Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews - Part 87Amodini's Movie Reviews | Movie Reviews by Year, Genre and Rating

Review : Gangster

Posted on July 14, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.2/5)
Genre : Thriller/suspense
Year : 2006
Running time : 2.5 hrs
Director : Anurag Basu
Cast : Emran Hashmi, Shiney Ahuja, Kangana Ranaut

GANGSTER : NOVEL BUT DEPRESSING !

Gangster is the story of what else – a gangster and the people affected by his life. This film marks the debut of Kangna, who while pretty and shapely, is not heroine material. She does OK, in this churn-out from the Bhatt film factory. So, here’s the story :

Simran (Kangana) is a sad young woman, alone and addicted to alcohol in Seoul it seems, until she meets a night-club singer Akash (Hashmi). He pursues her, comforts her, and while she wants to be friends she hesitates in starting a relationship. One day she tells him why. She’s apparently the girlfriend of dreaded gangster Daya (Ahuja), and living alone once he’s out for work for months out of town. Akaash however convince her of his love, and they have an affair. Unfortunately Daya turns up and finds out about them, with disastrous consequences for Akash . . .

The film starts out with Simran in hospital, Akash badly wounded, trying to piece together the past from her shaken memory, and thus the film is told partway in flashback. From the way the film started and the path it seemed to be taking, I was expecting a placid, easy-to-figure out story, but the film has many unexpected twists and turns, especially in the second half which keep one guessing. Apart from that, the story is sad, sad, sad, and very darkly shot. So, it’s less like an “entertaining” film, and more like someone’s relating you their painfully sad story, and while I;m for dark, heavy, arty films, this one is really DEPRESSING. And really why would I pay for that ?

Direction is good, with some pretty shots making use of the Seoul skyline. Emran Hashmi is a decent enough actor, although absolutely NOT hero material – personally he gives me the creeps. Kangna is fine actingwise too. Ahuja because of whom I’d actually seen the film, is good, not spectacular as he was in “Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi”. The songs are really good, but 4 out of the 5 are borrowed tunes.

So, a good enough film, if you’re up for the heavy stuff.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama, thriller | 2 Comments

Review Corporate

Posted on July 10, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Barely above average (3.1/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs 15 minutes
Director : Madhur Bhandarkar
Cast : Bipasha Basu, Kaykay Menon, Rajat Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Harch Chaya, Minishha Lamba, Achint Kaur, Vinay Apte

CORPORATE : Watch it if you must !

Corporate is a classic case of one character breaking the entire film. I’d looked forward to this Madhur Bhandarkar film. After the most excellent “Page Three” who wouldn’t ? But it’s almost as if some other director has directed this film – it’s so different and comparitively shoddy from Page 3. Frankly, in the humdrum first half, I was ready to lie back in my comfortable stadium theatre seating and take a nap.

There are lot’s of characters in the film, and the director takes his own sweet time introducing all of them. To his credit, he’s picked and chosen very good TV artistes for most of the roles. The only place he falters big-time is in picking the leading lady ; he’s chosen Bipasha Basu for the pivotal role of Nishigandha Dasgupta, and the lady makes a complete hash of it. Basu can diplay a limited number of emotions, actually only 2 : happy or sad. If the film requires some greys or in-between emotions you’re out of luck.

The story’s not really flaky, but is delivered with such little impact, that it tests your patience. The film only starts to get remotely interesting towards the second half, and I’m being kind. So, there are two major business families, both competing against each other and the fiercest of rivals. On one hand there is the Marwah group headed by Dharmesh Marwah (Raj Babbar), and on the other there is the Sehgal group headed by Vinay Sehgal (Rajat Kapoor). While in Marwah’s group we have Pervez (Sandeep Mehta) and other unknown faces, in Sehgal’s team is Navin (Harch Chhaya), Nishi (Basu), and Sehgal’s brother-in-law Ritesh (Menon). Pervez is forever hitting upon Nishi at social functions, and while she is in love with Ritesh ( and he with her) she uses Pervez (unwittingly) to do some corporate espionage. Pervez loses his job when this is found out, and Nishi gets her just deserts when she is made the fall-guy for Sehgal’s business debacle . . .

That’s pretty much the sum of the story. Of course it takes 2 hours (seemed longer) because the movie-track meanders up and down various corporate machinations, the bribing of corrupt politicians, and lots of little side stories which do nothing for the film. Everyone except Basu does an OK job at depicting their charcaters – Menon, Babbar, Chaya and Kapoor are good. Achint Kaur as Vinay Sehgal’s wife is effective in her small role. Vinay Apte as the corrupt minister Gulab Rao really plays the part to the hilt “Jai Maharashtra” and all. Minisha Lamba has a small role as Nishi’s underling Megha, although why this character was created in the first place I have no clue – it has no impact on the film. Lillette Dubey has a tiny role as a journalist/pimp and she does as well as expected.

The music is bad and the sountrack pathetic. The background music which could have served to heighten the sorely needed impact is missing or in the wrong places. If there were good/bad guys here – they aren’t easy to point out – that’s the kind of mess this film is. I didn’t root for any “hero/heroine” nor did I feel bad when Nishi was beset with troubles, thanks to Basu’s ridiculous attempts at acting. At one point, I used to think the both John Abraham and Basu were at par as far as their acting (in)abilities were concerned. With this film I can say that Abraham has forged miles ahead of her.

