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Movie Review : Wake up Sid !

Posted on October 3, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.75/5)
Genre : Romance/Drama
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Ayan Mukerji
Cast : Anupam Kher, Supriya Pathak, Ranbir Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rahul Khanna, Shikha Talsania, Namit Das, Kashmira Shah
Kid rating : PG

WAKE-UP SID : DREAMY DEBUT

Richie-rich Sid, as you know, is your perennially lovable loser. Aisha Bannerji is a motivated wanna-be writer who desires her independence, and she tells Sid, when he asks, a MAN not a BOY (such as he) for a soul-mate. So never the twain shall meet, you think ?

Director Ayan Mukherji’s debut vehicle “Wake up Sid” is actually a film about Siddharth waking up, metaphorically that is, to his life, and his place in it. Aisha, the new girl in town, befriended by Sid, is instrumental in making that happen, but her disdain for his childishness – she calls him a “bachha”, ensures that younger Sid and older Aisha remain “just friends”. So when slacker Sid fails his graduate (or under-grad for the US) exams, misbehaves with his mother (Supriya Pathak Shah), and is booted out by his father (Anupam Kher) he lands up where else, but at his friend Aisha’s doorstep.

Aisha is inching along with her own goals in life – she has a job, but she wants “the” job – as a writer. Romance is in the air once we spy the very artsy looking Rahul Khanna as her boss. Sid must learn to live sans his Dad’s wealth and the various associated comforts, but there is hope in terms of possible work and love might be right around the corner once he meets an old (and very pretty) acquaintance. Life happens, but will it, for Sid and Aisha ?

“Wake up Sid” is sensitively crafted, and humorously told. Much of the humor stems from the interaction between Sid and his friends, and his very guileless remarks like the one where he tells Aisha, whom he’s only just met, that she probably is not the college crowd type, since she looks older. The college camaraderie is reminiscent of parts of “Dil Chahta Hai” which also was a story of very rich kids. And cynically speaking, maybe the atmosphere feels right, and the humor funny, when the vodka is flowing and the wealth inherited ?

Not to say that Mukherjee doesn’t put his best foot forward – he does. He takes this basic coming-of-age story and infuses it with humor, charm, and some very moving familial touches. The film’s screenplay which was good on the whole, was at times so graceful that emotions jumped at you from the screen, and at times, fumbled for logical reasons. It’s not that the film portrayed fantasy, but it did portray a very pretty reality – newbie Aisha not only gets the job, but she obtains a flat in Bombay (which sounds prohibitively expensive on no salary) before she lands the job !

Konkona Sen Sharma might not be the prettiest actress we have, but she wins hands down when it comes to emoting. Her character Aisha Banerjee, was realistically written and portrayed. Ranbir too gave a pretty good performance as Siddharth, although his acting skills could be honed; the cracks showed in the scene where he goes to talk to his Dad about the cheque. His character, that of clear-hearted, fun-loving, guileless Sid was well sketched. Also very believable and adding to the general merriment were Sid’s loyal friends Laxmi (Shikha Talsania) and Rishi (Namit Das).

As far as characters go, Supriya Pathak’s was the one fragile spot. An actress of Pathak’s caliber is stuck in a weak, wishy-washy role as Sid’s mother, where she clings on pathetically to her son’s affections via broken English. She seemed more weak-willed than the average mother, and quite unalike mine, who would have soundly told off (and thrashed) a son like Sid. Anupam Kher depicting Sid’s father Ram Mehra, is outstanding, and I didn’t need to say that, did I ?

Another feather in the cap for the film-makers is the music. The title song, and “Kya karoon” are both youthful and energetic. I also like the very melodious “Aaj kal zindagi” – very vintage Shakar-Ehsaan-Loy and reminded me strongly of “Kaisi hai yeh rut” from “Dil Chahta Hai”. Also very nicely done was the Uday Benegal (remember Indus Creed ?) sung number “Life is crazy”. I wasn’t floored by “Iktara” but what really drove me nuts was how, whenever a romantic scene came on, the music immediately changed to this English ballad style shit – what ? Hindi not expressive enough for romance ?

