Emraan Hashmi: Birthday Special

Call yourself an Emraan Hashmi fan? Well, here are some important dates and events in the actors life that you ought to know…

Emraan Hashmi was born on the 24th of March, 1979 in Mumbai, to a Muslim father Anwar Hashmi and a Catholic mother Maherahh Hashmi. He is the nephew of director Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt. 

Hashmi graduated from Sydenham College in Mumbai. The actor had briefly changed his name to Farhaan Hashmi but reverted to his original name on the advice of numerologists.

Before starting his career as an actor, Hashmi worked with Vishesh Films as an assistant director on Vikram Bhatt’s Raaz (2002).

In 2003, he made his acting debut with Vikram Bhatt’s Footpath co-starring Aftab Shivdasani and Bipasha Basu

In 2004, Emraan featured in Anurag Basu’s romantic thriller Murder with Mallika Sherawat. The film was declared an instant hit. 

The actor’s subsequent roles in films like Zeher, Aashiq Banaya Aapne and Gangster earned him the ‘serial-kisser’ tag

In 2006, he appeared in Anurag Basu’s Gangster, co-starring Kangna Ranaut and Shiney Ahuja. The actor recieved  positive reviews for his portrayal of an undercover detective in the film. The film also helped Emraan bag his first Filmfare Awards nomination for the Best Performance in a Negative Role category.

Emraan Hashmi tied the knot with long-time girlfriend Parveen Shahani, a teacher by profession, in 2008. The couple were blessed with a baby boy in 2010, whom they named Ayaan.

In 2010, Hashmi featured in Milan Luthria’s period action-drama Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai.The film, which depicts the rise of organised crime in Mumbai, saw Hashmi play Shoaib Khan, a character based on the life of gangster Dawood Ibrahim.

2011 saw Emraan play an important role in Milan Luthria’s biopic The Dirty Picture, featuring Vidya Balan as the controversial Indian actress Silk Smitha. While the film was declared a commercial success, Hashmi’s performance was critically appreciated.

With his films Ek Thi Daayan and Ghanchakkar creating a buzz in the industry even before they release this year, 2013 seems to be a promising year for the actor.

Exclusive: Sonam Kapoor goes back in time

Here’s a treat for you guys. The beautiful Sonam Kapoor hits the rewind button and pays a tribute to the greatest yesteryear’s actresses

Classic beauty: Sonam as Waheeda Rehman from Pyaasa

Courtesan charm: Sonam as Madhubala from Mughal-e-Azam

Wrap around: Sonam doing a Aaj kal tere mere pyaar ke charche. A la Mumtaz.

A drug called love: Sonam as Meena Kumari from Pakeezah

Rush – Film Review

Film: “Rush”
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Aditya Pancholi, Neha Dhupia, Sagarika Ghatge
Director: Shamin Desai
Rating: 

Ouch, the TV channels won’t be flattered. “Rush”, like Ram Gopal Varma’s “Rann” three years ago, rushes into the cut-throat world of TRP-driven competition among news channels where news, if not discovered is created in the newsroom. So Varma told us in “Rann”.

And now late director Shamin Desai’s “Rush” takes us into the ostensibly murky chatroom politics of newchannels where news-baron Roger Khanna (Aditya Pancholi, unintentionally hilarious) gets reporters, civilians, politicians and criminals bumped off to make news. Just like that.

Far-fetched, yes. But “Rush” has its adrenaline rushing moments in the second half when the narrative picks up momentum and moves steadily towards a climax that is not entirely edge-of-the-seat. But certainly the popcorn on your lap is likely to ignored for a bit as ambitious crime reporter Sam Grover (Emraan Hashmi) gets sucked into a web of crime created by his over-reaching dangerously-connected boss.

“Rush” is not the first film about a young ambitious professional losing moral and ethical equilibrium to attain success. Recently, we had Kunal Khemu in “Blood Money” and Paoli Dam in “Hate Story” reaping the bitter fruits of their savage harvest.

More closely, “Rush” resembles Goldie Behl’s “Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai” where Abhishek Bachchan got trapped into a glamorous web of grime by media baron Jackie Shroff. Sushmita Sen had played the suave chic assistant to Jackie who took Abhishek under her sexy wings. In “Rush” it’s Neha Dhupia, every bit as suave and chic as Sushmita, playing the media baron’s right-hand woman who gets too close to Emraan for comfort. And yes, they even share a furtive kiss in a long-shot to ensure Emraan’s hardcore following doesn’t commit suicide.

