With Aditya Chopra at the helm, YashRaj Banner has started experimenting with different kind of scripts and formulas. It from the box office report card, one can say that it has not succeeded in the endeavor. When YashRaj was dishing out candy floss entertainers with different flavors of love all these years, they have been accused of not trying different stories and not trying untraded path.

I feel Aditya Chopra has guts and enough balls to keep everything at stakes and try to be honest with story telling. From the floral carpets of Switzerland to scenic locales of New York and London, YashRaj has always been synonymous to Glamor, Grandeur and Beauty.

But Aditya tried his hands at different genres ranging from speedy entertainers like Dhoom Series to rustic local stories like “Aja Nach le”. From over progressive (with wrong assessment of the word “progressive”) “Niel and Nikki” to fully regressive “Lagaa Chunari Mein Daag”.

While he has got business success with experiments like “Bunty aur bubbly” which I found to be below average movie, he had lost battle with movies like “Tashan”. While he achieved landmark success with movies like “Dhoom”, he lost credibility with a fast paced racing movie like “Ta Ra Rum Pum” which I found actually worth 4 stars (Don’t you think people would have identified with todays recession times? It had a wrong time release. No one believed there can be lack of money in those times.)

In the mean while when he traded different paths with “Kabul Fiza”, he got critical acclaim. When he delivered different punch with “Chak De India”, he got both critical and box office success. In the mean while, safe bets like “Bachana ye Haseeno” proved to be successful.

I know you will be wondering why I am writin autobiography of Aditya Chopra in a Movie Review. But I must tell you that “Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi” is releasing at a very very important point in YashRaj Banner’s history where people are most skeptic about them. There has been a mixed bag or reviews and responses on this movie and I really wonder when people give 2 or 3 stars to this movie and some do not stop abusing it also.

The history of Yashraj Banner with Aditya Chopra as the captain is very important when reviewing this movie. After watching RNBDJ, I can say that Aditya has got balls. When many of his experiments failed, when he is facing turbulent times at box office, he never compromises with scripts and story telling. He is honest with the story and scripts demands. When we expect experimentation from a successfull banner who has been a factory of candy floss romance over decades, we shall be ready to understand the fact that box office results are going to be different for each experiment. We can not expect each film to be successful or perfect.

People can come up with examples like Aamir Khan Production or Farhaan Akhtar production which has huge success rate while being experimental. But here the point is they are not producing movies at the volume which YashRaj Banners produces.

I know there is a big anti-YRF lobby working in the industry now may be because of the wrong monopolistic methods they tried to applying their hey days with multiplex owners, etc. But everyone learns from mistakes and one shall not overlook the benefits they have brought into many lives.

Aditya Chopra has been pioneer in establishing Studio Format Business Model which was dead in India but is popular in Hollywood. Here, he is not part of every film but gives opportunities to people who could have never got an entry into a camp like YashRaj. Yashraj is mobilizing a lot of money into the industry and enabling new directors which new ideas. They are even giving chance to good actors like Ranvir Shorey (Aja Nach Le) and Vinay Pathak (Rab ne) to be part of A+ grade movies which could have been very hard for them otherwise.

Are you going to write off all this? If you calculate the investment and money mobilization this banner has done, if you calculate the amount of income generated by this banners prodigies in outside banners, you will finally know that Aditya has indeed progressed the Bollywood Industry.

Give him a break please!

History apart, a movie is a movie and we shall review it as an individual piece of art.

The movie is about a common man with as common name as “Surinder” aka “Suri” (Shahrukh Khan) and a girl next door “Tani” (Anushka Sharma). They both get married under unavoidable circumstances. Suri is average working class human and Tani is bubbly, enthusiastic, full of like Modern Indian Girl with fire in her belly.The incidence kills the spirit of Tani. She told she would never be able to love again and give love to Suri but she would try to be the best wife.

But Sury who had been in love with her at first sight, is hell bent to get her love him. He wants Tani to love him as he is. His triumphs in doing so is what this story is about.

Suri observes Tani’s fascination for “Heroes” in bollywood movies while watching movies with her. He asks his hair stylist friend Bobby (Vinay Pathak) to transform him into a stud. And he does that and gives birth to “Raj”… Suri’s another avatar who just wants to see Tani Dancing in her dance class.

Wearing Tight Jeans, Tight T-shirts with most bright colors and weird combination in the world, Raj bumps into Tani at the dance class. By some mistakes, he has to appear as partner with Tani. He had no plans to continue as Raj, but had to due to the bonus of getting able to dance with Tani every day and to know her better. What happens next is a fun fair and a family film.

I won’t disclose more as I think everything is already said about the story of the movie and we shall try to keep it as secret as possible.

The story is unusual, unique and never been told in Hindi Cinema. The protagonist played by a person who is labeled as most romantic hero of bollywood is appearing in most unlikely avatar. The heroine of the movie is not as per strict standards of Yashraj Banners and is as good as any other girl we see everyday. The story does not have locales of Newyork, London or Europe (the movies now a days have made us believe that there are stories to be told only about NRIs. Aajkal Indian me Indians rahte hi kaha hai?). The story does not happy chiffon sari clad beautiful female protagonist.

At first reactions, we may reject many parts of the movie, but when you do some deep thinking, you come to know that Shahaditya has not let down the story. They have been honest to it. They could have brought unbelievable twists in the tales and could have presented Raj as most fine romantic character. But they have gone by the surroundings of the characters in the movie and had been loyal in bringing out characters which are real to the story and its happenings. Thats why Raj is not pure sophistication but is modern rustic jaat young man with his own rough edges. Nor Tani  is a sample of unachievable sculpture of glamor.

Do you think that Yashraj shall never attempt such story? Do you think Shahrukh who has been accused always about doing typecast roles of romantic interest of already engaged woman, shall not try his hand at something as different and unique as Suri?

