Movie Review: Samrat & Co

A knobby-kneed desi homage to Sherlock Holmes

Director: Kaushik Ghatak

Cast: Rajiv Khandelwal, Madalasa Sharma, Gopal Dutt, Girish Karnad, Priyanshu Chatterjee and Rajneesh Duggal

Arthur Conan Doyle would have no idea that the fictional detective he created would be providing cannon fodder for the entertainment industry for eons to come. Kaushik Ghatak seems inspired both by two brilliant modern interpretations of the fictional detective — one starring Robert Downey Jr and the other Benedict Cumberbatch. The plot involves a closed door murder of a rich patriarch with a dubious past. Thankfully, the butler didn’t do it.

The film is shot amidst the hilly environs of Simla. The outdoors aren’t used to greater effect as most of the film is shot in Chroma. The old school family mansion that we saw in the ‘60s is revisited here. Because of Chroma, its dimensions take on absurd proportions. In some long shots, you feel as if you are watching some castle from Lord Of The Rings and not a family home.

One highlight of the book and the recent interpretations as well is the verbal sparring between Holmes and Watson. Well, the Watson played by Gopal Dutt to Khandelwal’s Holmes is over the top and a bit of a buffoon. The air of easy camaraderie shared by the detective and his sidekick, so essential to the success of a Holmes flick is lacking here.  Another big blooper is giving Khandelwal the unfortunate acronym STD — short for Samrat Tilakdhari. So the greatest sleuth in fiction is reduced to a juvenile joke. Swell!

To his credit, Khandelwal tries to do full justice to his character but he is hampered by a shoddy screenplay. A whodunit should keep us hooked to our seats and should keep us guessing. Here, the proceedings get tedious and after a while you stop caring for victims. You want it all to end quickly, so as to rush home and read The Hound Of The Baskervilles all over again. The ending leaves scope for a sequel and for Holmes’s sake the filmmakers shouldn’t botch it up the next time.

Kaanchi – Movie Review

Film : ” Kaanchi ”
Cast: Mishti , Kartik Aaryan , Chandan Roy Sanyal , Mithun Chakraborty , Rishi Kapoor
Director: Subhash Ghai
Rating : 4star

Subhash Ghai loves the mountains . In MANY of the the his films, These are Captured with the sobering imposingness of a climber Gazing lovingly and reverently at the peaks he knows he must Conquer .

And Conquer, he does . ” Kaanchi ” delivers a walloping punch . From the tale of a girl from the hills contesting the city MARAUDER ‘ rights to usurp her love of land and , to a frenzied grind of Revenge in the big bad city Where the innocent girl assumes the role of a desi Lara Croft , Ghai tackles the craft and the Emotions with a devilish deftness .

In a script as intricately woven as a Kashmiri carpet, Subhash Ghai jampicked threads together a jigsaw . Something or Other is always a ppening in some corner of the script.

” Kaanchi ” is a puzzle of a film. It bustles and Brims over with REFORMATORY ideas , anti – Corruption ZEAL , and lunges for an ambitious overweeningly format of storytelling Where Raj Kapoor ‘s ” Ram Teri Ganga Miles ” meets Rakesyh Mehra ‘s ” Rang De Basanti ” . Ghai employs Every cliche in the book of formulistic storytelling . And you know what? He succeeds in spectacular Telling a story Filled with muted sound and flamboyant Fury .

” Kaanchi ” is the story of a girl ‘s journey from the innocent unspoilt mountains of Uttarakhand to the corrupt and corrupting a ful city of Mumbai …. The format is not new to Ghai ‘ s cinema . He Tried it earlier in ” Taal ” . In ” Kaanchi “, the approach road from the back of beyond to the mainland mayhem is far more upfront and aggressive . The music, so essential to the impact of Ghai ‘s cinema , here conveys the split personality of a Society That is caught in a migratory transition .

The film packs in the punches with undiminished enthusiasm from the first frame to last . The scenes are conceived with cohesive care while the Dialogues are quick- witted in the way we’ve grown up hearing in commercial Indian cinema . Ghai turns on the tempestuous tap full blast . Though the pace does tend to flag at times – what with the characters I gnificance assuming more emblematic than THEY are ABLE to handle – the filmmaker makes sure there is an element of expectancy in Early underlined Every episode.

