A LOVELY AAJ & KAL COCKTAIL

As most people might have figured out this is a story of two generations. Most of the movie keeps telling us how different love was in both generations but in the end it tells us its "love" afterall and how can it be different in any generation in any time. People meet the same fate and consequences in love on any position in the timeline. This is the basic philosophy of the movie. The philosophy is beautiful. The movie....even more beautiful...

Even though he is closing on his forties, Saif is more youthful than any other so called young actors and I really believe even in his eighties he will be a teenager. This youthfulness adds a different colour to the already colourful cinematography of Love Aaj Kal. So the story basically goes like, Jai Vardhan Singh (Saif) is dating Meera Pandit (Deepika) from two years and believes that love forever is a ****matic nonsense. At a juncture when Meera has to leave for India and Jai has to work in London and has an aspiration to work for the Golden Gate in San Fransisco, the madly happy couple break up and actually throw a break up party.

Veer Singh(Rishi Kapoor) then enters the scene later and brings with him an astonishingly sweet story of his young days where Saif plays the young Veer, a Sikh who loves a girl in the neighbourhood called Harleen. His heart breaks when he knows that Harleen has left Delhi and gone to Calcutta as her family had shifted. Right from this point the two stories start appearing similar and most appealing is the climax where both the climaxes converge.

Its hard to find a flaw leaving a few in this movie. Imtiaz Ali has grown ten folds as a director and has certainly improved from his last(Jab We Met) which was also a good enough movie. The screenplay is amazing and presents a fresh narration pattern, not much dared in Bollywood. This movie lacks the pompous expenditure like a Bhansali or Johar flick but the fact that the production was prudent and perfect made it have an amazing look. So thumbs up to Saif the producer too. Illuminati films certainly has a long way to go. Performances by the actors are amazing too. Saif the crazy '09 guy is excellent and so is the Saif the Sikh in the sixties and manages his Punjabi very well. Deepika brings a fantastic craziness yet maturity into her role and the unknown and under the wraps girl who plays the role of Harleen Kaur is the height of cuteness and beauty..

With lots of catchy phrases and dialogues, Love Aaj Kal is definately a fun ride but it would teach you a nice lesson on love with some mature thoughts too. The music is amazing and fresh and the track Dooriyan stands out and Mohit Chauhan's voice has a certain pain which makes this the theme of the film. So as I said its really hard to find a fault in this movie. Hats off to every member of the film and all I got to say is Aaj Kal you wont find such films too often....that certainly makes you Love this one!

AATH AANA!

FILM: Barah Aana (2009)
CAST: Naseruddin Shah, Vijay Raaz, Arjun Mathur
DIRECTOR: Raja Menon





After coming to know that everyone else in my class had gone to the movies to celebrate the end of exams, I had become desperate to do so too.This quest led me to the doors of this movie.Sitting all alone with a friend in a neraly complete empty theater( this was not a reflection on the movie...actually it was 11 in the morning on a Monday) with my legs propped up on the seat in front, I watched the movie screen come to life.

The story goes something like this. Shukla(Naseerudin Shah) discovers that he has officialy been declared dead due to a series of misfortunes(This part may have no significance now but holds the key to the end). He moves to Mumbai to work as a driver and lives in the slums of Dharavi. Yadav(Vijay Raaz) is a watchman who is trodden over and abused to the limit and then beyond it. And he has no choice but to bear it for the sake of his family who are solely dependent on him for their existence. Aman( Arjun Mathur)- Yadav's room-mate is a waiter at a swanky restaurant. He crushes in a on Italian girl who unkown to him lives her life by selling drugs.The plot shows it face when Yadav receives a phone call informing him that back home money's needed for treatment of his child.

Unable to procure the money properly he turns to trickery due to a completely unseen turn of events. Enticed by the power, he coerces Aman and threatens Shukla to continue the "business". The conclusion of this whacky adventure is the best part of the movie. Add along a side track of romance between Aman and the beautiful Italian (Violante Placido) onlyn for him to be finally betrayed, you have a classic paani puri to be eaten. But sadly, I found the movie all paani and not much puri.

