OYE!! ITS GREAT!!

MOVIE: Luck By Chance (2009)
DIRECTOR: Zoya Akhtar
CAST: Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Isha Sharvani
RATING:



Theres nothing like a January blockbuster. Mostly in Bollywood it is seen that after a star studded Diwali followed by a even more star studded and packed theatres December, January is termed by producers as thanda and a time when people chose to get back to work rather than chew popcorns in front of Bolly dramas. This trend seems to have changed since last year. Jodha Akbar was a great film and a super hit having run over 100 days and had released on 15 January in a period when the superhit Taare Zameen Par was about to get Tax Free. This year people were expecting Akshay Kumar's Chandni Chowk to China to continue the dream run after his senseless tales like Welcome and Singh is Kinng accumulated lot of wealth for his distributors.
But we all know what has happened to CC2C (no one wants to C).

Luck By Chance released on 30th and has had a poor opening according to my sources in Cinemax Sion and Imax Wadala. But after great reviews in the morning newspapers, including a rare four star from Mayank Shekhar, the bookings have picked up. Still to conclude if its a hit, the distributors need time. I dont know if LBC would give solace to the distributors but to movie lovers it will. After no brainer entertainers have grossed 235 crores internationally, this seems to be the first this year which has got some brain element in it.

Coming to the film now, LBC is a creative delight, an artistic wonder and paradise for the viewers. The movie fades in beautifully with a light track Yeh Zindagi Bhi and the video deals with the sidelines of the glamour world. And then as the story proceeds you feel its Sona Mishra's (Konkana Sen Sharma) story. But as soon as the husky voiced, quick humoured, smart and dashing Vikram Jaisingh (Farhan Akhtar) makes an appearance the story shifts into being his. Both Sona and Vikram are struggling actors and its "by chance" that they get to meet. They fall in love but nothing great happens to their carrer.

Rishi Kapoor plays(excellently) Romi Rolly an eccentric producer and Juhi Chawla plays his wife. Juhi did not have a big role but she did well. Rolly is making a film Dil Ki Aag which is directed by his brother played by Sanjay Kapoor. Zaffar Khan (Hrithik Roshan) is the lead along with heroine Niki Walia(Isha Sharvani, sweet and sexy) who is the daughter of yesteryear superstar Neena Walia played marvellously by one of my favourites; Dimple Kapadia. I often say to myself looking at the mirror, "I have got two dimples!"

LBC takes you through a journey of struggle, success, selfishness, ungratefulness, compulsions, friendship and enemity which exists in every layer of Bollywood; be it strugglers like Vikram or be it the producers like Rolly. It tells us that every piece of cake is made of the same cream, its just that the higher you are, the more known you and your layer is. I wouldn't divulge much of the story nor would I tell you about the guest appearances in the story, these are things which you should yourself find out and enjoy.

With amazing performances, especially by Farhan and Konkona, this movie is surely the best one I have seen from a long time. It is slow paced but not long, it has got the necessary entertainment and it has got energy and comedy, but all that is just the cherry over the beautiful cake of performances. It does resemble Fashion or may be Om Shanti Om to some extent, but Zoya Akhtar's matured direction gives LBC a place, quite high, in the shelf of Bollywood classics! Go for this one!

A SURE WINNER, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

MOVIE: Slumdog Millionaire
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle
CAST: Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Ayush Khedekar
RATING:



Irrfan Khan gave a statement some days back, "This film will surely win the Oscars. There is a formula required to win the Oscars and this one has it." I promptly wondered what this formula is. Movies like Titanic and Lord of The Rings which were real sensations at the Oscars in the past got there because of a strong and innovative story line, backed by brilliant performances and excellent cinematography. But when it comes to India, though India has produced some gems in the past five years, Oscar has been a rare arena. Rang De Basanti a true winner on any front, failed to even qualify for the award . May be it was because no one wants to see the affluent, young and dynamic India create revolution or a historical backdrop which does not praise Gandhi. Many say that the west wants to see an India of poverty, a third world India and human emotions attached with their struggle to rise up from the third world conditions. That is I suppose the reason why Gowariker's Lagaan and not Swades was a winner. They thought that a Bollywood superstar wearing torn clothes and struggling for his pre-independence village playing cricket was more of an Oscar material rather than a dynamic Indian working in "their" NASA chosing to live in and for India was. I have many foreigner friends and whenever I ask them about what they know about India, they promptly talk about the Taj Mahal and then about the Indian slums. No wonder, having both these elements plus a white director, Slumdog Millionaire is a winner! Thats the formula Irrfan was talking about.

But saying all this does not take the credit away from this amazing cinema. The story line is unique and is guided by amazing performances and beautiful direction. But I am unsure of who did the majority of the direction. The locations of the movie are such that only an Indian, i.e, Loveleen Tandon (Asst Director) could manage the momentum of the movie efficiently. A westerner would have "boiled" in the summer heat of Mumbai. Let the controversies go their way, but I appreciate Tandon for her amazing casting.