“Rush” does have its sluggish chunks in the storytelling. But the narrative gathers strength from the basic plot structure where a television journalist is shown to be on the run. Some of the chase sequences are expertly done. And the whole theme of the newsmaker’s descent into compromised journalism makes for some riveting moments.

While many of the characters are sketchy, some like the sharp-shooter (played by Murli Sharma) who befriends our journalist-hero provide the plot with a spicy if not completely pungent propulsion.

The entire episode after the murder of Emraan’s journalist-friend Rikin (played by TV actor Alekh) makes for absorbing viewing.

Emraan as the backbone of plot performs decently. He has more speaking lines and less kissing to do here than in all his recent films. Whether the verbosity actually translates into something substantial or not is debatable.

“Rush” has the bone though not enough meat to make for a juicy fare on the excesses of television journalism. It leaves you wondering what director Shamin Desai would have done with his filmmaking career had he lived.

Son of Sardaar – Movie Review

Film: Son Of Sardaar
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Sonakshi Sinha, Sanjay Dutt, Juhi Chawla, Tanuja, Mukul Dev, Vindoo Dara Singh
Director: Ashwani Dhir
Rating: 

Every time Vindoo Dara Singh, who plays a part of an extended patriarchal Punjabi parivaar in the Sikh heartland, opens his mouth to speak, he is shushed down by others saying, “Silencer lagaa.”

By God, at times you feel this loud, flamboyant, ostentatious yet-all right, admit it-sinfully engaging film should just pipe down. There is so much that’s noisy about this film. And we aren’t talking about Sandeep Chowta’s over-accented background score. Yet it’s never unpleasant noise.

“Son Of Sardaar” takes us into the core of a family feud in Punjab where Sanjay Dutt, playing a goofy oddball of a Panjabi patriarch as only he can, wants our affable Sardarji Ajay Devgn dead to fulfil an ancestral vendetta.

The IQ level of every character in this film is way below average. Every man in Ashwani Dhir’s world of belligerent bloodbaths is more daft than the previous. The women are slightly more intelligent, though our leading lady Sonakshi Sinha, photogenic as she is, has begun to get repetitive in her chirpiness. Juhi Chawla, as the woman who waits 25 years to marry Sanjay Dutt and then finally tells him, “Sorry, I don’t want to build my mandap over the grave of another woman’s love”, is also intellectually challenged.

The smartest character in this smarter-than-the-characters film is played by Tanuja who, as the matriarch, feigns senility whenever it suits her.

The men around her make it easy. They are incorrigibly dumb, you see.

Love it or hate it, “Son Of Sardaar” is what a mainstream Hindi film is meant to be. A full-on masala-maar-ke action-comedy with dollops drama dripping from the edges like wet cheese in a tasty pizza. This is a film which is not just smarter than its character but also much more intelligent than it actually seems.

“Son Of Sardaar” derives its feisty energy from the original Tamil film by S. Rajamouli (“Maryada Ramanna”). The feudal plot is transposed from Madurai to Punjab. With that journey that the plot undertakes the film acquires a whole lot of cocky humour and a kind of eclectic warmth that keeps popping up most unexpectedly.

Providentially, “Son Of Sardaar” turns the vendetta saga on its head. The bloodshed between two warring families is converted into a crisp comic currency where action speaks louder than the words. Director Ashwan Dhir, whose antecedents in television show up here in the episodic movement of the plot, sustains the action, comedy and drama in the same line of vision. Miraculously, the plot moves steadily from mood to mood without seeming scattered. There is space even regular breaks for romance in the narration. Though the songs could have been avoided, the song breaks are pleasant.

By the time the chaos is all sorted out, the narration collapses in an exhausted but triumphant heap.

Some sequences such as Devgn and Sonakshi’s first encounter in the train overstay their welcome. Just like the mehmaan Paresh Rawal in Dhir’s last Hindi film “Atithee Tum Kab Jaoge”, Devgn refuses to leave once he enters Dutt’s family home. The rather eccentric comic strain in the plot hinges on trying to get Devgn out of Dutt’s home to settle an old family score.

While Dutt is more satirical than sinister in his search for vendetta (and that’s what the script requires him to be), Devgn’s Sardar act is brilliantly controlled and moderate. He plays the foreign-returned Sikh who is suddenly thrown into a fatuous feud with a sense of wonderment.

The quips about Sardar jokes and Sardar quirks lend a self-deprecating transparency to the character. Ideally, Akshay Kumar would’ve played this part. But Devgn takes the rather dimwitted but affable character to a higher than the goofy plane. This man knows when to act dumb.

