears stagnated in the second half.

An overdose of songs could also have been avoided. While the cinematography by Shanker Raman is good overall, one doesnt understand how a few out of focus shots were not noticed!

Aamir Bashir does a decent job but Sandhya Mridul is simply outstanding and her English isn't with a fake accent but how an average Mumbai girl would generally speak.

Koel Purie in her short role manages to leave her impression. Barry John (last seen in Teen Patti) playing the narrator of what the Great Indian Butterfly is all about is passable.

The Great Indian Butterfly is a decent multiplex film that may help a few warring couples who stay in big metros. If you are looking for an entertainer then this film is not for you.

Review: Sadiyaan 2010

Perched on a shikara and clad in traditional Kashmiri attire, the heroine impishly strokes her cheek with a yellow gerbera while the ogling hero reprimands his friend with a, Zyada gaur se mat dekh, maili ho jayegi. (Don't stare too hard or she'll get dirty).

Once upon a time such exaggeration actually made sense, especially if these corny lines came out of Shammi Kapoor's mouth and the lady on the boat would happen to be the famously-dimpled Sharmila Tagore . Too bad this isn't the 60s and the era of Shakti Samanta's musicals is long gone.

Instead what director Raj Kanwar does is make a rather feeble attempt to palm off an unaesthetic period film and its dated sensibilities to an audience that has clearly moved on.

Best known for melodramatic, formulaic yet mildly entertaining fare with catchy music like Deewana, Jaan, Har Dil Jo Pyaar Karega, Andaaz and Humko Deewana Kar Gaye, Kanwar gets it all wrong with his latest, Sadiyaan, a rushed exercise in putting together a preposterous script and patchy screenplay featuring reliable veterans and incompetent newcomers.

Sadiyaan starts out like a Gadar-inspired tale of Indo-Pak partition, proceeds to develop into one of those Shashi Kapoor-Nanda romances set in Kashmir only to move into the Hindu-Muslim loggerheads territory and finally settle to make its mark against Bollywood's beloved Maa fixation.

It's the kind of film where you can expect to see an animated-to-the-point-of-overbearing Amritsar family where everyone plays the loud, annoying Punjabi stereotype beginning every unfortunate sentence with an Oye yaar or Hai Rabba. Only this Assi-Tussi overload turns out to be the least of your problems.

The ordeal wouldn't seem so stretched and tormenting if it was accompanied with a shred of realism or heartfelt performances. Sure, it has the likes of Rishi Kapoor , Hema Malini and Rekha known to breathe life in the most contrived of characterisations. But while Hema impresses with her regal grace and understated glamour and Kapoor is incapable of anything less than satisfactory, Rekha disappoints as the raccoon-eyed, hyperventilating mommy in a continually high-strung mode.

Even the stupidest of movies have turned out to be watchable and, on some rare occasions, even entertaining owing to an actor's conviction and presence that makes the incredulous look credible. This one, however, rests on the shoulder of a bland newcomer, namely Shatrughan Sinha's

The scrawny star kid lacks the charisma and punch that helped his father, despite his unconventional looks; wipe out all prejudices to be widely acknowledged as a leading man of substance. With Luv, it's a case of zero chemistry between the camera and him. Whether he's unimaginatively romancing the girl or meekly pining for him mother, the boy is completely oblivious to the concept of expression.

His love interest, Ferena Wazeir is just as bad. Take her dialogue delivery alone. It's hard to tell whether she's lisping, being coy or acting dumb. And if Kanwar's intention is to project her as a demure 70s girl, her body language and gestures are plain amusing.

What's not is how an elaborate Adnan Sami composition pops up after every five minutes, a painful reminder of how farther away you are from the impending soppy climax. That's the thing with Sadiyaan. It actually feels as long as its title for Kanwar not only rakes an old-fashioned subject, his treatment is outmoded too. And there's nothing vintage about that.

Tum Milo Toh Sahi@review 2010

Cast: Nana Patekar, Dimple Kapadia, Rehan Khan, Sunil Shetty, Vidya Malvade and Anjana Sukhani
Director: Kabir Sadanand






Tum Milo Toh Sahi is about love and longing in Mumbai.

Three couples from different generations struggle with the unrelenting demands of career, money, ambition, stress. A sprawling café called Lucky plays a central role in their romance and heart-ache. The idea isn’t half bad but the execution is so amateurish that you barely care whether Lucky Café and its various lovers sink or swim.

Writer-director Kabir Sadanand sets up one couple from each demographic. So the fifty-plus Subramanium and Dilshad, played by Nana Patekar and Dimple Kapadia, are singletons who gradually develop a warm friendship.

