Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews - Part 70Amodini's Movie Reviews | Movie Reviews by Year, Genre and Rating

Supermen of Malegaon

Posted on July 8, 2010 by amodini

Year : 2008
Genre : Documentary
Running time : 79 minutes
Director : Faiza Ahmad Khan
Actors : Shaikh Nasir, Akram Khan, Farogh Jafri, Shafiq, Shakeel Bharati

“Supermen of Malegaon” is a film about the making of another film “Malegaon ka Superman”. Yes, it is not just the Yash Chopras and the Karan Johars with their vast resources who have the desire to make films. It is also an enthusiast in the small town of Malegaon who wishes to see his dreams come alive on celluloid. Having made several small shorts on a next to nil budget, one of them being a spoof on Sholay called “Malegaon ke Sholay”, self-taught filmmaker Shaikh Nasir is set to attempt his next ambitious project. This time, inspired by Hollywood, it is a spoof on Superman. Faiza Ahmad Khan, the creator of this documentary, chronicles his efforts.

This is great for us, because “Supermen of Malegaon” is a treat to watch. Khan documents the film making effort – true, but more importantly she gives us an insight into the passion that drives wedding videographer Nasir to make a film with his meager budget. Nasir’s film, meant to be a parody, takes it’s cues from Bollywood, which means that it has a hero, heroine and a villain, complete with romance, fight sequences and a song. The hero, because he is Superman has a red-and-blue costume with boxers and cape, stitched by the village tailor. Emblazoned on his chest is a bold M for Malegaon. The hero is played by scrawny powerloom worker Shafique, and the heroine is a non-local actress, because the men of Malegaon won’t let their women work outside the home.

Malegaon is a typical Indian small-town – dusty streets, narrow unpaved roads, poverty writ large on the faces of the children that gather to watch the shoot. A textile producing center with powerloom mills, it offers little in the way of entertainment, but is very fond of Bollywood. Little shops derive titles from Hindi blockbusters and kids name hero and heroines by heart. Nasir’s crew is a motley bunch, piecing together the storyline for their film with audience titillating “hooks” like a bomb blast, but adapting it to Indian surroundings. Thus Superman suffers from pollution induced asthma, and the villain is the King of Thu-thu Gutka (tobacco).

Nasir’s film also has stunts, and Superman flying through the air. To achieve these he, along with using techniques like chroma key technology also makes use of rickshaws, trucks (the beloved “public carrier” of Indian roads) and manpower. Thus we have Superman aka Shafiq, flying through the air in front of a green screen, his body balanced on narrow wooden beams that run through his costume, the whole contraption supported on a rickshaw cart and a bunch of willing hands.

While on the surface this film is light-hearted and slap-sticky, it has undertones which show us the lives of the village folk, the poverty and the quiet desperation of it’s people. While Nasir won’t let his younger brother into film-making because he fears that it will turn him into a swagger filled hero with no trade, and is content to restrict his talents to Malegaon, his scriptwriter Farogh and soundman Akram dream of making it big in Mumbai. This documentary might not be a laughter fest, but it does carry along on an upbeat note, chiefly because of it’s people – the passionate and determined Nasir, the hollow-cheeked, frail-looking Shafiq wanting to act like Amitabh Bachchan, the poet Farogh and the marvelously dramatic Akram. Quite inspiring.

The film itself has a “handheld” feel, as though Khan went from person to person asking questions, probing beneath the surface. The humor like the pathos is an undercurrent, and derives from the often quirky situations Nasir faces while shooting the film to his satisfaction.

This documentary ends with the completion and premiere of “Malegaon ka Superman” at Nasir’s old video parlor. It is received with humongous applause by the village people, a fact that leaves Nasir smiling and excited. And this film, the charming documentary that chronicles the making of “Malegaon ka Superman” has been applauded by the rest of the world. “Supermen of Malegaon” has made the Festival rounds garnering for itself many awards, and has finally hit the theaters in the US. It is distributed by FilmKaravan.

A very interesting watch, I highly recommend it.