The episodes write oneself out with a pungent precision . At times you feel the narrative should have been allowed to be more spontaneous . But then you Realize this is not a film to impress with ntries That subtlety . The charm of the protagonist ‘s journey is not Kaanchi in its quotient of adventurousness But in Delivering an exuberance of the expected.

And now the million – dollar question about Ghai ‘ s latest Discovery. Mishti does live up the high Standards set by the filmmaker ‘s earlier debutant / semi- debutant heroines ? In spite of her inability to touch some of the peaks required in the Dramatic scenes, the Bengali girl with her personality and I very serene creates a very mplicity a Favourable impact . Bearing a resemblance to Mandakini FAINT in ” Ram Teri Ganga Miles “, Mishti breezes Through most of the film with charm and confidence.

Mishti gets very strong support from her two Leading men . Kartik Aaryan ‘ s very athletic ramp -friendly personality is used to play off the heroine ‘ s rustic artlessness . Kartik has a very bright future ahead . In the Second – half the ever – Chandan Roy Sanyal dependable takes over as the man in Kaanchi ‘ s life . Cast as a roguish cop hose Orals are as questionable as the lyrics of the item song he dance to, Chandan plays a role similar to the one I Parmabhrata Chatterjee I played to Vidya Balan in ” Kahaani ” .

Interestingly Mishti ‘ s CHARACTER is shown to be a use- friendly go- getter . Looking at her pluck and gumption , we finally have the answer to the sexy sawaal : ” Choli ke peeche kya alive ? ”

Ironically in this film about youth power , it ‘ s the veteran actors WHO let the script down. Mithun Chakraborty and Rishi Kapoor as a pair of trouble – makers are deliberately lampoonish . Why is Mithun ‘ s mouth stuffed with marbles like Brando on a bad – teeth day ? And why does Rishi dance to a song That does no justice to the the his ” Karz ” past ? But then Ghai ‘ s villains have always been outrageously self – important . NEWCOMER Rishab Sinha as Mithun ‘s son has a very important role Which he squanders away in serious apathy and a ludicrous wig.

In spite of its jagged edges and its tendency to take itself a tad too serious , ” Kaanchi ” manages to simulate a supple empathy for its disarmingly uni – dimensional characters. Sudhir Chowdhary ‘s cinematography helps to fund Ghai ‘ s dream of a nation Where one girl with the help of some rock- singing Youngsters can free us of Corruption .

” Kaanchi ” Tells us there is no harm in dreaming. It marks the return of the showman to form . This is a warm- hearted free- spirited ode to new- age womanhood . The female protagonist ‘ s dharm – yuddh with evil forces may Lack in subtlety . But then the time to Tackle terror with tact is over .

It ‘ s time to take on Corruption head – long. ” Kaanchi ” does just that. With feeling and drama 

Music Review: Revolver Rani

Musical Director : Sanjeev Srivastava

Music Label : T Series
The review of the music of Revolver Rani is like asking a food critic to review bhog chappan – everything looks good , but you might get indigestion tasting these 56 dishes. The main weakness of the OST is that it is too long – 15 songs are too much for the palate. Another thing is that the musical director Sanjeev rookie threw everything he likes – from folk to rock to pop Michael Jackson RD Burman to Nadeem Shravan in this goulash of an album. Coming together, one feels like one has taken a musical journey from the 60s to the present.
The album begins with the title song by Usha Uthup . The singer brings his experience in this club back to the ’70s cabaret song full of rhythm and percussion arrangement RD feels like Sanjeev has unearthed an unknown melody master.

Piyush Mishra gives life Thaayein kare , a surreal folk song reminiscent of the brutal nature of the UP badlands . She sang another track called Chal much bite re bhaiya lade , which will Saanso mein kya hi khoon rahega daudta / Rotiyaan todta kya hi khoon rahega . Mishra earthy voice suits the minimum orchestration and makes it a winner.
Kaafi nahi Chaand always young Asha Bhosle bring back his magic. The agreement vocal treatment and bring to mind your Raat Akeli hai evergreen Jewel Thief (1967). Asha Tai still has in his hand a hit and we wonder why other young composers hesitate to use his voice.

