Movie Review - Chak De India

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Mass Rating - ****
Class Rating - ****

Chak De India – I do not remember if I have shared this earlier….A Good movie experience is similar to enjoying good meal at some new restaurant, the details of which one would like to share with their near and dear ones, so that even they can relish the experience….

In the past Hindi movies which had sports as the backdrop and worked wonders….Hip Hip Hurray, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Lagaan, Iqbal…to name the few ! Also there were quite a few which could not use this potent formula of Sports + Cinema successfully …Dev Anand’s disaster Awwal Number (A lesson in how not to make a movie on cricket), Aryan (starring the extremely none talented Sohail Khan, botched up version of ROCKY series), Apne (Deol clans turn to adapt Million Dollar Baby meets garam dharam’s vendetta ishtyle).

Coming to the point – the review of the movie Chak De India! Director Shimit Amin’s second movie post a hard hitting Ab Tak Chhappan under the aegis of RGV banner. This time round the director moves to the YRF Banner, known for making mushy, popcorn, full of glam movies. Everyone would know that the movies backdrop is that of hockey. Hopefully this movie would do for Hockey, what Lagaan & Iqbal effortlessly did for our cricket crazed nation.

Watching movies would teach one the `what ?’ part of the movie (what is eventually going to happen) ….It is the `How ?’ part (How the director conveys his vision on to the celluloid that holds the interest of the movie goers) which ultimately decides whether the movie will be a HIT or a FLOP.

The very talented Jaideep Sahni is in his elements with Story, Screenplay, Dialogues and Lyrics, to his name. Camerawork by Sudeep Chatterjee is as good as any Hollywood can get, capturing the pulsating Hockey matches in a very surreal manner. Rousing Background & Original Score by Salim Sulaiman . A bunch of 16 unique and talented female leads as the member of the hockey team representing the diversity of INDIA and towering above all a very subdued and restrained performance by the charismatic SRK.

The Director cuts to chase right at the outset of the movie.

Basic Premise – A hockey players image as well as his career is tarnished due to one loss in the final match against the arch nemesis Pakistan and how he decides to reclaim his life, his journey in salvaging his pride by coaching a Women’s Hockey Team which was not taken seriously by anyone….and reaching the world cup final.

What works in the movie’s favor –
• The research put in by the Director and the Sports consultant (Ranjan Mir Negi / Dhanraj Pillay) in showing the preparatory camp plus the exciting Hockey Matches.
• The witty dialogues.
• Excellent Lesson in Managing Differences and TEAM
• The camaraderie shared between the 16 female lead.
• Brilliant character sketching of each and every member of the hockey team.
• SRK’s chemistry with this bunch of girls
• Patriotism minus Jingoism
• SRK playing the coach and giving his best to the role.
• Virtuoso rendition of the title song by Sukhwinder.

The list is endless and if you have survived reading the review till here, you would have certainly got the drift that I liked the movie :-) It was after a real real long time, I watched a movie in which the audience were engaged right from the first frame and were thoroughly enjoying and clapping during all the adrenaline charged scenes of the movie.

With 15th August round the middle of the week :-) , this movie will surely make it big at the box office and will set the cash registers ringing. Watch it with your family members, interesting neighbors (if any) and friends with whom you would want to patch up with…..

GO FOR IT, worth the time and the money spent.

Awesome Mausam

Written on June 25th 2009

May was fast nearing june, temperatures were soaring in the city....The PWD Depts obsession for digging and repairing roads at the last moment reminded me of the Last minute revision done by the students during examination time . The digging continued furiously as if the labourers had been instructed to discover and uncover the lost city shanghai which was hiding beneath mumbai . I knew it that the scenes are not going to be any diffirent even this year, only this time round the blame game would be onto a new person....and if at all they run out of people to blame then, turn towards sky and blame the lord himself !!

Did you get the drift what I am a getting at ?

Yes...the elusive rain...the romantic rain...the magical rain....the saviour rain...the destroyer rain !

May 31st the first shower came from heaven much to the relief of the city people, and the MET was fast to announce that this was just a pre shower and not monsoon showers yet...I did not know that even the rain follows the procedure of a dry run before a wet spell !! For me, a drizzle was a rain, any shower was a rain . The heat wave continued to envelope the city, commuters travelling daily to work were really loosing their cool...alas on their fellow commuters !! Most of the conversations in an around the city everyday was veering to `Can you beat the heat ?'....Oh...when is it going to rain ?.....etc etc....