Posted in documentary, recommended | Comments Off

Movie Review : I hate Luv Storys

Posted on July 5, 2010 by amodini

Rating : Poor (1.5/5)
Genre : Romance
Year : 2010
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Punit Malhotra
Cast : Sonam Kapoor, Imran Khan, Sammir Dattani, Samir Soni, Bruna Abdullah, Ketaki Dave, Anju Mahendru
Kid rating : PG-13

I HATE LUV STORYS (Movie Review) : CLICHED DRIVEL !

Having watched several slick Karan Johar productions, I have no doubt that Johar spares no expense when it comes to his films. So it is a pity indeed that he cannot afford to hire scriptwriters above a mental age of five. “I hate Luv Storys” is the kind of insufferable tripe that poor scripting, a boring storyline and a clueless director can produce.

Here are the basics : Casanova-ish Boy meets Girl, Girl already attached to Mr. Perfect abhors Boy. In true Bollywood-ian style, the repulsion turns into attraction, but filmi problems persist leading to a long, drawn-out yawn of a film. As far as story goes this film comes up with zilch – all we have are conversations where the lead pair talk to themselves and to each other. They also talk to their bosses and co-workers (they both work on the film-set), and it is quite remarkable as to how inane, uninteresting and humorless the dialogues are.

The Girl aka Simran (the very pretty Sonam) is into major introspection and apt to ponder way too much on the meaningless nuances of the Boy’s conversation (“Is my life really filmi ? Is there nothing like Perfect ?”) but that is as far as she gets to doing anything. I rather wish that she’d have slit a wrist or jumped off a cliff instead of just batting her fake eyelashes – that’d have woken me up from the film-induced stupor.

The Boy aka Jay Dhingra (Imran Khan) is cast from the true-blue Johar mould. He is into anything in a skirt, treats women as a use-and-throw commodity, and is probably the most annoying screen character I have had the displeasure of watching this year. If that doesn’t make your insides go all warm and fuzzy ladies, there’s more – he’s got a dodgy work ethic, is boring and has major pretensions at “coolness” (doesn’t use his last name, since it is not cool enough, and shortens his first to “J”). Quite the dreamboat, our “J”.

I’m not aiming for perfection here; all I’d like is to have remotely likeable people as the lead characters. Externally Simran and Jay look like good-looking young individuals presumably with brains in working condition. Apparently that’s only for the trailers/teasers – as you get into the film you realize that both are actually children in adult bodies, with their minds stuck around the teen years (post-watch I’d say the director is stuck there too).

The emoting from Sonam and Imran is quite flat, and I’m blaming weak direction for this. Sonam who did quite well in Delhi-6, can’t quite manage it here. And Khan who seems the tailor-made chocolate hero, can’t quite beguile us with the filmi clichés he’s supposed to portray. The film does carry the Johar mark; it manages to poke fun at fat people, show us various graphs on how hotness figures vs. fat/other undesirable traits in a female, and compare women to busses (when one goes, another comes – didn’t you know ?) and make various unnecessary references to sex (we talk about S.E.X, we must be hip – yeah, baby ?)

I would tell you more, but there is not much more to tell. The 2 hr 15 min length is way too long; we wouldn’t have lost much if this film had been cut by 80% (or better still if it had not been made at all). On the bright side, the film takes a stab at humor by laughing at the sorry state of the film-making industry and attempting to lampoon Karan Johar himself, by basing J and Simran’s boss Veer Kapoor (Samir Soni) on him. The songs are great, and Sonam is luminous. Everything else – the story, characterization, dialogues and direction can be summed up in just one descriptive word : CRAP.

Kidwise : This film hints at love-making/one-night stands, has women in underwear and lingerie, various in-your-face references to sex (Have a problem ? Have sex !) and sexuality and a brief scene at a strip club.

Posted in 2010, bollywood, rating-PG13, romance | 4 Comments

Dolls : A woman from Damascus

Posted on June 25, 2010 by amodini

This is a documentary by Diana El Jeiroudi, who has scripted, written and directed the film. The film is about a young woman Manal, and her fight, if you could call it that, to be employed in a job outside the home. She wants it because it engages her mind, gives her a sense of identity (she uses a word very similar to “wajood”). However her wants are against traditional Syrian society and culture where women are expected to work only if they need financial help. As she herself puts it the elders want the girls to get out of school and get married – no college/university etc.

