Movie Preview : Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013)

Posted on May 17, 2013 by amodini

Deepika must have gotten over her broken heart, now that she’s doing another very close-to-real-life romance film with the cad :-) . Ranbir is in Ranbir mode, playing the badtameez brat Bunny. Ms. Padukone is straight-laced “scholar” Naina, and she must go it alone, while Bunny hops it with 2 close friends, Kalki Koechlin and Aditya Roy Kapoor (he’s the brother of Kunaal Roy Kapoor of “Delhi Belly” fame), in tow.

The film is directed by Ayaan Mukherjee, the director of the lovely “Wake Up, Sid!”, so I have great hopes for this film. Looks like a colorful entertainer with the usual trimmings of soulful romance thrown in – pure Karan Johar isshtyle! Look out for it May 31st.

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Movie Review : Go Goa Gone

Posted on May 13, 2013 by amodini

Go Goa Gone (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Rating : 2.5/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2013
Running time : 1 hour 51 minutes
Director : Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru
Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Kunal Khemu, Vir Das, Anand Tiwari, Pooja Gupta
Kid rating : A

I read the reviews for this film, and everyone’s like yeah – go see it. I did, and am wondering – did we see the same film? Granted that this is Bollywood’s first zombie film ever – which is a big deal – it’s still an average-bordering-on-poor film. It’s as if the producers were conducting an experiment – how low can you go and still turn a profit?

Two young men Hardik (Kunal Khemu) and Luv (Vir Das) are stuck in jobs they are not interested in, love lives that aren’t going anywhere and presumably nothing interesting happening. So when roomie and straight-arrow friend Bunny (Anand Tiwari) has to go to Goa for a work-related presentation, they tag along. Once there, pretty girl Luna (Puja Gupta) tells them of this rave party on a semi-deserted island. The trio land up there, party away and wake up in the morning to discover that everyone else has turned into blood-thirsty zombies.

They find Luna, who’s luckily also still human. They also come across blonde, Russian party-organizer Boris (Saif Ali Khan) and his sidekick who are looking for a way out of the island. Boris has an accent, a gun and a one-liner “ I kill dead people”. And he does. However he disappears after a while on some mysterious mission and the foursome are left to fend for themselves . . .

I watched the trailer of this film and it had looked good. I mean the things you could do with the situation! Zombies in desiland – quite a novelty? Yes, for those of you who haven’t seen a C-grade American zombie film before. Raj N. and Krishna DK who’ve to date done fairly well in their productions (Shor in the City, 99 etc) run out of ideas here. In the first half of the film there are zombies on the island. In the second half of the film, there are still zombies on the island. Rinse and repeat ain’t quite working so well here.

The film is almost saved by its humor – I add a 1 star just for that. Kunal Khemu is a natural as a perpetually zoned out lad in the throes of laddish humor – i.e.; women as objects. Vir Das (of Delhi Belly fame) is kind of wasted as a somewhat senti, somewhat annoying Luv – a weak and dribbly character. I quite liked Tiwari as the by-the-book seedha-saadha Bunny who follows along with his more adventurous friends. Puja Gupta, who plays Luna, has as much acting talent as the zombies, and I’m being nice. Saif Ali Khan breathes life into the film as blonde Boris, muscular tattooed arms and all, so good job there.

The laugh out loud moments are many. Some of them are plain stupid and juvenile/distasteful but in the heat of the moment they come off OK. Other than that the film got boring after a while. How much can you do with a bunch of zombies on an island? Not much as it turns out because there is no sub-story, no sub-plot here. All we have are zombies, and they, like our heroes, have no redeeming qualities.

The other annoying thing about this movie – it can’t quite make up its mind about what it wants to be. Is it a full-on zombie flick? Is it a tale of three friends on a gone-horribly-wrong adventure? Is it a public service announcement against drugs and drink? A little of each. Maybe. Plus the zoned out threesome suddenly develop feelings – there’s some forced emotion here – repentance, guilt, sadness and even an attempt at being good. Gave me this icky feeling, because as everyone and his uncle knows (and the scriptwriters don’t) – there is no place for desi emotion in a zombie film.

So then, there are exactly 2 reasons to watch this film :

- You haven’t seen a zombie film before.
- You have seen a C-grade poorly produced American zombie film before and liked it.

You decide.

Kidwise : Not suitable for kids although this isn’t a scary film for adults. There’s blood and gore, and lots of slurping sounds as zombies feed on the dead. Humor is inappropriate for kids – so the A rating is apt.