Sanjeev and hum Gorisa rock ballad Sulgi Huyi Raakh with vim necessary. Just when you think the album is contemporary, is the traditional wedding song sung by Banna banni Rekha Bhardwaj . Rekha was born to these songs, she knows the nuances of UP folk and get them right. Sanjeev returns to the microphone in the song I ‘m brutal . He modulated his voice this time ( as RD used to do ) to fit the tempo of the song. It speaks of the qualities of macho hero and has a certain quality to it hillbilly .
Saawan Ki aaye hawa our interest is encouraged because Rahul Gandhi is shown as the singer and rapper has a hoarse voice as the leader of Congress. Garima Aneja sing parts of this desi love duet .
Avi Kumar Sanu Dutta makes , even going out of tune in places like the legendary singer Alka Yagnik Anwesha makes this tribute to Nadeem – Shravan of a song called Bol rahi hai payal . The 90 typical riffs and arrangements make you go hunting for your cassette Aashqui . The same instrumentation is present in the lullaby Chanda hai ki katori and repetition too. Garima ‘s sung quite well but seem lost in this endless landscape.
Samira , Gorisa , Manjeera Keka and sing the full josh lohe chingaari Pehle ki , which speaks to the strength of women and how they can become a major force to cleanse society of its sins. Sounds like a song meant to be played in the background when Kangana goes on a killing spree .
Sanjeev has a knack of choosing singers with unusual names , as the next track , Le Michael Jackson mix is sung by someone named as Salim Javed . A search on Google shows that it is actually a Punjabi pop singer with that name. Therefore , there has to be a parody . Sounds like trying to MJ Mann Gurdass pop style in a town meeting. Again, it might be deliberate to suit the demands of the film. Is pure thrash if it is not .
The composer has reserved the best for last . Zardozi Lamhe ghazal is a good composition sung Moin Sabri style . The modern interpretation of the genre is a relief to the ear.

All- in-all, as said earlier , this OST is a goulash. If you get the best bits or they get filthy depends on your luck . But you must try , because it offers much in the way of memories and variety.

Music Review: 2 States

Another frothy album from S-E-L’s stable

Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Label : T Series
Price: Rs 175
Shankar – Ehsaan – Loy have been giving music for 20 odd years and have not let go of their youthful zeal . You can expect to give peppy, foot tapping music Any Given Sunday and have done just that on 2 States. They have teamed with lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya maverick and the end result is fast-paced love ballads uplifting .

Amitabh , who is a singer also gets the microphone opening song offo Aditi Singh Sharma with . Talk of the peculiar nature of love. The usual ingredients that bring frothiness pop band for a song – guitar riffs, a catchy hook and bounce voices are full to the brim in offo .

Benny Dayal makes Locha -e- ulfat yours. Reminds us that interpretation of Badtameez dil Jawaani Hai Deewani Yeh . Its melody and quirky marching band letters makes perfect youth anthem . No wonder they have taken to it in a big way . Is qualified to be the best song on the album .

Then comes the Sufi inspired magan Mast. The comparatively slow love duet sung by Arijit Singh and Chinmayi Sripada has space to share with mridangam dholak , in keeping with the theme of the film. Both singers are known for their poignant representation and do its magic here too.

Iski uski song is a modern wedding and Punjabi Bhangra riffs and solid lyrics will make it a favorite in the upcoming marriage season . Akriti Kakar and Shahid Mallya have sung with josh required .

Chaandaniya fervently sung by K Mohan ( lead singer of the band Agnee ) – that should be heard more often in the movies – and Yashita Sharma feelings for Waylon Jennings, what with his country-rock interface . The steady guitar work juxtaposed with nice percussion sound makes it special.

Hullaare slightly reminds charkha chale Chappa chappa at first. Shankar Mahadevan teams up with son Siddharth Mahadevan and the result is pure madness dhol supported . You may feel that the duo had a lot of fun singing together. Rasika Shekhar joins the chaos in between. This brings back the sound of the big stage , who were famous for SEL and would get to the dance floor with a vengeance.