As a metaphor to her life, Jeiroudi, in parallel shows us the Fulla doll, a Syrian version of Barbie. Fulla is a veiled doll, that is her clothing is covered by an outer abaya, which covers her hair and neck, so the only part of her that you can see is her face. Fulla, we are told by a Fulla company representative is fashioned after the populace at which she is directed. He says that they try to make her (Fulla) conservative – and by conservative he says he means a woman who respects, is obedient etc. He says they took feedback from the public, they flattened her chest, made her undergarments a part of the body, so that even if her clothes were taken off, the doll could not be “naked”.

In the beginning of the film, there is a voiceover (by Jeiroudi, I assume) which tells us that the veil is coming back in fashion. Also we see women on the streets in Western wear, pants, skirts, jeans and tights, but with their heads covered by the veil. Manal also wears Western clothes – we see her in pants and long skirts, and kurti like tops. She also wears a head covering. Also featuring in the film are her husband Bashar and their daughters Naya and Yara. There are also her parents and her in-laws.

This is an interesting film, especially since Jeiroudi succeeds in conveying Manal’s emotions so well. Manal wants to work outside the home for herself, and for her sense of self, as she did once, and Jeiroudi documents her search for a job, in a conservative, patriarchal society.

Beautifully done, I highly recommend this one.

Posted in documentary, recommended | Comments Off

Movie Review : Raavan

Posted on June 19, 2010 by amodini

Rating : Poor (2/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2010
Running time : 2 hours 20 minutes
Director : Mani Ratnam
Cast : Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Ravi Kisshen, Govinda, Vikram, Tejaswini Kolhapure
Kid rating : PG-13

RAAVAN (Review) : FAILS TO THRILL !

We seem to be awash in mythology-based films. Recently there was Rajneeti, a modern-day Mahabharat, and now we have Raavan, based on the Ramayana. Mani Ratnam’s interpretation is situated in the forest too, where notorious brigand/self-styled Robinhood Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) kidnaps the local police chief’s wife Ragini Sharma (Aishwarya). The motive apparently is revenge for the molestation of Beera’s sister at the hands of the law (the Surpanakha angle).

As the police chief Dev Pratap Sharma (Southern superstar Vikram) gets in hot pursuit, Beera moves into the jungles with Ragini and his cohorts (Ravi Kissen being one of them). Sharma gets help from forest guard Sanjivani (Govinda), (a mix of Sugriva and Hanuman), in navigating the jungles, but every time they come close, Beera has already slipped ahead. Meanwhile feisty Ragini, in close contact with her kidnapper, begins to see the motivations that drive him, and he in turn is attracted to her radiant beauty and fiery spirit. Will Sharma ever manage to find Ragini ? And if he does will Ragini have to choose between the two ?

Ratnam’s Raavan is a sumptuous feast for the senses. Ratnam frames his shots artistically, brings home the atmosphere in lush, rain-drenched forests, and channels the primeval in Beera’s character. The film has a lot of “mood” and plays out like a heavy, poetic, ambiance-laden musical opera, rather than a commercial Hindi film. Ratnam seems to have made the film about good and evil incarnate instead of actual people because he uses characters that seem to have found their primordial roots; they scream, shout and prance around as if possessed.

The first half of the film bears the burden of laying out the playing field, establishing the rhythm which will move this film forward. Consequentially it suffers in pace and storytelling, being devoted to Beera moving through the jungles and Sharma following along – something which got pretty boring after a while. Abhishek plays Beera as a rather eccentric, almost of-his-rocker villain. Given to guttural growls, random head-shaking and monkey-like chittering Beera appears almost bestial at times. And while that might be Ratnam’s interpretation of Raavan, it didn’t seem to click with the rest of Beera’s persona.