Will you write off the guts of these guys? Well, then you shall not demand experimentation at the first place.

Aditya Chopra has strong command over the movie from the first frame to the last. He knows what story he wants to tell, what is the story about and how it shall be told. He is honest to the story and tries to give all the entertainment and drama in that format.

We never feel detached to the happenings of the on screen events barring few (20-30) minutes in between where things get little bit stretchy and boring. There are few scenes which you can say are part of average low budget hindi movie (like the Sumo fight) and there are some lengthy scenes which may distract some people from the proceedings of the movie.

But soon Aditya manages to get it back on track.
SRK puts all his cloths of a super star and slips into the shoes (slippers?) of the character of Surinder. Also in the modern and hip role of Raj, he does not get smooth suave characters as he used to play. Raj is also having the rustic Jaat feel on the character and some times goes as overboard as appearing cheap. SRK shall be applauded for his courage to accept such role. Aditya Chopra shall be rewarded to produce a movie with such characters.

Newcomer Anushkha Sharma surprises with her finesse and prowess in portraying the role of Tani. She comes as pleasant surprise though she is not standard heroine. It would be interesting to see how she manages her further career (I hope she does not end of like Gracy Singh).

Vinay Pathak as Suri’s Friend Bobby is a surprise element of the movie and does full justice to the role. He is the lite element in the movie.

The cinematography is excellent. The screenplay could have been little tighter. The choreography could have been much much better. The main week part of the movie is music. Salim-Sulaiman fails to give numbers which are expected from Yashraj banner. Though “Haule Haule” is good, “Tuzh me rab dikhta hai” is good. “Dance Pe chance mar le” is catchy but not an immortal dance number.

The surprise song where all YashRaj’s current heroines (Kajol, Bipasha Basu, Lara Dutta, Pretty Zinta) features is also not very good nor the song where SRK woes Anushkha as Raj. Aditya Chopra sure lacks in choosing good music as his dad, Mr. Yash Chopra used to excel in that.

It is a family movie and you can watch it with your it together with your parents and kids (adding to revenues of Bollywood). So go watch it . On the whole, the film is full on Shahrukh Khan-Aditya Chopra entertainer and we can call them as Rab ne bana di jodi- “Shahaditya”.

BR Rating: ***1/2
BR Verdict: Very Good!
BR Recommends: Watch it with full family and friends. Shahaditya Rocks!

The deadliest date for some and lickiest  date for few. Many people had eyes on this date for different reasons. Few had fear, few had faith. Sports buff were waiting for it due to Olympics….. and we…. the madly-in-love-with-bollywood crowd…. we were waiting for it due to this years most awaited movie…. Singh is Kinng!

Of course it had to be awaited…. because… it is Akshay Kumar’s Tribute to his community. It is his 2nd attempt after “Namastey London” to win the international market. It is from the producer of “Namastey London” and Director of “Welcome”…. 2 of the biggest hits of 2007 from Akshay Kumar. Not but the least, its lead pair is most successfull actor and actress of 2007. So the expectations are sky high.

Billion Dollar question is: Are those fulfilled?

That’s why I am hear for. To give you the insight of the movie. To help if decide whether or not you shall spend your hard earned money and precious time on this flick.

So whats the story? Actually its something I had not expected (I should stop building my own stories after watching promos), but whatever they offered is full roller coaster ride of fun (fulltoo), thrill(few) and emotions (enough). All this together, they provide a proper bollywood nautanki. The good part is they were clear about their vision and they succeeded getting it on silver screen.

The story of the nautanki goes somewhat like this:

Lucky Singh (Sonu Sood) is from same”Pind” i.e. village as Happy Singh (Akshay Kumar). The most common thing in them is they both are hated by their community and people but for total different reasons. Lucky Singh is King of Underworld in Australia. He is Don of Dons. He is disliked in his village as he has defamed his Sikh Community and his village. On the other hand Happy Singh is disliked due to his extra helpfullness. He is always trying to help others but does a greater damage in the process. So he becomes kind of headache to the fellow villagers.

So his friend Rangila (Om Puri) devises a plan to get him out of the village by blackmailing him to volunteer into the cause of getting Lucky Singh back from his vinoumous journey to nowhere but death. Happy easily gets trapped but he also brings in Rangila with him in the journey.

What happens next is the story of the movie… which is quiet unusual headless comedy, so go enjoy it personally.

Let’s first talk about promotion of the movie. I must congratulate Vipul Amrutlal Shah for his faith in his product and putting so much money on promotion. Apart from that he deserves appaluse for the production values, great unseen locales and of course his endearing support to Akki in becoming the new Super Star of Indian Movies.

Then comes the second pat on the deserving back of the director, Anees Bazmee. From “No Entry” to “Welcome” to “Singh is Kinng”, Anees is climbing success ladde. Congratulations to him for pulling of another headless comedy so well.

On the music side, Pritam (Singh?) Chakroborti has given another smash hit album for Akshay Kumar. The Title track is already topping the charts followed by the “Jee Karda” track picturised on marvelous locations of egypt with santilatting, sensuous Katrina Kaif dancing to the great thumpy tune with the Punjabi Munda Akki. The 2 million rupees SnoopDog and Akki song is used unfortunately at the end titles. End title video songs are so much hard to watch properly with 80% of audience standing to leave the cinema hall. What a waste!

Cinematography is awe inspiring. The action scenes are breath taking. Choreography is inspiring. Screen play is taught and the dialogs are hillerious, emotional and hard hitting where needed.

Covering all the other departments above, I had left the best part for the end and that is performances. Akshay Kumar leads the all other talented lot. He performance both the villager part and the Kinngs part with elane. Katrina Kaif compliments him perfectly. Kirron Kher is excellent. Sonu Sood is outstanding. He has got the most meaty action scene of the movie and that will help him grab some more A+ class movies. There are many other characters and each has significant and sufficient screen time even the movie is just over 2 hours. Ranvir Shorey succeeds in impressing again. Neha Dhupia is able to attract all the eyeballs on her despite presence of the another Kat. She does her job well.