So now we come to the part where I tell you that this life drama-cum-romance gave me my money’s worth. Well, yeah – upto a point. I loved the lazy banter, the unselfconscious horsing around, the great leap that Hindi cinema has supposedly taken in actually showing a platonic relationship between a good looking young man and woman, and not having them jump in bed together, even though they sleep only a few feet from each other – yup, wrap your mind around that one ! Bollywood might actually be coming of age !

What didn’t work for me was that I just didn’t fancy the way it ended, happily which was good, but not very believably. Chalk and cheese, the two of them, you know ? Therefore no warm-and-mushy feelings mellowed my drive home, and the bells of true romance on-screen didn’t jangle at all (as they did post Love aaj kal, or post Cheeni kum) – which is kind of a bummer, because that was the point, wasn’t it ?

Still, a very worth-it film from Ayan Mukerji, this one is pretty clean and classy, but gets a PG (and not G) rating for some girly, “how’s your sex-life” kind of talk

Tags : Wake up Sid movie review, Wake up Sid film review, Wake up Sid review

Posted in 2009, All Netflix, bollywood, drama, family-friendly, Hindi movies on Netflix, rating-PG, recommended | 10 Comments

Movie Review : What’s your rashee ?

Posted on September 25, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.3/5)
Genre : Comedy / Romance
Year : 2009
Running time : 3 hours 12 minutes
Director : Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast : Priyanka Chopra, Harman Baweja, Anjan Srivastav, Darshan Jariwala, Manju Singh, Dilip Joshi
Kid rating : PG

WHAT’s YOUR RASHEE (MOVIE REVIEW) : THE LONG AND BORING WAY TO FIND A BRIDE !

Ashutosh Gowariker – film maker extraordinaire, or a director too cheap to hire an editor ? “What’s your rashee ?” was a whopping 192 minutes long. Yes, that’s 3 hours and 12 minutes. And it’s not like Gowarikar made an exception here – Lagaan was about 3 hours and 40 minutes long, Swades 3 hours and 14 minutes, and Jodha-Akbar 3 hours and 35 minutes. So you could call WYR his “shortest” film, although me thinks it could have been much shorter – like by at least 1.5 hours !

This film also had 12 songs (one of which Gowariker has sung himself), on average it seemed, one per Rashee ! Reading the reviews, and finding out that I was about to watch an almost 3.5 hour film with wishy-washy Harman Baweja in the lead made me quake in my boots (or sandals really – it’s still summer-like weather here). However I persevered (that’s my middle name), because the way I see it, the worst from Gowariker still has to be loads better than the best from directors like David Dhawan, Sajid Khan, Anil Sharma and their ilk.

The story, as per my preview, is of Yogesh (Baweja) trying to find a bride in 10 days, to save his family from catastrophe. Having gotten his pointers from a book, and deciding that there are only 12 types of girls in the world, one of each Rashi (or Zodiac Sign) Yogesh decides to meet one of each Rashee and then pick his soul-mate. Priyanka Chopra plays all 12 girls – small-town Anjali , rich heiress Vishakha , fun-loving Kajal , sedate Hansa , fiery Mallika , selfless Pooja , toe-my-line Rajni , wanna-be model Nandini , come-hither Bhavna , gauche Jhankhana , foreign-born Sanjana and superstitious Chandrika.

Gowariker adds some reflections on society in this story – there’s the problem of dowry, and under-age marriage, and the issue of an unwed woman who is not quite the coveted virgin. But while the story is relatively strong, the film suffers from a rather loose screenplay. For a romantic comedy, WYR can never gather up enough pace to render it either romantic or a comedy. The songs are quite interruptive, and meeting one girl after another got quite dreary after about the first 3-4 (and we were counting !).

I’m happy to report however that it’s not all bad news folks. This film is L-O-N-G, as in you-need-3-intermissions-lots-of-refreshments long. But I can’t quite call it a bad film. It reminded me of an older genre of movies, of a thoughtful, sedate style of film, albeit extremely stretched. It’s fairly clean, with some very well shot scenes and songs. Take for example the credits in the beginning of the film – they were done in a play of light and shadow with Priyanka in what looked to be a leotard, and reminded me of the credits in a Bond film.

