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Review : Kaminey

Posted on August 14, 2009 by amodini

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here.

Rating : Excellent (4.4/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Vishal Bharadwaj
Cast : Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Amole Gupte, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Tenzing Nima
Kid rating : PG-13

KAMINEY : ENGROSSING MIX OF ARTY AND COMMERCIAl CINEMA !

Need I spell out the obvious ? Need I tell you that it’s all true – the hype, the adoring reviews, the awe ? Because it is; Kaminey is all I’d hoped for and then some. Vishal Bharadwaj’s directorial venture after his last Omkaara, which released in 2006, Kaminey is the ultimate mix of arty and commercial cinema, giving us quality-hungry folk what we desire most – a classy, captivating film.

As I said in the preview this is the story of two unique heroes, twin brothers with speech impediments; Charlie lisps, and Guddu stammers. Good-natured, honest Guddu is in trouble with Sunil “Chopper” Bhope (Amol Gupte), a Maharashtrian political criminal, when Bhope finds out that Guddu has impregnated his (Bhope’s) sister Sweety (Priyanka). Small-time crook Charlie, having gotten his hands on some contraband, finds it being whisked away from under his nose, and digs in his heels. Both must fight their way out of this chaos, Guddu for the love of his life, and Charlie for his big-time dreams.

The story is a lark and Bhardwaj has fun with it. Along with subtle humor, we are also treated to moments of irony; Guddu, who for his NGO, advocates the usage of condoms, doesn’t wear one himself, and lands himself in a predicament. There are gun-toting, eccentric villains galore, from the trio of Bangla brothers for whom Charlie works, to the very Mumbaikar Bhope and the North-eastern Tashi . And the story uses their “local” nuances to define their characters; the Bengali brothers spout Bangla in passion, Mumbaikar Bhope has an aversion for the migrant U.P-ite, while Tashi must prevent a business deal with his African brothers-in-law from going sour.

One might not imagine that heroes with speech impediments would actually hold interest, but then one probably hasn’t figured Shahid Kapur into the mix. Shahid plays both Guddu and Charlie with aplomb; ruthless Charlie smilingly telling Bhope that he pronounces “Fa for Fa” (Fa for Sa), or Guddu stammering so hard on being questioned by the cops that one wondered if he would even finish the sentence. Shahid was always a good actor, but in this film, we finally glimpse the acting chops he has inherited from his father, Pankaj Kapoor.

Priyanka also outdoes herself as Sweety. Shrill in anger, squeaky with relief, or tremulous with emotion – she does it all well. Amol Gupte, the writer of the sensitive kiddie film “Taare Zameen par” makes a convincing villain, as ready-to-sell-my-own-mother Bhope. And Chandan Sanyal was impressive as Mikhail, Charlie’s friend and partner-in-crime. The rest of the supporting cast is also very effective and believable.

The film’s screenplay is delightful, and Bharadwaj, as expected wields the directorial reins firmly. Kaminey has some excellent music, also provided by Bharadwaj ; while the almost cult number “Dhan-te-nan” is dance-floor and action-groovy, the soft ballad like tones of “Mohabbat ki hain” are firmly entrenched in new-found love.

Kaminey is a good film – the kind of film that I would want more of, and more often. However if there was one thing that I would have qualms about, it would be the almost potboiler-ish ending, because it seemed so in-your-face and obvious for an otherwise subtle and nuanced film.

Kidwise : This gets a PG-13 rating for gun-fight sequences, and some strong violence.

Tags : Kaminey movie reviews, Kaminey film reviews, Kaminey review, Kaminey reviews, reviews of Kaminey

Posted in 2009, All Netflix, bollywood, drama, Hindi movies on Netflix, outstanding, rating-PG13, recommended | 13 Comments

Upcoming films : August 2009

Posted on August 11, 2009 by amodini

This is a new “column” which will appear at the begining of every month, with information on the new films of the month, their directors and actors. Here’s the first one for the month of August :

Release Date	Film Title	Genre	Director	Actors
Aug 14	Kaminey	Drama	Vishal Bhardwaj	Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Amol Gupte
Aug 14	Life Partner	Comedy	Rumi Jaffrey	Fardeen Khan, Tusshar Kapoor, Govinda, Genelia D’Souza, Prachi Desai
Aug 14	Mohan Das – A man lost in his own nation	Drama	Mazhar Kamran	Sonali Kulkarni, Sushant Singh, Nakul Vaid
Aug 28	Kisaan	Drama	Puneet Sira	Jackie Shroff, Sohail Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Dalip Tahil, Dia Mirza

Posted in bollywood, Previews | Tagged upcoming | Comments Off

Preview : Kaminey

Posted on August 9, 2009 by amodini

And now that you’ve read the background on Vishal Bharadwaj, you know why “Kaminey” is one of the most anticipated films of the year.