All we can add is that after the success of Bhaag Milkha Bhaag , SEL are back with a bang once again . Milkha was a purely Punjabi music and the current is also strongly influenced by the music of Punjab. Is not this supposed to be a movie about a guy marry a Punjabi girl Tam – Brahm ? However, the elements of the South are not so much strength as the North . In addition , SEL treatment were not known for their film. His songs had a rough edgy quality , a certain rawness that spoke more live concert sound pure study. That ‘s what’s missing in recent times . However, punctilious apart , the OST provides what really matters . So turn up the volume and get ready to move your legs 

Movie Review: Bhoothnath Returns

Director : Nitesh Tiwari

Cast:  Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani , Sanjay Mishra and Parth Bhalerao
The whole world is watching this election to Lok Sabha of India. They call it the biggest elections in the world . Expectations and pressures are enormous , not only the candidates but also voters . Slightly less than one billion people are going to vote , and of course everyone has their own set of questions . Looks like the perfect place to Amitabh Bachchan to step in to save the day time. That’s Bhoothnath returns for you. It’s a comedy made ​​to order election season. One who collects each , doubt prevails valid and relevant ‘ Indian voters and shows what can be done to counter it. Its done in the most entertaining way , with a healthy dose of cinematic liberties.

Bhoothnath , our hero from the first film , which takes on a tour of a higher world bhoot in heaven above . It is in this picturesque paradise that other ghosts are laughing at him. In an attempt to turn things around and save his reputation from another world, Bhoothnath decides to return to earth and gather some scares children. But not before the first cry , good joyful spirit El Salvador becomes a street kid and mounted Mumbai slum poverty. Over time, the snowballs for Bhoothnath contest the general election against local political thug cum . It’s the perfect situation for political satire, something Bhoothnath Returns stands on display . Take all the social ills that a member of Aam Aadmi Party proposes to fight in real life and lets you play a magical savior Bhoothnath .

The strength of this film is its script . The first scenes with Bhoothnath and young boy Akhrot ( Parth Bhalerao ) are full of charm and humor. There is wonderful chemistry between Amitabh Bachchan and Parth and his only supplemented by some sublime witty dialogue . Think of it as Jai and Veeru , a four-foot version of this mawali Veeru is too cute to be true. By the time the story shifts to the political arena narrative becomes a rivalry game . Again the reply Bhau saheb collusion between Boman Irani and Bhoothnath Bachchan is lively and fascinating.

The pace drops in the second half , though. In fashion feature film masala , sentimentality tries to take over the fun and games . This is where the film loses steam and does not help that the villain is too child friendly . You keep waiting for a bully like reaction but never arrives. Gems sporadic dialogue and impeccable performances by Bachchan and Irani make sure the viewer is not too worried .

The production values ​​of the film are completely inconsistent and mediocre music does not help either . But there are a few shots of brilliance by cinematographer that give a great artistic flair. Although technical knowledge is not up to the mark , it really does not matter . The film has its heart in the right place and its more than makeup for any incorrectness emotional touches.

See Bhoothnath returns for Parth masterful performances , Boman Irani and Amitabh Bachchan. Mr. Bachchan shows why owners still leagues ahead of any contemporary star , actor or artist . And then there are the vivid cameos by Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor to add even more to the experience. Despite all its imperfections Bhoothnath Returns is a movie worth cheering for . Definitely deserves your vote .

Movie Review: Jal

Great visuals and premise desiccated by a pedantic pace

Director: Girish Malik

Cast: Purab Kohli, Kirti Kulhari, Tannishta Chatterjee, Mukul Dev and Saidah Jules

There are many a slip between a cup of water and the parched lip. Girish Malik’s Jal is a novel attempt to showcase the frailty of human life. It’s a deeply moving premise. The idea is phenomenal. The execution is nearly abysmal. It is the director’s first film and his meandering script, screenplay and direction let down his otherwise fantastic vision.

This is the story of survival in the Rann of Kutch. There’s a diviner of water called Bakka. He likes to put on a show for the village folk as he searches for water in the desert using just two copper rods and a heart full of faith. He’s called the God of water in his village and quite ironically he also becomes the bridge between orthodox and modernity for the villagers. That happens when a Russian zoologist lands in the barrens of Kutch and makes the water craving humans dig ditches and lakes for migrating Flamingos. Like Bakka says in the movie, no water for humans but all the technology and resource in the world is being used to farm water for birds.