Posted in 2013, bollywood, goofy, horror, quirky, rating-A, rating-R | Leave a comment



Movie Review : Ek Thi Daayan

Posted on May 9, 2013 by amodini

Ek Thi Daayan
Rating : 3.2/5
Genre : Horror
Year : 2013
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Kannan Iyer
Cast : Konkona Sen-Sharma, Emraan Hashmi, Huma Qureishi, Kalki Koechlin, Pavan Malhotra
Kid rating : PG-13

Bobo, the Baffler (Hashmi) is the most successful magician in all of India. He lives a happy, wealthy life with girlfriend Tamara (Qureshi) and child, until one day in the middle of one of his magic shows he starts hallucinating. The hallucination interferes with the trick he is performing and as a result, a performer in his show is injured. Shaken by this experience , and realizing that the hallucination stems from childhood fears, Bobo decides to get help from an old accquaintance.

Sometime later, during another one of his packed shows, Bobo asks for a volunteer and up steps a pretty woman. She calls herself Lisa Dutt (Koechlin), and says she is a fan of Bobo’s having travelled all the way from Canada to meet him. Bobo is shaken – the name is one he recognizes and it brings back bad memories. Now he is sure that evil is underfoot and must take steps to ensure that harm does not come to those he loves most. It might, of course, already be too late.

“Ek Thi Daayan” (There once was a witch) is directed by Kannan Iyer and produced by Vishal Bharadwaj and Ekta Kapoor. While you’d hope that the film is good, Bharadwaj’s recent productions haven’t been quite upto the mark (I wish he’d go back to the genre he does well and stay there!). Having said that, I will say that for the horror genre this isn’t a bad film. Horror has traditionally been badly done in Hindi films; like Bobo, I too have bad memories of it. This film situates it’s characters in the modern world, so it must tie “old-agey” superstition, with a new outlook – a hard act to pull off.

The horror in this film is not grisly or grotesque, but more the horror of anticipation, of bad things about to happen, of a young boy and his even younger sister in a an old, rattling elevator, going down into the depths of the netherworld (each building has its own netherworld, apparently). Bobo remembers his childhood in a dark apartment building, living with his younger sister and widowed father. Enter the evil stepmother Diana (Konkona) who thinks the kids are so cute, she could “eat them up”. You know that bad things are gonna happen, don’t you?

The film succeeds in the first half in making you fear the shadows, and watch some scenes through parted fingers. Konkona Sen Sharma makes a wonderfully evil stepmother and manages to delightfully imbue even her most cloyingly sweet statements with menace – kudos! Huma Qureishi and Hashmi do well too, given that the latter half of the film devolves into cheesy fantasy. The special effects – the daayan-to-dust effect, the slithering evil beings and the writhing daayan hair were quite well done.

Overall a good film – not very scary, but interesting nevertheless.

Kidwise : Scary for young kids, probably appropriate for 13+.

Posted in 2013, bollywood, drama, horror, rating-PG13 | Leave a comment



Movie Preview : Aurangzeb (2013)

Posted on May 4, 2013 by amodini

Brimful of stars, this Yashraj production releases 17th May. It has Rishi Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, southie star Prithviraj (recently seen in Hindi film Aiyyaa), Jackie Shroff. It also has lesser seen actors like Deepti Naval, Amrita Singh and Tanvi Azmi - all great artistes, so this ups the ante. The story is something out of an 80s Amitabh starrer with subterfuge, a double role and the cop vs. criminal fight. Director Atul Sabharwal hasn’t directed any big films yet, but the trailer looks interesting.

Posted in 2013, bollywood, crime, drama, preview | Leave a comment



What to Watch on Netflix Instant : April 2013

Posted on April 27, 2013 by amodini

Headhunters- Headhunters (“Hodejegerne”, Norwegian, subtitled, 2011) : Short-statured Roger Brown is a very successful head-hunter in Norway. He is also, unbeknownst to his beautiful wife Diana, a skilled art thief. When he comes to know that an acquaintance has had an expensive painting bequeathed to him, his fingers itch to steal it. This time however, things don’t quite go his way. This well-made suspenseful film has a lot of, sometimes grisly, violence; advise caution for the squeamish.

- Queen to play (“Joueuse”, French, subtitled, 2009) : Helene is a hotel maid and also cleans for surly, absent-minded Mr. Kroger (Kevin Kline). When she discovers the game of chess, and is enamored with it, she finds that there are few in her blue-collar, working class circle who appreciate it. She asks Mr. Kroger to help her hone her skill at chess.