Among the truckloads of supporting players, Mukul Dev as an oafish loutish drunkard stands out. But didn’t he play the same character in Samir Karnik’s “Chaar Din Ki Chaandni” not too long ago? Come to think of it, haven’t we visited the Punjabi heartland frequently enough since Imtiaz Ali’s “Jab We Met”? Give this one a chance though.

“Son Of Sardaar” is a rollicking rumbustious wild and wacky action-comedy. It’s a spaghetti-western relocated to Punjab that would keep Devgn’s fans regaled. Even if you are not a big fan of the typical potboiler this one makes you smile.

One question: why was Juhi Chawla behaving like Dolly Bhindra?

Talaash – Movie Review

Film: “Talaash”
Cast: Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Shernaz Patel
Director: Reema Kagti
Rating: 

Aamir Khan never ceases to surprise viewers. In “Talaash”, he does so quite literally. The succinctly written, complex screenplay, smoothly interlays between the police investigation and personal emotional turmoil of the characters make “Talaash” a nail-biting thriller.

The plot about a police officer Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) investigating a high profile case of film star Armaan Kapoor’s accidental death keeps you riveted. Alongside the main plot, one gathers that Shekhawat and his wife Roshni (Rani Mukerji), have lost their eight-year-old son Karan in a freak accident in a lake, for which Shekhawat blames himself and lives in guilt.

His investigations constantly lead him to Kareena Kapoor, a prostitute with a good heart, who acts as the ace informer for Shekhawat. Kareena as Rosy, has shades of her earlier “Chameli”, although she makes a conscious effort to be different. She is effective and convincing, touching your heart with the innate goodness of her character, in spite of her circumstances.

The mystery shrouding the case, unravels gradually in a carefully written tight script, with no loopholes. The film is entirely unpredictable, not conforming to the usual approach to thrillers in Bollywood. This one is clearly different and keeps you guessing till the very end.

The climax brings you to the edge of your seat, but leaves you satiated. As the case unfolds, you get your answers from the characters on celluloid. But clearly, Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar, the scriptwriter duo, give you much more than just that. They take you through a complete self-exploratory journey and bring you back replete with answers. Farhan Akhtar’s dialogues in colloquial parlance are witty and unleash several underlying messages.

Ram Sampath gives an apt background score, in keeping with the flavour of the film and if anything, only enhances the viewer’s experience. Music in the film otherwise is nothing to write home about, but you’re definitely not complaining. The plot and performances leave no room for frivolities.

Rani Mukerji in her de-glam avatar, is true to her character as the distraught mother. Nawazuddin Siddiqui as Taimur, the lame Man Friday in the brothel doing odd jobs, excels in a superbly written role. Realistic performances and get ups of all the characters, add to the ingenuity of the plot.

The cinematography, though simple, captures the essence of Mumbai. The locales of the city are wonderfully depicted, making those, a character in the film, rather than a mere backdrop.

Devoid of the usual Bollywood masala and gimmicks, this one is a pure treat. Aamir Khan’s fans apart, “Talaash” has the power to grip all cine-goers

Khiladi 786 – Movie Review

Film: “Khiladi 786″
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Asin, Mithun Chakraborty, Himesh Reshammiya, Raj Babbar and Rahul Singh
Director: Ashish R.Mohan
Rating: 

What can be said about a film where a couple named Mili and Bhagat conspire to bring their employer’s empire down?

Mili? Bhagat? Get it?

“Khiladi 786″ is the kind comic orgy done in shades of green, orange and pink, which doesn’t require us to strain our brain. The kicks and grunts, guffaws and chortles, the antics raillery and tomfoolery flow out unstoppered like an uncapped toothpaste tube.

The formula is simple. And stark. Get the audience to laugh at any cost. And some of it does work quite well. Shukriya.

We have a hero. No, make that a super-duper-hero, who flies across the air, pounds automobiles to a pulp with his bare fists, breaks down a jail cell’s stone walls with a flick of his manly fist, gets goofy or gooey-eyed depending on his co-star on screen.

Akshay’s crazily improvised performance as a sham cop borrows dollops from Salman Khan’s “Dabangg” and Akshay’s own “Rowdy Rathore”. The derivative derringdo doesn’t diminish the impact of the italicised antics that range from the arresting to the exasperating.

Sample this. Asin (back in fetching form for the first time since “Ghajini”) loves a lout who is chronically incarcerated. Each time the jailed loverboy (Rahul Singh, well-cast effectively played) is about to be released, he’s sent back packing for some unintentional crime or the other.

Aa ab ‘lout’ chalen?

