HE'S QUITE ENGAGING, SHE'S OTHERWISE ENGAGED!!!

MOVIE: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994)

CAST: Hugh Grant, Andie McDowell

DIRECTOR: Mike Newell

WRITER: Richard Kutis




Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge is the movie which comes in my mind whenever I talk of this British classic. Though the story line and characters are entirely different, there are uncanny similarities in the two classics. DDLJ is India's longest running and top grossing movie and Four Weddings.... is the UK top grosser of all time(recently replaced by some other). Both these classics released around the same time(DDLJ released in 1995). With DDLJ, Shah Rukh Khan became a house hold commodity and eternal lover boy. Same was the case with Hugh Grant after Four Weddings......Also, Dulhaniya in hindi means the bride and it has got something to do with "weddings"!

The thing I love about British movies, be it Notting Hill or be it Love Actually, is that they reflect the Britain blood through the movies. Even though highly romantic, these movies are somewhere patriotic as well. Well patriotism for the British seems to be passing some sarcastic remarks on the development of Americans. The shades of that can be seen here too. Our female protagonist, Carrie, played by Andie McDowell is an American. And as I told you, America has been shown in poor light as her character is somewhat like a "playgirl".

In the first wedding ofcourse where our male lead, Charles played by Grant, meets Carrie and it is something like a love at first sight situation. Carrie gives him positive vibes and they end up sleeping with each other the first night they met.

What is to be loved about this movie is the cinematography. The portrayal of England is so delightful. The four wedding scenes and the funeral scene are shot with utmost sincerity and the intelligent and apt dialogues make things very very realistic.

In the second wedding, Charles is overwhelmed to see Carrie. But all his excitement fizzes out when she introduces him to her fiance. She was engaged! The movie henceforth takes brilliant turns and is pretty entertaining to watch. Four Weddings and a Funeral apart from being a top grosser, has two oscar nominations along with 23 other wins and 14 nominations in its kitty. Its a nice little film which because of its simplicity of grandeur made its way into the people's hearts.

Talking about performances, Hugh Grant is one of my favourites. He has given classics like Notting Hill, Love Actually and ofcourse the recent blockbuster Music and Lyrics. He is the binding factor of this movie and his presence on the screen is nothing but pure charm. To be honest I did not like the casting of the female lead, Andie McDowell. I do not thing she was apt for the role of a seductress or a charmer rather. I think someone who possesed a more feminine face should have been chosen for the role.

Kristin Scott Thomas, who played Charles' best friend, Fiona was the one who impressed me by both acting and looks. Everybody else gave fine performances to make the movie really intriguing. The climax obviously is that Charles gets Carrie. But I believe that the direction failed to create a public sentiment for Carrie(may be it did for the British public). She was always portrayed as a "slut" and you never feel that Charles should go for her. Sentiments rather create a desire that he should go for Fiona. That I beleive is a major shortcoming of the movie.

In good Bollywood movies(like DDLJ), this anticipation is marvellously crafted. The drama which is built up gets unbelievable at times but nevertheless keeps a person at the edge of the seat and a great public desire is created so that Raj gets Simran! Four Weddings..... missed out on that. Otherwise if you are free on a saturday evening looking for a classic to watch this one should be a good enough choice.

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.....

A HEART WARMING DELIGHT

FILM: Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi
DIRECTOR: Aditya Chopra
CAST: Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak




In the classic comedy Chachi 420 Kamal Hasan played a double role. One in which he looked like his normal self and the other in which he had to look like an old chachi. No one in this world could actually say that the old woman was actually Kamal Hasan. The make up was just brilliant.
Here, the two looks of SRK are pretty different from each other, but not that one cannot recognise that these are the same people. Unfortunately though in this movie, we were made to believe that the heroine did not know in whole of the movie that the two are the same! The whole movie is built up on this really weak plot and this is the biggest minus of the movie.

If somehow we ignore this mistake and rather term it as an "artistic liberty", then this movie is one of the bests this year. Our female protagonist, Taani, played by debutant Anushka Sharma and Surinder Sahni(Khan) get married under bizarre circumstances! And there begins the story as Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi!