Aishwarya, never much of an actress to begin with, has one thing is her favor – she is a luminous beauty, something that brings much to this role. Unfortunately Ratnam has her shouting and shrieking her way through the film, leaving very little character to come through, except maybe at the end of the film. Vikram, as the Superintendent of Police came across as a regular South-Indian hero (and not at all as a “Sharma” of the Hindi belt, which was what he was supposed to be), slightly stocky, jean-clad with tucked-in tee, Raybans perched on his nose, and a smoking cigarette at his lips. He appeared cold and removed, not exuding any of the warmth required as a powerful yet benign savior. Me thinks Ratnam might have been better served casting him as Beera.

Now Abhishek, for all his chittering and lazy head-rolls, never quite manages to plumb the depths of this role. It is a hard task because Ratnam imbues his characters with ambiguities – they are not just black or white – well beyond Bachchan’s limited skill set. (He might have done well as the SP though.) Ravi Kissen was good as Beera’s right hand man, and Govinda just about adequate as Sanjeevani.

I have many problems with this film, something I never thought I’d say about a Mani Ratnam product. So lost is he in his “art” work, because that is what it is – a pastiche of delicately framed shots and overwrought emotion, that he ignores the basic demand of cinema – to keep the viewer engaged and sympathetic. Ratnam’s Raavan is filled with angst-ridden characters who are hard to identify with, much less be sympathetic to. (And when I mean identify with I don’t mean it as identifying with the persona, but with their redeeming qualities.) The film slow paced as it was seemed overly long. A 50% reduction is length would have done wonders, because it could have stopped the first half from dragging and brought the narration quickly to the relatively better second.

Post-watch I have to say that Mani Ratnam definitely had a vision, probably one of an artistic film with earthy fervor strong enough to sway the masses. However it didn’t quite turn out like that. With an almost insufferable first half, a very average second, and poor music to boot, this film is way below Ratnam’s usual caliber of film-making. I’d advise a DVD watch, if at all.

Kidwise : This film has references to rape/molestation, some nudity, and a lot of violence.

Posted in 2010, bollywood, drama, rating-PG13 | 5 Comments

Desi Comedy (Indian Comedy Tour)

Posted on June 17, 2010 by amodini

And I mean the stand-up kinds. It’s not that it doesn’t exist, it is just that there are fewer desis who dare choose this as a profession. Can you imagine where being a desi comedian stands as compares to say a doctor or an engineer, from a parental point of view, given that parents gravitate towards the degreed professions ? If I’d shown an inclination, I can quite imagine my parents blowing a fuse : You want ot be a WHAT ? And what does that pay ? What about insurance/vacation plans, blah, blah, blah ? So really, more power to these folks. Especially because they are pretty good at what they do.

I saw this via Netflix Streaming, and the “Indian Comedy Hour” which is what it is titled features 5 comics : Vidur Kapur, Rajiv Kumar Satyal, Vijai Nathan, Mark Saldana and Dalia McPhee. I had not seen any of them before except for Nathan who’s show I’ve watched live. Kapur is the only immigrant, which means born in India, and Dalia is the only Irish American of the five. The remaining three are Indian Americans.

The five had very different material, although Nathan’s seemed familiar, since some of it was the same as the earlier live show I’d seen. Rajiv Satyal was very funny although I cannot quite recall his jokes. Saldana who is stocky made fun of his weight, among other things. Nathan mimicked her parents, and Dalia had a very short screen time (probably longer in the actual live show ?). Now Kapur was a total surprise, since he’s gay and very out-of-the-closet. He came on stage wearing a vest with a pink tie. He’s bald, has large protruding eyes, and a tendency to wiggle his eyebrows, which makes him seem a little eccentric but heightens the comedic appeal at the same time. Yeah imagine an eccentric looking, bony, gay desi guy wiggling his eyebrows !

