Now with the globalization, every country in the world is getting structured in a same template. So the emotions and experiences are similar all over. Due to this, suddenly there is nothing new to express as everyone is having same kind of smoothed out experiences.

In such scenario the film makers use old hit machines as references and try to put multiple such movies into one movie. Veer is such kind of movie. It uses elements from Troy, Gladiator and even our own DharamVeer. We have nothing to complain, if the movie is able to create an enchanting experience for us for the 2-3 hours of length it has. As long as it entertains the audience, they do not worry if its a copy or a remake or an adaptation. The experience shall be entertaining or engaging.

15 mins into Veer and you feel that the makers got it right this time. They are able to create a great adrenalin pumping experience for us. The audience blow whistles and applaud to even the entry of the infant VEER assuming he is the infant Salman. The pre-release euphoria about Salman and the movie building a charged up atmosphere in the movie hall. This is the love, trust and hope audience has for Salman Khan.

But …..

I do not like these buts… but… they are are there in many major movies recently.

The But Effect acts…. the movie goes into sleep mode once Salman catches the glimpse of a princes while doing the train robbery.

Before that and more, let me tell you the background. Before independence, there was a community in Rajputana called Pindhari which is infamous for their drunken brutal ways of fighting a war. Often addressed in the movie as barbaric Pindhari, they are great warriors and are honest people in reality.

Prithvi Singh aka Dadda (Mithoon Chakraborti) is head of this clan who helps the King of Madhavgarh, Raja Gyanedra (Jackie Shroff) to win a war in lieu of a land they demand. Instead of fulfilling the promise, the king brutally kills the 4500 Pindharis with the help of the british army and canons. Though able to run away from the disaster, Prithvi Singh take oath for revenge and pride.

They get dispersed in different areas of the state to prepare their soldiers for war with Madhavgarh and the British. As the time flies, Prithvi has 2 young boys who grow up to be great warriors, Veer (Salman Khan) and Punya (Sohail Khan). Veer as mentioned above meets his dreamgirl in a train robbery where they try to get back the treasure which British are supposedly stealing from India (What was the princes doing in that train then?). Prithvi sends them to study in London where Veer very conveniently meets the girl just later to know that she studies in same college. What a coincidence ?

Veer learns the British ways and methods to equip himself with better knowledge and strategy to defeat them in their own game when time demands. Now what happens with him love story and his daddu’s revenge story, you can try to check out if you decide to watch this movie.

So till the time Salman meets his girl, the movie is very promising and engrossing. But as the love story starts unfolding, the writer goes out of Ideas. The director keeps rolling the valuable film stock to shoot stale moments which are unsuccessful in connecting the audience with any character on screen. As we patiently seat till the interval and witness a potent twist at interval, our hopes are ignited again that the movie can pick up after interval.

But… again the but comes into the picture…. and no mercy…. the fools which we are, spend so much money time and hope for a small demand of engrossing entertainment from the biggest are again let down by the Director Anil Sharma and Writer duo Salman Khan and Shaktiman Talwar.

The movie does not take off…. in-fact it goes down the drain spirally making us a VEER to watch the movie till the end.

All those crores of rupees of producer Vijay Gilani, the hard work of Salman Khan and Mithoon (no one else actually care to act!), the exciting action by Tinu Verma and Peter Pedrero, the breathtaking cinematography by Gopal Shah, everything is just drained to gutter due to shoddy work of writing, direction, editing, music director (Sajid-Wajid), Costume Designer (Anna Singh).

Why do these people fail in such a big opportunity to create something worthwhile? Why don’t they work on script and screenplay more than directly going to shoot?

These can be questions kept unanswered because that’s the way Bollywood is.

The movie rides totally on Salman’s star power, all the whistles and claps are for him. He does work hard for this movie (which he normally doesn’t) and puts in sincere efforts. Mithoon is a delight to watch. Sohail Khan does monkey job and thinks it is funny. Everyone else is totally wasted. I wonder what the Adman and Hinglish Theater pioneer Bharat Dabholkar is doing in the background row of extra pindhari soldiers? And what was the veteran marathi theater actor Vinay Apate doing in the same row? Many known faces are there for one or two scenes. The new actress Zarin Khan has a big role but no future for sure.

