ITS ROCKING!!

Film: ROCK ON
Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kelley, Prachi Desai, Koel Puri.




I actually dont know from where to start this and where to end it. Its because I do not want this review to be a spoiler, I want everyone of you in this world to watch this movie. There are some movies which become youth inspirations on a very very large scale in India. Consider the 1989 Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak which increased the number of youth couple suicides and increased the daring of people to run away from homes to marry and stuff. Consider Dilwale Dulhaniyan Le Jaayenge of 1994 , it changed the concept of romance completely. Then I can quote the 1998 movie, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai which made every bloody one buy, black goggles and that blue green Polo Sports T Shirt, which Rahul aka SRK wore in that movie. Of late Rang De Basanti in 2006 was the best ever youth driver and if there is a movie after this which can instill some youth feeling into us it is this 2008 Rock On!!

The movie is about the journey of a band Magik. Farhan Akhtar who is Aditya Shroff is married to Shakshi, Prachi Desai. He is a very non magical , lifeless, successful man. His wife in a sequence of beautifully crafted events realises that he once was a part of a Rock Band. Also she actually gets to meet one of his band members, KD (Killer Drummer) through which she makes attempts to reunite the band.

The band was broken ten years ago due to some reason which you should find out. The band consisted of KD (Purab Kohli) on the drums, Joe Mascerhenas(Arjun Rampal) on the lead guitar, Rob(Luke Kenny) as the keyboard guy and Aditya as the lead singer and base guitarist. This movie encompasses the lives of the band members in a lovely style by running two time spans parallel to each other.

Now I have revealed enough about the story. Whether they actually reunite and what actually happens is for you to find out, dont dare think that the story is really obvious and stuff. Its not what you actually think, its damn beautiful, damn well narrated.

The director has won my heart. Abhishek Kapoor, has beautifully narrated a lovely story. The screenplay and cinematography was excellent. The backbone and soul of the movie, the music was the best. So hats off to Shankar Ehsaan Loy and Farhan Akhtar... There was a little, slight problems with the dialogues at some points, but most of you woudnt be able to notice that. And yes it is negligible...Also the song Yeh Tumhari Meri Baatein could have been out of the movie, though it doesnt eat up reel time, but it is used at a wrong point. So I would cut little marks for that too....

Now the acting part. First, Prachi Desai. I hated her when she was a part of Kasamh Se. That old Ekta Kapoor stuff, but in this movie, she has suited the role perfectly and has done a mind blower. The best performance of his life, Arjun Rampal has suited his role and executed it with the utmost briliiance. Luke Kelley has been another wonder as Rob and Purab Kohli has been the PJ cracker and phaadu drummer. And with a great start to his career, Farhan has lived up to the hype of Rock On, and has sung and acted just excellently. His facial expressions were under the great scrutiny of my eyes, as I believe debutants are nervous and not good at expressions. I can now beat my chest and say that Farhan has given a better debut performance than many greats like Dilipsahab, Amitji, SRK and Aamir Khan..and the rest of the lot!!

This movie had some moments which reminded me of my own band which has broken, Atma Encore. I actually am now inspired to write and compose again, and restart my band after my twelfth is over. As I mentioned initially, youth inspiration and all, Rock On has seriously changed my life in two and a half hours, and so will it change yours....go for it, dont dare miss this one!!

DARNA IMPOSSIBLE HAI

Film: PHOONK
Director: RAM GOPAL VERMA



Normally, horror movies seem more horror when one sees them at midnight, before he goes to sleep. The darkness and the silence of the night makes the horror movie further scary. Considering this classical statement I decided to watch Phoonk at 12 midnight.....

After the failure of all his flicks, except Sarkar Raj which did average, Ram Gopal Verma couldnt really make a comeback. But if he did even a little with Sarkar Raj, he spoilt it with Contract and Phoonk.

I wouldnt have rated Phoonk so less if he wouldnt have made claims that this movie is the most horrifying and scary and if someone watches it alone, I give him 5 lakhs!! I was actually laughing at the script and screenplay....not scary at all..

If we do not consider the story of the movie, then I should say that the direction is pretty good and the camera work is excellent. And so is the cinematography. But the story and the plot really SUCKS!!

Its about black magic and superstition. A man who doesnt believe in God and superstition goes through a fight with a couple who used to work for him as he realised that the couple was eating up his construction company's money... The wife amongst the couple was odd and mad and actually knew Black Magic. To build up the desired scariness, RGV overdid the odness of this lady, so much that it was funny the way she laughed and dressed up.