The film does well to dwell on that tragic idea. Like a classic Shakespearean tragedy, the film leaves its protagonist clinching for life because he has no water. It’s quite a caustic fate for a man who prides himself in unearthing water.

Director Malik opts for a surreal fantasy treatment for a subject that is more real than reality itself. It’s not a bad gamble if you know the tricks of the trade. But his narrative spends too much valuable time in unnecessary theatrics. The point of all the dramas is to establish character development. But Jal goes overboard in creating its theatricality. That the initial segments have such amateur CGI doesn’t help the cause either. And that subplot of birds having more resource than humans takes the entire first half and a good part of the second half to unfold. Too much time is spent establishing too little.

And then there’s the curious case of over acting. Mukul Dev is supposed to be the Iago of this story. He plots and plans to bring malice to Bakka’s picture perfect life. And then he spouts Haryanvi accents while speaking Gujarati. Kirti Kulhari, an otherwise clinical performer, and Purab Kohli, playing the lead man Bakka, are too inconsistent as well. Though they have their moments of masterful underplay, at random their histrionics seems excessive and jarring. These could have been award winning performances.

Same goes for the film. The cinematography by Sunita Radia belongs in a David Fincher film. Without dialogue you could stare at the visual compositions of this film for countless hours. The barrenness of the Kutch really comes through as if another character in the film. The music does a fine job to complement that sense of overwhelming nothingness. But the dawdling way in which the tale unfolds just robs this film of all its beauty.

Movie Review: Youngistaan

Cast: Jackky Bhagnani, Neha Sharma and Farooque Sheikh
Director: Syde Ahmad Afzal

Wish it was so easy to become the Prime Minister of India from a pub-hopping youngster. Wish it was so easy to even romance your girlfriend in between official duties and sing songs against the backdrop of the Tajmahal even as the security paid vigil. Wish it was so easy to scuttle opposition – within the party and outside it. Wish it was so easy to enjoy a sweeping victory at the polls just by youthful rhetoric and platitudes…

Well, debutant director Syed Ahmad Afzal ends up doing just that in Vashu Bhagnani’s Youngistaan. Abhminayu Kaul (Jackky Bhagnani), a games developer living in Japan, gives up his well-paying job and freedom to don the Prime Minister’s cap just to honour the promise he gave to his terminally ill father (Boman Irani plays the dying PM). Then on the takeover of the nation is as smooth for him as taking over a well-established family business.  The only distraction comes in the form of his relentlessly demanding girlfriend Anvita (Neha Sharma), who’d rather romance on the streets than become a princess in a castle.

The film seems topical and could have cut across audiences given the current election scenario but lacks the gravitas of a political drama, which particularly associates itself with the highest seat of power. While there are a million problems that a country faces, the acting PM’s problem in the film is only dealing with an immature girlfriend who yearns to have matka kulfi at 4 am! And while she loves him enough to accompany him from Japan and even bear his child, for some reason, she’s reluctant to marry him, thereby inviting ire of a conservative public.

Performance wise Jackky Bhagnani is earnest though he lacks the élan that is intrinsic to a character of such power. Neha Sharma is confident and pretty and has the potential to etch her way in showbiz. But the most endearing part of the film is the late Farooque Sheikh (plays the PM’s assistant Akbar). Natural, unassuming and flawless, he’s gone beyond his penned character. Interestingly, the beginning of the film pays a tribute to the late actor by showing clippings of him on the set where he even happens to tell Jackky, “Mera last day tumhare last day se pehle hoga!”

The film’s highlight is the Sufi qawwali Daata di diwaani composed by Shiraz Uppal, composed by Shakeel Sohail and sung by Shiraz Uppal and Rafaqat Ali Khan. The number is the soulful oasis in the simplistic film.

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Music Review: Main Tera Hero

Posted by: admin in Movies review 16 days ago 0 201 Views

Readymade music for comedy film.

Music by: Sajid-Wajid

T Series

Rs 175
David Dhawan is know for all those fast, peppy numbers in which Govinda danced his heart out and this soundtrack sticks to the successful formula. Sajid-Wajid have channeled the spirit of Anand-Milind, Anu Malik and other Dhawan regulars to produce an OST which spells massy in capitals.