The climax is blow on our intelligence and patience and makes us angry about being taken for granted as fools by the film makers. On the whole, its a big disappointment. Still I give the one extra star for the good rare moments in the film, Salman and Mithoon.

BR Rating : 2
BR Verdict : Below Average
BR Recommends : Watch only if you are ardent Salman and Mithoon fan!

So when they come out with chance pe dance, the expectations are sky high (specially after stupendous run of Shahid at box office).

So let’s come to the story. The story is about a struggling talent aspiring to get a foothold in the hindi film industry (luck by chance?). The name is Sameer Behl (Shahid Kapoor). He is a great dancer and a super acting talent. The film starts with the never say die attitude of this struggler giving 100s of auditions in last 3 years. By the grace of God, he gets a chance for a music video which is snatched by another influential candidate. Nevertheless, he happens to meet a nice girl, Sonia Sharma (Genelia D’souza) who is choreographer by profession.

They again meet at another audition where Sameer is selected as Hero and she is working as choreographer. Sameer gets this biggest news of his life on the same day he is thrown out of his room by his landlord. Sameer starts living off his car and gets a day time job as dance teacher in school to suvive till his film starts only to know later that he is thrown out of the film and the director (Mohnish Behl) is trying to hunt his hero through a big talent hunt show.

With a broker heart, can Sameer manage to achieve his dream?

The story is nothing new. It’s the journey of the protagonist from a struggler to emerge as winner at the end. However, with Shahid’s dancing skills and the title of the film, someone can assume this to be dance film and to offer great dance sequences with engrossing storyline.

But sadly, the story never takes off… It keeps showing ups and downs in Sameer’s life repeatedly and has some improperly closed subplots like the school children track. The clear looser in this fair in the writing… the script and the screenplay (as always the case).

Unfortunately, the director Ken Ghosh could not cover the week screenplay with something extraordinary treatment. The movie keeps happening at a snail’s pace with no excitement to offer. We keep thinking now something will happen, but it never does. The writer lacked content and ideas and so does the director. It’s an unfortunate failed attempt.

On the performances side, everyone is good at his or her own place. They delivered what is demanded. Shahid puts genuine effort in the film. Dances well (though there could have been better choreography. We see better in TV shows now a days), acts well, tries to connect with the audience. But the writing fails him miserably. Same with Genelia. She has not given proper scope. In whatever she has got, she did justice to her role. Mohnish Behl, Parikshit Sahani are also ok. Satish Shah as the principle of the schools has a habit of keeping everything tidy but his character is cut short and never used properly. He does a good job as always.

The music could have been better for a film of such kind. Pee Pee is wasted at the start itself. The dance song at the schools is already a hit and shows dancing prowess of Shahid.

The cinematography, production quality are ok. The problem with this film is everything is just ok. Nothing much to offer.

The film has some good moments but those are not enough to suggest anyone to spend his hard earned money on expensive tickets.

So in short, I will not recommend this movie to anyone. May be dance lovers, Shahid fans can enjoy it much better.

BR Rating : *1/2
BR Verdict : Below Average
BR Recommends : Can’t Recommend to anyone…. sorry for that! I wanted this film to be good.

Raat gayi baat gayi? (RGBG…. and yes its a question, not a statement as per the posters) is that kind of movie.