So the thorn has been bestowed upon the Kinng finally! Akki is King… New international superstar of bollywood. I hope with “Chandi Chauk to China”, he becomes true flagbeerer of Global Bollywood Movies. I pray for him and bollywood.

BR Rating: ***1/2
BR Verdict: Very Good!s
BR Recommends: Watch it with full family and friends. Get mad with the comic rollercoster ride.

Vikas Sagar (Zayed Khan) and his wife Anjali (Sherya Saran) are electronic news media reporters. They are having troubled marriage due to his passion for news and career. In that endevour he gots an opportunity to work with Al Zahur channel in Istanbul. As opposed to Anjali’s wish, Vikas grabs the job and lands at Istanbul. Little that he knows, what is going to happen next.

In his introduction with his colleague i.e. Owais Hussain (Sunil Shetty) and his boss Ghazni (Nikitin Dheer), he is mentioned not to try to visit 13th floor which is guarded like a Big secret. Unfortunately, Vikas is directed to 13th floor by his fate and some incidences

Owais is killed by terrorist Khalil nazir (Shabbir Ahluwalia) and his photo is put on wall in office. Vikas desires to solve the mistery behind that. He is pushed in to it by an unknown person who later turns out to be Rizwan Khan (Vivek Oberoi).

Later after some incidences and unfolding of stories behind the wall and Rizwan, Vikas and Rizwan become friend and joins hand in the mission…. Mission Istanbul.

What happen next is the story which you can watch on screen.

Everything till now is very good. The movie grips the audience at start and we expect a world class action packed suspense thriller. But the writers soon ran out of creative juices and Apoorva Lakhiya is left in lull for proper story to tell. He demonstrated his spark when he has properly written first half, but he could not help much to save the 2nd half which goes down spirally to useless and ineffective fight scenes.

Can these guys not feel what is happening with the movie when they write or read the script? Don’t they prepare a story board? Can’t they prepare a low rez version of the movie using pre-production tools easily available around? Why do they have to realize their mistakes after the movie is released? Now a days movies are in profit always due to many kinds of rights (music, satellite, home video, etc).

I mean isn’t it real waste of money and time of the audience (its clear that there money is secure) ?

The first half is very complex to understand because there are many events coming out of the blue but due to the underlying suspense  we are glued to the seats for some time. Once the things start to become clear, the movie sleeps through the director’s hand and he does not have much to tell or he fails to interestingly tell whatever he has in hand.

The production values from Suniel Shetty’s  are top notch. We feel like we are going to witness an international level plot with Hollywood kind of sleep packaging, but the content lets down the movie.

On performance side, Vivek Oberoi gets a meatty role and he does justice to it. But his character does not have much once his story is revealed.   Zayed sure has good acting talent and does his part well. Shreya Saran does her job well. Suniel Shetty is there for a small role and is ok. Shweta Bhardwaj has great body but she needs some more movies to brush up her acting skills. She has same kind of expression all through out the movie.

Shabbir Ahluwalia is strictly ok and so is Nikitin Dheer. But Dheer does have an impressive body which can help him be Indian Hulk. Even his face looks like that. Can someone do it?

The music has only one good song which is used at end title. So three music directors can not create great magic in this department. Also songs are used even when those are not needed. Old habits, die hard…. huh?

The other department which shines is Cinematography.

So there is nothing much in store for us to go and watch it in theaters.

BR Rating: *1/2 (extra half for few good scenes and cinematography)
BR Verdict: Below average.
BR Recommends:  Wait till it comes on tv. Or even it won’t make any difference if you totally miss it.

You have seen it in Genelia D’Souza’s first Hindi movie “Tuze Meri Kasam”, you have seen it in many other films. A boy and girl who are studying together and are bonding so well that everyone else except themselves think as a perfect made for each other couple. After some ups and downs, they realize that they really are made for each other. So everyone has a happy ending.

Cliched storyline… isn’t it? But who says one shall not make movies on such repeated story lines if they have some new ways of telling it? Haven’t Manmohan Desai made at least half a dozen movies on same story line of lost and found formula? Isn’t every successive movie of his was bigger success than earlier?

As I often say in my reviews, a movie which is able to create an immersing experience for audience is a good movie. If a movie with repeat story does that, why deny it from its fair share of praise?

So why do critics has to talk about the cliches and lack of innovative story? What about innovative presentation? And if they can not relate to this movie, I must say they are too old to watch it. Be young at heart and watch this movie.

Aditi (Genelia D’Souza) and Jay (Imran Khan) are so thick friends that everyone think that they are … yes… made for each other. But they don’t think that about each other and laugh at it when they come to know that even their parents are trying to get them engaged. They decide to find a life partner for each other as they know each other better. So Aditi finds a girl for Jay. Jay really gels well with her.

Aditi senses that Jay is getting away from her and she starts to realize how much she really wants him in her life. But she tries to get away from that thought by getting engaged to someone else.

With lots of interesting twists and turns at the end, they unite. Happy Ending. Period

There is nothing much to talk about the story as its same old wine in new bottle…. but wait…. the new bottle is what makes all the difference…. and the older the wine the more classier it is.

From the first few scenes, we get involved with the characters sketched on celluloid for us. We forget that we are seating in the dark theatre with 100s of more people around us watching it. We just get absorbed inside the life of those bubbly, chirpy, happy characters on the screen. We try to re-live the magic of that age… (and we don’t even need to say that about the same age audience).

Abbas Tyrewala makes us weak in our knees with his prowess of storytelling, writing, dialogs, direction. Everything about this movies is just perfect. But still few things are unique which I must mention them here :

1. The relationship between Aditi and her brother
2. The relationship of Jay with her mom
3. The relationship between Jay, his mother and his father (?)
4. The character sketch of Jay’s new girlfriend

Every track, every stream, every ITEM of this movie is so well fitted and so properly interwoven that this script, screenplay will be an object of study for next generations.