Priyanka over-shadows Harma effortlessly – she’s come a long way in acting terms. I was especially impressed with her “Anjali” avatar – slouchy posture, diffident gestures, and to top it all the snort – quite marvelous ! Baweja, unfortunately, lacks screen presence. Although he can act quite the ingénue (that’s what saves his performance) and seems quite earnest, he also appears unsure of himself, and it shows. The supporting cast was fantastic – there was Anjan Srivastav as Yogesh’s “Pappa”, Manju Singh as his emotional mother (remember her from the Doordarshan days ?), Darshan Jariwalla as the match-maker uncle and Dilip Joshi as Yogesh’s brother Jitu bhai.

Gowariker who lends his sensibilties to thoughtful dramas quite well, fails here to peddle romantic fluff. Keeping extra footage which you might absolutely love as director might work in ponderous drama, but in a film genre where short, sweet and pithy works best, it’s a pity that the editor’s scissors didn’t go snip-snip a bit more. Thus while this film would be a good DVD watch, it’s hardly the warm-n-fuzzy romantic comedy promised.

Kidwise : This gets a PG rating – some suggestive clothes/postures, some adult-oriented talk (virginity/affairs).

Tags : What’s your rashee film review, Film What’s your rashee, What’s your rashee movie review

Posted in 2009, bollywood, drama, rating-PG, watchable | 3 Comments

Movie Preview : Wake up Sid !

Posted on September 22, 2009 by amodini

Update : Here’s the review.

“Wake up Sid” is produced by Karan Johar and Ronnie Screwvala, and written and directed by Ayan Mukerji (Rani Mukherjee’s cousin). From the promos WUS appears to be a “coming of age” film, much like “Lakshya”. Here you have charmer Ranbir Kapoor – and he seems quite perfect for the role, because he “looks” (and this might be just my point of view) like a rich, young wastrel, which he is in the film. Great casting, yes 🙂 ?

Anyway Kapoor is Siddharth Mehra aka Sid, going along his merry, wealth-paved way with a nary a care in the world. He doesn’t worry about the future as long as he’s having fun today. What he needs he’s got – the love of his parents (Anupam Kher and the fabulous Supriya Pathak, who I wish did more films) and their money – hence a comfy, cushy life, which he takes for granted. He’s also got 2 dependable friends Rishi (Namit Das) and Laxmi (Shikha Talsania). Soon enough he makes one more – Aisha Banerjee (Konkona Sen Sharma) a talented writer from Calcutta, looking to find her space in Mumbai.

With her advent into his life, things begin to change for Sid, and at the end of a momentous summer, he must decide what he wants from life.

Now, the promos project the film to be a love-story between immature, young slacker Sid (played by 27 year old Ranbir Kapoor) and relatively saner (and smarter ?) Aisha (played by 30 year old Sen-Sharma). Konkona, a very able actress, appears to play the part of the more “grounded” character, much like the one she played in “Luck by chance”, while Ranbir gets to fool around a bit more as happy-go-lucky, but oh-so-sweet and nice Sid Mehta. Kapoor looks to be a star in the making, having inherited his father’s (Rishi Kapoor) buoyant charm, and his mother’s (Neetu Singh) sparkly verve. And there’s no one like him to carry off the part of an empty-headed young wastrel, AND make you like him !

Although I’ve always felt that Karan Johar’s films are generally eye-candy and not much more, this one with a different director at the helm might turn out to have more meat. The promos hold out the promise of a more sensitive handling than Johar films generally get, but of course only upon viewing the real thing can one actually tell. The music, composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has so far (and I’ve listened a few times) appeared “different” and not necessarily catchy – maybe it needs time to grow on one ? “Kya karoon” seems to be the best of the lot.

The official website is here. “Wake Up Sid” releases Oct 2nd. I’m looking forward to this one !

Posted in bollywood, drama, Previews | 3 Comments

Review : Dil bole hadippa

Posted on September 18, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.5/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Anurag Singh
Cast : Anupam Kher, Shahid Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Rakhi Sawant, Vrajesh Hirjee, Dalip Tahil, Poonam Dhillon, Sherlyn Chopra
Kid rating : PG

DIL BOLE HADIPPA (MOVIE REVIEW) : AVERAGE ENTERTAINER !

“Dil bole hadippa” is predictable fare, but we already knew that, didn’t we ? Seating myself in an almost packed theatre this Friday evening, I was pretty sure what I was in for. Even so, this film did better than expected, and actually surprised me with a breezy first half. The second half didn’t do as well, but still left me decently entertained, which is more than I can say for all the other crap out there.