Now, the movie is not all that bad . In fact I had really liked the start and the end. But unforunately, that was it. Sure, certain moments provided amusement but nothing that kept you going along with the story.Over the years oppression of the poor/ helpless has been quite a hot topic with film makers. Sensationalisation along with some fantasy has led to this giving us several hits.

The biggest surprise for me was Vijay Raaz . He played his role with such sincerity...I truly say that this is his best performance till date. Arjun Mathur has done very good for a debut film although I felt he was trying too hard. Naseeruddin Shah is the cherry on the top! I've now come to expect nothing but the best from this man.
If I liked the acting so much, then what problem did I have with the movie you may ask. Frankly, for me, it was the implementation of the script.It truly left much to be desired.
But none the less, this film is truly timepass material- say for an afternoon weekend while lying in bed at home with hot samosas and a botlle of Pepsi. The originality of the script makes me give another half star...Its not the best, but its a start.


- Karthik Krishna

(For the first time on The Soaham Blog, we have a guest writer. Just wait and watch readers, there will be many new surprises coming for you. Karthik Krishna is an year junior to me, but has a tremendous writing flare and good insight on movies. He would be co-writing on this blog from today, Barah Aana is his debut! Lets all give him the warmest welcome to The Soaham Blog.)

You too want to write for The Soaham Blog????

Mail any of your article to soaham43@gmail.com

A TRUE BUT INCOMPLETE PICTURE

MOVIE: Firaaq(2009)
DIRECTOR: Nandita Das
CAST: Naseruddin Shah, Paresh Rawal, Suhanna Goswami,Sanjay Suri, Tisca Chopra and Deepti Naval




Now straight away let me tell you that talking about this movie here is controversial. I wont go deep into the political roots of this movie because I do not desire to hurt any section or inspire any section to do something radical. Whatever has happened in the Gujarat riots is unfortunate and inhuman. This movie deals with this issue and is set in the time during the riots. The strength of the movie is undoubtedly the technically sound direction of Nandita Das and the powerful performances by Naseruddin Shah, Deepti Naval, Paresh Rawal and others. Sanjay Suri and Tisca Chopra too were very impressive. The title Firaaq is exceptionally apt. It is an Urdu word which means both hope and separation. And both these emotions form the roots of this movie. The hope that things would get better and the separation from communal harmony and humanity too form the theme of this story.

The educated Hindu intelligentsia in our country today speaks pro-Muslim things rather than facts to prove their secularism. They have somewhere in them that if they praise Ustad Bismillah Khan(RIP) instead of Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, they could be striking a more secular note. It is a usual human tendency, and it is somewhere reflected in Nandita Das' Firaaq. It is no doubt that this movie is a collection of some true incidents, but the sequencing of these events and the character built up has made it look very much anti-Hindu more than pro-Muslim. I mean the story writer may argue that he has not projected Hindus in general but only one character of Paresh Rawal and that in his story such a thing has happened. He may bring out an incident from the newsreel to support his storyline, but many newsreels and story lines regarding the Hindu sufferings may be omitted. All this because of that "prove to be secular" tendency.

Firaaq deals with the lives of different people in different societies and facing different conditions, the common thread between them being the riots. Naseruddin Shah brilliantly plays the retired musician who is cut off from the happenings of the world outside and immersed in the seven notes. Sanjay Suri and Tisca Chopra play a Muslim-Hindu couple who are migrating Delhi seeing the conditions here. Paresh Rawal and Deepti Naval play a Hindu couple where Rawal is a con fellow and Naval is a fishy woman with a good heart. No real reason for ther fishiness and hallucinations of riot victims was substantiated. Suhana Goswami plays a brilliant role of a woman whose house is burnt in the riots. Like most of the Mira Nair and Deepa Mehta kind of meaningless "meaningful cinema", this movie though superior to a Nair or Mehta flick, is inconclusive even with efforts of conclusion, is controversial unnecessarily and is a true, but an incomplete picture, which can be really dangerous.