So our protagonist, Jamal Malik, is one question away from winning 20 million rupees in Who Wants to Be A Millionaire? Anil Kapoor is the host of the show and is a grey character and his grey shades are unexplained. But he gives an amazing performance, especially with his expressions in the Jack Hobbs question. So how does Jamal Malik, a slumdog, a chaiwallah at a call centre get to participate in a show of this magnitude. And then after participating, how does he go on to win millions. Apart from these two questions, the movie has dealt with an amazing third question and that is, why does he come to the show? Thats something related to his love interest, Latika best portrayed by Freida Pinto. The character of Jamal, though excellently played by Dev Patel, Ayush Khedekar who plays the youngest Jamal leaves a permanent mark in the viewer's heart with a strong performance at such a young age.

If Jai Ho would have been a track from Ghajini or Yuvraj, it would be a two week temptation in the Indian radio. For a composer who has given greats like Roja, Dil Se, Taal, Lagaan, Jodha Akbar and numerous other albums, Jai Ho is a nothing track. If Jai Ho gets a Golden Globe even Shano Shano or Chhaiyan Chhaiyan should get one!! But the background score is really appropriate and peppy. Tracks like Paper Planes and Liquid Dance are really innovative and serve as an excellent background score. Ringa Ringa sounds more like Choli ke Peeche Kya Hai, but it is appropriate given the "Aye Saab" backdrop.

The movie claims to deal with the reality of the Indian dark lanes. It successfully does so. But what does not get digested in an Indian stomach is the fact that slum dwellers speak fluent British English and still work as prostitutes, call centre chaiwallahs, etc. The reason that this movie is made in English spoils the reality in a major section. This I accept was a compulsion to Boyle but it does damage the premise to a good extent. What keeps you at the edge of your seats is the screenplay by Simon Beaufoy and beautiful camera work and cinematography.


As Shah Rukh Khan said in his speech at the Golden Globes, "It is much more than a rags to riches tale." Its true. Slumdog Millionaire is much beyond the arguments of showing India in poor light or a guy chasing his love and ending up as a millionaire. The whole drama could have been based somewhere else, but the lustre of emotions and drama, that was successfully built, could be achieved only in the slums of Mumbai. This is because the slums of Mumbai are not only slums but a portrayal of a compact life, a symbol of cooperation and happiness amidst poverty, unhappiness and a corrupt system. Slumdog, though deals with a different topic, beautifully touches these delicate aspects, without hurting the Indian sentiments, as many are saying, may be because a Gowariker or Karan Johar did not make a Slumdog Millionaire.....

ENTER THE THEATRE IN HALF TIME

MOVIE: Chandni Chowk to China (2009)
DIRECTOR: Nikhil Advani
CAST: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Shourie, Mithun Chakraborty
RATING:



A channel which was in the morning showing the making of CC2C and talking of the superpower of Akshay Kumar, ran its evening edition bashing the movie's no brainer script and toilet humor. Well that sums up the condition of today's world of marketing. Chandni Chowk to China is not all that unbearable and bad a movie but it certainly is not good either.

The first half is full of impossible events, randomly colliding with each other and making you realise that the writers haven't done a job here. The events are not really funny and are kind of maddening. Whenever the dialogue writer realised that little more humour was to be induced in a certain situation, he made Akshay Kumar get hit and scream hard that he got hit on his lemons. Well a movie with a U rating should seriously not have such humour. But as soon as the first half gets over, you first rush out of the theatre to take a break and then come back(Well many did not come back).

Akshay Kumar plays Sidhu, a guy who lives in the Parathe Waali Gali in Chandni Chowk, Delhi 6. He is a "apshaguni" to people around him and spoils their luck by being around. He is an orphan who had been taken care of by his bhojpuri Dada played with relative excellence by Mithun. Ranvir Shourie plays a Guruji. Meanwhile in China, there is menance created by a villain called Hojo.

Prophecy says that to destroy Hojo would reborn Liu Shang, a mighty hero who fought for his motherland on the Great Wall of China. Liu would reborn in India, the land where Buddha was born. Circumstances make them believe that Sidhu was the reincarnation of the warrior. From there starts the journey of Sidhu to go on a mission against Hojo.

The second half proceeds with a rather good pace and you feel yes there is a story here. Deepika Padukone plays a double role here, the same old lost sisters in different countries. The movie is not all that bad I tell you. It certainly isn't a classic and it certainly isn't a must watch but its not that you disrespect the makers by leaving in half time.


The high point about the movie I believe was the title track sequence. I am smitten by the music video of the song as it covers the three generations of Chinese culture with relatively good coreography and great music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy.

I also add that the scope of the project was tremendous. This could have gone on to be a classic as the concept of bringing in a union or clash of two great civilizations was unique. Indian cinema hardly gets a unique script and the irony is that even after we have something unique and also we have producers like Warner Bros and Ramesh Sippy, we still couldn't create meaningful cinema. Keep Trying Nikhil, dont think Kal Ho Na Ho, kal zaroor hoga!!