The album begins with Besharmi ki height written by Kumaar. The composers have put some electronic tadka in their otherwise desi composition and Benny Dayal and Shalmali Kholgade have sung it with enough verve to make you hit the repeat button. The remixed version mixed by DJ Notorious is aimed at the disco crowd and hits its mark.

Palat – tera hero idhar hai copies the riffs of RD Burman’s Jahan teri yeh nazar hai from Kaalia (1981). Arijit Singh sings it in full Kishore Kumar mode and you can’t help but smile at the nostalgic feel that it provides as well is own comic resonance. Arijit continues his magic with Shanivaar raati, which talks about how young people want to dance away the Saturday night. This bhangra pop number is a winner from the word go. Shalmali Kholgade comes later down the track and joins in the fun. DJ Chetas’s remix version is okay too.

Galat baat hai’s nonsense lyrics and zany orchestration is a true-blue homage to Govinda numbers. One can easily visualise the colourful star grooving to his signature moves while trying to patao the heroine. Javed Ali has kept the spirit of Mohammed Aziz alive in his rendition and Neeti Mohan too brings to mind the Alka Yagnik quotient. Its a nice, happy song that’s makes you feel mushy for the trashy ’80s.

This breezy soundtrack offers a good antidote for dull evenings. One can say that Sajid-Wajid are certainly back in business. They might not have experimented much but have given us the classic Hindi film sound that has gone missing in today’s times.

Movie Review: Aankhon Dekhi

Director: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Pahwa

Emancipation, catharsis and most importantly faith, these are realities that make Aankhon Dekhi a good film. A man takes an odd decision of believing only those truths that he’s experienced or seen. So any intangible force, any acquired knowledge or any hearsay become a matter of conjecture for him. Nonetheless, the road less travelled brings him a fair share of happiness and sorrow. But most importantly, it allows him to live his life, on his own terms. And as he says at the beginning and right at the end, life is about living your dream.

Sanjay Mishra plays Raje Bhauji, a middle-aged man content with his suburban Delhi home, slightly dysfunctional family and tourist ticketing job. One day though he decides to change the order of things. An incident with his daughter and her shy lover forces Raje to rethink life and its social norms. He decides to question religion, rites, taboos and everything he hasn’t seen for himself. Naturally, his peers think he’s going through a mid-life crisis. But Raje sticks to his resolution.

Aankhon Dekhi is Rajat Kapoor’s film. He’s the writer, the director and of course the dreamer. He takes a quintessential North Indian setup and weaves a story of true liberation around it. Us Indians put too much emphasis on religion and social stigma. And in doing so, we all let go of a certain spirit required to uplift life. That’s what Raje Bhauji does in Aankhon Dekhi. He breaks free. The detachment makes him look like an odd ball, but it also gives him the happy-go-lucky nature, the sense of impulse that is needed to spice one’s life. On most occasions it seems as if Raje is taking things to the extreme, like when he quits his job and then subsequently takes up gambling. But his extremes don’t turn into hurdles. When he gambles he doesn’t get into a habit. He uses every experience in life, good or bad, to unravel mystery and truth.

If it sounds like too much of a sermon, it’s not. The film is not preachy. Instead its an honest attempt to show stuff that actually matters in life. And it also condones the social practices that just shackle a man’s spirit. The only thing that doesn’t do justice to the potential of Aankhon Dekhi and Rajat Kapoor’s dreams is the budget of his film. If only more financiers had invested in this rare gem, we would’ve had a world-class feature film.

But that doesn’t take anything away from the movie. That’s because Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa and Rajat Kapoor give masterfully underplayed performances. There’s absolutely no way you can tell reel from real in this film and its cast.

This might not be your average entertainer. You won’t be rolling in the aisles on the jokes. You won’t be clapping for the heroics. But you will feel a strange sense of content after watching this mature film. And that is what good cinema feels like. Poignant, surreal and most importantly real.

O Teri – Movie Review

Film: “O Teri”
Cast: Pulkit Samrat, Bilal Amrohi, Anupam Kher and Sara Jane Dias
Director: Umesh Bist
Rating: 

Luckily, this is not an official remake of Kundan Shah’s classic “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron”. If it was, the makers of the original could have sued for defamation.