The character of Surinder is supposed to be the USP of the movie. The reflection of the common man in the gallis of Amritsar. Full shirt, grey pants, best buy sasta sport shoe , champu hairstyle, fat glasses and the moustache! Honestly though Shahrukh has sported much much costlier and trendier things, he has not looked so sexy before. This has honestly made the common man a more sexier item than ever before.

So now the chemistry between the couple is increasing. Suri is sweet and disciplined and unexpressive but very very romantic at heart. Taani was bubbly, but is trying to kill her old self and is compelling her soul for a compromise with life. Suri senses that. He doesnt want compromise. He wants love (which he in the movie pronounces as lau!!)

Now Taani loves dancing and wants to take part in a dance competition. Suri, to see her dance becomes Raj(again, Raj) with the help of his hair stylist friend Vinay Pathak who plays Bobby and as always plays it brilliantly!! He transforms the champu hairstyle into a spiky one, the loose full shirt into a tight T shirt, the grey pant to sexy faded jeans and the fat glasses to matching goggles. The rather quiet Suri is suddenly transformed into a blabber mouth Jat, Raj.

The later part of the movie is based on the beautiful lines of self vs self which I may not like to reveal. But it is pure magic what follows. Though my initial comment about the minus point in the movie might make me sound that the attention to detail was poor, but no, Adi has done a good job with it. He has canvased Amritsar very beautifully throughout and has made the movie simple and charming.

Coming to performances now. This has to be one of the best performances by Khan. He has portrayed two characters with complete ease. His expressions and mannerisms while playing Suri were the biggest plus in this performance. I dont know whether Khan gets to meet common people at length and actually observe their mannerisms but the way he has done it is really hats off to him. Anushka has shown complete ease considering its her debut. Its obviously a better debut performance than what Deepika Padukone or Sonam Kapoor might have produced. Vinay Pathak is always a charm and plays Bobby very nicely.

One observation I made was that there was a lot of borrowed maal in this movie. Dialogues from OSO and KANK were lifted and at times extended. Like the "Phir Milenge" in KANK was converted to Hum Hai Raahi Pyaar Ke, Phir Milenge Chalte Chalte. Then the song Phir Milenge reminded everyone of Om Shanti Om (lets find out whether Yash Raj cut costs by taking udhar ka used costume from Red Chillies). All this was though to induce comedy in the movie and it was successful in doing so. And if you observe SRK from top to toe, you would observe that he wears the same Tag Heuer watch he wore in Don in one of the scenes.

Though I expect a mixed response for this movie, it still will create its own space in the hearts of the poeple and the box office. It will teach and melt your heart and make you believe that there is something extraordinary in every ordinary jodi!! The moral of the story is that you can get something by being someone else, but if you want everything, you have to be yourself, howsoever you are.

THE PAIN OF MAX PAYNE

FILM: Max Payne
DIRECTOR: John Moore
CAST: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis




His wife and new born baby were murdered, inside his own apartment. He couldn't save them as he arrived home ten minutes late. He wants vengeance and is soaked in pain. He is Max Payne. The movie is an adaptation of the 2001 video game which is one of the most popular games of all time. I remember, the USP of the Max Payne games used to be the story telling in between the chapters of the game. The movie follows a similar story telling pattern to narrate the story. The screenplay holds the hands of the video game style narration.

Max Payne, a DEA agent, is in search for the killers of his wife. But in this pursuit he is held guilty of two new murder cases, Natasha and his best friend Alex Balder. Mona Sax, an assasin is the sister of Natasha and wants to kill Max Payne. But soon she comes to know of his innocence and vengeance and consequently joins forces with him to look for the actual killer.

Natasha's character is played by Olga of Quantum of Solace fame who makes a guest appearance here.

Max's deceased wife, Michelle Payne, worked for a pharmaceutical company called AESIR. The scientists of this firm had invented a drug called VALKYR. This drug was meant to be a booster to provide unprecedented energy to soldiers. But it was soon realised that an overdose of this drug led to deadly hallucinations.

Slowly and slowly, Mona and Max unfold the mystery and realise that the three murders are very much interdependent. In this pursuit for vengeance Max goes through deception, unrest, struggle and pain.