- Scent of a Woman : This Al Pacino classic has him as a blind, retired army man Lt. Col. Frank Slade. Bristly and rude-natured, Slade lives with his niece. When she must leave for a few days, prep school student Charlie is hired to “babysit” him. A wonderful, slightly dated film, this is a good watch.

Main Meri Patni Aur Woh- The Well-Digger’s Daughter (“La fille du puisatier”, French, subtitled, 2011) : An almost Bollywood like film, this is a tale of a poor well-digger’s daughter in love with a wealthy shopkeeper’s dashing son. This film manages an old-world simplicity, mixed together with notions of honor, love and patriarchy.

- Main meri patni aur woh : A rare, quirky film out of Bollywood, this has Rajpal Yadav as Mithilesh Shukla, a short, nondescript guy married to a tall, beautiful woman. When his wife’s smart, handsome, well-spoken college-time friend moves to the neighborhood, Shukla is beset with insecurity. Here’s the full review of this wonderful movie.

Posted in 2013, action, drama, french, netflix recommendations, norwegian | Leave a comment

Movie Review : Table No. 21 (2013)

Posted on April 21, 2013 by amodini

Table No. 21Rating : 3/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2013
Running time : 1 hour 48 minutes
Director : Aditya Datt
Cast : Paresh Rawal, Rajeev Khandelwal, Tena Desae,
Kid rating : PG-13

I’d almost missed this film, until a friend recommended it as “interesting”. And interesting it is, in its novel story. Sia (Tena Desae) and Vivaan (Rajeev Khandelwal) Agasthi are a couple who’ve won a vacation to Fiji, and are resolved to enjoy it. Amid the beauty of the locales and the splendid amenities and services of their hotel, they are also offered a chance to play a televised game. It seems simple enough, with clear rules which they think they will be able to follow. In view of the high prize money they agree to participate and the game begins. As it progresses the questions and tasks put to them become weirder and more dangerous, and the couple realize that they are in over their heads. . .

This genre of film is vastly underdone in Bollywood, so this was quite a novelty. Also the star cast had Paresh Rawal and Rajeev Khandelwal, both impressive actors. Rawal, although skilled, has been bogged down in mostly comedic roles, but here he plays a menacing, rule-bound taskmaster. Khandelwal I remember from the very engrossing “Aamir”, so I expected great things from him here. Both actors are underused, Rawal atleast manages subtle menace, but Khandelwal seems almost hammy. Tena Desae, a recent model turned actress, comes across as superficial here, although she did quite well in “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”. I do believe that these actors might have done a better job, had they had more to work with and been given better direction.

We know little about the characters of the film; Sia and Vivaan seem a loving couple and reasonable people, but that’s about all the information we have, and the poor acting doesn’t help. It is hard to care about the protagonists as such, so it is not their story that propels the film forward but the series of improbable questions and tasks that are a part of the game. With each question it becomes clear that the game-master has knowledge of their lives, their fears, likes and dislikes. Sia and Vivaan are concerned and so am I as viewer; there is more to this game than meets the eye.

I might be nitpicking here, but the film has a clickety-clackety feel to it. By that I mean that although there is an appearance of slick wealth – Fiji is beautiful, the protagonists young and pretty, the game well orchestrated with technology – it still feels like a shoddy low-budget film. The direction is poor, and the screenplay doesn’t quite flow. The songs are forgettable.

All is revealed in the end, and I have to say that the suspense is well-developed, with nary an inkling throughout the film. The film starts off well, starts to devolve into a C grade entertainer, and then almost redeems itself in the end. Despite its problems, this is a passable one-time watch if you enjoy movies of the suspense/thriller genre.

Posted in 2013, bollywood, drama, rating-PG13, suspense, thriller | Leave a comment

Movie Preview : Gippi (2013)

Posted on April 16, 2013 by amodini

A change of pace for Hindi cinema, Gippi is a coming-of-age story, for kids, or teens rather. Directed by Sonam Nair, who was assistant director on “Wake up, Sid”, this comes to the big screen (on May 10th) via Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions. The film shows promise, and I’m itching to take my kids to this one.

Posted in 2013, bollywood, feel-good, preview | Leave a comment

3 Great Hindi Films NOT To Remake

Posted on April 12, 2013 by amodini

Chashme BuddoorWatching the trailer for the new “Chashme Baddoor” makes me want to list out all the films that should not be remade, especially by David Dhawan. The list is long, but here are 3 out of the many films, that are best left un-remade.