Keeping in line with his previous films, this one stars different people (unlike say the Bhatt or RGV camp where films star the same people over and over again). There’s Shahid Kapoor in a double role – and what’s with the double role these says ? There was the lovely Mithya, and Love Aaj Kal (well sort-of) and now this. Are we seeing a resurgence of the campy 80s style of story-telling ? And there’s Priyanka Chopra. Now she’s been getting meatier roles recently; there was Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion, which actually gave her room to emote, and she did good. And there’s Amol Gupte, write of “Taare Zameen par”. Am curious to see him – what exactly do writers look like on celluloid ?

Anyway, Shahid plays Guddu – the good twin, and Charlie – the not-so good twin. Guddu, walking the straight and narrow, stammers. Charlie – taking the shorter route via betting courses, lisps. No love lost between these too, they keep away from each other. Guddu loves Sweety (Priyanka as a Maharashtrian mulgi), but complications arise. Charlie, is cheated on the job. Both twins are hot-footing it to get away from their respective enemies, when their lives intersect once again…

As a kid in the 80s I saw a whole lot of movies. And endured their sub-standard background scores. Recall, all of you that can, the music that would come on when something momentous was about to happen ? It was always the same, in each and every film. Whether it was Amjad Khan maro-ing an entry, as only he could, or the villain about to abduct the hero’s wife/mother/sister/girlfriend, the familiar “Dhan-te-nan” resounded in the background. So, it gives me great pleasure in realizing that this director has turned our collective exasperation into a wonderful number. The title ? “Dhan to nan” . Justice is sweet and melodious !

The song is picturised on an unusually aggresive-looking Shahid Kapoor (presumably as Charlie) – take a dekko :

And lastly, if you’ve not listened to the music of this film yet, please do – it’s high on the Awesomeness Quotient. See you at the theatre, August 14, first day, first show !

Posted in bollywood, drama, Previews | Comments Off

Directors to watch out for : Vishal Bharadwaj

Posted on August 6, 2009 by amodini

The filmi Gods are smiling down on me. Last week, “Love Aaj Kal” by Imtiaz ali, and next week, “Kaminey” by Vishal Bhardwaj! I am in Bollywood-ian heaven. Because really, I ask for so little; one fantastic desi film by a fantastic desi director, per week (or two).

Vishal Bharadwaj is that rare breed of Indian director, who can be firmly put into the “Bonafide Genius” category. If you’ve watched any of his past films (Omkara, Maqbool, The Blue Umbrella, Makdee) you already know this. His films are world-class; they certainly make it to my Top 10. The man not only directs, he also writes, and composes music. Wow ! And it isn’t ordinary direction, and it certainly isn’t ordinary music. I am so in awe of this director’s talent. When I retire because this blog has made me pots of money (yeah, right !) and I relax in the backyard, martini in hand, I WILL spend all my time composing odes to his work.

Here’s a short scene from Maqbool :

He started directing with “Makdee” which was a kid’s film, and starred Shabana Azmi as a “witch”. “The Blue Umbrella” is based upon Ruskin Bond’s book of the same name, whereas Omkaara and Maqbool are adaptations of Shakespeare’s work (Othello and Macbeth respectively).

Bharadwaj is also a music director and composer of some repute. He started off small, playing the harmonium for little known ghazal singers in the Delhi area, but has now given the music to most of Gulzar’s projects, including and after Maachis (remember “Chappa chappa charka chale” ?), and has also served as music director for films like Satya and “Dil pe mat le yaar“, besides his self-directed productions.

He is married to singer Rekha Bharadwaj – she of the nasal voice which sits so well on Bipasha Basu.

Posted in bollywood, directors, lists, recommended | Tagged features | 2 Comments

Review : Luck

Posted on August 5, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Below average (2.5/5)
Genre : Suspense/Action/Thriller
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Soham Shah
Cast : Imran Khan, Shruti Hassan, Danny Denzongpa, Sunjay Dutt, Ram Kishen, Mithun Chakraborty, Chitrashi Rawat
Kid rating : PG-13

LUCK : THE 80s DONE WRONG !