The script seems to be written by someone who loves Akshay’s humorous heroics and his emphatic but spoofy hijinks. Both the traits are amply accentuated in the script. “Khiladi 786″ ultimately becomes a showcase for its insanely successful superstar hero’s talents. Akshay, as we all know, loves to play the Punjabi Devdas. He did it effectively in Vipul Shah’s “Namastey London”, where he stepped back gallantly to let his wife Katrina Kaif make a fool of herself with an undeserving boyfriend.

Exactly the same triangular situation crops up in the second-half of “Khiladi 786″, when midway through the anarchic hilarity, Akshay decides to play the bleeding teary-eyed martyr “gifting” Asin to the aforementioned jailed jerk.

Mamta Kulkarni in the early ‘Khiladi’ film “Sabse Bada Khiladi” had done the airheaded lovergirl running after the wrong man. Back then, Akshay stood guard over Mamta with the same steadfast loyalty as he does for Asin.

Some things never change in our cinema. Heroines may come and go. Heroes live on forever.

A sense of continuity runs through all of Akshay Kumar’s comedies. He doesn’t do anything here that he hasn’t done before. The trademark goofy grin and the self-deprecating humour are back. Here, the hero is desperate to get married . That’s a sporting part whose subtext screams, ‘Look, I am such a big star and I play a character who can’t get a woman to marry me, ha ha.’

It’s all done in fun, with plenty of unzippered zest and a comforting absence of vulgarity. The ensemble cast, particularly Mithun Chakraborty and Raj Babbar, catches on to the shrill sur of a music that suggests a blend of parody and homage to the Formula Cinema. So, we have long-lost brother of the hero showing up in the climax with a mocking mawkishness that Manmohan Desai would have approved of.

The music by Himesh Reshammiya is splendidly in-sync with the film’s wacked-out mood. He often uses standard background effects from old Hindi films to remind us that we are laughing at conventions that never grew outdated in our cinema.

Oh yes, Reshammiya also plays an important part in the film as a hopeless inept wedding planner. It’s good to see Reshammiya doing a Gujju act. He was born to play Mansukh.

As for Akshay Kumar’s ‘Khiladi’ act, he can do the parodic paces blindfolded. Adding adrenaline to the antics are the crashing, tumbling somersaulting cars, which provide thrills in a very Rohit Shetty way.

Incidentally, one character played by Sanjay Mishra thinks he looks like Amol Palekar. And bursts into “Aanewala pal jaanewala hai” from Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s “Gol Maal”.

Wondering if Mishra got the wrong “Gol Maal”. And did he mean Ajay Devgn instead of Amol Palekar?

“Khiladi 786″ is an oddball of a dhamaka that blends slapstick with stunts. It is farcical fun from first frame to the last. Go, have a blast.

Dabangg 2 – Movie Review

Film: Dabangg 2
Cast: Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha
Director: Arbaaz Khan
Rating: 

For those who thought Chulbul Pandey in Abinav Kashyap’s “Dabangg” was wacky and fun only because Salman Khan played him, here is more spoof-proof in the sequel of how Salman adopts, embraces and assimilates the characters he plays until one can’t tell the star apart from the character.

This is not to say Salman is a method actor. God forbid! He’s just the opposite. Chulbul Pandey, if ever such a khaki-clad law-enforcer ever, would want to be as chirpy and obnoxious as Chulbul Pandey.

So what does Chulbul do in “Dabangg 2″ that he didn’t do in “Dabangg”? Nothing, and everything. There’s more of everything in the sequel and hence a sense of deja vu.

The fights which begin, end and bolster the plot, are done with that irrepressible mix of guffaws and grunts that Salman patented in Prabhu Deva’s “Wanted”. Indeed it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Prabhu Deva was the father of Chulbul Pandey, in a manner of speaking.

Here of course in “Dabangg 2″ Vinod Khanna is back as Chulbul’s father. The scenes between Salman and his screen-dad are written with a delicious mix of irreverence and affection. There is a hilarious encounter on the rooftop of their Kanpur home where son asks his sleepy, annoyed father about the deceased mother (Dimple Kapadia, a mere photo on the wall in the sequel).

And then Salman leaves in a huff saying, “Mom was right. You’re no fun to sleep with. I am better off sleeping with my wife.”

Ahem. Save the blushes for a rainy day. Salman’s Chulbul gives us no time get bothered with niceties. Chulbul simply sweeps us along into a tidal wave of wackily written and executed action sequences undercut by a sharp sense of self-deprecating humour.

The storytelling is breathless. The characters can’t really keep pace with the breakneck storytelling. They are underveloped and largely kept in the shadows to accentuate the hero’s larger-than-life (though blessedly never larger-than-laughs) persona.