She takes the revenge of her being thrown out by applying Black Magic on this man's daughter. This daughter of his starts living in multiple personalities thereafter. She starts talking like a robotic man at times and behaves like a mad person(what they call Bhoot Attack)

Now the whole story is this. They try to make us afraid by showing this odness of the girl. None of the scary scenes were new and was very predictable and guess what....funny..! It was getting evident that RGV is short of ideas and the plot really, really weak...

The movie ends thereafter with a poor climax, where this man a believer of science loses faith and for the sake of his daughter accepts the superstition of bringing a baba to remove the bhoot from his daughter....So what you realise is that RGV has now established that "It is superstition unless it happens to you"

Such movies actually carry a modern youth backward. With great difficulty has some part of India been able to come out of such nuisance shit. And such movies make attempts to bring those ancient gawar thinkings back. Though the attempt was made, RGV couldnt really make one believe even for even a split second that it can really happen to you!

I wish I had applied for that contest...I could have easily got those 5 lakhs and actually given Ramu some tips how to scare me the next time he made one!! So literally, Darna Impossible Hai!!

RAB KARDE SETTING!!

Film: Singh is Kinng
Director: Anees Bazmee
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif




A name which has set fire in the hearts of all Singhs in the world, Singh is King, seems to be a very apt title for this flick. Akshay Kumar plays Happy Singh in the movie. He is what we call a mufat man and says whatever is correct and does accordingly. Very helpful by nature, Happy makes other people's problems his own and messes them up further. The village loves him from inside but is irritated by his mad activities. He is sent to London to bring back another man from their land, Lucky Singh, played by Sonu Sood. Lucky is something bigger than a Don in London and is called a King. He with his batallion of unique sardars run the ultimate criminal organisation of the UK.
Meanwhile, Happy comes to London and before that in an accident when he reached Egypt, had fallen in love with Katrina Kaif. When he came to London, Kirron Kher gave him shelter and he realised how Kirron and Katrina were related. Katrina again has a fiance in Ranvir Shourie. After some accident, Akshay has been crowned the new king...In this heavy weight confusion the story proceeds.

This movie is no oscar material, nor I would recomend it for a filmfare. But the fact remains that on a low day you go out with your family and watch this and just keep laughing. And you do not go empty handed. Theres a little message in the story....For most people this might be an entertainer and yes it is, but for the thoughtful crowd, it induces a thought....on the question that what is a king really?? King not only rules, but leads and changes. The expansion of this thought is beautifully expressed in the movie.

Like most Bolly flicks, there is a question, who gets Katrina in the end? Akshay or Ranvir?? The answer to this fact is also very interesting....find out....

Another interesting concluding fact...The song "Bas Ek King" starts with a line, "Ek colour ke tera patte". Think a bit about it, its utterly wrong....There are infact 26 cards of a colour, which are divided in 13 and 13 of two different types....And there are 2 kings in that...so lyricist saab, aage se dhyaan rakhiyega....but who cares...the song's a hit and the movie is a superhit!!

HAPPINESS PURSUED!

Film: The Pursuit of Happyness
Director: Gabrielle Muccini
Cast: Will Smith, Jade Smith




Firstly, I would like to thank this movie as it has made me think of what happiness is. Happiness cannot be achieved, but only pursued. Everytime we say that we are happy is may be because we compromise with our aspirations and bargain with our desires. We suffocate our wishes and be content and then we say that we are happy. That is not happiness. Lets not be content and satisfied with small achievements, lets go run behind those dreams of ours which we dreamt. Lets achieve them and then lets say that we are "happy"

Chris Gardener(Will Smith) is not a happy man. He is a street smart fellow and great at heart. He has a small family which includes his son(Jaden Smith) and his wife(Thandie Newton). His wife works in a laundry shop and he is a salesman, a struggling salesman. Set in the year 1981 this movie shows Chris Gardener selling a machine which was double as costly as an X ray machine but was very little more powerful than it for scanning bones.

He struggles in his profession and the immediate effects of it are rising pressure of due taxes, bills, rents and an unhappy wife. The child, a five year old, is kept in a cress where the wall doesnt know the spelling of Happiness...it writes Happyness..along with the F word.

With an annoyed wifes screams and an unsuccesful salesmanship, Chris decides to become a stock broker, which is not a halwa. He after a lot of struggle and pain and after his wife goes away, finally gets a chance for a no salary internship so that he gets a chance to work as a strock broker.

More and more problems strike his life and he under this immense impossibilities and extremities holds on, pretty well and plays the role of a great father, a great learner and a great worker at the brokerage firm.