I am so glad that Hindi cinema has changed for the better. Where once the old formulas of romance and dhishum-dhishum ruled we now have films which take on un-conventional (for desi audiences) subjects, like murder mysteries (Manorama six feet under), personal angst-causing tales (Main meri patni aur woh) or even thoughtful romances (the recent Love Aaj Kal). So, it’s kind of a major let-down to see a film like “Luck”, with it’s almost caricaturish villains, cryptic, loaded dialogues (do real villains really have the time to compose talk like that ?) and odes to mindless (and ridiculous) violence.

The film’s plot centers on “lucky” people. Almost all the main characters are lucky people, a fact noticed by “luck-trader” Musa bhai (Sanjay Dutt). Ram Mehra (Imran), Ayesha (Shruti), ex-jailbird Raghav (Ram Kisshen), Major Jabbar Pratap Singh (Mithun), Short-cut (Chitrashi Rawat) are considered lucky and happen to be desperate for money. Musa along with his henchman Lakhan Tamang (Danny) rounds up these people and persuades them to enter a life-and-death game with a high payout. If they survive they get the loot. If they don’t – well, dead men don’t talk, much less ask for their share.

There are lots of things wrong with this film. Firstly, the casting – Imran Khan is the spitting image of Mr. Goody-2-Shoes, so why cast him as an aggresive, possibly negative character ? He might work (and I’m just speculating here) in a film like “Johnny Gaddar” or in a “Khosla ka Ghosla“, but in a movie where there is no dearth of menacing faces, he doesn’t stand a chance. Then there is Chitrashi Rawat, who plays a camel jockey. Now I’ve got to hand it to her, for her short stature she has a large swagger. She’s a decent actress, but where’s the personality ? Ram Kisshen is paisa-vasool though; his sneering I-know-something-you-don’t attitude works quite well here. Sunjay Dutt is in his “bhai”-wala avatar, so it’s all dark glasses and glowering glances from him. And Danny is Danny and Mithun is Mithun – predictable and boring.

And now for the debutante of the week (or not) Shruti Hassan, Kamal Hassan and Sarika’s daughter. I was pretty curious to see her in action, because (and I’m probably dating myself here) I remember reading about Kamal Hassan’s controversial break-up with first wife Vani Ganapathy – Vani castigated the affair in print (Filmfare et. al.), slapped Sarika, the works. One is therefore naturally curious to see how the product of that union turned out. Shruti looks a lot like her mother, tall, graceful, slim and svelte and dances well. She can’t emote though, which if she’s inherited her acting genes from her parents, might improve with time.

“Luck” tries to be a “thriller”, but also has the obligatory romance-dance routines. There is also the “desi” emotional pull – Ram has a Maa to please, and army-man Singh has an ailing wife. This is a mish-mash of all things masala, with nothing done right. Directorial focus is a thing unknown here and the script, merely a tool to thread together the item numbers with the inane stunts. All that said, if I had to choose the worst thing about this movie, I’d say the dialogues were atrocious – and Danny had the major chunk of the worst ones. The songs might be the only silver lining – and it’s a mighty thin lining at that; I quite liked “Jee Le”.

The director Soham Shah also directed the very forgettable “Kaal“, so it’s not like I was expecting quality here, but “Luck” turned out to be ghastlier than expected. It starts off OK, but morphs pretty quickly into a C-grade film. Verdict : Keep away.

Kid-wise : This earns itself a PG-13 rating, for the violence and glorification of the “bhai”/criminal types.

Tags : Movie Review Luck, Review Luck, Luck Review, Luck Movie Review, Luck film review

Posted in 2009, action, bollywood, drama, rating-PG13, thriller | 2 Comments

Review : Love Aaj Kal

Posted on August 1, 2009 by amodini

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here .

Rating : Very good (4.3/5)
Genre : Romance
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Imtiaz Ali
Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna, Raj Zutshi, Vir Das, Giselle Monteiro
Kid rating : PG

LOVE AAJ KAL (MOVIE REVIEW) : ROMANTIC RAH-RAH !