THE DARK COLOURS OF DEMOCRACY

FILM: Gulaal (2009)
DIRECTOR: Anurag Kashyap
CAST: Raj Singh Chaudhary, Kay Kay Menon, Ayesha Mohan




Probably the most important character in this movie is that of Piyush Mishra who happens to be the music director and lyricist of this movie. The movie opens with the fact that it is a tribute to the various poets who have deeply inspired the freedom movement of India. There could not have been a better person than Mishra to give this tribute. His songs will be remembered for the feat of carrying the theme of this movie amazingly. The depth of the words he has used make you a victim of several emotions. You may cry, you may smile, your blood may boil and you may just stay silent admiring the talent of this genius. Gulaal deals with a very delicate issue that revolution today is misunderstood and malpractices are occuring in the name of revolution. No one wants to bring a true change, revolution is a heavy word which serves the purpose of bringing momentum and energy to overthrow a power and to gain....power!

It is the lust of power which is driving the world now. Kashyap brings his world in Rajasthan. Kay Kay Menon plays a mass leader of an association which wants "revolution" and is as usual a brilliant performer. Abhimanyu Singh plays a brief but a powerful role of Ranasa who is the legitimate son of His Highness. He is contesting for the General Secratary post in a university. Fighting for the same post is a young and beautiful girl, Kiran. She too is the daughter of His Highness, but she is the illegitimate one. A ragged student of the college is our protagonist Dileep Singh, fantastically portrayed by Raj Singh Chaudhary.

Gulaal has its strength in the poetry and the dialogues and the brilliant Kashyap direction has made it a masterpiece eye opener. I often feel bad using the word eye opener. The irony with our society has always been that our eyes have been opened, yet we are blind when we actually have to do something to change it. This movie targets almost everything bad in the society and pretty decently carries it too. Depth is the word which is inseparable from Gulaal. The filthy dynamics of politics, the inhumanism of humans, the thirst for power and the power to get power, the paradox that power begets power and only power gets power have been strongly portrayed.

The happenings of the movie might be thoroughly depressing and saddening and maddening to a major section but what comes as a gift is the amazing cinematic treatment of Kashyap. He seems to have the fancy for red, blue, green lighting and unicolour filters and we see its extensive use in his movies. There was too much of yellow in No Smoking, too much of blue in Dev.D and here we see too much of red in Gulaal. These colours are not just for funk, they again as I said, are deep. The red here stands as a symbol to Love, Betrayal, Power and its misuse, Murder and Revolution. Even if you miss out on this movie, dont miss out on the music. The serio comic fast paced number called Ranaji and the meaningful Aarambh are two brilliant tracks from the album. But surely the best and concluding one is the defining one, Duniya. If you can withstand depression and appreciate hindi heartland slangs then that would be a great additional qualities to watch Gulaal . The question this movie deeply leaves on your mind and the answer for which may not exist iss, "What the hell is this circus called democracy?"

THE UNDERRATED JOHNNY

FILM: Johnny Gaddar (2007)
CAST: Neil Nitin Mukesh, Dharmendra, Rimi Sen
DIRECTOR: Sriram Raghavan




Rene Brabazon Raymond wrote many outstanding thriller novels and his writing life which ranges from the 1930s to the mid 1980s has captured the changing thrills of the American society. His books were bestsellers in Asia, Africa, France and Italy and many of his books were made into movies. Few have heard of Raymond, but many have read his works under the pseudonym he chose: James Hadley Chase! Johnny Gaddar is a tribute to this legendary writer. Raghavan also pays tribute to the Vijay Anand thrillers. My favourite has to be Guide. but Raghavan chose Johnny Mera Naam. Johnny Gaddar has to be one of the most underrated movies of 2007. Initially damned by critics coupled by blank theatres, this classic did not get its due.