I’d say Kapur was the funniest followed by Saldana, Satyal, Nathan and McPhee in that order. Although they all had jokes about sex and sexuality, Saldana was probably the raunchiest, and his material was only mildly R-rated when compared to someone like Russell Peters. Peters is probably the funniest desi comic I’ve seen, and I’ve seen him live. Margaret Cho, who is Chinese-American, and uses her Chinese background very effectively in her material, is very funny too, although she is way more R-rated than Peters even. Here’s some of Kapur’s work I found on Youtube :

Posted in All Netflix, english, humor, rating-R, recommended | Comments Off

Movie Review : Rajneeti

Posted on June 6, 2010 by amodini

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : Drama
Year : 2010
Running time : 2 hours 47 minutes
Director : Prakash Jha
Cast : Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, Darshan Jariwala, Ajay Devgn, Manoj Bajpai, Naseeruddin Shah
Kid rating : PG-15

RAJNEETI : MODERN DAY MAHABHARATA !

It’s a dirty word – politics. But in India it is also big business and big money. The quick get-rich scheme that it is, politicians must acquire a thick skin, and the wiles to survive in a cut-throat hierarchy of power. Cashing in on this corruption-laden profession, Rajneeti, Prakash Jha’s latest directorial venture is placed in a politician’s world and centers around a political family in the throes of an election.

Rajneeti’s story is clearly inspired by the Mahabharata. There are the Pandava brothers, 2 in this case, a.k.a Samar (Ranbir) and Prithvi Pratap (Arjun Rampal), their mother Kunti a.k.a. Bharati, and father Pandu a.k.a. Mahendra Pratap. Then there is the lone Kaurava, Duryodhana a.k.a. Veerendra Pratap (Manoj Bajpai), son of Bhanu Pratap, Mahendra Pratap’s elder brother.

Bhanu Pratap and his younger brother Mahendra have Indian politics well in hand. The elder stands for and wins elections with the political stratagem of the younger. However trouble looms when Bhanu Pratap suffers a heart attack which leaves him paralysed, and Mahendra Pratap must single handedly quell the war for the political fiefdom between the brothers.

Rajneeti sounds like and purports to be a magnum opus. It is long, heavily drenched in political stratagem, and reeks of the staples of good drama – deception, betrayal and wily, capricious people. It is a complex tale – imagine the Mahabharata zipped up into a 3 hour span. Jha takes on an onerous task in trying to incorporate all the elements of that epic tale into one film. And while the film does work in fits and starts, it also drags and is weighed down by too much happening in too short a time.

Rajneeti starts off in quick, clipped short takes, with an omnipresent voiceover, to the point where it seemed almost documentary-ish and felt like we were very quickly being brought up to speed to current events instead of leisurely trying to wend our way around this many textured tale. I tired of the narrator narrating and wished that the film would show us events instead of telling us about them.

Well, then it did. We are introduced to the new kings and queens of India – the political class. While the old hands, the sitting politicians, go around in dhotis and Nehru topis, giving patriotic bhashans, they also groom their progeny for political futures. These princes and princesses are casually wealthy, study and holiday abroad, zip around in expensive, imported cars and are waited on hand and foot in their sprawling bungalows teeming with ever-ready servants.

Ranbir is clearly the star of the film as Samar, the babe-in-the-woods turning into the conniving politician (and in that, it reminded me of Virasat) . He is ably supported by Darshan Jariwalla as his wily politician grand-father and Nana Patekar as Brij Mama, his political mentor. Arjun Rampal as Prithvi cuts quite a dashing figure in long, flowing churidar kurtas, but his acting is just about adequate. Ajay Devgan is the upstart Dalit leader, the Karna to Bajpai’s Duryodhana, and does play his part quite well. Manoj Bajpai of course, is flawless. As for Katrina, the female lead, she spouts long weighty dialogues in shudh Hindi, but fails on the acting front, huffing haplessly as she tries to portray lost love.

Jha sketches his characters well-enough that we identify the Mahabharata character that they are based upon. And just like in that tale, there is no “hero” here, no lone man who stands up to do the right thing. All characters have shades of grey in them, so it is hard to root for one particular person.

As far as emotions go, there is a marked lack of depth. We never actually get to see enough of them to sympathize or feel for the predicaments that the characters face. And not having a single character with remotely redeemable qualities is sorta bad for the film, because then I’m watching this from a distance, removed; the lot could burn in hell for all I care.