Romeo and Juliet, Heer-Ranjha, Shirin-Farhad and all those other love stories – they are only for the books and the movies, right ? Ever seen it happen right in your midst ? (And I don’t mean neighboring Gupta aunty’s daughter who eloped with her motorcycle-wala boy-friend in the middle of the night). What I‘m asking you to do is re-ponder the age old question : What is love ? Does it exist ? More importantly, does it ever happen to us, the aam junta, the mango people ? Fear not – I have not had one drink too many on this Friday night, nor am I drowning in existential angst (not yet anyway) – I am merely quoting a line from “Love Aaj Kal”.

The movie attempts to answer the above question by example. The questioner here is Jai Vardhan Singh (Saif) who’s living in the UK, dreaming of working for the Golden Gate Company in San Francisco, and in the meanwhile trying not to “pile-on” to beautiful girls. While trying the whole “don’t mean to pile-on, but” routine, he meets beautiful Meera Pandit (Deepika). They hit it off, which subsequently leads to a relationship. When their careers dictate that they move to different countries, they part amicably, and move on with their lives . . .

Championing the cause of true love in the film, is Sardar Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor). A nosy old man who won’t stop prying into Jai’s love life, Veer Singh also relates his youthful tale of love for the beautiful Harleen Kaur. The Veer-Harleen sequence runs parallel to the Jai-Meera storyline, contrasting the ways of yester-year and modern day love.

This film with it’s dual-track love-stories falls strongly into the romance genre. However it’s not your frothy, bubbly romance, a la “Jab we met” , but more of a tale of “difficult” love – i.e.; finding “The One”, and on finding him/her (if you do), the more onerous task of knowing if this is it. Our protagonists Meera and Jai really don’t have a clue; they don’t appear to have thought that far.

Saif plays two characters in the film, that of suave city-boy Jai, and also that of the young Sardar Veer. He looked quite a “natural” Sardar, and even managed the Punjabi accent ably. Overall his performance was energetic, enthusiastic, and if not immaculate, really quite decent. Deepika is quite good as Meera. Meera is an unconventional Bollywood heroine, in that she is smart, has her wits about her, and is calm and reserved by nature. Thus, Deepika seemed a good fit for this role, although her monotonous dialogue delivery didn’t actually light up the screen in the first half of the movie. Her acting style is rather understated, which kind of works here, because that’s who Meera is.

This is a slow-paced film, livened up by some smart quips, and energetic dance sequences. A big plus is the melodious music; “Aahun Aahun“ is a peppy number with Punjabi beats, “Yeh dooriyan“ features Mohit Chauhan‘s soulful vocals, and “Aaj din chaddhya“ is sheer romantic poetry. The film is well-directed and the characters believably developed. Imtiaz Ali lives up-to his reputation and handles the finer sentiments of this film oh-so delicately. His sensitive portrayal of a love languishing, the rarefied disappointment of not knowing whether the one you pine for will indeed be yours, is moving.

It is clear after watching the movie, that the director had a “vision” of what he wanted to project. “Love Aaj-Kal” is an unusual love tale for Bollywood, because it lacks the “add-ons” generally seen in desi films of this genre – the over-the-top/quirky characters (a la Geet in “Jab we met“), the familial parodies (loud Punjabi families are frequently the butt of jokes) and the implicit vibes/coochie-cooings (he thrusts, she parries) between the love-struck pair.

The film when it started, presented the Jai-Meera story in a flurry of quick, short takes – I could just imagine the director yelling “Cut“ after every 10 seconds. Until about the interval, this was how it went, kind of abrupt, and cryptic – made me feel like I was getting the compressed version of the story. But post-interval Ali seemed to get his act together, and the squiggly little pieces of the plot seemed to come together and flow. Thus while I was beginning to have my doubts in the first half of the film, I must say I was floored by the second. The characters are hard not to like, and Meera’s predicament had me shedding a few tears of my own.

“Love Aaj Kal” is a film well worth your time, just don’t go in there expecting a happy-happy, smooth-n-snappy Friday night movie.

Kidwise : This is a clean, classy film, with nothing more than a few lip-locks, and one mugging scene. I wouldn’t actually recommend it for children under 13, because of the pace and nature of the film – younger kids might have a hard time getting it.

If you liked this film, you might also like :

– Socha na tha
– Jab we met
– Rules – pyar ka superhit formula

Tags : Love Aaj Kal Movie Review, Love Aaj kal film review, Love aaj kal review

Posted in 2009, bollywood, rating-PG, recommended, romance | 7 Comments

Review : Sankat City

Posted on July 29, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Excellent (4.5/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Pankaj Advani
Cast : Anupam Kher, Kaykay Menon, Rimi Sen, Chunky Pandey, Yashpal Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Hemant Pandey, Jahangir Khan, Veerendra Saxena, Shri Vallabh Vyas, Rahul Dev
Kid rating : PG-13

SANKAT CITY : A RARE, TRUE COMEDY !