The songs are perfect and already rulling the charts. A. R. Rahman again impresses us with a new sound and we appreciate his mastery over music whole hearted …. God knows how many times.

The choreography is perfect. The casting is spot on. The performances by everyone, everyone means absolutely everyone, is perfect.

Imraan never makes us feel that this is his debut movie. He is so seamless and yes… perfect. Genelia has done same role many times and hence she is …. perfect. Special mention to the actor who has played her brother. Extra special metion of Ratna Pathak and Nasiruddin Shah as they are … yes, perfect. Paresh Rawal in a small role is perfect (after all we thought that he is overdoing himself in the Priyan style movies). Double Special mention of Sohail Khan and Arbaaz khan in the cameo. They have got the best role of their life and they are not going to get it again in their life…. in this movie they are perfect.

Kudos to Abbas Tyrewala, Kudos to Amir Khan…. Kudos to everyone involved in this movie… They are perfect…

Everything in this movie is perfect….

This movie is a masterstroke.

It is a Cult!

Period.

I am giving 5 star for the first time to any movie and I was waiting from ages for that.

BR Rating: *****
BR Verdict: EXCELLENT !!
BR Recommends: Who am I to say anything? Just go and watch this movie again and again.

It starts with 2 kidnapped kids who run out of the trap of the goons. They take shelter in a Krishna Temple where they are saved by a pujari who is actually “Naradamuni” in disguise of the pujari. After the goons are kicked out by him, he takes them to “swarga” (heaven) and tells the story of Lord Vishnu and his 10 Incarnations.

It talks about all the avatars starting from Matsya to Lord Krishna. Each era, each hero is explained in details but in pace so you know everything and even do not get bored. Once all the initial avatars are over where we are not aware of much details due to our lack of Indian mythology, things get more interesting when movie reaches to the Story of Bhakta Pralhad and Narsimhvavatar. After that with the introduction of Parashuram, the movie reaches interval.

The first half can have mixed bag of reactions from different age groups. Though the second half takes it to another height as there are more familiar stories about Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, etc.

Even attempting this movie was kind of suicide. As we call it its like lifting the “ShivDhanushya” and the director has done it well. Hats off to the screenplay writer who has woven the narration so flawlessly flowing. The director deserves applause for the perfect HIGH TORQUE prensentation of so much huge subject.

Apart from that the animation is of international standards. It is even better than wht Toonz have shown us till now. Better than Hanuman and all previous movie. That is the level Indian Animation has reached today.

They have used 3D portions seemlessly wherever necessary with the basic 2D format. That is something new. This happens when the director understands that the medium is just a method or tool to present the story and it shall not overshadow the actual story. Nowhere you feel that you are watching a cartoon film or kids film. That is what animation film should be. We need to explain Indian public that animation is not for kids only. It is a medium which has unlimited possibilities which can portray never before seen visuals which are not possible (at least in our budgets) in normal cinema.

There are 2 high points of the movie as per me.

First is Narsimhavatar. It is orchestrated so beautifully and at the climax of that story a marvelous crescendo of audio visuals immerses the audience totally in the experience.

Second is “Vishwarupdarshan” or display of divinity by Lord Krishna to Arjun. I mean I was so stumped by it that I felt like I am watching it actually. That is what is called as cinematic experiance.

The background music is another important part of this movie which is as important as the visuals. The music director Anand Kurhekar has fabulous job on it. The songs are good and used intelligently to take the story forward (Narasimhvavtar, Ramvatar, Krishanavatar, etc.).

In the voice over by Shatrughna Sinha is used for narration. The other sutradhar of the story are the 2 kids, Naradmuni and the apsara. The boy voice is not very good and it sometimes artificial accent irritates. Also same with the Apsara. The best voice acting is done by Sachin Khedekar. That is a perfect casting. Sheryas Talpade as Narada is also good. Everyone has done justice to their part.

I must congratulate Percept Pictures which is no synonymous with animation films in India to support and distribute this film. They have done excellent promotion and I hope the movie shall pick with word of mouth publicity.

Too small kids will get afraid because there are too many rakshasas and to many fighting scenes which was obviously unavoidable. The dark portrayal of those can get the smaller kids to cry. I think the movie is perfect above 10 age group and mostly 10 to 20 and then 35 and onwards will like it very much. So this becomes a perfect movie for full family.

Apart from cartoon channels, this movie can find place in religious channels also due to its detailed portrayal of stories in “Purana”. The older age group people will love it. I recommend the “Vishwarupdarshan” the most for them.

So to get your lessons in mythology in most enjoyable way, visit your nearby theatre and watch “Dashavatar”.

BR Rating: ***
BR Verdict: Good!
BR Recommends: Recommended to full family. See your Gods in action!

That’s all about commercial aspects of the movie, now lets talk about the actual movie. The movie requires a mandatory pre-requisite… keep your thinking body parts at home…. that points to your brain. I can’t understand Nadiadwala’s fascination about underworld and Dons….. but this time it worked out properly thanks to writer-director Anees Bazmee.

The story is hilarious in first hearing itself. A Don based in Hong Kong, Udaybhai (Nana Patekar), is  looking for a “shidha sadha sharif” young man for their lovely princess sister – Sanjana (Katrina Kaif). Helping him in his endeavor is his another Don Friend, Majanoobhai (Anil Kapoor). Evenafter having “paisa hai, shoharat hai, ijjat hai” as Udaybhai says, they are not able to get the suitable man for their sister due to their infamous track record so they keep looking and saying “bas ek sharif ladka chahiye jisase ham hamari bahen ko shadi kara sake”.