The story seems inspired; well-done this could have been the film of the year. Unfortunately, Jha ham-handles it, bringing in what looks to be a sophisticated product but leaving it rough around the edges. There is a lack of attention to detail, that little extra time spent on polishing off the scene just so.

The film doesn’t turn into what it could have been because it tries to do too much in too little time. Jha tries to make it all encompassing, prefacing the story with a rushed narrative. I could easily see this as a 2 or 3 part film series, where we would be gracefully introduced to the characters, drama would build up leisurely, and we wouldn’t feel like we were being crammed full of story angles and events.

It is not that this film doesn’t work; rather Rajneeti doesn’t work as it could have, because Jha bites off more than he can chew. Still, as of now, this is one of the better films of the year and worth a watch.

Kidwise : Some violence and sexually suggestive scenes make it unsuitable for kids younger than 15.

Posted in 2010, bollywood, drama, rating-PG15, watchable | 5 Comments

Upcoming Films : May and June 2010

Posted on May 27, 2010 by amodini

It is a little late to be doing this for May, so here is a combined post for May and June. May slid by most unbecomingly with overhyped stinkers like Kites and Badmaash Company. But one, being an optimist looks forward to “Rajneeti” and “Raavan”.

Release Date	Film Title	Genre	Director	Actors
May 7	Badmaash Company	Thriller	Pameet Sethi	Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Meiyang Chang, Pawan Malhotra
May 7	It’s a wonderful Afterlife	Comedy	Gurinder Chaddha	Shabana Azmi, Goldy Notay, Sendhil Ramamurthy, Jamie Sives
May 14	Bumm Bumm Bole	Comedy	Priyadarshan	Darsheel Safary, Ziyah Vastani, Atul Kulkarni, Rituparna Sengupta
May 14	Admissions Open	Comedy	K. D. Satyam	Anupam Kher, Ankur Khanna, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Rati Agnihotri, Sudesh Berry
May 21	Kites	Romance	Anurag Basu	Hrithik Roshan, Kangana Ranaut, Barbara Mori, Kabir Bedi
Jun 04	Raajneeti	Drama	Prakash Jha	Ajay Devgan, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Nana Patekar, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpai, Naseeruddin Shah
Jun 04	Ek Second… Jo Zindagi Badal De?	Thriller	Partho Ghosh	Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala, Aman Verma
Jun 11	Krantiveer – The Revolution	Drama	Mehul Kumar	Jahan Bloch, Sameer Aftab, Kelly Dorji, Farida Jalal, Govind Namdeo, Ranjit, Aman Verma
Jun 18	Raavan	Drama	Mani Ratnam	Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Bachchan, Vikram Kennedy, Govinda, Manisha Koirala

Posted in 2010, bollywood, Previews | Comments Off

Movie Review : Kites

Posted on May 24, 2010 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.2/5)
Genre : Romance
Year : 2010
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : Anurag Basu
Cast : Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kabir Bedi, Kangana Ranaut, Nicholas Brown
Kid rating : PG-13

KITES : THIS ONE DOESN”T FLY !

Hrithik Roshan, bearded, raffish. She, luminous, expressive. The twain shall meet. Of course; bred on a staple diet of boy-meets-girl-and-they-live-happily-after, we take that for granted. However the two are at the time engaged to different partners and a life of easy money and insouciant wealth. Filmi romance dictates that practicalities are for fools (love conquers all, does it not ?), but these two – J (Roshan) and Linda (Barbara Mori) – are not your average desi romantics.

Anurag Basu directs this ambitious venture, and going by his last film “Life in a metro” I would have expected Kites to soar. Metro was a many textured film, delicately handled and subtly nuanced. Kites is very different, in it’s genre and in it’s treatment. It purports to be a poetic, modern-day Romeo & Juliet. Romeo played by our Bollywood-ian blue-eyed boy Hrithik takes on the character of J (or Jai ? I couldn’t tell), a small-time hustler who lives by his wits, and aspires for the easy way out. Linda/Natasha played by lithe Spanish actress Mori is J’s female counterpart of sorts. They both do well in the film and match each other in screen presence and vitality.