Coming to performances I think Wahlberg looked stiff at times and was overdoing the character a bit. Kunis was a good choice for Mona Sax. Beau Bridges amazingly portrayed BB in the movie. One of the best performances in this movie was by Amaury Nolasco who portrayed the villain here(Lupino). Olga had a short role to play which she did well. And the surprise factor in the movie was the guest appearance of ace rapper Ludacris.

Truly speaking though the movie does not live up to the greatness of the pc video game, it still strikes a chord and makes a statement with its excellent narration and good picturisation. Max Payne, I hear has done really well in the Box office in the US and to be honest has not released in India yet. But all thanks to the piracy network which has sucessfully circulated the motion picture into the Indian soil before it hits the big screen. So all and all this would be fun to watch when it comes in the theatres. It has got good action and drama and is backed up by a good story(Sam Lake) and a good director. To sum up, No pain in watching this one, go ahead!

LOVE REDEFINED

MOVIE: Notting Hill
DIRECTOR: Roger Michell
CAST: Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts




Thousands of movies release every year. Most flop or do average, some make a lot of money and the craze for such movies fizzes out in few months. But there also exist such movies which truly deserve shelf space and are of life time importance. Notting Hill is without a doubt one such movie. The Hugh Grant starrer Four Weddings and a Funeral is the DDLJ of Britain and I also extend the analogy by claiming that Grant is the Shah Rukh Khan of Britain. Though many fans would suggest me to make the analogy the other way, but I am happy with the way I put it.

Julia Roberts for a long time was the heighest paid actress of Hollywood and was undoubtedly the woman which men across the globe longed for. She plays the role of a superstar(Anna Scott) in this movie. Without a doubt she would have been the most obvious choice in 1999 for this role as she was almost bereft competition at that point of time.

Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, a divorcee, an ordinary man living in Notting Hill with a cracky roommate (Rhys Ifans). He runs a bookshop of travel books which has never got him profit in life. But thats the place where Anna turns up someday, probably to kill time or get a break from life. Her visit proves to be the most profitable thing for him. With beautifully crafted cinematic events, which are worth remembering forever, the movie moves on to show a very beautiful relationship between Thacker and Scott. This union though sees it ups and downs through beautifully crafted events. Very beautiful screenplay indeed.

Now with such an union of an ordinary man and a superstar, things obviously wont be easy to live with. Nor can your ordinary friends accept the fact easily, nor can the ever busy and jobless press. These compulsions and situations are beautifully shown in this movie and also along with that a lot of human emotion, practilality and the reality of the world of glamour weaved with subtle humour and Hugh Grant's british accent and cute mannerisms to die for, make this movie a true classic.

Whenever you get a chance to catch this classic do not miss it. It is not worth missing, its worth dying for.

SORRY DOST!!

FILM: Dostana
DIRECTOR: Tarun Mansukhani
CAST: Priyanka Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan, John Abraham.




The movie has started. The camera speeds through a water body and then we see an American city with tall buildings. No guys you are not watching Kal Ho Na Ho, this is the new flick from the same banner, Dostana!

The promos of Dostana revealing Priyanka in a very very hot swimsuit, John with his irresistible packs and cuts, Abhishek with his cute regular face, made many of the young people excited about this movie. The good music by Vishal and Shekhar only added to the excitement. But this Tarun Mansukhani directed movie is in one word a "disaster".

This was meant to be a Bollywood comedy hence I have no authority to scrutinize it or find faults in the direction or something, but all this should do is make me really laugh aloud. Unfortunately this movie fails in doing so. Though few jokes are really funny, like the joke in which Abhishek refers Gabbar Singh as gay.

Two almost strangers, John and Abhi, act gay to get a room in an apartment which would cost them 2000 $. Well I dont know why they had to go through all this mess. They could have rather found some other place with the same money. Now situations force them too get themselves registered as gays. Priyanka owns the apartment and hence stays with them and this develops the three into a dostana. After this point the movie seems to keep losing sense. I mean initially they showed John to be lusty and desperate, but there were very few instances highlighting this fact later. Or may be it was unclear that how could Priyanka not have any straight guys roaming around her even though she was so beautiful and successful. Anyways.