After failed efforts from Udaybhai, Majnubhai takes the controls of this task in his hands and finds the perfect “Sharif ladka”, Rajiv (Akshay Kumar), who is a working at Collectible Arts auctioning company. Rajiv’s uncle or mama, Dr. Ghunghroo (Paresh Rawal) is also on the search of the perfect sharif khandan “jiska kisi bhi criminal se to kya police station se bhi sambhandh nahi aaya ho”. Majnubhai (in his own unique ways) tries to get Rajiv’s uncle impressed by Udaybhai so that he can accept to marry Rajiv with Sanjana.

But as the facts unfold, Rajiv and his uncle come to know that they are dealing with a Don family. They do all their efforts to get out of this relation but somehow or the other, they get back to it again and again of course through hillerious situations. However, Rajiv has already met Sanjana before all this and is really in love with her. He wants to marry him but due to mama’s pressure to marry only with the most “Sharif khandan”, he is unable to do it. Dr. Ghunghroo even tries to bust his engagement ceremony with the help of his sali, Ishikaa (Mallika Sherawat). Rajiv asks why he is doing so. When he come to know the reason, he promises that he will get all the Dons to leave the black underworld and be a “sharif insan” in white collared world.

How he does that, is funny, hilarious, comic joy ride. In it also features, RDX (Firoze Khan) who is Godfather from Italy of these 2 Dons.

The concept and story idea is unique and screenplay written well by Anees Bazmee and Abbas Tyrewala. However may situations are repetitive (feels like film is going round and round) and the screenplay could have been better. The direction is taught and pace is good. Anees is successful 2nd time to keep client glued to the seats and also jumping with laughter frequently throughout the movie. Some comic situations are forcily placed and stretched too far, however no one complains because those really keep audience rolling on the floor with laughter.

On the performances side, Nana Patekar steels the show. He is really a veteran who can take care of any character or role and carry the movie on his shoulders. People connect with him immediately. Anil kapoor looks awesome at this age and can really give the new young film stars real run for their money. He compliments nana perfectly and gets lots of laughs and giggles out of the public. The timing between the 2 is perfect and its a pleasure watching them together. They shall do more films together (preferably comic).

Paresh rawal is perfect in his role. He again gets people smiling and laughing. Katrina Kaif is OK in her small role.  However another scene stealer is Mallika Sherawat. She impresses with her performance and gells with the movie perfectly. This film can be her official entry to A-grade mainstream bollywood movies.

From the list of other huge supporting cast, Vijay Raaz is noticeable again. Others who need mention are Supriya Karnik, Snehal Dhabi, Adi Irani, Mushtaq Khan and Sherveer Vakil. Firoze Khan is good and does justice to his job. Suniel Shetty is there as guest appearance in which he is ok.

Cinematography is excellent. Production values great. The only downer is music even after having so many music directors. The welcome song should have been used properly and not in the end credits.

On the whole, this movie is already a big hit and continues to be. You can watch it again and again after time intervals.

BR Rating as a movie: ***

BR Rating as an entertainer: ****

BR Verdict: Good!

BR Advise: Hop in! Join the funride!! Welcome!!!

The White Feather Montage has the “kaante” song in the background… it was exactly what I was thinking… “jaane kya hoga rama re….”

As there are 10 different stories, we will divide those into the best, the good and the bad categories:

The Best:

‘Matrimony’ directed by Sanjay Gupta:
Story: Simple, but with intense twists. Story about a married couple. Mandira Bedi plays the bored wife of busy businessman, Arbaaz Khaan. Every Thursday, Mandira visits her aunt who is aging and ill. However as story unfolds we find out that she isn’t really doing that Thursday ritual. Whom she meets and whats the end of the story is good to watch. The twists and turns in the story keeps audiences hooked to it. Performances are perfect by all the cast. Caption of the Ship (or small boat?) Sanjay Gupta impresses with his stylish yet apt narrative and crisp direction. Very good choice to keep it first story of the movie. Makes audience ready to be acceptable for more.
BR Rating: ****

‘Pooranmashi’ directed by Meghana Gulzar:
Very unusual setting from all other stories. Has the “mitti ki sugandh” to it. Very beautifully narrated by Meghana Gulzar (sans any style, glitz and glamor). Settings are in a panjabi village (not very bollywood stylish with dancing sardars or makke di roti sarso da saag types). Its between the mother (Amrita Singh) and her daughter (Minisha Lamba). The story has unpredictable twists and makes you emotional. Very beautiful.
BR Rating: ****

‘Rice Plate’ directed by Rohit Roy:
I am impressed with sanjay gupta’s perfect choice for this stories director. Rohit Roy surprises all with his sensitive story telling style. He keeps the grip on the story and keeps audience interested in it. Handling stalwarts like Nasiruddin Shah and Shabana Azmi and using them best isn’t always easy. But Rohit the does the job he has given by gupta with perfection. Extraordinary story which depicts sensitive issue of communal differences and falseness very simple and human manner. Performances are ofcourse outstanding.
BR Rating: ****

‘Strangers In The Night’ directed by Sanjay gupta:
Neha Dhupia and Mahesh Manjarekar are celebrating their anniversary. They have very unusual way doing that. Every anniversary, they tell a most unforgettable moment of their life to each other which they have not told each other till date. Last anniversary Mahesh had told his unforgettable moment of having a one night stand experience in a drunken mood with another woman. Neha ofcourse as they had pact, forgiven him for that after his apology. This year, its her turn and she tells her unforgettable moment she had with a man in the Railway Station waiting room. However as the story unfolds, our understanding of her and her story changes as it does for his husband. Worth a watch. Striking story with very sensitive issue at the end of it. Sanjay Gupta is surely a master storyteller and again takes us by surprise by his way of narrative.
BR Rating: ****

The Good:

‘Zahir’ directed by Sanjay Gupta:
A Banker turned writer, essayed with ease by Manoj Bajpai, shifts to his new home which is opposite a nice young lady (Diya Mirza). They get familiar and spend quality time with each other. Manoj who is recently out of a broken relationship, gets attracted to her and tries to say be intimate with her. She says NO to him and says she will never see him again. A guilty Manoj is sulking within for his mistake and can not enjoy the fun he is supposed to have with his group of friends. But there only he faces a shocking secret about her. Whats that? You can watch the movie for it. The shocks does not stop there only. At the end of the story you get to know something which hits you like 4000 watt current. This is again directed by Sanjay Gupta. Very well told emotional story. The performances are first class. Young audience goes ga ga over this.
BR Rating: ***

‘Sex On The Beach’ directed by Apoorva Lakhia:
Directed by Apporva Lakhia, this is suspense thriller story presented in a spine chilling way. Dino Morea who is chilling on a beach listening to his favorite music, finds a book with a pen. There are signatures on it and he also signs it with that pen out of curiosity. He starts reading it and the events in the books starts happening to him…. What are those… you can watch yourself. Debutante Tareena Patel exposes her assets with ease as per the demand of the script. Dino is good. Apporva Lakhia has done remarkable job.
BR Rating: ***

‘Love Dale’ directed by Jasmeet Dhodi:
Follow your heart and take your chances to win your love of life. This is what this story is about. But its depicted in a very mystical magical fashion. Neha is a good thinking girl going to get married soon. While traveling back to home, she meets a woman who wearing only one earing in her ear. She asks her about it. This incidence changes her life and helps her meet her love of life, Aftab Shivdasani. Her dad, Anupam Kher, tells her to choose what her heart says over her brain. She finally opts for her love. Good performances by all in the cast. Newcomer Jasmeet Dhodi proves to be a good director.
BR Rating: ***

‘Gubbare’ directed by Sanjay Gupta:
“Jindagi utani bhi lambi nahi jitna ham samazte hai” tells nana patekar to newly married Anita who just had an argument with her husband Rohit Roy and sat near him. He is having balloons in his hands which he tells he uses to apologizes her wife. Nana’s intriguing discussion with Anita bring interesting chemistry he and his wife has. As the story unfolds, Anita understands that its better to use the time we have in our life to it fullest happiness and avoid fickle arguments. Nana Patekar breaths life into the character of the man with balloons in his hands. Sanjay Gupta handles the simple heart touching tale with Elane. Good one again, Sanjay!
BR Rating: ***

The Bad:

‘Rise and Fall’ directed by Sanjay Gupta and Hansal Mehta:
Is this outcome of the rise and fall of relationship of Sanjay Gupta and Sanjay Dutt? Just kidding, but hey, Gupta has wasted Sanjay Dutt in this. Totally confused story without nothing much to talk about. The overtly stylized direction confuses the story more. Sanjay Gupta has collaborated with Hansal Mehta for this story. Why two directors needed for a 10-15 min story? I think the collaboration was confusion and the outcome is totally confusing to audience. The actors are wasted.
BR Rating: *

‘High On The Highway’ directed by: Hansal Mehta
We wonder what the two young urban friends, Jimmy Sheirgill and Masumeh doing on the highway. While listening to the dialogs we come to know that they are college students whose college years are near completion. Then why do they look like they are staying in a road side dhaba like home on the high way? Do they have a home near the high way or what? The director tries to be stylized however the screenplay does not give any clue to the audience whats exactly happening and why? Also the story does not create any experience or tells any significant philosophy or something else for that matter. Hansal Mehta has spoiled this. This should have been put somewhere in the middle. Performance by the lead actors are ok.
BR Rating: *

Overall, it is a good experience to watch this movie. However it will be be a trend setter hit. This is like a chill out experience. Kind of seating in a lounge with friend listening to good music or seating in a coffee shop reading a short stories book. It does not create a whole fun filled bollywood movie experience for us. But the attempt deserves applause and support.

However, finally I come to conclusion that cinema is not a good medium to tell multiple stories. But I would certainly prefer if any good literature, short stories are made into small 10-15-20 mins movies like these. It can be made available for purchase by choice online as a downloaded file for personal video players or assorted DVD posted later to the purchasers. Something kind of that. Some commercially viable system shall be made for such short movies (not necessary to be released as full movie backed by good production house to reach it to audience). But good directors certainly shall create short stories also and not only full length movies. It will be good to watch a collection of our choice of such short movies whenever we want with friends or alone. Afterall watching a full length movie is a big task, so small ones like this can be some kind of literary experience… we can call it visual literature.

BR Rating: ***

BR Verdict: Good!

BR Advise: If you want some different cinematic experience, you can watch it.

- Reviewed By : Prashen H. Kyawal

Maaaaadhuri!

The first opening shot sets the tone of the movie… its about dance, music, art and also it is about happiness, love, culture, goodness in human beings. If you apply the first 15 min formula (word courtesy my friend, raj), you know that this movie rocks! It grips you from the first scene till the last scene.

The story starts in flashback which madhuri tells to her daughter. Its about shamali. Its about shamali when it was alive. Shamali is a town where there is an ancient theater called ajant theater. Makarand (Darshan Zariwala) is a teacher who teaches dance and music to the young girls and boys of shamali. Parents are inhibited to send them their but are not opposed. The kids have all the fun while learning there. Dia (Madhuri Dixit) is the best student of makarand and have great rapport with each other.

One day a national geographic reporter visits to cover Ajanta theater. Dia falls in love with him and flies to America against the will of her parents and the society and everyone in shamali. This event defames the theater and the town is against it. No one sends their children’s to makarand assuming that he had spoiled dia.

Dia faces her destiny in America and gets divorced eventually to be own her own and successful as a dance teacher. She had decided to never return to shamali.

11 years later, as fate had in its mind, she had to come to shamali for her teacher who is on deathbed. He tells dia that the town is going to demolish her loved Ajanta theater for a shopping mall. He hands over the responsibility of saving the theater to dia. Dia take it as a challenge and strives for it.