However here’s the bad news: there’s little else besides these two. The script is flat, and very been-there-done-that. Basu apparently, is so lost in the twosome that he forgets to embellish this threadbare story with the basics. There is little plot – so little that I could sum up this film in a single (short) sentence. And what little there is, is not bolstered up by believable dialogue, drama, or character-development but by a few ephemeral sequences and a whole lot of talk about amore. J and Linda might be able to survive on love alone, but I needed more.

Touted to be a “chase” film (romantic pair pursued by angry mobster anyone ?) the chase is so sedentary and fractured by affectionate reminiscing and flash-backs that it almost put me to sleep. Plus, Kites is burdened by the hammiest supporting cast ever. There’s Kabir Bedi as a Las Vegas casino boss, and his crew of over-the-top desi drones. Kangana Ranaut, who is a fairly good actress manages to not look her raggedy-thin self here, but is given so little screen-time as to almost have no impact on the film.

The film is tri-lingual; there’s Hindi, Spanish and English. There are sub-titles and while I could not fault Barbara Mori on her expressiveness, sign language or her miming skills, I tired of having to pay attention to the bottom of the screen after a while (how is this even going to run in small-towns ?)

After all that (and I could say a whole lot more) I will say that the film is slickly made, and shows polish in it’s presentation. Care is taken to frame camera angles, and Basu infuses scenes with poetic fervor. The lead pair get an A+ for their efforts. The music is about average. The background score is sing-songy and some sort of a fusion of languages and music styles (after being assailed by it for some time, I almost imagined that I was viewing an extended version of a Lucky Ali video)

It is a pity that Hrithik who does well when guided by a strong director, cannot rise above the bad script and inane dialogues. In fact while the Roshan’s have come up with successful Hrithik starrers (Kaho na pyar hai, Krishh), his best films are those NOT directed by Daddy dearest, e.g.; Lakshya, Jodha-Akbar etc. With a director like Anurag Basu I had hope, but swept up in romantic fluff, he seems to have lost his directorial moorings.

Kites will also be released in the International market as ”Kites : The Remix”, which is a 90 minute version edited by “Rush Hour 3” director Brett Ratner. The Remix opens in the US May 28th, a week after the original hit theatres. Cutting down the time might improve this flaccid fairy-tale, but in it’s desi form, Kites is at best, a one-time watch. If that.

Kid rating : Gratuitous violence earns this a PG-13 rating.

Posted in 2010, bollywood, drama, rating-PG13 | 6 Comments

Movie Review : Iron Man 2

Posted on May 19, 2010 by amodini

Tony Stark is a narcissistic ass. Pepper Potts is a wailing banshee. So what else is new?

Indeed. This sequel to the first Iron Man, presents to us the Iron Man story after. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the Iron Man and everyone knows it. And since we are past the initial hiccups, i.e.; no crashing and banging into walls while testing out an Iron Man suit, Stark revels in it’s glory. The propaganda and hype kick into overdrive (and really no one does it quite like the Americans), complete with stage shows and cheerleaders. Mucho manic mania ahead.

Iron Man is currently the only Super Hero on the horizon, and since he’s saving this world, he needs an enemy. Mickey Rourke nicely fits the bill, as Ivan Vanko, the son of the Russian prodigy who designed the Iron Man Energy Source – you know the circular shiny thingy fitted into Stark’s chest. Ivan’s Dad dies in penury, and he is incensed at Stark for not rewarding his Dad for his great service to the Stark Corporation. Hence, Ivan gets armed and dangerous, and Iron Man is about to find out that there are people who don’t like him . . .

I have to say that compared to Iron Man 1, IM2 falls a little short. IM1 brought us the birth of the Iron Man, and how cool is it to see him zip off, jump off, fly off, all for the very first time ? IM2 comes in with a set stage – The Iron Man suit has been improved upon and duplicated; Stark has a couple of them in different colors. Everyone likes a little variety – even the Iron Man. With the infrastructure in place, Stark is all set to deal with the bad guys. The “organic” angle already having been explored in IM1, you have to create problems to get IM2 going. It does get going though – it has action, car chases, mobile bolts of lightning, and a great big lumbering villain who looks like he could snap Iron Man in two with his bare hands, Daddy’s technology or not.