The story is about a party at night and what happened in that night. The story happens in just 24 hrs span. Rahul (Rajat Kapoor) and Mitali (Iravati Harshe) are married couple at a party thrown by their friends Saxena (Dilip Tahil) and (Jolly) Navneet Nishan. At the party Rajat meets Sophia (Neha Dupia) and gets attracted to her. He follows her and they both reach in a room. Things get hotter in them… and …

Next morning Rahul wakes up in hangover. His wife is in bad mood and not talking to him. She leaves without informing him and that amuses Rahul. He tries to remember what happened the last night but can not recall anything. So he gets back to his friend Amit (Vinay Pathak) who is married to Anuradha Mohan (Nandini) and was also at party. Rahul asks Amit what happened last night… but he also does not have any clue. In the course of the events, Amit is thrown out of his own home by his wife due to his affection with his cyber chat friend. So they both go out on the pursuit of truth… what happened last night.

The story idea is small but what makes this film interesting is clever screenplay, dialogues, direction and editing. The writing by Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla is a shoot to edit screenplay. The suspense of what happened that night is kept under wrap till the end but narrated in an engrossing manner so that audience keeps guessing what it would be.

The screenplay is taught and juiced up with interesting events and twists in a funny way. The witty one-liners not only make the audience laugh but also helps in shaping the characters. Surely writing is strength of this movie.

As I always say, a good written script does half the job for a director and a good director can make more more than 100% from a good script. And here the veteran actor turned first time director Saurabh Shukla does the same. The to and fro method of narrating the story of the day and previous night are used effectively using interwoven flashbacks of the night. Saurabh Sukla is successful in holding the suspense back while keeping the ongoing lite and comic. We sure can expect more such brilliant stuff from him. Bring it on Mr. Shukla.

The editor of the movie Sankalp Meshram must be applauded to keep things pacy and zippy. Though he was backed by shoot-to-edit writing material, still it’s a commendable job to make most out of it.

The strongest area in which this movie scores is performances. Rajat and Shukla being at the helm of the affairs managed to bring every art house or parallel or multiplex cinema artist in the movie and being a party with ensemble cast this isn’t unwanted. Shining through this pool of talents is Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Navneet Nishan. Anu Menon surprises in her role. She shall get more roles in coming Rajat Kapoor movies. He is pleasure to watch. Dilip Tahil, Iravati Harshe does impressive job too. The central role around which the movie revolves is of Neha Dhupia. She sure has come a long way. The way she is handling her career by balancing mainstream and multiplex/art house cinema, she proves that beauty queens do have brains. Way to go Neha!

Cinematographer Fuwad Khan does his job with finesse.

If everything else is so good then why not a 4 start rating? Only because there are many been there done that kind of moments in the movie. For example hiding in closet (aka Akshay Kumar in De Dhana Dhan?) and the climax (like in Mixed Doubles?). Thinking something extra-ordinary for those situations would have helped the movie more.

Apart from that, other lacklustre part of the movie is music which is used as fillers in the movie. Having a great music would have helped a lot (didn’t Arth had great songs/gazals in party situations?). Ankur Tewari disappoints with unimpressive work in this department.

Still the movie portrays real life “can-happen” scenarios and many will remember similar moments in their own life along with on-screen happenings.

BR Rating : ***
BR Verdict : Good!
BR Recommends : If you are the multiplex movie kind of audience and like a cool watch, go with your spouse or girl friend/boy friend to watch this movie. It will sure make a good time for two of you.

So for everyone who was doubtful about Raju Hirani being 3rd Time Lucky (After blockbusters like munnabhai MBBS and munnabhai lage raho), let me say: “Aal Izz Well !”

Story is based on the best-selling novel of India “5 point someone” by Chetan Bhagat. However, Hirani and his partner in crime Abhijat Joshi builds a thought provoking and motivating screenplay with support from Vidhu Vinod Chopra.

Rancho (Aamir Khan) is a unique student who arrives in Imperial College to actually study engineering and not to mug through all his college days to shine on his mark sheets. Making a great impression on his first day to hostel by giving a lesson to the seniors involved in hideous ragging, Rancho becomes buddy and guru to his room mates Raju Rustogi (Sharman Joshi) and Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan). They do everything which a student shall not do (what not to do at IIT ?) in college but become enriched by the experience and for betterment of themselves and their lives. But the at the end of the college day, Rancho disappears without even saying bye. Where does he go? Why does he go?