Finally the rain gods relented and somewhere around Mid June or so, it rained heavily...thankfully during the night. The morning after was cool and pleasant for everyone. Phew what a relief !!

The incomplete tasks of the city excavators were resulting in puddles, the BMC / Disaster Management Team (Can you believe it) already were in a huddle...Morning Tabloids were replete with news on how societies and localities are taking due care and being self sufficient, after all can the city people rely on BMC / PWD / DMT ? Families in and around low lying areas were gleefully posing with rafts / motor boats / life jackets ....The new mayor was posing with her team and the great strategy of placing water pumps in and around the city (logic beats me though, water being pumped in from where to where!!)

I was thinking to myself - is the island really sinking ? Are we on the glorified real life set of THE CASTAWAY ?? All this while the supreme office above us was having different plans altogether.....The weekend that just passed by, the city experienced very heavy downpour.

Immediately there was water logging at the usual places, tracks submerged, city life on the brink...on second thought in the sink ! People were thanking their luck that this heavy downpour was experienced on a sunday! Media was busy rummaging through previous years photo which they can again recyle and scare the poor city people ! After all, who would take the trouble to click fresh pictures when the end result remains the same ? Justified......:-)

Suddenly the romance of the rain was replaced by the fear of the deluge....

I woke up on a monday morning post the idyllic rainy sunday thanks to the sms alert from BMC - Heavy to very heavy rain fall expected within the next 48 hrs ! I dreaded just by visualizing the chaos and traffic on my way to work....My mind was already spaced out !!

Prepared and armed for the worst I stepped out on my way to work and guess what ?? the sun was shining brightly on the city !!!!

Meanwhile the BMC/DMT/PWD were sure that the rain god is from the opposition party since its sole job is to throw water on their so called good work !! Ha ha Ha

I prefer to enjoy the rain, the romance associated with it....the magic of the monsoon...the city in monsoon !!

Hold on...all this only when I dont have to travel to work, and can just be by the window side with a hot cup of Tea and a good book or a good movie for company!!

Till then Let it rain...let it rain...Let it rain.

Movie Review - Life In Metro

Mass Meter - ***
Class Meter - ***

Life In a Metro - Okay so we all have been living life in a metro and daily something or the other keeps on happening in ours as well as peoples life around us . Some people actually live it while others only hear about it....

Dir / Writer - Anurag Basu weaves an interesting tale , intertwining the characters and the stories with the city as the backdrop .
Mumbai city and its few montages have been beautifully captured by the cameraman...

Now to the characters of the movie, not necessarily in the order of appearance -
Dharmendra - yes you got it right, playing a US return guy back to the love he had once left due to the choice he had once made !
Nafisa Ali - A graceful lady staying in Old Age House, while her children are in US of A.
Shilpa Shetty - A Bored Housewife / Mother with nothing right happening in her life for no actual fault of hers (May be Big Brother is the culprit) :-))
Kay Kay Menon - The Philandering Chauvinist Husband working for a call centre at a good post and misusing his clout at work . If he strays, its okay and expects forgiveness , but vice versa for him is unimaginable !!
Kangana - Call Centre Employee with suicidal tendencies (residual role of Gangster, I presume albeit with straight hair and specs this time ), having an amorous relationship with her married boss.
Sharman Joshi - Ambitious Call Centre Employee , who uses his apartment keys as the key to his climb up the success ladder. He lends his apartment keys so that important people in his office can use it as a mating ground . Has a sincere crush on Kangana little realising that she is RUN OUT :-)
Shiny Ahuja - A Struggling Actor , leading an ordinary life and witnessing love blossom and suddenly stemmed in the bud !
Irrfan Khan - Unmarried Guy, searching for the right life partner . Adds amazing realism to the character he plays, mannerisms , attitude et al.
Konkona Sen Sharma - 30 and still a virgin, sister to Shilpa Shetty , wants to search for that elusive Perfect Partner, but being extremely cautious in her overall approach, another great performance .
Music director Pritam with his band - Sighted atop terraces, signals, cross roads belting out lilting music and stringing the story together . This was one nice way of introducing music to the movie compared to showing protagonists singing the songs....