Now, as you all know, for all his posturing and gloating, Starky boy has a heart of gold. Strike that. It’s actually made of a radioactive material which is beginning to poison his blood, but I digress. Yeah, OK, what I meant was, he’s a softie inside, melting with love for the Potts lady. Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) too, for all her prissy ladylike demeanor and ineffectual shrieking has a soft spot for her boss. Love, you think ? Enter Scarlett Johansson as Natalie Rushman, ravishingly beautiful, small-time Stark Corp. employee with a penchant for skin-tight clothes. Will Stark sway from his undeclared love ? He is a cad, you know, the heart of gold talk notwithstanding.

So, there is the villain, the love-life, the blood poisoning. And then there’s Stark’s friend and sidekick Lt. Col James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), wheedling his way into the movie. Differences arise as they must, and the friends decide to part ways after a lot of broken glass and furniture. When the villain and the big bad world unite, will the friends see the error of their ways ? See the movie to find out.

Iron Man 2 is a decent action film. It could have used some oomph in the climax department, because that does have a been-there-done-that feel. The film runs about 2 hours, starts off well, and the end comes with thundering battles and the villain out in full form. In the middle the film gets a little flabby; meandering conversations and more of Stark’s gloating persona. Still an interesting watch, this one needs to be seen in theatres for maximum effect.

Posted in 2010, action, english, hollywood, recommended, sci-fi | 1 Comment

Movie Review : District 9

Posted on May 6, 2010 by amodini

In most sci-fi “alien” stories, it is the humans who go exploring new worlds. However, what happens if the aliens come to us ? In a large spaceship, which sort of runs out of fuel right above the earth ? Would it be a good or a bad thing ? Would we welcome them with open arms, ready to show them the benevolent wonders of this earth ?

South African director Neill Blomkamp’s film “District 9” is based on just such a premise. An alien race, which the humans term “prawns”, come visiting unexpectedly when their mothership goes kaput right over Johannesburg. The humongous ship remains suspended over the city for many months, immobile and without visible activity, until we humans decide to go exploring and drill into it forcibly. Out of humanitarian concern, the aliens in the ship, who resemble large insects, are brought down to earth and housed in temporary shelters right below where the ship is suspended.

The months turn into years. The temporary shelters have turned into slums, and this fenced off area is known as “District 9”. The kindness towards the aliens has evaporated, and hostility has taken it’s place. The residents of Johannesburg demand that the “prawns” be relocated to outside their city. But the prawns are reluctant to leave. Thus begins a forced relocation, led by inept (and somewhat callous) Vikus van de Merwe. Armed with firepower the evictors move into District 9, but are unaware that hidden dangers await them. . .

The film initially, is framed as a mockumentary, a narration of something that has already happened; we are introduced to the events through interviews, as though for a documentary. As the film starts to gather pace, it goes into “real time” and we view the action as it happens. This is a sci-fi tale but Blomkamp approaches it from a moral/philosophical angle. There is not much focus on the scientific aspect; it is essentially a story of avarice and fickleness. The director manages to tell a compelling story; at first the viewer stands neutral, but slowly we begin to see that the aliens, despite appearances might not be the real villains. In it’s portrayal of humanity’s disregard for others, “District 9” reminded me of Nicole Kidman’s excellent “Dogville”.

I must say that I quite liked this film. The story, although it has it’s “holes”, is interesting., and is apparently drawn to parallel the story of apartheid. Similarities have been made to “District 6” an actual slum, under the racist South African regime. Also the main character is named van de Merwe, the same name as the protagonist of the “van de Merwe” jokes, which I’m told are sort of like the “blond” jokes, but target Afrikaners. The direction and the acting is very good, especially of the lead, played marvelously by Sharlto Copley. For sci-fi lovers, who prize a good story, this is a film worth a watch.