The film’s story, as I’ve said before is of a rebellious girl, Veera Kaur (Rani), in love with cricket. To make it to her local town’s team she dresses up as boy, and becomes the star player of a team captained by England-returned Rohan (Shahid). Their objective ? To beat the Pakistani team and win the “Aman” cup. The Pakistanis have won it 9 years in a row, so understandably the pressure is high.

Admittedly with such a clichéd script (notwithstanding the cricket angle) Shahid and Rani have their hands tied. But inspite of that, they both do very well. Rani as a feisty Veera Kaur, and then as scrawny Sardar Veer Pratap Singh gives a great unselfconscious performance. She gets into the spirit of things, not only as exuberant Veera spouting pidgin English at Rohan, but scrambling around quite boyishly on the field as Veer. Shahid exudes affable charm, and it doesn’t hurt that he dances well and can do intense scenes as well as he can comedy. While a slimmer Rani makes her almost-comeback with this film, Shahid proves he’s on his way to a well-earned super-stardom.

A great amount of time, to my surprise was spent on the cricketing field, either on Rohan’s team’s practice, or on the India-Pakistan matches. The first half of the film established the characters; there’s Veera running around in Punjab ke khet, with her sidekicks Shanno (Rakhi Sawant), Hirjee, and the rest of the nautanki company. And there’s Rohan brought to India by his motherland-loving father, and persuaded to train and lead the local town cricket team. Thus, while pre-intermission the film was well-paced and we are treated to some colorful, in-your-face songs, and some very tried-and-tested boy-meets-girl scenarios, the second half tried to do it all. It combined a sorta half-baked love story, with a cricket match, some very archaic Indian platitudes, and an appeal for equality for women, and came up rather thin in all quarters.

While the biggest downer was the predictability, the whole pseudo-patriotic theme got pretty annoying too. It is understandable that the film plays up the India-Pakistan rivalry (this is cricket after all), but when it came down to touting the merits of Indian culture over “Western” values, the dialogues sounded heavy and hollow. The film toed the Punjabi patriarchal line; the good desi woman wore salwar-kameezes (and thought dresses witch-wear) while the clingy siren wore shorts and halter tops, and for good measure seductively slathered on a sunscreen lotion in full view of the entire cricket team. And then all the whining and moaning about a woman’s right to do this and that – and all the woman is ever shown doing is being at the man’s mercy (even if he is the Captain of the team) – to play or sit , as his emotional state of mind sees fit.

The film was bright, slick and nicely packaged. The songs were energetic, although I can’t exactly recall the melodies now. The film made innumerable references to previous Yashraj hits, a practice I’m getting quite sick of. I mean I’m all for touting your success, but I do not need to be reminded of them in every YRF movie ! The dialogues sucked – lots of clichés thrown in. And I didn’t think that there was much chemistry between Shahid and Rani, although it looked like they tried to get the “Jab we met” feel.

Inspite of all this, why does “Dil bole hadippa” get an above average rating ? Well, firstly because it was relatively clean. I say relatively, because there is Rakhi Sawant displaying and heaving copious amounts of cleavage. There is also Sherlyn Chopra, the resident vamp who’m no-one likes, and she is heralded on screen by the in-thing these days : background music which sounds like breathy pseudo-sexy cat-calls – in her case it was a refrain of “Soniya” (that’s her name in the film). And like every other desi masala film I’ve seen, there was the subtle objectification; little snatches of on-screen time, where all you could see was a woman’s bust or hip or waist. No face, and no body to go with it – just those pieces of anatomy.

And secondly, for a Friday night entertainer, with a few shards of intelligence, this was a film which shone remarkably with the screen presence of two of Bollywood’s brightest and most likable stars. You really don’t get that too often.

Tags : Dil bole hadippa film review, Dil bole hadippa movie review

Posted in 2009, bollywood, dance, drama, family-friendly, rating-PG, watchable | 4 Comments

Movie Preview : What’s your Rashee ?

Posted on September 15, 2009 by amodini

Update : Movie review here.

Ashutosh Gowariker does romantic comedy. With trusted producer Ronnie Screwvala backing him up. Note that Screwwalla started his producing career with TV, producing popular Hindi serials but has now progressed to some of the best Hindi films. Swades, Jodha-Akbar, Rang de basanti are some of his productions. So naturally I am enthused (aren’t you ?) – a great director, a good producer, some very good music, AND Priyanka Chopra in 12 different roles – all the (Rashee ?) signs tell me that this film’s going to be fun.