She meets the MP who is behind the decision. After a small tussle, they have a deal between them. If dia is able to do a show at ajanta in 2 months, he would cancel the orders to demolish the theater. The only condition is, she has to use all the local people as her cast and crew.

Dia is determined to do this and finally achieves it with her efforts. In the process, she makes shamali realizes that its not dead. Music and dance is in the blood of everyone in shamali. Her triumph units the shamali people and brings light in their doomed life. Her show is a grand success and the MP cancels the order. How all this happens is worth watching and treat to our eyes and ears.

This is an interesting story to tell and the screenplay, script writing (jaideep sahani) is first rate. The film has a very good speed and keeps the entertainment quotient high. Kudos to the cinematographer turned director anil mehata who narrates the story smoothly. He zips through the story without harming any aspect of the story telling. He is able to sketch the characters swiftly while keeping the pace. He is able to connect people quickly with so many characters in the movie (are u listening vivek agnihotri of Goal? Learn this!). His direction is magical. It does not appear as his first movie at all. Being a cinematographer, he sure knows the value of the raw film stock and does not waste it at all. He must have used the shoot to edit method and hence the movie is crisp and entertaining.

All the actors and actresses in the movie are perfectly cast. Everyone does their job best. To mention the few are Kunal Kapoor as Imraan who acts as Majnoo in dia’s show. Shushmita Mukherjee, as Mrs Chojar is good. Mr. Chojar, a boring government offices played by Vinay Kapoor is hilarious. His friend, Ranbir shorey, plays mohan, the hotel owner. He is silent lover of madhuri. Her real life majnoo (in the film). Also the child artist who plays the role of dia’s daughter is also good.

The most standout performance is by Akshaye Khanna as a young generation MP. He acts the role with elan and style. He brightens up the screen every time he is there. His character is most contemporary political character we have ever seen in bollywood movies. Both the role and the actors deserves applause.

Irfaan khan as the businessman behind the demolition idea of Ajanata Theatre. He is a such a great actor we have. He is real asset to the today’s film industry. We are also fortunate to have another great actress with us i.e. Konkana Sen Sharma. She is very etheral and moulds herself to any character. He breaths life in the character of Anokhi. She essays her role with perfection. Hats off to her.

After all these discussions, we can not stop without talking about the one and only madhuri. She looks gorgeous, she dances like a dream, she acts like a mastro and she infuses her own bright personality in the role she plays. She is almost in every frame of the movie and still we keep asking for more. This movie belongs to madhuri. The tailer made story for her suits her perfectly. We can certainly say that there can not be better comeback movie for madhuri than this. All we can say is:

Madhuri is back… and how!

BR Rating: ****

BR Verdict: Very Good!

BR Advise: Go Watch it! How can you miss a madhuri movie?

- Reviewed By : Prashen H. Kyawal

But for now, let’s judge it as an individual film on its own merit. To start with let’s look at the story. It the basic plot of a good-for-nothings triumph to win the pride back. It was a good story to tell with some good emotional connects for which Indian audiences always die for.

It starts about south hall football club of (obviously) south hall, London. Its used for all the possible events other than football like weddings, birthdays, etc all. The football team who has it, cleans it up after those not so football events. The club is a precious property which is eyed by the builders for their plush shopping malls/multiplex plans. The owner asks for 3 million pounds to handover it to the club or wants them to vacant it. In the time frame given by them, the next season of football is there for which prize money is same…. 3 million pounds. So it becomes the lifetime aim of the captain shaan (arshad warsi) to free the club from the clutches of the property monsters.

Shaan knows that he needs a good coach to be able to win the championship over even play in it. So he brings in Tony (Boman Iraani). Boman gets on his job after shaan’s efforts to bring him in. What he has at his disposal is a money less club with good-for-nothing team. He brings in the physiotherapist (Bipasha basu), who is also Shaan’s sister, on the panel. At some point of time tony tells her that team is good for defense but not for a strike. They need a goal maker and Bipasha brings in Bhasin (John Abraham).

Then they all have fights, non-operation. Efforts by tony brings them together, etc. In the course of the movie they become a team and fight for what their pride is.

It was a simple story to tell which needed a strong scriptwriting and screenplay. Thats the point where the movie fails. The narrative is plain. There are very few points in first half of the film and first part of the 2^nd half of the film which holds audience attention. Few comic scenes are good so are some camaraderie between the team members, between john and bipasha, between john and arshad. However it does not keep you involved from start to finish.

The main problem behind this is it does not connect the audience to the characters. The characters of 2-3 team members are only highlighted and sketched properly. All others are there just to be there. Also the past of the characters, their personal anguish, the reasons for why they are what they are, are not properly brought up

Film takes lot of time to establish the team as failure and then does not move impressively to the rising journey. The scenes of self realization for the team are not very motivating and can not involve audiences with it.

However, its not a bad film. Its above average film with some good moments, some good excitement, some good emotions all scattered over the film. It fails to hit the bulls eye as lagaan or chak de did. It brings up some crucial issues like racism, etc with which the international audience can connect more. It has a large chunk of movies emotions devoted for that. So it can do well in the south-asian diaspora living across the world.

Speaking about performances, john steals the show. John is the “jaan” of the movie. He is both hot and cool in the movie. He looks hot and his style/attitude is cool. His fan following will definitely grow multi-fold after this movie. He fits the EBCD (england born confused desi like the ABCD- American born confused desi) role to the T and the issue he brings forth about his identity crisis is very important and aptly executed. Check out when he asks his father, who is first generation migrant to London often called as FOB (fresh off the boat), that why he is confusing him about his identity when he thinks himself as a British and not an Indian because he is born and brought up there.