Any Story which has multi characters is always a challenge for the director, to hold the individual stories together and weave ONE STORY out of it. This is where Anurag Basu scores as a director in handling the movie deftly. Anurag Basu's , previous movies were more of DVD rip offs of hollywood . In this he seems to have grown as a director (since i was unable to pin the sources of his inspiration :-)

Need to ask him what is his fixation for scenes depicting couples making out (read coital bliss) in a balcony or terrace, with red silky blanket and bodies in state of undress !! We have been infliced with similar scenes earlier in Bhatt Production - MURDER , GANGSTER !

Also there is a scene wherein Konkana happens to walk in a bedroom un-announced only to see her lover and boss making out, similar to the scene from Page 3 !

The Dharmendra - Nafisa track is kind of heart warming and it is through these characters, he presents a subtle story of missed opportunity in Life and an abrupt end .
The Irrfan-Konkona track is very real except for the predictable filmy end to their story, but amazing performance by both the stalwarts who eat hungrily into their roles .
Sharman Joshi - Kangana love track actually takes a positive turn towards the climax .
Kay Kay - Kangana track is that of Lust over Love , your guess is good as mine as to what wins !
Shiney - Shilpa track is the type of love story which touches the heart, but alas it was a could have been track (Just as in life! )!
Kay Kay - Shilpa track as husband and wife leading a failed marriage , for not known faults of the wife .

Real Life in Metro is so much more than just bed hopping and couples just searching for excuses to lead amorous life . I did have serious reservations on depiction of call centre environment as a HUB for just Libido Release . I know many in the audience would actually consider this as the whole truth !!

Life imitates Art and Cinema does influence people in some way . This movie will certainly erode or influence the already strained moral values of the society .

To each one his own, I dont want to be part of the Moral Police Brigade :-)

There would be many who would be scandalized while watching this movie , some would identify with similar characters little less exaggerated around them ,

....while the sensible of the lot would just consider this as CINEMA !

Review - Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd

Mass Meter - ** 1/2
Class Meter - *** 1/2




Honeymoon travels pvt ltd -

If Nikhil Advani with 23+ reels of raw stock failed in depicting love stories of 6 couple, Writer / Director - Reema Kagti does it with aplomb in her debut with only 12 reels !

Pure, fun & frolic comic caper with a treatment as fresh as mint ! Bold, unconventional , witty and yet talking volumes on marriage and relationship . Anurag Kashyap (dir of Black Friday) returns here to demonstrate his skills as a dialogue writer with some gems of dialogues on relationships .

Do not go for this movie with a mountain of expectations , i am sure married as well as courting couples will identify with the bitter-sweet memories of their relationship. Makes up for a cute Date Movie !!

The movie gets straight to the point, without wasting any moment / raw stock showing the 6 couples beginning their journey to Goa . The director uses great imagination in using RJ (Radio Mirchi) as a sutradhar in giving us short insight / flashback in the lives of every couple, with a suitable song of the yesteryears to suit the emotions .

Music by Vishal-Shekar is fresh and energetic , camerawork is non distracting and simple .

The couples as you would have seen in the funny trailors of the movie are -

Shabana Azmi – Boman Irani: portraying couple brought together by a tryst of fate . Many delicate moments in this sweet story, wonderfully performed by Shabana & the ever surprising ever shining and endearing Boman.

Kay Kay Menon – Raima Sen: Bong couple , a conservative husband and a cute wife . The scene showing them in boxing ring is hilariously imaginative, hats off to the director in conjuring this ordinary tu tu main main scene as a boxing match between arch rivals . Kay Kay breaking into a jig, is ofcourse one of the highlights of the film.

Amisha Patel – Karan Khanna: A romantica at heart amisha in a chatterbox role and a hubby who is confused (dont want to reveal much here) !

Sandhya Mridul – Vikram Chatwal: Net marriage and how the story unfolds may be a surprise and shock to many . Sandhya's story has touching moments (the one talking about her past )

Abhay Deol – Minissha Lamba: Playing the perfect couple , perfect romance , perfect dance partners and both of them cootchie-cooing and exchanging sweet nothings even at the lunch table . Here I felt the director wanted to share with the audience that there is no such thing as `Perfect Couple' ( hence the track of superman/supergirl) . For a relationship to work , it takes superhuman efforts from both the parties . Alas, most in the audience could not fathom this sub story hence would find it far fetched .