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here.

“Sankat City” reminds me of a Wodehouse-ian novel; a bunch of odd-ball characters cocooned in their own little spheres of influence, setting forth a chain of events that promises much mirth and laughter. The city, of course, is Mumbai, and in it’s criminal citizenry it includes car-thief Guru (Menon) and his associates Ganpat (Prabhavalkar), and Sharafat (Shrivallabh Vyas). Also peopling Sankat City is small-time con-woman Mona (Rimi) , businessman Pachisia (Yashpal Sharma), film producer Gogi Kukreja (Pahwa), and his lead actor Sikandar Khan (Chunky Pandey).

However the person who makes the world go around (at least in Sankat City) is ruthless mob-boss Faujdaar (Kher). And why ? Because everyone borrows money from him. Whether it’s Pachisia who’s in the doghouse because he has only a few days to pay back his loan, or Kukreja who must borrow to buy land for his dream studio, they are all in debt and mortal fear of Faujdaar.

The plot, which I will not describe in detail, revolves around large lost sums of money. The money belongs to Faujdaar, and Guru and Mona who don’t have it, must scheme their way around the mobster and his violence-loving henchman Lovely (Jahangir Khan). Suffice it to say that the journey to get out from under Faujdaar’s thumb is fraught with mishaps (for them) and humor (for us) given that they associate with rather quaint, quirky characters.

This film has a succinct storyline, and by that I mean that Advani, who has also written the film doesn’t waste facts – something very rare in Bollywood. If we as audience are given information on a person or an event, that information is brought into play later. Advani also brings great detail and nuance in the development of each character. Every character has a great quirk – Guru, a sneaky thief loves fishes (as pets), Faujdaar has a thing for South-Indian, voluptuous bombshells, and looks upto only one person, his Guru Swamiji (Saxena). Swamiji also has a fetish – he loves bathing with young men.

It also does not hurt that the film has an excellent cast. In fact it is quite pleasant to see a lot of good television artistes in this film, like the cast of “Office Office” – Manoj Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra and Hemant Pandey. There is ofcourse stalwart Anupam Kher, who brings to screen a delightful rendition of a Himachali mobster, complete with typical accent. Rimi Sen, quite unexpectedly, flexes her acting muscles. Playing a Bengali siren, with a penchant for making off with the loot, she looks and acts the part. The woman has talent and I look forward to seeing her in meatier roles.

Advani directs beautifully, tieing up all the lose ends neatly, and produces a lovely, comedic caper. Highly recommended.

Kidwise : This film is almost clean; it has references to prostitution and a scene of a woman in undress. There are however “adult” nuances which may not be suitable for a younger child – hence the PG-13 rating.

Films like this : If you liked this film, you will probably also like :

– Jaane bhi do yaaron
– Chashm-e-buddoor
– Khosla ka ghosla

Posted in 2009, bollywood, drama, humor, outstanding, rating-PG13, recommended | 5 Comments

Preview : Love Aaj Kal

Posted on July 25, 2009 by amodini

Love Aaj Kal is, you guessed it, love today versus love yesterday. And, of course I don’t exactly mean yesterday, but yesteryear, as in 2 love stories, both starring Saif Ali Khan. Khan who has also turned producer with this film, and launched Illuminati films, expresses love doubly here. Saif is love-struck, once as old-fashioned Sardar Veer, who having once sighted the girl of his dreams Harleen Kaur, waits in silence just to catch another glimpse of her, and the second time as a modern young man of today Jai, who thinks he has it good with Meera (Padukone) but is willing to find out if there are other fish in the sea.

Yup, it’s back to the fields of Punjab, folks, to see Saif Ali Khan, atop a bicycle wooing the girl in the cycle rickshaw. The new girl who plays Harleen, looks quite the part, demure as girls were then (?), eyes downcast, and gazes averted. For the trendy, and those who want the “in-thing”, you have another helping of Saif mixed with Deepika’s sparkly good looks.