The story is intelligent and complex and carved out of simple locations and characters. The movie deals with a caper gang which involves itself in making gray deals with an honest and old criminal Sheshadri (Dharmendra) heading the gang. Shardul (Zakir Hussain) and Prakash(Vinay Pathak) are the two other members of the gang apart from Shiva(Daya Shetty) and Vikram(Neil Nitin Mukesh). A commisioner Kalyan (Govind Namdeo, brilliant) offers Sheshadri a deal with which the caper gang can make a big killing. But Vikram the trusted one has other plans and he goes on to eliminate his fellow members to try and eat up all the food himself.

With brilliant performances by almost everyone, Johnny Gaddar is an intelligent, fast paced, interesting and an edge of the seat experience. Probably the best performance of Dharmendra and a perfect debut start for Mukesh, makes this flick unforgettable. The movie has a closed end, yet I heard that a sequel is being made with the name Johnny Tokyo. The successful creation of brand Johnny is completely credited to Raghavan's intelligent direction. No doubt, we want more of this Johnny!!

SPOOFING AROUND

MOVIE: Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge
CAST: Paresh Rawal, Sonu Sood, Kunal Khemu, Soha Ali Khan
DIRECTOR: Umesh Shukla




The movie begins with a brief introduction of Paresh Rawal's character, Raj Chopra, a once upon a time big producer and now a continuous ten flops owner. One of his movies is named Goli Goli Pe Likha Hai Dushman Ka Naam while the other is Barsaat Mein Tak Dhina Dhin. Then Kunal Khemu enters with a thought sequence with some Just Kiss Me item number. The number suggests that he aspires to be a hero or something. But later on no such aspiration was established by the writer. Instead they showed that he wants to be honest and wants to earn his do roti from being honest. Aryan played nicely by Sonu Sood is a star. Soha is a Bengali girl who makes her entry with a purposeful Bengali accent. Later on the director forgets that her Hindi is not good and she speaks the usual Hindi. The first half tries too hard to come up to a point and start a story.

The second half is relatively more comic as it takes you through the making of a movie called Solay se L'gaan Tak and those moments of making of this movie which involves a major role of Johnny Lever, make the best moments of the movie. Sonu Sood plays numerous number of characters and the movie proceeds spoofing Sholay, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge, Gadar and Lagaan. There is a laughter quotient in the end approaching parts with a relatively dumb end. The story though is a pretty fresh thought and more improvisations could have crafted a more decent movie. This is surely not a must watch, but it would not bore you this sunday. Soha Ali Khan got tagged as an actress doing meaningful cinema with Rang De Basanti, Mumbai Meri Jaan and a Bengali masterpiece Antarmahal. After flops and relatively less meaningful movies like Dil Kabaddi and this one, if she has to give an excuse to the media she would pull out the standard dialogue from the purse of heroine excuses, "I do not want to get typecast!" One major thing which I thought was why is this movie called Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge. Actually the very early promos focused on the different looks of Sonu Sood and then this title would be apt. The script seems to have changed since but the title remains the same and without a reason. Probably the reason for the title is aap iska reason Dhoondte Reh Jaaoge!

DELI-BERATELY SPOILED

MOVIE: Delhi 6

DIRECTOR: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

CAST: Abhishek Bachchan, Sonam Kapoor and others

The Raam Leela is one of the grandest celebrations in India, especially in the Hindi heartland. The deep purpose behind enacting the Raam Leela is that the Tulsidas version of the Ramayana has great social messages and is good for the constructing of an ideal society. Sadly, in most parts of the Hindi heartland, the Raam Leela is just an event of social gathering and of highlighting social Tashan rather than actually learning something from the epic drama. This point has been captured in Delhi 6, and the story tries to run parallel to the Raam Leela comparing the evils then and evils now, the incidents then and the incidents now, but fails to continue it after a point.