1. Chashm-e-Buddoor : Well, obviously! This is a classic film, best preserved as is, or digitally restored (which kind of worries me, a 1981 film needs restoration? And I was born pre-1981 :-) ). Sai Paranjape’s deft touch makes this a delicate comedy. Here’s the full review.

KATHA2. Katha : This is a magnificent film, starring Naseeruddin Shah, Farooq Sheikh and Deepti Naval. You realize how great an actor Sheikh is when you see him playing fast-talking con-man Basu in this film. He’s effortless; he is Basu. In Chashm-e-buddoor he plays straight-laced, bookish Siddharta with equal ease. Shah is just as fantastic, and plays a good-hearted, simple man fervently in love with his uncaring neighbor Sandhya. This film is also directed by Sai Paranjpe, and is an absolute must-see.

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro3. Jaane Bhi do Yaaron : It was a more innocent time. Films were cleaner, and relied a lot more on a decent story. This film, almost the funniest film ever, is the film to watch. It’s a comedy – true, but has it’s moments of satire and irony. Our heroes are honest buffooons of the first order. They are good people and they think that other people are good too, until they come face-to-face with this corrupt world. Ravi Baswani and Naseeruddin Shah excel. Here’s the full review.

Posted in 2013, comedy, directors, family-friendly, humor, lists, mini-reviews, outstanding, quirky, recommended, remake | Leave a comment

Movie Review : OMG – Oh My God

Posted on April 5, 2013 by amodini

Oh My God (Hindi Movie / Bollywood Film / Indian Cinema DVD) (2012)Rating : 3.2/5
Genre : Drama
Year : 2012
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : Umesh Shukla
Cast : Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Mithun Chakraborty,
Kid rating : PG-13

Kanjibhai (Rawal) is a wily shop-owner selling people devotional statues and objects, under a pretension of great bhakti. After a sudden earthquake, his shop is destroyed and he wishes for compensation from God. He files a court case against God, and all the known Gurus and Babas come to court to defend God’s side of things. Kanjibhai will not be appeased though. Then, the Lord himself comes to earth in the guise of a human in an attempt to show foolish Kanjibhai the error of his ways.

The film is the remake of a Gujrati drama. It is a very unsubtle and shoddy remake, I might add, and seems very TV serial like. I believe the film’s story has a greater message, but it is hammered in by over-the-top, black-and-white, cardboardish characters. What the characters did and why was beyond reasoning, and there wasn’t any structure or flow to the events in the film. They just happened, and were generally accompanied by great, loud yammering dialogues; you get tired after a while listening to unreasonable people who seem to have lost their marbles.

Yes, kurta clad Akshay Kumar is God, for who after all could look more Godly than him? Keep in mind all his antics in films like Khiladi786, Housefull etc. Akshay dons his Godly persona like so much makeup. He smiles and smiles in the film, very benignantly; I imagine he though it made him seem more celestial. Me – all I could do was note that his teeth ended in very sharp points.

Paresh Rawal is the wily Kanjibhai, unwilling to listen to reason even when everyone berates him, and his wife and kids leave him. Rawal is a great actor but he is always given these ham-handed roles. There isn’t one likeable character in the entire film, and smarmy Akshay Kumar in full Bhagwan-style regalia had me doubled up in laughter.

This film is far from divine. You could call it passable at best.

Posted in 2012, bollywood, comedy, rating-PG13 | Leave a comment

Movie Preview : Nautanki Saala

Posted on March 29, 2013 by amodini

I’d never thought he was cut out for Bollywood, but Ayushmann Khurana of Vicky Donor fame is actually getting roles. His upcoming “Nautanki Sala” releases April 12th and promises to be a rollicking comedy, from the looks of the trailer. But one could be wrong.

The film stars Khurana, fellow MTV VJ Gaelyn Mendonca, Pooja Salvi and Evelyn Sharma. There is also Kunaal Roy Kapur, whom you might have trouble recognizing because he is shorn of all facial hair, and you can actually see his face; he was bearded Nitin in Delhi Belly.

Here’s a song from said film:

And just for kicks here’s the original Dhak Dhak song (from the odious 1992 hit Beta) with the Queen of Heaving Bosoms herself – Mrs. Madhuri Dixit Nene. Enjoy :-)

Posted in 2013, bollywood, comedy, preview, remix | 1 Comment