Finally there comes a guy in Bobby Deol who is someone of professional rivalry to Priyanka. This rivalry soon develops into love. Though attempts were made to show this transition but the screenplay couldnt support this emotional transition. So its all confusion when John , Abhishek and Bobby like Priyanka. Priyanka likes the three too, but cant get to the two as she thinks they are gay. Amidst all this the plot starts loosening. From men stripping and then dancing in a prestigious auction to John and Abhishek actually locking lips(dont you think I should have kept this under wraps??), this movie ventures into unwanted zones as far as the story was concerned.

The movie, as I mentioned before, keeps giving you glimpses of Kal Ho Naa Ho and its major product, Kantaben. Kirron Kher and Boman Irani appear and disappear. So all and all the comedy part was not that funny, the sad part was not at all touching and the climax felt like what the...

Bobby Deol has been made a fool in this movie. They havent kept him in the promos and purposely made him arrive late at places where dance numbers would take place, and called his act in the movie a guest appearance, but hes very much a full fledged character in the movie! He would be disappointed.

As I said such movies should not be judged on basis of practicality or reality but only by the "how much you laughed" factor. And I didnt laugh much to be honest. Some time ago I read that Priyadarshan is remaking the Iranian classic Children of Heaven with Darsheel Safary as Bum Bum Bole. While I suggest he should not be making that movie (rather ruin the classic), I also suggest he should have made Dostana with the same Dharma Productions' meaninglessly expensive production. So not really thumbs up to this Dostana, you could do without watching it.

BOND IS BACK, DID IT BANG???

FILM: Quantum of Solace
DIRECTOR: Marc Froster CAST: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric




Marc Froster's Quantum of Solace, which is necessarily the continuation of the story he told two years back, Casino Royale. Ian Fleming, I consider should be amongst the top 100 thinkers of the 20th century. The imagination that has gone into the making of the Bond is just impeccable. During the days when the sun started setting in the British empire and real life special agents of Russia and the United States did high level espionage in various corners of the world, thinkers like Fleming gave the so called Solace to the British mass by describing great imaginations of cool weapons and accessories. This movie though not written by Ian Fleming but by Paul and Neal Haggis is an equally lovely story. In Quantum of Solace the basic plot is the point where we left in Casino Royale. After being betrayed by the girl he loved,Vesper, Bond was in search of the person who was the reason for this betrayal. This was his personal task along with the actual job he had in hand. On interrogation of Mr White, Bond discovers that there is existence of a secret unheard organisation. White mentions that this organisation has its plants everywhere and anywhere. And as soon as he says it, one of the men around the investigation area opened fire and killed a few around and proved it that truly this organisation was present everywhere. But this fact gets super faded in due course and you dont really get scared by this organisation and dont see its men everywhere!! This organisation was responsible to blackmail Vesper to steal Bond's casino earnings(in Casino Royale). Now in Haiti, Italy, Bond meets Camille due to a mistake of identity and this introduces him further to a person called Dominic Greene(Amalric), who is a heartless businessman who talks of environmental issues, but actually is a major force in a criminal organisation called Quantum.

Now here starts the adventure of Bond through places like Austria, Italy, Bolivia and South America where he realises the depth of the nexus Greene is involved into and what big intentions he has and how are they ecologically and politically dangerous for the world. Within this journey, the movie provides non stop action(becomes a headache at a point) and Bond goes closer to completing both his personal and professional goals. The script is really intrguing but I am afraid the direction was not up to the mark. Froster erred quiet a few times and that upsets this flick to be called a classic, otherwise the plot has good enough elements to make it a great classic. Also one thing which irritated me was the photography. Too much of close up in action sequences is a trick used by cameramen to make the effect of shaking movement. Here it was more necessary to show a proper chasing scene rather than create illusions of a chase. In most action scenes, the close up was too much which spoils up the broth. Coming to the performances, I guess after Sean its Daniel. He has performed very nicely. Olga suits her character very well and gives a good enough performance. Amalric for me was the high point in the acting as far as Quantum of Solace is concerned. Going through public responses, Bond lovers are not really happy with Quantum of Solace, nor am I. Probably next time they will need something more than a quantum to give solace to the lovers of Bond, James Bond!