Ranveer Shorey – Dia Mirza – (surprise guest appearance by an actor) : - The shortest story, I wish ranveer was given more footage . He is in great form as a gujju husband . The scene where he is brooding post his wife ditching him and kay kay trying to console him is howlarious.

Every one has a role and a meaning attached to ongoing of the story . The driver as a moral crusader / the guide and his hinglish / the cleaner with his love story .

Go 4 it with the one you love .

A feel good movie with the sunny side up :-)

Movie Review - Eklavya

Mass meter - **
Class meter - ****



Eklavya - Vidhu Vinod Chopra's return to movie making after sabbatical of 7 years, itself is a good reason to watch this one . I just hope he does not wait for another 7 years to come out with his next :-)

Movie goers today are fed on fast paced , 3 hr+ saga's leading nowher , formula driven , inspired plagiarism or remake's...amidst this comes a movie with an original story idea (Credit - VV Chopra / Abhijit Joshi) !

This is writer / director Vidhu Vinod Chopra's take on the story of Eklavya and he beautifully contemporarizes and adapts the story to depict the dilemma faced by Eklavya. Embellished with fine production values and stellar performance by every member of the cast

Since this movie is not made in popular milieu format, it may not be lapped by the masses but lovers of good cinema will relish this movie. The movie unfolds at its own pace as a good drama or a good novel would.

The movie begins with only the Big B's baritone voice narrating the story of Eklavya to the kids as a refresher to the audience ....Eklavya the one who followed his `Dharm' !

Positives are plenty (not exactly in the order of importance and appearance in the movie)....
*Big B standing tall and giving a yet another royal touch to his role as a royal guard whose duty is to guard the residents of the palace and the secret hidden within the walls of the palace.
*Saif in yet another restrained performance and looking dapper as a real prince would.
*Boman Irani's versatality.
*Sharmila Tagore in a graceful and elegant cameo
*Vidya as the demure rajjo
*Sanju Baba in a role of a corrupt police officer and packing a punch in it.
*Jackie Shroff in a role which only Vidhu can offer him.
*Jimmy Sheirgill (another victim of spelling change, uff!!) as never before seen
*Location as an integral part of the narrative, Magnificient palace and astounding sets by Nitin Desai.
*Sweeping camerawork by maverick S. Natarajan Subramaniam (Parineeta, Black Friday) . Most of the scenes are crane shots, and gives a brialliant perspective to the happenings in and around the palace . Every frame has been meticulously crafted.
*Use of Gayatri Mantra Shlok and moody music as background score by Shantanu Moitra (Apparently the background score was done before the movie was shot, and actually played on the sets for the actors to get the feel of the scene !)
*Action Sequences by Tinnu Verma is edge of the seat stuff.
*The pigeon / ghungroo scene
*The assasination bid sequence amidst the camels and a passing train is awesome.
*Jimmy & Jackie's murder sequence is spellboundingly picturized.
*Detailing done by the director for every character .
*Majestic Costumes by R Rathore
*Narrative style of the director

I may sound as if I am complaining, but i am not - If only the movie was little pacy it could have hit the bulls eye at the box office marquee.

Review of Lage Raho Munnabhai - 4th Sept 06

I have often heard people say `Kadvi dava zyada kaam karti hai' (Bitter medicines,works better!), but then if Laughter is the best medicine , then aint it a Paradox ? :-)

Okay coming back to the review of last weeks release - Lage Raho,Munnabhai…The sequel trend continues in bollywood.

Munna and Circuit are back in action and are in full form ! I cannot think of an audience who would not enjoy this wholesome,clean,delightful dollop of entertainment !!

A movie which will cater to the mass as well as the class…A movie which breaks free from the stereotype item song driven and formula based regular bollywood fare….A movie which will not embarrass you in case you are watching it with your family !

First and foremost, kudos to the Producer / Director team in believing in their simple value based concept and treating us with the same . The director had made it clear in all his pre release interviews that, the sequel is not in continuation,except for the character duo Munna n Circuit, and places them in a new set up for a new adventure.

The format and the narrative style is déjà vu, but has a good dose of laughter hurt anyone ? Dialogues are true Mumbaiya ishtyle !!