Sonakshi Sinha, of course, enjoys playing the seductress in the shadows. In film after film, she plays the dutiful beloved soul-mate to the macho-hero. And really, her sartorial styling and the designer sarees and backless blouses in a film that pays a lot of attention to mofussil modes is way-way-way over the top. It’s hard to see her expressions beyond the eyeshadows.

That reminds me…Sonakshi shares the shadows with Arbaaz Khan who as Chulbul Pandey’s brother is delightful daft and goofy.

The villains have a coherent voice (never mind their livid screaming) and more space to develop as characters. The plot goes into spasms of explanation as to why one of the villains Niktin Dheer needed to take off his shirt in the climax .Really, Salman’s shirtless act needs no accompaniment.

Prakash Raj does his usual snarling sneering arch-villain act, no surprises here. Deepak Dobriyal who gets to die in a rather gruesome way in the irate Chulbul’s hands, is sharp and cutting in his brief role. Some of Salman’s subordinates in the police station are also engaging.

But make no mistake. This film belongs to Chulbul alias Salman from the first frame to the last. Salman goes through the motions without any punctuation except a string of exclamations. While the other characters remain dutifully tenuous, Chulbul’s comic-book valour is highlighted unapologetically.

“Dabangg 2″ takes off effortlessly from the first frame creating a wackier, wilder, wittier saga than “Dabangg” woven around Chulbul Pandey’s agile, anarchic antics.

Though the plot is written in half-hearted measures leaving many episodes including the climax looking incomplete, the film is loads of lowbrow fun with some peppy songs by Sajid-Wajid which are filmed with an earthy gusto. Aseem Mishra’s camera looks at life in “Kanpur” through wide-eyed lenses that stare unabashedly at the characters’s quirks.

And now for the ek crore ka sawaal. Does Kareena Kapoor’s item song “Fevicol” match up to Malaika Arora’s “Munni badnaam” in the first “Dabangg”?

Redundant question. It’s like asking, does “Dabangg 2″ measure up to “Dabangg”

Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola – Review

Film: “Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola”
Cast: Pankaj Kapur, Imran Khan, Anushka Sharma, Arya Babbar and Shabana Azmi
Director: Vishal Bhardwaj
Rating: 

“Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola” is a political satire. The film begins with Mr. Mandola and his drinking companion, Matru, creating havoc.

“Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola”, belongs to feudal lord, Hukum Singh Mandola aka Harry (Pankaj Kapur) from the first frame, literally. Harry harbours the dream of selling his agricultural land for industrialisation and development, not sparing a thought to the villagers’ plight.

But that is only when he is sober. But after taking alcohol, he is a changed man, completely transformed. The socialist in him surfaces and incredibly, he challenges his own feudal self, wanting to help his villagers.

He is not the only one wanting to help the poor villagers. Matru (Imran Khan), Mandola’s driver-cum-assistant and his partner in crime, too is egalitarian and wants to help the villagers save their land.

There is Mao, a faceless well-wisher, who manages to offer timely help to the villagers. And there is Mandola’s foreign educated daughter Bijlee (Anushka Sharma) too joining in the revolution.

On the surface, at the start, it seems like a light-hearted entertainer about an alcoholic feudal lord, his drunken idiosyncrasies and his villagers. It’s when Chief Minister Chaudhary Devi (Shabana Azmi) mouths, “Maslaa hai desh ka, na power ka na bijli ka,” sums up the larger issues that the film deals with and post her entry it becomes evident that it is a political satire.

The film is not only layered with demons of the society, but also deals with personal demons that haunt Mandola, his people and the place.

Pankaj Kapur is the only star of the film as the film belongs to him. After “Maqbool”, this is easily his best. He keeps the audience regaled with his “pancho pancho” after guzzling a few pegs, hallucinating about a “gulabi bhains” (pink buffalo) and when he is confronting the scheming Devi (Azmi).

He delivers a power-packed performance with convivial ease.

Arya Babbar as Badal, Devi’s imbecile son, delivers a compelling and consistent performance.

Imran as the idealistic, rustic Matru is a refreshing change from his usual suave and debonair avatar. He slips into his role with simplicity. Unfortunately for him, his character is not so well rounded and is on the fringe of the plot.

Anushka fails to be thunderous in her performance even though she is Bijlee. She walks through the film doing what she always does – playing a bold and spunky girl with I-care-a damn attitude.

The music, as expected from Bhardwaj, is outstanding. “Oye Boy Oye Boy Charlie” is well-picturised though reminiscent of “Namak ishq ka” from “Omkara”. The title song is energy-packed though not too relevant in the context of the film.