Based on a Gujarati novel “Kimball Ravenswood” (not available on Amazon) by playwright Madhu Rye, “What’s Your Rashee” is the story of Yogesh Patel, a romantic lad, who must forego the love marriage route, when he is told to find a bride in 10 days to save his family from “utter ruin”. Lest you worry for him, note that he’s got it all planned : he’ll meet 12 girls of each Rashi (Zodiac sign), 2 every day – that’s 6 days. Then he’ll give himself 3 days to think it over, and the 10th day will be D-day.

My instincts want to give Yogesh a swift kick in the back-side, and natural cynicism raises it’s head here – what if the girl doesn’t want to marry him ? I’m betting that Yogesh bhai didn’t think of that, hmm ? And 2 girls every day – all assembly-line-ish, what ? This being Bollywood – they’ll probably all line up neatly for him, waiting to be viewed by their future Lord and Master. And for the same reason, the girl (a former Miss Universe) will probably be falling all over the guy; candidly I’d describe him as the poor man’s Hrithik Roshan.

Anyway, rant out of the way, here’s a teaser :

Priyanka Chopra plays all the 12 girls – bet she’s smirking at all the double roles now, huhn ? There’s Anjali , Vishakha , Kajal , Hansa , Mallika , Pooja , Rajni , Nandini , Bhavna , Jhankhana , Sanjna , Chandrika, and what with her new found potential (Kaminey, Fashion etc.) I’m looking forward to see her play them all. I’m also looking forward to see Hurman Baweja come into his own this time, instead of trying to ape Hrithik Roshan. Gowariker also directs a pretty talented cast – there’s Manju Singh, Anjan Srivastav (also spelled Anjjan Shrivastav), Darshan Jariwala, Visswa Badola, Rajesh Vivek and Dayashankar Pandey.

For your perusing pleasure here’s the Official Website.

Posted in bollywood, Previews | 2 Comments

Review : Chintuji

Posted on September 8, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.7/5)
Genre : Comedy / Drama
Year : 2009
Running time : 1 hour 56 minutes
Director : Ranjit Kapoor
Cast : Rishi Kapoor, Grusha Kapoor, Priyanshu Chatterjee, Kulraj Randhawa, Annu Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Kid rating : PG

CHINTUJI : ALL HEART THIS ONE !

Chintuji is not the type of movie I’d associate with Rishi Kapoor (Chintu is his nickname in real life). It’s a rural drama – sort of, with more emphasis on the story and screenplay than “outward polish” – and by that I mean, songs, costumes, and general big-budget bonhomie. Not to say that it isn’t a good film – it is, it just seems a tad low-key to have Rishi Kapoor playing the lead. In look and feel, it reminded me of “Welcome to Sajjanpur“, although that was superior.

The film is about a small town Hadbahedi and it’s efforts to put itself on the map with the help of son-of-soil film-star Rishi Kapoor – who was supposedly born there. Pristine Hadbehdi is always in competition with it’s neighboring town of Tripala. While Triphala has 2 famous/notorious residents , Hadbehdi seems to have none. So when it is discovered that Rishi Kapoor was actually born there, the residents hasten to invite him over.

Kapoor plays himself in the film, albeit an exaggerated version. The Rishi Kapoor of “Chintuji” is a politically inclined spoilt, ill-mannered film-star, who deigns to come to a backwater like Hadbehdi only to gain political mileage. He comes via chartered plane, with PR specialist Devika(Kulraj Randhawa) and secretary Kutty, and is very keen to leave Hadbehdi when he encounters the inconveniences of small-town life, such as cow-dung strewn pathways, and the lack of electricity (and air-conditioning).

The residents treat him with reverential respect, calling him Chintuji, and try their best to placate him. But can they stop Chintuji from leaving his birth-place, and leaving them in the lurch ?

This film has a comedic air about it. The residents of Hadbahedi are a funny, good-natured lot, if a little archly drawn. Grusha Kapoor is quite wonderful as the small-town marm-on-a-mission. Rishi Kapoor, even as a whiny, rude film star exerts his not inconsiderate charm – yes, he was likeable even in this kind of a role ! Priyanshu Chatterjee as the town’s newspaper editor didn’t impress, I thought; but then he’s always seemed to me to not have much screen presence.