I don’t wish to reveal much of the movie premise, except for the fact that this time round, Munnabhai has a tryst with History….!!!

Reasons to watch this movie (Not necessarily in the order :-))
Sanju / Arshad and their brilliant camaraderie.
Dialogues laced with ample of wit and lyrical simplicity.
Boman Irani's take on sardarji, and does perfect justice to his character Lucky Singh !
Vidya Balan - who is a treat to the eyes and looking as fresh as morning dew on the flowers.
The 6-7 endearing Senior citizen who are integral part of the script.
Dilip Prabhavalkar as Mahatma (…wish the make up was done little better !)
Brilliant cameo's by host of talented artists,including a surprise towards the climax.
An Original concept in times of rampant plagiarism.
The music and the imaginatively picturised songs which flows with the movie.
The track - Bande mein tha dum, Vande Mataram - song with utmost zest by Sonu Nigam
The director himself is the editor of the movie and shows no sign of indulgence by keeping the length of the movie short and sweet, its another thing that no one would have complained even if the movie just continued the momentum….!!
Compare this with some of the directors (hint - Karan Johars and the types!!), for whom even 23+reel is not enough to convey the story . Lage Raho…comes at a perfect time, presenting to our society the nearly forgotten ideologies of M.K.Gandhi, in a non sermonizing way, which will surely touch the right chords .

Cinema is a mass medium, hence this movie should surely work in influencing the audience in a positive way.

To each one his own - You may walk out of the theatre with a huge smile and a sense of emotional upliftment OR take the morals and values presented subtle-ly by the director

Do watch it with all your near and dear ones!

Review on KANK - 14th Aug 06

Welcome to the opulent world of the Karan Johar's, where kuch kuch hota hai to both the couples in their married lives full of Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham and raw stock has been used so liberally kya pata, Kal Ho Na Ho !!

The 3rd directorial effort of Karan Johar, had huge expectations from every one who is a sucker for feel good cinema as well as audiences who love to cry while watching movies (includes yours truly!). This movie was no different, I cried....but for different reason... of a wasted 3 hrs + of my priced weekend.

The movie is replete with deja vu moments, dried leaves will remind you of Mohabatein, the scenes in and around New york remind you of Kal Ho Na Ho, the lavish family function or Disco Party songs as in every such movies......The appearance of Karan Johars Lucky Mascot Kajol in the songs, his friends doing thankless, ill defined cameo's.

Wish Karan had not based this movie in New York and had a strong story and taut screenplay.....
The movie opens with a football match, where charismatic king of limited expressions SRK is playing football. Wish they could have shot the football match in a better way. The other characters are soon introduced with no time wasted. Rani as the confused girl who is getting married to a good friend, Abhishek , Priety as wife of SRK and Amitabh as the philandering father of Abhishek. Amitabh has done a role which he has never done before, but alas a half baked one.....

How can one explain a character sleeping around and behaving obscenely pervert for his age and justifying the noble action, by mentioning that he had promised his wife that post her demise he would do everything he could not do while she was alive....Uff...talk about bereavement and enjoyment in the same vein !!!

For cinematic twist, SRK meets with a dramatic accident, curtailing his football career short and his acting prowess shorter...!! From here on the character starts limping inconsistently.....
Now for some ludicrous reasons, rani the wife with OCD for cleanliness decides that marriage is not working, though the husband is caring and affectionate. To synchronize the infidelity here SRK is getting irritated with his career minded `Man in the house' wife Preity....

Its time SRK re-invents himself, may be DON would do it for him ! Preity's figure in the movie is waxing and waning, in some scenes she looks plump and some svelte....Continuity lapse looks like.

Post some chance and some forced meetings at Grand Central Station, SRK and Rani decide to fall for the forced inviting trap of infidelity.....Wafer thin excuses for straying in relationship.
Post interval, the straying couple decide to share it with their respective spouses expecting forgiveness and starting life afresh ! Great expectations by Charles Dickens !!!

From here on the movie is down and beyond redemption.

As expected pretty much, SRK is divorced and OCD Rani is thrown out of her house. Inexplicable jump of 3 yrs in the movie, before the director decides to unite SRK and Rani Chalte Chalte !!!