Romance rocks (in) Bollywood. Has rocked for several decades now, if you look at the amount of romantic films made every year. Recently the trend has been changing, and we have been fortunate enough to see non-romance themed films too, but the masses swoon in the name of romance. Boy meets girl. Girl smitten, boy smitten, throw in a few “villains” – and voila ! You have your average 1980s and 90s romance. Also a super-duper hit formula by the way, so let’s not look down our noses at it.

Imtiaz Ali is a director who has been very successful with romantic films. From his first film, “Socha na tha” which starred then newcomer Ayesha Takia and our silver-screen Devdas Abhay Deol, to his 2006 hit “Jab we met” Ali has delivered each time. In this age of Facebook and Twitter, where you receive hazaaron requestes of “friendship” and people can “poke” you , and scrap on your “wall” , and you are free to IM or chat, his films are always served with a twist, and manage to bridge the age old idea of staid love with the zingy youthfulness of modern and “internet-age” romance.

A promising and enthusiastic starcast, a good director and some very catchy music, this film promises to be the Desi film of the Summer. This will be in a theater near you, the 31st of July ! See you there, first day, first show !

P.S. : I’ve been trying to embed a high quality trailer of the film here, but the good quality ones up at youtube are posted by user “erosentertainment” and embedding is disabled by request. This means that any blogger (like moi) cannot embed the trailer while plugging the film. Are the marketing folks retarded ? It’s like – want free publicity – er . . . No, Thanks !

Posted in bollywood, Previews | Comments Off

Review : New York

Posted on July 22, 2009 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 10 minutes
Director : Kabir Khan
Cast : Katrina Kaif, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irfan Khan
Kid rating : PG-13

NEW YORK : GOOD INTENTIONS, BUT DOESN’T STAND IT’S GROUND

After the recent months of the film strike and the sudden paucity of desi films, one would think we would be flooded with Movies of high caliber. Well, it appears that I am dreaming of Utopia, where we would be treated to one smashing, Vishal Bharadwaj-directed film a week. The Real World is not remotely like it; hence films like “New York”. Now don’t get me wrong – it’s not all bad. Actually it’s much better than bad, although reading the Rediff review, I was expecting a Grade A disaster (which it is not).

Samir (John), Omar (Neil) and Maya (Katrina) are college friends in the US. While Samir and Maya are Americans , Omar has come from India to study in the States. The three although different in temperament become “best buddies”. After college, and unrequited love, Omar drifts apart from the duo. Years later when he meets Samir and Maya under false pretenses, Omar must decide whether to betray his friends or save innocent lives . . .

“New York” is peopled with pretty folk. There’s well-muscled John Abraham, beautiful Katrina Kaif and that innocent cherub of a bad actor, Neil Nitin mukesh. And that’s one of my grouses with it – it’s too pretty to be taken seriously. The “theme” so to speak, is “serious” and “weighty” – that of terrorism and the innocent people who were tortured because of it, post-9/11. A good theme and a potentially interesting film. However, if you were really serious about your craft and product would you cast Abraham, Kaif and Mukesh, all non-actors, in the lead roles ?

I must admit here that I don’t particularly dislike seeing Abraham on screen – quite the contrary in fact. And Kaif and Mukesh are easy on the eyes as well. Oh, but to watch them eke out an emotion is sheer torture. Neil Nitin Mukesh who’s first film “Johnny Gaddar” was a tremendous (and very fortunate) debut, is actually forced to emote here, and while he passed muster in his first film, he doesn’t quite cut it here. Probably because some scenes actually require a certain amount of skill; for example the scene where he finds out that the woman of his dreams loves someone else. And John, although he improves from film to film, doesn’t have the acting chops to do this role. Ah, and Kaif – the less said about her acting the better. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; the woman is stunning to look at, but an actress she’s not.

Irrfan Khan, probably the most versatile actor in the film, plays a policeman (yet again!) this time of the FBI, seeking to defend the outrages committed by his adopted country. He is the lynch-pin, the connection between the desi Omar and the American FBI agent, and it his character that must be true to his convictions. Unfortunately, as much as I’d like to believe him, his conviction appears shaky, and he does not stand his ground.

Which is sort of the problem with the film; good intentions, but whither that conviction ?

Direction is intermittently good; there are scenes which are handled oh-so-delicately and then there are times, when the shot is so rough around the edges, it makes you cringe. I am undecided on this director’s skill as of now – is what he got right a fluke, or is he really a “good” director who strayed ? You gather then that directorial skill doesn’t exactly shine through here.