The movie lacked conviction of thoughts. Anyone who watches the movie can understand the makers intention but cannot see it happening on screen. That is where Delhi 6 fails miserably. Abhishek Bachchan is a half hindu-half muslim who returns from America to Delhi along with his grandmom. The depiction of his character’s whereabouts is vague like most of the other characters in the movie. He has just come to drop his grandmom home and would go back to USA until he finds his roots here.

Sonam Kapoor is the typical Delhi girl. High dreams, high thinking, but supressed under old thoughts of elders. She does not have much to do in the movie other than falling in love with the protagonist and then attempting an elope to Mumbai. And the love story is another aspect which is mysteriously unexplained.

Mehra moves from topic to topic, character to character, trying too hard to prove something and sadly he ended up proving nothing. In this long pursuit to prove something he picks up issues like corrupt police, caste system, Hindu Muslim Rivalry, fighting brothers, superstition, lack of knowledge of common people, media menace and the list goes on…..but he deals with neither of them with conviction. And all these events become a discrete and random arrangement of scenes rather than a movie.

The first half is more like a music video compilation of Rehman’s good enough songs which do not contribute much to the basic plot. In the second half you realise there is no basic plot. As I told earlier, Mehra has tried too hard to prove a point and in that pursuit he has used many characters and none of them got their due respect(screen time) in this movie. Waheeda Rehman plays Abhishek's grandmom, Rishi Kapoor plays an uncle, Prem Chopra a moneylender jeweller, Divya Dutta plays a lower caste kachrewaali, Atul Kulkarni just roams around doing nothing, Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra play the fighting brothers, Supriya Pathak plays Om Puri’s wife, Vijay Raaz plays a corrupt cop, Cyrus Sahukar plays an immoral photographer, and so on…..

After the Raam Leela analogy got exhausted, Mehra shifts his tale to the Monkeyman menace which you might have heard of on TV. The common people call it a Kaala Bandar and end up thinking that Abhishek is the Kaala Bandar. The movie tries to be many things, but ends up being trash and a completely haphazard arrangement of sensitive tales.

I had gone to a relatively cheap single screen theatre, Plaza. The crowd there was not very great either. After the movie got over, a bunch of desi dudes started teasing each other saying, “Aila, kaala bandar, tu kaala bandar…” Sad it is, but truly speaking, this is what Mehra and his Delhi 6 deserve…

BILLU WAS BHAYANKAR

FILM: Billu
DIRECTOR: Priyadarshan
CAST: Irrfan Khan, Lara Dutta, Shahrukh Khan
RATING:



Self obsession has been a term much associated with SRK and this movie is a true example of this associated trait. I am pretty sure that the person who will enjoy this movie the most in the world is SRK himself. And that is because he has so far, in his numerous roles, played what the public loves him to transform into. But here in Billu he plays what he likes himself to be; a super-superstar with loads of attention, power and fan following along with modesty, humility and morality. His self obsession, as I said, is clearly reflected in this movie and the fact that he is the producer himself, he has left no stone unturned to promote and celebrate himself. Sadly, the whole movie is more like a self celebration rather than a movie itself. The song Ae Aa O, though a treat for SRK lovers as it takes you through a journey of his lustrous career, is a proof of this self celebration.

The story is based in a fictional village called Budbuda. Billu is a barber(should I use the word?) in this village and is not a very successful one at that. Lot of controversy was created about the fact that the word "barber" must be removed from the movie and stuff, but the true fact is that his being a barber had nothing much to do with the plot at all. It had no real relevance if he was not a barber but a doodhwaala. SRK plays Saahir Khan who choses Budbuda to shoot the climax of his latest movie. It is not clear why. Anyways, with the entry of Saahir in the village, the village lightens up and its like a festival all over Budbuda. These moments of the public excitement have been well captured by the director and can be considered as the high point of the movie.

Now a village rumour spreads like fire that Billu and Saahir are long time friends. This rumour and its spreading has a huge effect on Billu's life and causes him lots of problems. A frugal money lender wants Billu to arrange a lunch with him and Saahir. A flop kavi wants him to bring Saahir to read his poems. Billu's children want him to take them to Saahir and the school principal wants Saahir to come to their school for their Annual Day.