Director Gabrielle Muccino has beautifully carved the human emotions entangled in this plot and with the brilliance of Will and Jade Smith, the movie has been a complete treat to watch.

Chris works days and nights together. He and his son see bad days, probably the worst of days. They live in a dormitory, he doesnt sleep, keeps studying for his internship exams. This goes on for six never ending months.

Chris tells us about various parts of his life. Sometimes he tells about his running about through the city streets, sometimes about his sorrows, sometimes about his fate. He is told that to be a good strockbroker he needs to be good with numbers and good with people. He was good with numbers and he turned out be great with people.

With unimaginable tenacity to pursue his happiness, Chris actually is able to do the impossible. Against all odds, all possible odds, a man stands out and does what hardly any human could do on this planet. He had set a goal long back and now he has it. He did not compromise with his ambitions. He held on and held on as tightly as possible, shielding his son from all odds(something really similar to Akele Hum Akele Tum) . But he succeded to be the winner, he succeded in getting the job of the strockbroker.

Today Chris tells about another part of his life. A part called Happiness....He is really "Happy"

MAD AND UGLY

Movie: Ugly aur Pagli
Cast: Ranvir Shourie, Mallika Sherawat




Past many movies I watched never lived upto its title...For instance one of the noisiest and loud movies was named Om Shanti Om , When we knew everything of whats going to happen in the movie, it was still called Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.... Finally I found a movie which lives upto its name as this Pritish Nandy Communications' Mallika Sherawat and Ranvir Shourie starrer Ugly and Pagli was really ugly and really mad(pagli)....

I was actually looking forward for this crap as I was in love with Pyaar Ke Side Effects, from the same banner....The movie is about our lead boy Ranvir Shourie....He is an engineering student whose failing from the last four years. One day he finds Sherawat almost dying at the local train station and he saves her....She in turn pukes on a passenger and Ranvir has to take her through to keep her safe...He takes her to a hotel in the night where he gets into further mess and ends up in a police station....The plot starts losening from this instant....Set up in a world which is far from the reach of reality and where everyone is continuosly overacting....Be it laughter be it anger and be it sorrow everything shown is out of proportion...

The story is about the love story of Ranvir and Mallika. Ranvir becomes Mallika's dog (literally) , but he likes it and does all sorts of madness whatever is prescribed by her and he does that only to keep her happy....

But when proposing time comes, Mallika realises she cannot forget her past which was some dude called Aditya who is no more in this world and was an ex-dog of Mallika...Now in all this confusion will Ranvir and Mallika ever make it???

Thats what the viewer asks in this never ending saga....With unbelievable sequences and bad music and bad direction and worst possible acting, this movie is really ugly and really pagli....But you would get to see a lot of slapping, Mallika wearing her innerwear out, Everyone cracking stupid jokes and Ranvir Shourie swimming with five year olds.....All the best to you if you are watching it!!

SERIOUS KAAHE??

FILM:The Dark Knight
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
CAST: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart




Superhero movies are about sexy suites, cool action sequences, impossible and superhuman stunts and many more. The Dark Knight, including all these thrills is still, much beyond these petty desires of a "public"....

Batman Begins, the first part, was having a strong story line, but was more like a long trailer, I mean that the two different scenes were almost instantaneously spaced and the whole movie goes very very fast....I saw it day before yesterday and I said it should have been longer and the scenes should be given more time, Dark Knight fulfills my wish...

The plot is set up on just after a year after where Batman Begins, ended....Batman joins forces with Lieutenant Jim Gordon(Gary Oldman) and District Attorney for Gotham city, Harvey Dent(Aaron Eckhart ) with the mission to put the remaining criminals of Gotham behind the bars....This combination seems unbeatable and unbreakable unless comes the Joker(Heath Ledger, RIP).

Joker seems to break the complete Gotham defence and hurts Batman badly too....He goes under a continuous spree of murdering people with the condition that he would stop if Batman discloses who he is...The plot then gets more intriguing and fast paced and is backed up with excellent dialogues, background music and one of the best actions of all time....

I can assure that Heath Ledger, who is no more with us, will be given the Academy Award for the best Villain....I hope he is given it....because he has become the defining factor of this edition of the Batman.

Christian Bale, who plays Batman has been a charm in this movie. I loved him after I watched him in The Prestige, but here he breaks all shackles and gives a great performance...Director Christopher Nolan has truly improved as compared to the last part and has improved to such a great extent that he has pushed up the stature of a mere comic hero in comparison to all time greats like the Gladiator, The Godfather and the others, and IMDB rates it 9.3 currently(above The Godfather I and II)

We hope such standards are maintained in the third part too...