The background score and the lyrics by Gulzar are equally a treat and add to the pace of the film.

Bhardwaj has managed to package the film well. The treatment is indeed poetic and smooth. The cinematography is good and inspiring. The dialogues and lyrics are hard hitting with messages and oodles of entertainment, mostly double entendre.

The plot is layered and complex, but not without flaws. The barbs on the political system and society are contemporary and may lose their context in years to come, very reminiscent of Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) plays.

“Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola” may not have a universal appeal, but it is thoroughly entertaining.

Inkaar – Movie Review

Film: “Inkaar”
Cast: Arjun Rampal, Chitrangda Singh
Director: Sudhir Mishra
Rating: 

“Khamoshiyan awaaz hain labzon mein bass inkaar hai” – Sameer Anjaan’s evocative lyrics and Shamir Tandon’s compelling composition follows you out of this searing, probing drama on work ethics in corporate places.

This is one occasion when you don’t mind being stalked.

There are no item songs in “Inkaar”. The female form is here objectified not through celebratory songs but in the gender perceptions that often distinguish the male viewpoint from the female. The songs and music (largely by the talented Shantanu Moitra) seem to mock the sexual frisson between the two protagonists as they circle each other in a moral pugilism that can break both or one of them.

It is not easy being ambitious and true to the conscience. Towards the end of this riveting drama, Chitrangda confronts Arjun in a washroom where the light flickers menacingly on her ravaged face.

“Can people like you and I who want more from life than love, ever be happy?” she wonders in a choked voice.

Is Rahul Varma really guilty of sexual harassment? Or is the ambitious social climber Maya Luthria imagining things for her own convenience? Did she lead him on until it suited her ambitions and then cry ‘harassment’ when she had made her way to the top of the ladder and didn’t want anyone peering up her skirt?

That versatile and vigorous storyteller Sudhir Mishra, doing yet another thematic flip-flop after the edgy crime drama “Yeh Saali Zindagi”, provides no easy solutions to the question of the male gaze and the female perception. “Inkaar” makes you stop and think about that diaphanous divide between consensual flirting and sexual harassment.

But this is not a version of Barry Levinson’s “Disclosure”. Sudhir Mishra’s treatise on the gender equation in an ambitious environment is far more dense and complex than a simple buffet of tongue-in-cheek innuendos interspersed with moral homilies. And yes, Arjun and Chitrangda are far more skilled actors than Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. It would be no exaggeration to say that the film wouldn’t have worked with any other actors.

Arjun, in fact, grows better with each film, so much so that nowadays a film featuring him is an assurance of innovative aesthetics. Here, he sinks into the part of the part-mentor part-tormentor with impassioned familiarity. Arjun knows the world of the cut-throat corporate competitiveness where every promotion for an individual could be a moral and ethical demotion. As played by Arjun, Rahul Varma comes across as both sensitive and arrogant, considerate and sexist. He’s a bit of a mystery, really.

Chitrangda is, in one word, a revelation. In sequences that appear in no chronological order, she nails her character of the ambitious small-towner who doesn’t mind her senior’s ‘mentoring’ until it suits her. Her character Maya could easily be perceived as a go-getting bitch. And that is how she appears when we first meet her in the boardroom where the inquiry commission, headed by an uncharacteristically listless Deepti Naval, brainstorms over Maya’s allegations against Rahul.

Chitrangda enters the character’s snarled ambivalent inner world creating with sketchy vividness, a character who is ruthlessly ambitious and yet not loathsome in her overweening ambitions.

Strangely, there is very little of Maya’s personal life, a lot more of Rahul’s backdrop with his pushy father (Kanwaljeet). The one sequence where Maya visits her mother is cursory. You wish there was more of that iconic actress Rehana Sultan who plays Chitrangda’s mother.

A large part of the narrative is restricted to the boardroom where the inquiry unfolds over two days. To his credit, Sudhir Mishra never lets the proceedings get claustrophobic or stagey. The dexterous editing by Archit Rastogi creates a liberating space within the suffocating theme of a relationship challenged and squeezed by mutual ambitions.

Mishra’s world never crumbles under the weight of the immorality that inundates his characters’ existence. As in “Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi”, considered by many to be his most accomplished work, there is a moral redemption for protagonists at the end. Perhaps the end-game in “Inkaar” is a bit of a cop-out considering how self-serving the protagonists were shown to be in their ambitiousness. But the unflinching integrity that underlines the moral twist to the fable of the fallen twosome is unimpeachable.

A mention of the supporting cast is imperative. The actors who play the protagonists’ corporate colleagues, specially Ashish Kapur, Mohan Kapur and Vipin Sharma, add a lustre of wicked irony to the goings-on.