If at all there is any consolation is this magnum bore-us, those are -
Well sketched character for Abhishek and Preity.
Imaginatively picturised song, Tumhi Dekho Na....
Title song of the movie
Glossy cinematography by Anil Mehta
Cute performance from the child artist
Crispy dialogues from Niranjan Iyengar

There are many benchmark movies on infidelity made in Hollywood as well as Bollywood, and this does not belong in that cateogory.

As for the Karan Johar fans & The soaked hanky fan club, would recommend to rent the DVD of Kuch kuch hota hai or Kal Ho na ho, instead :-)

Review on KRRISH - 26th June 06

KRRISH
In the season of the sequel comes Krrish. The Indian Super Hero.....It is to the credit of Rakesh Roshan who is no John Woo, nor Steven Spielberg but manages to weave a watchable fare, replete with SFX and stylish action sequence rarely seen in hindi cinema. The story begins in a picturesque hill station with madam Re' trying to over protect her gifted grandson from the privy world .
Those were the days of hindi cinema, when the hero as a kid is shown running and the camera focuses on his running feets and viola he has grown up into a HERO. The audience is treated here to a similar scene with pulsating music , when krishna the hero is shown racing with the horse and winning (Thankfully Maneka G, did not take any offence to this one!!).
Enter, the heroine along with an adventure camp group. The introduction scene between the hero and heroine is interestingly shown. Next is the predictable song and dance situations in the glorious tradition of Hindi Cinema to profess and confess love .
Pre Interval some amount of melodrama between the grandmother refusing to age and the grandson refusing to visit the local saloon for a decent hair cut, about his visit to Singapore . Finally she relents ,knowing that Manali would not have much opportunity for a super hero to utilize his super powers.
Post interval, and no sign of the super hero yet....
Some more inane scenes unfold in the scenic Singapore, delaying the arrival of the super hero again. Next our hero takes the heroine to visit a circus ; Hero Honda presents The Bombay Circus, another momentuous opportunity for a song and dance . The circus catches fire and it is left to the hero to become a super hero much against his grandmom's desire, to save some kids trapped inside the blazing tent.
Krrish does it in style wearing his father's overcoat overturned, and by wearing a partial mask to mask his identity completely !! From here on the audience could have been treated to more of the super hero saviour moments, but papa director and the writers decide that our Indian Super Hero has personal agenda more on his mind . May be saving the world etcetra could have been outsourced to Spidey, Superman and other super heroes .
Naseer plays the arch nemesis, who wants to dethrone the jumani's and the bejan daruwala's by building a super computer which can reveal the future. I do not want to reveal much of the movie for the cine goers.
Now Post some stylishly shot action sequences courtesy Tony C and the hardworking Hrithik, our hero returns back home . Background score is highly inspired from Spidey movies and stock music from Vangelis. Camerawork is good and pleasing . The in your face ad endorsement was too much, thankfully only KRRISH was spared from endorsing any product or else the director would have even shown KRRISH flying with some billboards .
Kids will love the movie and so would the masses, if only some more IQ was put in the screenplay and the writing dept, KRRISH would have really hit the bulls eye.
Watch it only for HRITHIK and the hardwork gone in by SFX and Tony C Or wait for the Superman to return on 30th June.

Review on FANAA - 29th May 06

Fanaa - There are so many loopholes in this movie, that it is destined to be fanaa'ed !! Of course,the BO collection will say otherwise.Die hard fans of the stars/banner may still rave about this tasteless fare...Post the phenomenal performance by Rani in BLACK, the benchmark set for the portrayal of a blind person has gone so high, that it is really difficult for any1 to match it.The movie has wafer thin characters, who mouth cliche'ridden dialogues...

There are moments in the movie, which shows lack of sensitivity towards the blind.How a conservative muslim blind girl, gets ready for a one night stand is baffling ! Lots of cinematic liberties have been taken, to take the audience for a ride.Expectations were high for this movie, and it does not meet any of those. There was lot of media hype around the story/screenplay by Shibani Bhatija, but alas....!

Kunal Kohli, critic (CHALO CINEMA) turned director ironically who use to pan movies for being regular run of mill affairs, fails prey to his own set standards. Result, neither does FANAA falls in the entertainer cateogory nor does it fall in class movie zone . Production values are as per expectations from the banner.Will someone explain, why the kid was sporting the aamir khan hair cut ? Now that was one LOUD HINT for an assumed dumb audience ! Length is another drawback of the movie, it could do with a trimming of nearly 45 minutes of non-value added scenes.