Ranjit Kapoor, writer and director (he also wrote dialogues for Jaane bhi do yaaron), does a pretty good job for a small-budget film – it was interesting, clean and had genuine humor. While it does get a little moralistic and preachy – Hadbehdi has no alcohol shops and it’s residents seem to be incorruptible and immune to modern-day attractions – it’s still nicely told and with much affection. I am quite surprised that it didn’t get much publicity – there were no promos, trailers or teasers around.

This is a pleasant, family film (rating : PG) – recommended.

Posted in 2009, bollywood, drama, family-friendly, humor, rating-G, recommended | Comments Off

Upcoming Films : September 2009

Posted on September 6, 2009 by amodini

A whole bunch of “sidey” films hitting the big screen this month. Here are some which I’m hoping won’t fall flat on their faces :

Release Date	Film Title	Genre	Director	Actors
Sep 11	Baabarr	Crime/thriller	Ashu Trikha	Soham, Mithun Chakraborty, Urvashi Sharma, Om Puri, Sushant Singh
Sep 11	Pankh	Drama	Sudipto Chattopadhyay	Bipasha Basu, Mahesh Manjrekar, Lilette Dubey
Sep 18	Wanted	Drama	Prabhu Deva	Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia, Om Puri
Sep 18	Dil Bole Hadippa	All-in-one	Anurag Singh	Rani Mukherjee, Shahid Kapoor, Rakhi Sawant, Dalip Tahil
Sep 25	What’s Your Rashee ?	Romance	Ashutosh Gowarikar	Priyanka Chopra, Harman Baweja, Anjan Srivastav

Posted in bollywood, Previews | Tagged upcoming | 3 Comments

Preview : Dil Bole Hadippa

Posted on September 3, 2009 by amodini

Update : Here’s the review.

Aditya Chopra produces again, this time taking bankable stars Shahid Kapoor and Rani Mukherjee. “Dil bole hadippa” is another spin-off off of the (reliable ?) oft-repeated formula : rebellious girl dresses up as boy to attain goal in patriarchal society, and everyone else, it turns out has buttons instead of eyes, because they can’t see through that very thin disguise.

So, yup, Veera Kaur (Rani’s character), puts on a turban and a beard and becomes “Veer Pratap Singh” so that she can play cricket. Now, you might wonder about the need to turn manly to play this sport, because from what I can recall, India does have it’s own women’s Cricket Team. But, aha, and betcha never thought of this, she hails from a village where girls don’t play cricket ! So, yeah, OK – that explains it, everything falls into place now, the logic, the storyline, the sudden demand for beards as girls all around the country in old-fashioned villages such as this one, rush to turn themselves into scrawny Sardars.

“Veer Pratap Singh” because of his skill on the field earns himself a place on Rohan’s (Shahid Kapoor) team. Thus you have the lead pair, on the same team, and in close proximity. I know it’s kind of hard to guess where the story goes from there, but I’ll get soppy and give you a hint : Love is in the air (quite like the Swine flu).

This film stars Shahid who’s been having quite a good run this year, what with “Kaminey” being the fantastic film it is. And more power to him – a star who can act, dance, oozes affability and that “good boy” charm, he quite deserves it. Rani who appears on the silver screen after quite a while, and after many gruelling Yoga sessions we are told, looks thinner and fitter. There is also Rakhi Sawant, Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahil and Sherlyn Chopra.

Now because it is a Yash Raj production I expect this film to be at the very least a family entertainer, which means relatively clean, colorful and full of energetic songs. The official website is here but be wary, because although nicely done, it uses Flash, takes a humongous time to load and makes my PC’s CPU buzz like a swarm of bees.

“Dil bole hadippa” is directed by Anurag Singh. Singh was associate director on films like Dhoom 2, Koyla and “Karan Arjun”. As full-fledged director, he director “Raqeeb” before this. DBH has music by Pritam. It releases 18 Sep 2009.