“O Teri” borrows the concept of two bumbling, very unprofessional professionals who chance upon a scam from Kundan Shah’s film and turn it into an extended Santa-Banta joke. It was Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani in the original. It is Pulkit Samrat and Bilal Amrohi in this re(ek)make, designed to give ulcers to a civilization doped on the hope that cinema can shake the corrupt through satire.

Satire, armed with a tiring amount of excessive baggage, is as good as drugs that have passed the expiry date. “O Teri” is like a stretched-out political joke where the raconteur forgot the punchline and is hoping he would rediscover the punchline in the process of undertaking his aimless ramble.

Samrat and Amrohi are given lines that sound like bulk SMS messages. They try to enjoy the banter. But they, poor freshers, can’t really savour the unpalatable. If television anchoring was meant to be as brainless as shown in this film, then our tainted politicians would safely find alternative employment.

And really, Sarah Jane Dias doing a Bhakti Bharve from “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron”??? That is funnier than anything this film has to offer.

Anupam Kher doing Pankaj Kapoor’s role from Kundan Shah’s original, is cast as a Suresh Kalmadi kind of brazenly corrupt politician who cannot be amusing unless given some kind of a humour platform beyond the ordinary rites of laughter.

Tragically, the intended satire is so frumpy and baggy that it collapses under its own weight.

Debutant director Umesh Bist would have done well to study Kundan Shah’s cult classic for its contoured, sly comicality. Bist attacks the material with wolfish relish, making a hash of the political satire, much in the way that the Kalmadis of politics are doing of our natio

Ragini MMS 2 – Movie Review

Film: “Ragini MMS 2″
Cast: Sunny Leone, Divya Dutta, Pravin Dabbas
Director: Bhushan Patel
Rating: 

At least the first “Ragini” film gave us a sparkling performance by Rajkummar Rao, then called Yadav. This was the time when Rajkummar’s Shahid was not even conceived. He was a “despo”, much like the character of “Ragini MMS 2″.

What did I come away with from “Ragini MMS 2″? A sinking feeling that the horror genre has run its course. Boredom is a beast that director Bhushan Patel is not up to fighting. Sex is brought in to liven up the semi-dead spirits. Steamy scenes are stuffed into this scare-fest since Sunny Leone top-lines the cast.

The script has been tailored to accommodate the lewd…sorry, lead’s porn backdrop.So when the film crew visits the same haunted house where the first “Ragini” film unfolded (why make the same mistake twice?!), Sunny, all voluptuous and popping all over the place, fakes an orgasm and tells an obnoxious fellow actor that porn actresses too can act.

They sure can. Sunny, in her third Bollywood film, puts in quite an effort to look possessed by an evil ‘chudail’. To be fair to this fornicating fraulein on an image-mending binge, the last half-hour finds her going into convulsions of terror. It’s a climactic performance that pines to tell us that porn stars can act.

Point made. Sunny is always good with climaxes. We can now move to the rest of the film which slithers through the hall of absurdity with a terrifying nonchalance. We have characters deliberately moving deeper and deeper into the darkest shadows of the haunting house inviting sure death.If you are so dumb as to go into empty rooms with creaky doors, then you might as well be dead.

Why are the characters in our horror films so intellectually challenged? “Ragini MMS 2″ is specially suffused with morons. There is a hammy television actor who takes a naked shower with Sunny (once a porn star) and then later jerks off in bed. He is so gross because guys in the “Ragini” series are destined to be just that.

In “Ragini MMS 1″, Rajkummar Rao dragged his girlfriend to a haunted house to shoot a dirty MMS with her. In this instalment, there is an over-the-top film director (the talented Praveen Dabas) who wants to make a ‘horrex’ (a blend of horror and sex, much the same as the director of “Ragini MMS 2″) .

He barges into Sunny’s bedroom and barks: “Say you want me to f…k you”

Really! Is this the way directors talk to their leading ladies while making ‘horrex’ films? No wonder the Ramsays were savagely pulled up in Ashim Ahluwalia’s “Miss Lovely”.

“Ragini MMS 2″ is so enamoured by its luscious leading lady’s lusty past that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. Neither horrifying nor sexy, the film is like a conflicted schizophrenic seeking a closure to his identity crisis blocking out the sunlight from all the windows in his home and running around in circles all over his darkened home.