The perfectionist Aamir also cannot save this half baked character of a terrosist cum romantica !! Give it a miss, not worth the trip to the theatre. No Chalo Cinema, for this one at least.

Review on RDB - 30th Jan 06

What works in the favour of RDB ?
The novel concept of history vis-a-vis the youth of today.
The deft execution of the screenplay.
The imaginative and brilliant cinematography swinging between today and sepia tone yester years.
The razor sharp Editing.
The youthfulness and zest amazingly captured in the initial reels followed by the transformation.
The rousing background score and an apt original music score.
The perfect selection of the starcast.
The inspiring non sermonizing dialogue which gives a feeling that it is a leaf out of our day to day life exchanges .
Aamir Khan breathing life in the colourful character.
Siddharth,Kunal,Atul,Sharman ably supporting and living their roles honestly.
Great Production values.
Q & A session on the radio in the pre finale, wherein the director is actually answering the questions of the aam junta via the medium of the character.
We may have seen some n number of movies depicting the freedom struggle movements, like the kakori conspiracy, the jalianwala baug, the martyrs etc. This is where the director scores big time by presenting his interpretation of those moments.

Personally speaking I felt that for the finale the director resorted to much of cinematic liberties for the shock value required and instigating the audience into a debate.

But then on second thoughts, this was essentially required may be for the twist the story had taken and for showing the dramatic changes in the characters.

The movie was released to packed multiplexes on the eve of the republic day.

Please Welcome Rakeysh Mehra, as one of the most promising director to hit the scene in recent times.

Review-Traffic Signal

Mass meter - **
Class meter - **



At the outset let me share that Madhur Bhandarkar does not figure in the list of my favourite directors barring his hard hitting Chandni Bar, good in parts Page 3 , Corporate based on cola war minus the fizz and now this.....

Traffic Signal - So called part of the trilogy, after Page 3, Corporate...Madhur Bhandarkar the director with a penchant for exposing the underbelly is back . The thriving human lives living out of a Traffic Signal. Now my non intelligent guess on how the director / writer team comes up with the story is as follows - They fish for all articles / headlines related with their theme / subject and then as fillers weave a story around it !! Mention of the July deluge, Bomb Blasts, Unbreakable spirit of Mumbai City...get the idea !!??

Traffic Signal is a filmy microscopic view on the lives living in and around a signal in search of a livelihood . In case you happen to watch this movie , you will surely ponder for a moment next time you stop at a signal (some sensitive souls already would be doing this daily!!), before the light turns green.

The story is their fight for survival, their hopes, their pain and momentary joy and happiness . The director does not waste time in setting the story and the pace for the same . This signal has everyone , A Manager (kunal khemu in a deglam and a powerful performance), beggars, gajrewali, embroidery seller (neetu chandra in an impressive debut), pavement rangoli artist, a kid called dambar due to his dark skin (who dreams about having a fair skin and is disillusioned on using the product Fair Fast :-) , another called tsunami , paya (sidekick of kunal), a gandhi wadi social worker (dombivli fast actor), Prostitutes / Gay, soliciting customers by the night (Konkona Sen, yet again shining in a brief cameo ) , A beggar begging only in underwear which he calls his costume (non working hours seen at the multiplex) , A habitual druggie (Ranvir, surprising in a serious and pathos laden role contrary to the light roles he generally plays !), roadside romeo's, eunuchs who rue the fact why there are no competitions similar to Miss India / Mr India for their tribes :-) A beedi shop (doubling up as the money deposit centre for the traffic cop) , A cafe at the corner , Old lady with a cow , a telling comment on tele-marketeers (yes from ICBI Bank:-)) discussing on their calling data and harassing prospective customers with interruptive sales call (the treatment meted out to these guys cannot be printed ), local goons, local MLA's, honest engineer.....
Phew !! have i missed anyone ? Yes, the number of daily commuters and a slice of their lives too on passing by the signal :-)
Many Lives, Many Stories....some touching the viewers, some jumping the signal !

Somewhere along, i got a deja vu feeling...This movie does miss the brutal starkness of Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay, but the camraderie shared by the characters is similar to the one seen in the TV Serial Nukkad....