Anita and Amit, played by Vidya Malvade and Suneil Shetty, are a married couple struggling with a newly bought four-bedroom flat, his long-work hours, their neglected son and EMIS.

And Bikramjeet and Shalini, played by Rehan Khan and Anjana Sukhani, are trendy college types whose basic function seems to be singing forgettable songs and spouting supposedly youthful lingo such as ‘Whatever’ and ‘Drama queen.’

Not surprisingly, Kabir does best with eldest couple. Subramanium, permanently disgruntled and mourning his dead mother, is the most detailed character of the lot and Nana finds the comedy in his sourness.

Dilshad veers into caricature – I’m sure Parsi women don’t end every other sentence with "Dikra" – but Dimple plays her with affection and energy and at least has some fun doing it.

I wish Tum Milo Toh Sahi had been their story only because the other couples are as bland as wallpaper. Anita looks pinched and does pottery. Amit looks pinched and does his best to please his over-bearing boss who keeps saying “You’re my man.”

Did I mention that the plot hinges around Amit’s employer, a multi-national company called Bluebell, buying Lucky Café so they can replace "brun maska" and "cutting chai" with overpriced cappuccinos.

So we also get some lectures on the importance of preserving our heritage and not blindly aping the West. And the final icing on the cake is the deafening back-ground score. Each time, the greedy multi-national executives are on screen, the soundtrack goes: bluebell, bluebell.

I think the attempt here was a bitter-sweet love letter to Mumbai and its people but the film is fatally undone by the clumsy writing.

The screenplay is static and the dialogue, superbly low IQ. At one point, a party-hardy friend in a bar is encouraging the sozzled Amit to have some fun. He motions at a sexy woman and says: "Saanp pitari mein band hai ki King Cobra mein abhi bhi jaan hai".

Few films can survive lines like these.

(Social / Drama)

Pankh@review 2010

Parents who force their own lofty ambitions on little kids is not a new theme for Bollywood. Pankh isn't just about kids being exploited at the hands of their avaricious parents. There aren't too many child artists in the industry. So a producer sometimes casts a boy in a girl's role or vice versa. The film is successful and the phenomenon keeps getting repeated over again. And as we see in the case of Pankh with disastrous consequences!

Jerry (Maradona [ Rebello) is one such artist who attained superstardom as a child playing Baby Kusum. His mother Lilette Dubey is the driving force in his life. Jerry's father resists but his protests make no impact on Jerry's super-ambitious mom. So Jerry steps out of his house (situated in a run down location) to the taunts and jeers of the neighborhood kids. On the sets producers and directors indulge in acts of indecent petting and fondling. The child is scared, confused and unhappy. But his mother simply ignores his state of mind. He's even won a national award for his performance.

As he turns into an adolescent, his mother is happy to sit back and wait. She's confident her son has what it takes to be a superhero. Destined to grow up lonely and friendless all he has for company is an imaginary friend Nandini (Bipasha Basu ) and his pet turtles. When he isn't conversing with them he indulges in every possible form of substance abuse. Till one day his mom feels the timing is right and she forces Jerry to accompany her to the sets.

Most of the film has been shot indoors either in the studio or in the confines of Jerry's house. The studio isn't a happy place either. It's been used effectively to reflect the anguish and the turmoil in Jerry's mind.

The film suffers from one malaise common to most first time directors. He tries to explore too many sub-themes simultaneously which sometimes confuses the viewer. Biblical references, the oedipal complex, a delusional superhero; it's all there.

Yet it is to the director's credit that the film has been scripted and shot without caring an iota about the the commercial prospects. If it had been made in English the film would at least have brought in a niche audience. But by sticking to Hindi the director effectively captures a world where abnormality is the reality. And people who inhabit this world long enough don't stand a chance of escaping either. Even the humble cook who has been serving anda-pav on the sets for a decade has turned psychotic.

The film is heavy and the lighter moments are few and far between. Mahesh Manjrekar is superb and had the audience in splits. If his directorial ventures don't meet with much success this director has an alternate profession waiting for him. First timer Maradona Rebello has managed to pull off a tricky role with ease and élan. He could have fared better in certain scenes but at least he doesn't ham it up. Bipasha performs little item numbers but thankfully they don't look forced as do most item numbers these days.

But in case you feel this is a film which would make perfect weekend viewing think again. Pankh is really not a film for the feeble. There is no escape from Jerry's pain. The director sets out to shock, scandalise, repulse and disgust you. If you are prepared for this then take a chance. Don't say we didn't warn you...

For the rest there's always IPL.