Another good performance is by arshad warsi however he needs to take care of his looks. He should have worked on his looks before this movie. He looks fat and not a sports person. His role also is not very well sketched has ups and downs in characterization. However arshan does the role with elan and conveys what he is told to convey with finesse.

Another important role of the coach is done by Boman Irrani. I wonder why he is kept in his gray beard and poor man kind of looks (when his house does not look so) even after he joins the team and is happy doing that job. He also does not look very fit. He is a big let down in this movie, a weak link I can say. He fails to impress as a coach who can motivate the team. His motivational acts/speeches fails flat with the audience.

Bipasha as the teams physio is good and does her job very well. Her chemistry with john is to look forward. Though her role is small, she does justice to it. From the team, raj zutsi is as the sardarjee is good. The actual player in the team is not used at all and is just been there in the frame.

Cinematography (Attar Singh Saini) of the film is excellent with the final match scenes topping it up. The earlier matches are not made that much exciting visually. I can not guess why so. The billo song is not needed at all and is not in the mood/style of the movie. It takes the movie’s merit down actually. The southall football club’s anthem “dhan dhana dhan goal” is very good and could have been used better in the narration.

Vivek Agnihotri performs well as director but he is not excellent. If he could have made the narration more crisp and movie a little shorter, then this could have been at par with lagaan and chak de.

Production value of the movie is very good. The in-film product placements for western union and Reebok are done very well. The movie will be profitable for the producers (UTV) and will be a hit (as there is not big release to stop its collections) but its actually a above average movie.

To sum up, we can say that the question which was there in speculation in the media that is will Goal be as big hit as chak de! Has got an answer…. No!

D3 Goal wins the match, but it could have been exciting.

BR Rating: **^1/2

BR Verdict: Above average.

BR Advise: Can watch!

- Reviewed By : Prashen H. Kyawal

Om Shanti Om.

Om Shanti Om. It’s a complete method madness.

Is it the movie of a superstar with its super talented team or is it the dream come true of the common man in the superstar….. as the Om says in the movie: “jab tum tahe dil se kisiko chahate ho to sari kayanat use tumse milane ke liye jut jati hai”, same must have happened to SRK….. Om Shanti Om is really the dream come true for him, faraha, his team and ofcourse the most important part…. public…..

The first half is full of trademark shahrukh/farah khan comic acts with plenty of wacky humour. It laughs at bollywood, its cliches, its legands, everything but also pays a tribute to everything which everyone loves about bollywood….. everyone, from the streets to skies…..

Om, who is junior artists on the sets of bollywood in 70s is madly in love with shantipriya the superstar actress and dreams to act with her. The story takes him into her inner circle and she becomes part of his life. While he is on the sky day dreaming about her, he come to notice something about her that breaks his heart…. she loves somebody else.

Later, he finds that her loverboy isn’t really stuck with her but has some other aims and games. There comes the kahani me twist and story takes us to the disaster of shantipriya being burnt alive and om being dead….

Let’s have the look of the first half….

The sets the costumes, the environment of 70s sets the stage for the story…. to be unvieled in 2nd half which happens to be in 2007.

Faraha executes the story as a mastro of cinema…. she sure bring the 70s ambience, freshness, uniqueness, fun and keeps the audience smiling, cheering, laughing and even rolling on the floor with due to the onscreen nautanki which she and srk has brought together. Filmy… very filmy.

The story telling is marvelous in first half. It like watching a real 70s blockbuster…. the first half is very entertaining and has some tight story telling.

par picture abhi baki hai mere dost….

Come to 2nd half and it brings us the superstar of 2007, Om kapoor. The stylish, super confident and overspoiled brat. Here the writer/director servers us with another does of filmy comic book relating to current generation of bollywood. You got to see it to enjoy it.

While doing all this, she takes the story intelligently ahead without avoiding how, when, why questions….. She has integrated the reincarnation revenge story very cleverly in the script using the bollywood as a background which gives her some logic to the happenings.

She makes these things believable without using any cliches normally used in reincarnation. There is intelligent method behind this film’s madness. That’s why its complete method madness.

The 2nd half has some more punches to keep the viewer’s interest alive. You will need to see yourself how this method madness reveals the reincarnation revenge story from 70s to 2007.

Hat’s off to faraha and her co-writer Mushtaq to me the movie enjoyable and believable. The story, script and dialogs are well written. And why story department only, all the other departments, like music, cinematography, choreography, costumes, dialogs, everything is first rate and first class.

If things come out so beautifully after the taskmaster faraha shouts at her team members, she shall keep shoting all the life.

The 2nd biggest credit goes to SRK who is completely into the character of both Oms. He sure have enjoyed the 70’s Om and sure has worked hard to project the 2007’s om. He is perfect in every act he does, every scene he does. His performance will sure take him back to filmfare this year.

In acting department, everyone rocks too. The filmy mom of om played by kiron kher, the always-there-kinda friend of Om inacted by shreyas talpade, the villain played by arjun rampal are the best.

Now let’s talk about deepika padukone. She is as fresh as morning lotus, she is as bright as sunflower. For the first film, her performance is very very good. She deserves the publicity she is getting.

Deepika, Arjun and Shreyas will be most benefitted from this film.

SRK has earned himself one more decade of superstardome…. It can never get better than this for a SRK flick.

On the final notes, err, the climax note… this is a big filmy party and everyone (literally) is invited from reel to real life. Go have your glass of champaign.

Enjoy yourself with this diwali dhamaka. Happy Diwali.

BR Ratings: ****

— Reviewed by: Prashen H. Kyawal

PS: picture abhi baki hai dost…..
I wanted to occomodate another friend of mine for whom ticket was not reserved. I asked the theater person if there is any ticket available in black. He said “ab koyi black ka dhandha nahi karta. black main ticket kharide log aisi film hi kaha aati hai”…..

That says it all. OSO has filled all the seats in all the theaters be it single screen on multiplex…. go grab your ticket fast.