The real winner in this tale is the set design by Nitin Desai , Costumes , few good dialogues and the creative camerawork by Mahesh Limaye (capturing montages of the city-scapes and juxtaposing it on the set where the story is based). Very few but brilliant directorial touch in this filmy take !

Few touching moments in the movie - the untold love story between ranvir / konkana and its untimely end, the tsunami orphaned kid calling chennai from PCO using his hard earned money to seek update on his family , never loosing hope , the signal being uprooted towards the end and carried by labourers as if they are pallbearers on the final journey witnessed by the affected lives at the Signal etc etc.

You may be shocked at some scenes, smile at some and touched by others but you cannot ignore this movie .

Stop by this signal if you have time....

Ordeal E Ishq

Mass meter - ** (thanks to the hype)
Class meter - * (sorry)



Post a very promising Debut with Kal Ho Na Ho, Nikhil Advani's follow up Salaam E Ishq is like that promisory note that could not live upto its promise...:-(
The director has broken the umblical cord from his mentor, but to express his gratitude there are lots of mentor referencing through out the movie as if this movie was a promotional vehicle to the movies of Karan Johar and for the next season of koffee with Karan .....Phew !!!

Have you ever given it a thought that our western counterparts make movies with shorter duration but better content, and here is a prime example of the editor going to sleep thereby inflicting the audience with a 3 hr 36min Magnum Bore-Us .

I have serious reservations with movies which begins with a song (exceptions do exists)...it only demonstrates lack of creative ideas. Think about this, it is suppose to be movie on celebration of Love with stories involving 6 couple and according to me only 2.5 stories barely reach 500 metres away from BULLSEYE .

Now in case you still want to know what is this concoction all about for sheer curiosity, read on.....
In order of appearance :

John - Vidya (0.5 of the 2.5 ) - Muslim girl married to Hindu boy, both working for TIMES NOW (what times have come!!) ...Now post opening song and meandering few reels, vidya suffers an accident due to which she suffers retrograde amnesia which is nothing but in filmi parlance - convenient amnesia !! She remembers everything of her life except for the fact that John was signed for this movie to play her husband !! Vidya delivers a good performance in her first performance oriented role, John however earnest, is a misfit . Watch out for a good sequence involving sfx and sleek editing where in John brings Vidya to his filmi set house .

Govinda - Shannon (1 of the 2.5 ) - Cabbie from delhi but also seen driving cab in and around mumbai locales ( call it cinematic liberties, pls), who is only longing for a day wherein he can fall in love with a foreign passenger ! Talk about Great Expectations of Life....
The intro scene between the two has been done well . Govinda shines / Shannon sparkles in this boy meets girl story and takes the story towards the finale....

Akshaye - Ayesha (1 of the 2.5) - A rich brat (dunno any other background of this character), living out of a house which looks like a Lounge Bar Set Up and a close friend with handycam (what a scripting handicap!!) . He is commitment phobic towards the institution of marriage . Engaged to Ayesha, daughter of a retired army officer . Welcome to the world of choreographed Bachelor Parties and lavish lunches....This story invokes few chuckles thanks to the hyperactive performance from Akshaye and restrained performance from Ayesha....

Salman-Priyanka - Sorry, no story ! Salman essaying a role of Rahul, but for some reason pronounces his name through out as RAUL rhyming with OWL . But he surely looks like a Dude ka Dude, Pony Ka Pony !!
Priyanka hams inducing hamstring pulls in the audience.

Anil-Juhi - Story based in london . Shameless rip off of the hollywood romantic Dance with me, but botched up severly like a serial killer on loose .

Sohail - Isha - Horny Toad for a husband and Lusty Life for a wife , did evoke few chuckles from front benchers and embarassed smiles from families....nothing more to write about .....

Songs are also budget savers for the producers since the songs have all the protoganists . Quite a few hummable numbers, my fav being Ya Rabba, title song , Saiyyan Rey.....

Background score by SEL was good and situational...

Replace the ensemble starcast and empty theatres / multiplexes will greet you ...

The movie ends with a scene similar to the opening scene involving John / Vidya ....audiences were seen running out thronging the exit points, lest the 23 reel movie begins again....!!!

For all those rumours on movie inspired from Love Actually, this is absolutely Love Not Factually.