Most of the shooting which was shown in the village were things which could have been much more easily shot in a city studio or a set. And if you want little trees and open land and a village scene you can always shoot in Karjat rather than travel all the way to the Hindi heartland. These basic flaws question the plot of the movie heavily. The non stop appearance of music videos makes the movie loud and noisy and that too unnecessarily.

Also amidst the self celebration of SRK, Irrfan's strong portrayal of Billu gets faded. With a weak second half, there is no beauty left in the climax also. If you follow Priyan's work you would find that all his movies have a strong initial plot and along with that he has an end in his mind. To bring that initial plot to the climax, he twists the tale to all possible means and spoils the show in the end. Flicks like Chupke Chupke and Malaamal Weekly are great examples of this. Unfortunately, Billu will also be known as such a movie. SRK's shoulder has to get operated on the 16th and the success of Billu would have been the best pain killer for him. While I cannot assure that it would be the case, I also pray that he gets well soon and starts making litte more meaningful cinema.

A ROCKING EMOSANAL ATYACHAAR!!!

FILM: Dev.D
DIRECTOR: Anurag Kashyap
CAST: Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill, Kalki Koechlin
RATING:



"A characterless loser" describes the character of Devdas best in Sarat Chandra's 1917 novel. Yet he has been played by the best Indian actors numerous times in big budget films. Most of the films did not really tamper the essence of the ethnic backdrop in the original story, but yes, they did change a little of the story to accomodate it as a commercial cinema. The best example of this being Paro and Chandramukhi dancing together for Dola Re in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's version...

This movie is not based in 1917. This is a new age sexed up version of the Devdas. The story is very similar to the original though but the elements have been inspired by flicks like Requiem Of A Dream and Trainspotting. Anurag Kashyap's No Smoking was a pain in the head for most because at the end of two hours, no one knew what was going on. But No Smoking is a brilliant movie and so is Kashyap's latest, Dev.D

Mahie plays Paro. She likes Dev(Abhay Deol) from childhood. Dev is now in London and is in touch with Paro through internet chats. One day Dev asks Paro to upload a naked picture of hers. She does it. Dev reacts to this sight by instantly hitting out a vodka shot and tells her on phone, "Paro, I am coming!!"

Kalki plays Leni. Leni is a school girl whose MMS scandal ruins her life and in pursuit of little space in life, she comes down to A-grade prostitution in Delhi. During the sequencing of these two stories of Paro and Leni (who becomes Chandramukhi in her trade), the story line touches many realities which exist in today's world. It seems little unreal when the people on the screen have only sex on their mind. But the truth is, for some people, it is true...

Kashyap's screenplay and direction comes as a charm and makes the movie intriguing. What makes it further intriguing is Rajeev Ravi's cinematography filled with expressive and appropriate shades making each still a photographic wonder. And finally, what makes it the most intriguing is Amit Trivedi's music and background score. There are 18 songs in this movie and all belong to a genre, not ventured much by any Indian music director.

The best and defiining track still remains Emosanal Atyachaar and the movie is really an emotional opression the way it has been crafted. I have always said that a movie is successful if it can make you feel you are a part of it. Nolan's Memento is one great example of this feat. And yes, Dev.D is another. The screenplay, direction, cinematography and the background score and not to forget the brilliant acting by mostly new faces and artistes from stage, takes you to the world of Dev. After a long time, may be as long since I saw Godfather, I have been left with no scope to cut a mark. This flick, if taken in the correct "spirit" is one of the best Indian cinema ever. No wonder Nikhat gave it a 5/5!

What I am prompted to do after this movie, is make a documentary titled The Evolution of Deol Little. From Manorama Six Feet Under to Oye Lucky Lucky Oye to Dev.D, Abhay has proved that he is the best Deol and smartest as well. He knew he would fail if he followed his father's or his brothers' footsteps. He has made his own way, his own fan following and yes, I am his fan too!! And I am a bigger fan after knowing that he is the man behind this weird concept of the film.