Posted in 2009, bollywood, dance, drama, Previews, rating-PG, watchable | 3 Comments

Feed Reader Update

Posted on September 1, 2009 by amodini

To all those Readers who subscribe to my Feed : First of all, a big Thank You – I know that there is a lot of content on the Web, and am grateful that you find the content here worthy of subscription. Please note that I am changing the Feed of this blog to “summary” style rather than “full” post style, to deter sploggers from stealing/copying my feed without attributing it back to me. Sploggers are low-lifes/the scum of the internet who’ll steal your original posts and try and pass them off as their own. All the work on my blogs is Copyrighted, which means that you cannot use this content on any other media without giving me a linkback, and attributing it to it’s original author – which would be me : Amodini Sharma. Also, this work cannot be modified and you cannot “derive” from it – which means that if you take content from here, and change a couple of words and think it yours – it’s NOT – you are still stealing. If you see this content on any other site, other than this blog, or Planet Bollywood, it is stolen content, and the website and it’s author are committing Copyright Infringement.

Posted in 2009 | Tagged status | 2 Comments

Review : Sikandar

Posted on August 28, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Poor (2/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2009
Running time : 1 hour 50 minutes
Director : Piyush Jha
Cast : Parzan Dastur, Ayesha Kapur, Madhavan, Sanjay Suri, Arunoday Singh
Kid rating : PG-13

SIKANDAR : A waste of time and money

You know, if you are ever in a philosophical mood on Fridays (not that I recommend it), you could always wonder about the worrisome fates of child stars who seem to do so well as young, cute kids, but lose luster as they grow up, and reappear on-screen as boring, weak caricatures who can’t act. And I would be sympathetic, if only a bad film, starring afore mentioned child stars hadn’t quite blighted my evening.

Sikandar features (I can’t quite bring myself to say stars) Dastur as young, twittery orphan Sikandar, and Ayesha Kapoor as his classmate Nasreen. Parzan was last seen as the very cute little Sardar boy in Karan Johar’s “Kuch kuch hota hai” and I must say his cuteness is quite diminished. Kapur, we saw as the wild-haired blind and deaf child in Black. The film is set in Kashmir, against a back-drop of terrorism . Sikandar plays a school-going kid bullied by classmates, and befriended by the relatively smarter and stronger Nasreen. One day, walking to school, Sikandar comes across a gun, and picks it up, possibly thinking of it as a deterrent to his bullies. However a gun has many other uses, as well-meaning Sikandar soon finds out . . .

OK – first things first, this film has great locales – it’s shot in Kashmir, so it’s beautiful scenery, and green glades, and narrow, not-so-trodden paths where you would, you think, if you ever ventured there in real life, be over-awed with the Lord’s Great Work. However, it fails on almost every other count. Weak story, poor screenplay, dodgy direction, cryptic and very false-sounding dialogue-baazi, and atrocious acting.

This film’s story has loopholes the size of Texas. And then there is weak-kneed little boy, and his fathomless female friend ; really Nasreen drove me up the wall with all the speaking with her eyes. Only her eyes were on a maun vrat. And Sikandar, good boy and all, yeah ? But brains – not so much. And I’m not asking for Mensa quality IQs here, but common-sense just enough for a teenager ? I ask not for too much, do I Lord ?

The other actors weren’t that great when it comes to acting either, but that’s not all their fault. Madhavan, who I though had potential to make it big in Hindi filmdom, is bogged down by Stupid, Enigmatic dialogues which sound awkward for his character. He is an Army Colonel, but if you didn’t know that from his fatigues, you’d probably think he was a man of leisure out for an after-dinner stroll; so sauntering was his gait. The colonel while being enigmatic and cryptic, also manages to taunt Mukhtar Mattoo (played by Sanjay Suri) a political peacemaker. Now Suri is many things (and almost all of them good), but a man of peace, however border-line and fence-sitting, he is not.

I know that this is not your usual song-dance-melodrama piece of crap, so will agree with other reviewers who say that this film has good intentions. But are good intentions enough to channel someone’s crappy vision on screen and market it, and actually inflict it on poor, unsuspecting viewers ? I think not. This film did nothing for me, and nothing I suspect for the film-maker’s careers either.

You have been warned. And since you have read this review, you are no longer in the “poor, unsuspecting film-viewer” category. How’s that for a lifter-upper ? Have a good weekend everyone !

Tags : Sikandar movie review, Sikandar movie reviews, Sikandar film reviews

Posted in 2009, bollywood, drama, rating-PG13 | Comments Off