Story-wise, this film does come up as unusual, but it has some very gaping plot-holes. There is Maya, an educated woman who believes that her man will go the straight and narrow path, just because he hasn’t (yet) told her about his (nefarious) activities. Really ? Spin a good yarn someone ! Then there is the abrupt career jump that Omar makes – one day he’s a 9-to-5 office person, the next he’s oh-so-excited to be starting in on Sam’s building cleaning business. Whoa ! It is (scripted ?) stuff like this which makes me regard the film with just that much less credulity.

The film is to quite a degree saved by it’s melodious music. While the “Hai Junoon” song is passable, “Mere saath chal zara” and “Tune jo na kaha” are outstanding.

Kidwise : This film contains violence and scenes depicting torture. Younger children might find it hard to grasp some concepts.

If you liked this film, you might also like :

– Hazaar chaurasi ki ma
– Hazaron khwaishen aisi
– Yun hota to kya hota ?

Posted in 2009, bollywood, drama, rating-PG13, watchable | 2 Comments

Review : 99

Posted on June 30, 2009 by amodini

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here.
Rating : Above average (3.9/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru
Cast : Kunal Khemu, Cyrus Broacha, Mahesh Manjrekar, Soha Ali Khan, Simone Singh, Boman Irani, Vinod Khanna, Sudesh Berry
Kid rating : G

Who doesn’t love a movie about bumbling crooks ? Especially if it is well-made, has what seems to be an original story-line and some actual humor, yeah ? I do, for one. And 99 struck me as entertaining and a tad “Pulp Fiction”-ish, because it’s got these bizarre characters with their fetishes and quirks. The more the merrier – that’s the motto and it succeeds pretty well.

Sachin (Kunal Khemu, who’s gotten cleaned up and clean-shaven), and Zaramud (Cyrus Broacha) are small-time conmen who when they damage another crook AGM’s car, must work for him, and end up helping him extract payments from recalcitrant loan-seekers. Thus they meet Rahul (Boman Irani), a salaried professional with the gambling itch. Now Rahul is into betting on cricket matches because he believes them to be fixed, and persuades the duo that he can predict and win. Now the threesome (actually foursome, if you include lady-love Pooja(Soha Ali Khan)) must outwit AGM, and other assorted villains to grab some moolah, bet with it and win. Sound impossible ? Think again !

Khemu who’s always appeared in small-time, if entertaining films, delivers yet again. As Sachin, the almost yuppie, good-looking, well-built con-man with a heart of gold, he is quite likeable, and not hard to root for. Cyrus Broacha, MTV VJ, and the film’s resident fat-man is quite another story. Broacha has trouble emoting, and his punch-lines are off. The only time I found him funny was when he walked straight into a pole and fell unconscious. He was funnier out.

Mahesh Manjrekar as AGM, the technologically challenged crime-boss is spot-on. And funny. There is one scene, where the Mumbaikar AGM comes to Delhi and gets into a taxi. The taxi doesn’t have a meter, and AGM is quite perturbed. “What kind of city is this ! The taxis don’t have meters !”, he remarks quite agitated. And while my recanting this anecdote might seem flat, please watch this in person for maximum effect.

Another actor who’s new and very effective is Amit Mistry, who plays Kuber, a crook (the film’s teeming with them) who’s lent Rahul money and comes knocking to recover it. Now Kuber, who’s well, a little puny, always lugs around his henchman. This hulking giant of a man, could probably eat our hero Sachin for breakfast and not burp. He is innocuously named Dimple – a sly dig at Punjabi Delhites who have a penchant for naming their muscular children Chintu, Bubbly, Sweety and the like.

Pretty Simone Singh plays Jahnavi, Irani’s estranged wife (she’s firmly ensconced at her mother’s flat), and Soha Ali Khan play’s a hotel manager and Sachin’s paramour. While Khan’s role is not as minor as Singh’s they both don’t sway the story either way. What does sway the film, and keep it afloat is it’s subtle humor, much of it derived from the comparison between our two favorite cities – Bombay and Delhi (i.e.; have you heard the gag about Pooja and Neha ?). Nicely done, and with much affection.

This film is well-directed and spry-spirited. From an enthusiastic and often athletic cast (watch Khemu and Broacha run circles around their enemies) to glib, humorous dialogues, and meaty, well-defined characters, this one is an all-around winner.

Kidwise : This is a relatively clean film, and one which your kids (and you) might enjoy. Hard to believe, I know, but an actual family entertainer!