The coming-of-age of the working-class heroine who can be ambitious without the fear of being branded a bitch reaches a culmination in “Inkaar”.

The dynamics of office politics have never been more dynamic. “Inkaar” is one helluva jolt in January

Murder 3 – Movie Review

Film: Murder 3
Starring: Aditi Rao Hydari, Randeep Hooda, Sara Loren
Director: Vishesh Bhatt
Rating: 

If the truth be told, the essence of this neatly-packaged thriller about what lies beneath is obtained in the second half where the whole philosophy of the mirror-image and the reflection of the soul in the individual conscience is given a walloping visual manifestation. Hats off to debutant director Vishesh Bhatt for bringing to life that tricky zone which separates mirage from reality.

The film opens on a rather unpromising note. We see a sexy restaurant manager (Sara Loren) take a drunken lout home. Just why she’s do anything so foolhardy in today’s day and age of heightened sex crimes, is beyond logic. They are soon in an intense relationship punctuated by bouts of monotonous pseudo-Sufiana songs that add nothing to narrative momentum.

Suddenly mid-way through the narrative finds its bearings to strike a deep chord within the plot’s heart and emerge with a cat-and-mouse game where the two ladies, Aditi Rao Hydari and Sara Loren indulge in a cat-and-mouse game that leaves the film’s official hero hopelessly marginalized.

While it would be unfair to give away the plot, suffice it to say that if you are lucky enough to have not seen the original, this film would knock you out of your seat. The entire drama is done in the style of a chamber-piece replete with remarkably precise art decor detailing .

While Raju Singh’s background score adds to the aura of foreboding and, yes, Sunil Patel’s cinematography is impeccably radiant it is Aditi Rao’s performance as a woman trapped in a maze of her own suspicion who imparts a sense of gamine-like fun to the inherent terror quotient of the drama.

Indeed, Aditi is the hero of “Murder 3″ furnishing a sense of foreboding to the kinetic goings-on. Sara Loren as the girl on the opposite side of the mirror image has a fetching face and fairly expressive body… language! But the talented Randeep Hooda’s drunken drawls and brooding machismo are now getting repetitive. Time for a reinvention, Mr Hooda.

In terms of visual and emotional fluency and in connecting the supernatural content to a compelling context, “Murder 3″ moves far ahead of the first and second instalments of the franchise. Mired in a mystique that constantly unravels whispering dark secrets, the film marks an assured directorial debut for Vishesh Bhatt

Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story – Review

Film: Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story
Starring: Vivek Oberoi, Neha Sharma
Director: Vinnil Markan
Rating: 

“Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story” is a light, frothy Mumbaiya rom-com. It is romance in the era of the 2G Spectrum Scam. Unlike the scam, this story is totally uncomplicated and entertaining.

His is the love story of a ‘bhadotri’ (tenant) and her ‘padosi’ (neighbour). The ‘padosi’ is a gangster and she is the jobless and helpless damsel. Just after the 2G Spectrum expose, Simran Desai (Neha Sharma) loses her job and her accommodation. And to prove a point of, “Mumbai mein pass, ya fail’, to all and sundry, she shifts into a rented apartment, and has Jayantabhai (Vivek Oberoi) as her neighbour.

Jayantabhai works for Altafbhai (Zakir Husain) and aspires to be Altafbhai’s “respected” right hand man.

She, on the other hand, is penniless and job hunting.

Love brews in a very unconventional way in the backdrop of a gang rivalry between Altafbhai and an ex-cop turned gangster Alex Pandiyan.

Initially, the plot and its dramatisation seem to be a bit idiotic, fluffy and weird. What aggravates this weirdness is the use of the fish-eye lenses. But by the end, you get hooked to the characters and if you are a die-hard romantic, then this story would surely touch your heart.

Vivek as the cool, confident tapori gangster and at the same time, nervous as a wreck before Simran’s father, is very convincing. He carries his swagger with elan, but his accent is a wee bit unconvincing. He is portrayed as a Maharashtrian with a Hyderabadi accent, which too is inconsistent. On the other hand, apart from the glamour quotient inclusive of spunk and style, Neha Sharma does not offer much on the acting front. Her ability to perform is pretty limited. She is not at all realistic.

The character Kunal, who Jayantabhai refers as ‘kacha nimbu’ is cute and laudable. The other character actors are wasted as they don’t have much to do.