In one of the scenes Dev asks Leni, "How old are you?" She replies,"Old enough to be in bed with you." Sex surely is a cocktail; very attractive and very intoxicating as well. This film wins because, though sexed up, it has got heart in it. It has got lust, but somewhere you can find love and truth in here. One best example of heart is when Paro after married to someone else tells Dev, " You are incapable of loving someone else. You are so much into you that you love only yourself. I suggest you marry this mirror over here. Even the bathroom's mirror would do!"

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!

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!!

GRUDGE NAHI,BUT MEMORABLE BHI NAHI

MOVIE: Ghajini
CAST: Aamir Khan, Asin, Jiah Khan
DIRECTOR: AR Murugadoss



Shah Rukh Khan recently told in a press conference that he felt special every time someone used him as a brand to get publicity. He also added that it was unfortunate that he could not use anyone else for this as there was no brand bigger than him. Well we all know that someone is Aamir Khan. In one of the scenes in Ghajini he makes fun of Shah Rukh by making fun of the Ruk Ruk Khan of Kya Aap Panchvi Fail Champu Hain fame. Truly, Aamir knows to use the biggest brand in India greatly to his favour. The business his adaptation of Memento has made in few days is much more overwhelming than what Aditya Chopra's return has!

After the Oscar nomination of Lagaan. Aamir Khan has neglected mainstream Bollywood cinema. He has rather brought good, art film type scripts into mainstream cinema and has been away from the typical dance hero villain drama. The pathetic YRF Fanaa was an exception though. Ghajini is more than three hours of pure masala. Aamir Khan returns to the mainstream with this flick.

The title Singhania is somehow synonymous to very rich and powerful as far as Bollywood is concerned. Countless flicks name the rich guy as some Singhania. Ghajini carries this trend and names Aamir as a Sanjay Singhania. He has lost his wife Kalpana, played by Asin. Asin is no doubt awesome. Her screen presence was of unmatched charm and she has overplayed the others pretty easily in this movie. No wonder why Murugaddos cut short Jiah Khan's only song Lattoo.

Circumstances lead to a condition when Sanjay is hit by an iron rod when he comes to save Kalpana from a goon called Ghajini played by the Ashwatthama of the Mahabharata(Pradeep Rawat). He goes into a mental state when he cannot make new memories. Forgets things in say fifteen minutes. This movie is not Memento though. It has got a much wider canvas and story line. Only the mechanism of remembering things is like Memento(infact better). Aamir Khan has done a moderate job as an actor while depicting the patient. He has overacted at times(reminded me of Himesh in Aapka Suroor) and at times has been very comic with his serious look. His lip sync was not correct most of the times too, so important to get it right in Bollywood musicals.

The unwanted close ups, the fast forward action and the very poor background score made the action scenes of this action based movie truly pathetic. It was highly highly tamilised . I am an ardent fan of Tamil movies but I do not aproove to the Rajnikanth ways of action. This movie was not like Rajni's style, it was relatively real, but not really believable and not really nouvelle.

Jiah Khan is not a good actress. She was the low point of the movie. Though she did not have a great role but she did not give a great performance either. So thumbs down to her. Asin on the other hand as I mentioned had a great charming quotient. She was fabulous with her acting too. Truly speaking I enjoyed only those parts in which she was there, that is to say the love story part. Neither did I like the action sequences nor did I enjoy Aamir Khan's eight pack and his animalistic behaviour supported by his moderate acting. The love story was very sweet. That is something for which Ghajini is watchable to be frank.

The movie can be best described as a good Tamil movie made in Hindi. The directional approach is very much south Indian. That is difficult to digest for a Bollywood buff like me. Though I enjoy watching Tamil and Telegu movies, but I would not like my Bolly masala movies to lose their style of narration. Unwanted song sequences, over dramatic acting and direction and not really catchy dialogues(unlike Memento where the dialogues are the reason of its greatness). The movie has a runtime of more than three hours and for the look of Asin you can skip some evening agenda and have a taste of this masala and shout aloud in the theatre, "What a scene, Asin!"