Watching “Ragini MMS 2″ is like playing Russian Roulette with the lights off. You know someone is pulling the trigger and trying to fire random shots at unidentified victims. Every trick from the horror genre is brought into use. By the time Divya Dutta is brought in as the latest avatar of Max von Sydow from “The Exorcist”, the devil is too far gone to be tamed

Bewakoofiyaan – Movie Review

Film: “Bewakoofiyaan”
Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana, Sonam Kapoor
Director: Nupur Asthana
Rating: 

Sometimes, love just ain’t enough. So there we have two people in love. The pampered but not spoilt bureaucrat’s daughter Mayera and her lover beau Mohit whose upward mobility is frozen by an employment meltdown in his airline organization (spicy allusion to the Kingfisher crisis, yes?)

It’s Delhi’s noveau riche Gurgaon world bathed in cosmetic conceit. Sonam Kapoor and Ayushmann Khurrana blend into this gleaming kingdom’s excesses effortlessly. The two of them are so good as a couple, imagining them apart for even a portion of the bitterness that bites into the narrative during the second-half becomes unbearable.

Debutant director Nupur Asthana’s film is a bright scrambled world of wealth, luxury and the yuppy club’s unstated desperation to move up the corporate ladder. It is also, by its very definition, a ridiculously self-important delusional world.

Miraculously this film with its gleaming polished surfaces neither gasps nor laughs at the ignobility of upward mobility.

There is an interestingly crafted fight scene between the film’s lead pair where Mayera reminds Mohit that she has not bought a new pair of shoes during the last two months because of his job loss. That she doesn’t realize how ridiculous she sounds to Mohit is a measure of the underlining irony that the narrative scrapes out of these characters while portraying the exacerbated materialism of the go-getting generation.

Habib Faisal’s writing is smart and amiable, crowded with quaint colloquialisms culled from the capital youngster’s language. The writing also surprises itself by becoming inwardly-drawn and introspective at the most unexpected moments. That the screenplay has got Ayushmann to play the cool guy whose perfectly laid-out plans fall apart, is a stroke of luck for this likeable film.

Ayushmann looks like the guy next-door who wouldn’t mind pulling a few strings to float higher than the level allotted to him by fate. He brings a suave arrogance to his role and creates a cohesive graph for his character. He is an actor to watch.

Of course it helps Ayushmann that he has Rishi Kapoor to play his girlfriend’s hawk-like father. Rishi’s character of the IAS officer on the verge of retirement (with a companion from his work place who typically, offers his “humble” advice on every matter) is brilliantly written.

Rishi’s Sehgal is a pompous name-thrower with an inflated sense of self-worth, over-possessive about his only daughter’s life and preferences. V.K. Sehgal is a striking image of a man on the verge of erupting into a self-deprecatory laughter, if he only he knew how funny his quirks look from the outside.

Rishi brings to the characters a cornocupia of “cool”. Seldom in his any other recent film except “Do Dooni Chaar” has this brilliant actor expressed such pleasure in putting forward his character’s point of view.It’s no coincidence that film too was written by Faisal.

So many of Rishi Kapoor’s scenes with Ayushmann stand tall because of the way the two characters meet as adversaries who fortunately love the same girl in different ways. Sonam as the girl torn between an autocratic dad and unreasonable lover is so in-character you wonder whether the role and its fetish for designer labels were written specially for her.

“Bewakoofiyan” has nothing new to say. And that is its greatest virtue. It is “Meet The Parents” where the father and the prospective son-in-law’s roles are better played than the original. Yes, Rishi and Ayushmann are better than Robert de Niro and Ben Stiller were in the Hollywood film about the father of the bride.

The narrative sparkles with a mischievous elegance. The winking homage to the go-getting glam-set of Delhi works mainly because the three protagonists are so immersed in the goings-on they make us forget that we’ve seen most of these conflicts over and over again in the past. In terms of the fluency with which the cliche about the love birds and the girl’s disapproving dad is tackled, “Bewakoofiyaan” is a marked improvement on Yashraj Productions’ last two pretentious hammy films “Shudh Desi Romance” and “Gunday”.

Ayushmann’s performance is oh not so hammy. A pure delight to behold after Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor’s over-energized bravado in “Gunday”.

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?