The writer duo have used the basic plots of the novel and used those perfectly where needed. To make the intelligent story work on the silver screen and to be appealing to the lowest common denominator also, the writers used some cinematic liberties which are out of screen so fast that you don’t mind them. 2 thumbs up for the writers who did not let the past success go in their head and took extra effort to make this one work. It was indeed a big task.

Hirani gets the solid foundation in writing itself and creates his Taj Mahal on it using his sheer genius and carefully honed talent that of a Director. The methods he has used to touch the heart of the audience while keeping the whole affair light and easy are indigenous and out of this world (like the poverty flashback of Rastogi, sharman joshi’s, family or the suicide tale of him). Hirani is one of those directors in the world who can bring tears in your eyes while having smiles on ur face. It is a no mean feet to achieve. Kudos to Raju Hirani for his sincerity, efforts and positive attitude towards problem solving. And Thank Santa to send Hirani to east than west. Nagpur will be proud of Hiran for generations to come. Aal will always be well with this man.

Like Vidhu Vinod Chopra says “A film is a writer’s child first which becomes the directors child later and then that of actors. At the end it becomes the child of the producer”. So after writing and direction the department where this film excels and actually pushes the envelop once again is performances.

Aamir as always does better than his last in the role of a unique and extraordinary student Rancho who is on the lookout for excellence. Aamir preaches what he follows “Success ke pichche mat bhago. Excellence ke pichche bhago, success tumhare pichche bhagega”.

The film is not only about him but is also about Sharman and Madhavan’s characters. They both etch out their roles perfectly. The one guy who impresses and has great future is Omi who essays the role of Chathur the competitive student who is born in Uganda and brought up in Pondicherry. His speech is going to leave audience in splits for a long while. Boman Irani is at his best again and proves that he delivers his best under great directors like Hirani. He runs the college and his daughter Pia (Kareena Kapoor) runs away with Rancho. Kareena Kapoor is sure an asset to this industry now. She only needs a good script and an able director and she can manage anything she is thrown at. She lits up the screen whenever she comes on the screen. In her advertised de-glamorised look she is able to make the audience miss a heart beat with her demure and class. Her role is small but she makes the most out of it in this all male tale. The another woman who shines is her sister on screen Mona Singh. Its sad that her role is small but I am sure she will be seen often now on Big screen where she deserves to be. She is a total bindhast actress without inhibitions and that makes her performances very real. Javed Jaffery, who does his job well, has a surprise role which comes at a surprise moment. The twist comes at interval and is really makes audiences to come back to theatre soon.

The music is already chart-buster though 2 songs seems to be out of place. Shantanu Moitra does a fab job as Music Director and so does Swanand KirKire as lyricist. However, the first half is cramped with songs. That’s one of the downer in this film with another being a low excitement phase after the initial roller coaster ride where Rancho explains the need of right education. That 5-10 mins are less catchy.

Apart from that, the movie has so many things packed in its long running lengths of 2hrs 45min but those are all so interesting and unique that you will won’t move ur eyes off the screen. Over hyped and hideously marketed Hollywood movies (read AVATAR here) must take a clue from our own desi Raju Hirani on how to make big length movies without making them feel lengthy.

The production values are great and Vidhu Vinod Chopra must be thanked to bring so many genius talents for one project. Not always such things happen though we pray it does.

So all is well that ends well. The movie leaves you spellbound and enlightened. And that’s why movies are for… to entertain and enlighten…. isn’t it?

BR Rating: ****1/2
BR Verdict: EXTRAORDINARY!!!
BR Recommends: Watch it with full family and friends. If you can afford, sponsor your neighbourhood for the movie. It won’t go waste. Schools and colleges must sponsor this movie to the pupils and parents both. States must give tax free status to the movie immediately. It’s an unforgettable Xmas gift from Bollywood to the world.

It handles a very important subject which can help avoid wastage of sheer talents (due to faulty education and social system) which this country is able to produce.

Run…. book the tickets … because those aren’t available aplenty.