OYE LUCKY CHAMAK GAYA TU!!!

FILM: Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!
DIRECTOR: Dibakar Banerjee
CAST: Paresh Rawal, Abhay Deol, Neetu Chandra




In the world of stage acting it is a very common trend that one actor plays more than one unrelated or related characters. Its a common thing in cinema that father and son being played by the same actor, like Amitabh Bachchan did best in Aakhri Raasta. But in Bollywood its rarely seen that one actor plays two or more characters who are not at all related. Paresh Rawal plays three unrelated characters here. Some might term this as a producer's style of reducing budgets but considering the producer is as liberal as Ronnie Screwala from UTV it can be given more of an artistic explanation. By playing three different characters, Rawal not only brings in additional comedy but also proves his versatality. But thats not it. There is something more to it as I will explain later.

Our male protagonist is Lucky, played brilliantly in his career best performance by Abhay Deol. I always thought that he is better than his father and brothers when it comes to performances. Lucky is a street smart(actually much more than that) guy with an unimaginably high amount of optimism. Along with that optimism he has got an intelligent mind to achieve what his high optimism has made him dream of. The movie shows a young lucky of 15 years to start with. Paresh Rawal is the agressive and "beat the child" kind of Punjabi father. The 15 year old Lucky is impressively played by Manjot Singh. Situations around young Lucky force him to take wild steps to achieve the smallest of wishes he has. So from then starts his bizzare and weird journey to achieve everything he wants.

Goga Bhai is a typical north Indian don: moneyed, powerful and soaked in the cheap human desires or money and lust. He is engaged in all sorts of illegal activities and is fearless as his connections range from the havaldar to the commissioner. Goga Bhai is again played by Paresh Rawal. Lucky gets to work for him and he steals for him. Under the banner of Import-Export Lucky intelligently, very intelligently, keeps making robberies one after the other and Goga Bhai is very happy with him, not until.....

Dr.Handa on the other hand is a spectacle clad veteranarian. He wants to open a restaurant. Again played by Rawal, Handa befriends Lucky and convinces him to fund his wish. His wife is played by Archana Puran Singh. They are very good to Lucky, like family, not until....

Sonal played by Neetu Chandra is Lucky's love interest. She makes a fine appearance and is of interest to Lucky as she is the only person who loves Lucky and not his money (which is all stolen). She is the only one who discourages Lucky from stealing, others encourage him, for their own good!

Amidst all these few good and most con characters, Lucky faces many victories, few defeats, betrayals and show of hatred from his family as he becomes a renowned thief. Lucky's ordeal is captured brillantly in this two hour flick by Dibakar Banerjee. Khosla Ka Ghosla his first venture was a great experience. Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! is a more matured direction though. His serio-comic story telling pattern is what is most impressive. Along with entertainment he supplies basic messages of life.

Coming to the fact that why has Paresh Rawal played a triple role. Its no cost cutting scheme but the reason why I love this movie even more. Rawal portrays Con and Bad. In the first part of the movie he plays a baddish father who has an extramarital affair and who harrases his children. Goga Bhai and Dr. Handa are other two forms of villains. So by making one actor do the three roles, Dibakar Banerjee has tried to show the various colours of bad. They all are bad by doing different things at different levels, but after all they are all bad. Parallely, they are Goga, Handa and Lucky's father (all villains of different degrees) but in the end they are all bad(Paresh Rawal). Thats one of the strongest messages of the movie.

Without a doubt, this has to be Paresh Rawal's life time best performance. Abhay Deol plays a masterstroke too. Everyone had a lovely role to play and everyone played it well. And it wont be an exaggeration if I rate this one as the top three movies this year along with Jodha Akbar and Its A Wednesday!

Lucky is finally caught by the officers of the Special Branch. They carry him to the local station, not until.....