Vinnil Markan, in his directorial debut, seems to have concentrated more on the writing and has whipped up some good lines from writer Kiran Kotrial. The dialogues are dramatic and loaded with puns using gangster lingo. In one scene, which is quite hilarious, Vivek heads into a bar and addresses the bar singer as ace ‘Fata Mangeshkar’ before ordering her to stop singing.

Also, after most of his offending jabber with Simran, Jayantabhai blurts, “Joking re sense of humourous” in an attempt to crack stale jokes. Though not funny, the line is laughable and contagious. The icing on the cake is when Jayantabhai says, “You need to know, – Bhai-logy” to understand the gangsters.

The songs in the film are simply juxtaposed to appeal to the audience. They do not add to the narrative in any way.

Technically, the production value of the film is average. The frames and setting give it the feel of a TV production, but of better quality. Nevertheless, the production department has taken ample pains to capture the essence of Mumbai, especially the Irani restaurant, where the lead pair have anda-bhurji with pav (scrambled eggs with bread) for breakfast.

As mentioned earlier, “Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story” will not disappoint you if you are emotionally inclined to love stories

Zila Ghaziabad – Movie Review

Film: ‘Zila Ghaziabad’
Starring: Sanjay Dutt, Vivek Oberoi, Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi, Chandrachur Singh, Ravi Kishan, Divya Dutta
Director: Anand Kumar
Rating: 

Wasseypur’s gangs never had it so good. Seeing the glorious guttural outflow of blood, bullets and profanities in “Zila Ghaziabad” one could safely assume, Wasseypur is safe. So is the other release this week.

Abhishek Kapoor’s “Kai Po Che!” is as far removed from its Friday competition as flying kites is from a hail of bullets.

To be fair one can’t compare two films as disparate in intent, purpose, tone and treatment as “Kai Po Che!” and “Zila Ghaziabad” … except for the fact that somewhere down the line as we approach the crux and the core, both films say the same thing.

If you want to survive in this cut-throat world, you have to recognise your own weaknesses and strengths — not that one sees the hurried restless unanchored strangely identity-less and vapidly violent characters of “Zila Ghaziabad” ever doing any introspection.

Where is the time to sit and think when everyone is out for a kill? The biggest casualty in all this gore-mongering is a logical pattern of storytelling. The material is edited more to accommodate optimum punches and punchlines than to tell an anchored story. The narration leaves no room for any kind of emotion to take root.

We meet the characters as blood-thirsty creatures of the underground. And we are most happy to leave them to their internecine intentions. This is the kind of staged drama where lawmakers and lawbreakers behave with equal impunity. Both sides are wedded to anarchy. Screw the emotions. This is an orgy of elemental escapades.

And that’s where the fun side of the film unleashes with fatuous fury. The action director is the real conductor of this disorderly orchestra. One violent outburst follows another as two clans of Zila Ghaziabad battle it out to a bloodied end.

Admittedly, the action is staged with a whole lot of gusto. Tragically, the underlining humour of Salman Khan’s “Dabangg” is missing here. These scowling, growling, barking and biting characters take themselves and their anarchic hinterland too seriously.

They speak in a self-confident drawl in words about bodily functions that Vishal Bhardwaj or Anurag Kashyap’s characters might use on very lazy Sunday to shock their neighbours. But make no mistake. The people who inhabit Zila Ghaziabad mean business.

The business of being mean is perpetrated in a torrent of rapidly-staged drama where aggression is King. The film has a sprawling banquet of actors, and some very competent ones at that.

Sanjay Dutt delivers a punch-filled performance as a cop inured to ambivalence. He strikes swaggering postures that suggest John Wayne never really hung up his hat and boots. Vivek Oberoi, who was gloriously goofy as a bumbling gangster in last week’s underrated “Jayantabhai Ki Luv Story”, here displays a mean streak quite convincingly.

So does Arshad Warsi, better known for his comic acts, here slipping into a rugged roguery with relish. If you look around, Chandrachur Singh and Paresh Rawal also show up to add muscle to the mayhem.

Every character seems to have fun with his part in this Khichdi Western, a distant doomed dastardly spiced-up teekha cousin of the celebrated ‘Spaghetti Western’, though whether we as the audience share the characters’ sense of enjoyment or not depends entirely on the frame of mind we are in.

If judgemental, one could be deeply offended by the unstopped flow of aggression and profanity. However, if in a lenient mind-space, the bloody battle for indeterminate causes could provide some amount of lowbrow fun.

As expected, in this ode to mayhem and machismo, the ladies have little to do besides shake a leg and shed a tear. Minissha Lamba shows up somewhere along the way trying hard not to look lost in the stag party.

It’s hard not to laugh out loud at these heroes of a subverted hinterland who live and die by the gun. They deserve the death they get.