And what’s with the “Allen Solly” ad in the film ? Bipasha as the hard-headed (but with a conscience) businesswoman has her pulled back, way back, into a snappy, silky ponytail (I’d get a migraine just from all that hair-pulling), but the business suits don’t do her justice. For someone with that great a figure surely they could have found something smarter !

Although I can’t put a finger to the faults of the film, I’ll say that the characters were not well-defined and kind of wavered. Yeah, they were cut-throat and all, but we didn’t see their “good” sides – no attempt at creating the sympathy factor with the audience. The film’s story was someone’s attempt to be cerebral and fail. Honestly it looked like they’d taken the regular old hindi film story where there are 2 warring families, imbued them with businesses, and dropped the romantic lead. I’d call the film listless. Watch it if you must.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama | Comments Off

Review : Krrish

Posted on June 23, 2006 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B008NW4Z3A” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Above Average (3.8/5)
Genre : Sci-fi/fantasy
Year : 2006
Running time : About 3 hours
Director : Rakesh Roshan
Cast : Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Rekha, Naseeruddin Shah, Kiran Joneja-Sippy, Manini Mishra

Krrish : Creating the first desi super-hero with aplomb !

Finally, the first ever desi Superhero film ! Granted Krrish can’t fly, he has no webs to sling or Krrish-mobile to drive, but he has bulging biceps, and great powers of levitation. And yeah, no cape, but the snazzy, black, patent leather trench coat he sports does the job. He is brawny, (apparently) brainy, incredibly strong and nimble of foot, and can hop, skip and jump his way through the most arduous of circumstances, be they in the forests of his village, or in traffic in Singapore. So, yes, a Super-hero who has his own sense of style, with a costume not borrowed or inspired from the West.

However being desi has it’s own side-effects, ie; the guy is still tied to the mater’s apron strings (in this case his dadi’s – hence all the “Maa” dialogues gets translated into Dadi mode). And then there are the sentimental overtones, our Krishna, is a senti nitwit, in love with the first adult woman he sets his eyes on (the fact that she’s this gorgeous gal is another matter), but remembering his Dadi even in pardes, full of anger towards the bad guys, yet childishly sweet, innocent and incorrupt.

Since this is a sequel to Koi Mil Gaya, Krish is about Rohit’s son Krishna. The young Krishna is precocious which worries his grandma Sonia (Rekha) greatly and she resolves to hide away his super-powers in a remote village, where she builds a cottage and home-schools Krishna. The duo is apparently self-sufficient with the resolute Sonia tending her vegetable garden and her grandson in her heavy, expensive looking silk sarees. Sonia’s son Rohit and his wife are apparently no more. The boy Krishna does little more than learn from his granny, play cricket, and frolic with his pet white horse. Growing up in the space of a few minutes (Bollywood style – remember the Amitabh films where the boy morphed into the young man while running or during a song ?) into well-muscled Hrithik, the adult Krishna really digs into the village wastrel life-style.

OK, to rev things up, we have a damsel in distress landing from the sky, via a glider. True to form, the valiant Krishna saves the damsel from falling from the tree when her glider gets stuck. And what a damsel – Priyanka as Priya does a convincing impression of a pretty gal with no brains – all she does is look wide-eyed, flutter her well-mascaraed eye-lashes, and squeak with fear, and emit oohs and aahs in appreciation of being saved. Krishna being the epitome of manly man, advises her to close her eyes and hang-on to him tightly and all will be well. And she does.

Well, you guessed it, Priya’s the love interest, but after some non-sensical histrionics with her and the rest of her adventure trip members (when everyone is awed by Krishna’s strength and sundry super-powers), and a song and dance later she bids goodbye to the now love-struck Krishna and heads home to Singapore. She and her friend Honey (Manini Mishra) work for Star TV, and when Honey hits upon the idea of doing a story on Indian Superman Krishna, Priya gets roped into persuading Krishna to come to Singapore, which he does, after much emotional drama with his grand-mother who tells him the tale of his father’s demise abroad.

In Singapore, Krishna develops his super-hero identity “Krrish” almost accidentally while saving a kid from a circus fire. With his romance going sour, Krishna is ready to leave for India, when he meets friends of his father and learns that he has a ready-made foe in a corrupt businessman Siddhant Arya (played by Naseeruddin Shah). He also learns a shocking secret about his father which compels him to change into Krrish and storm Arya’s guarded head-quarters. Will Krish be able to avenge his father’s death ?

Now, admittedly the story’s a bit shaky and lacks (basic) logic in (many) places. And the film’s a tad too long – it’s 3 hours. However this still earns an above average rating on my scale because it’s essentially a pioneer in the Hindi super-hero genre, and actually creates a desi super-hero with class (and biceps). Not a mean feat by any standards. Plus the director has to be commended for the very well-done special effects – very world class – they reminded me of the “Matrix”, and “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” – especially the scenes in the forest and the one-guy-beats-all scenarios. Krish has the best special effects I’ve seen in any Hindi film/serial I’ve seen so far. I’me very glad that it’s Rakesh Roshan who pioneered the desi super-hero thing instead of some one like say Ramanand Sagar (of the serial Ramayana fame – remember the whizzing arrows ?) – I cringe at the thought of the special effects he’d have had.

Some of the shots in the film, like the one where Krishna is seen as an adult for the first time racing along with the white steed, and ones where he’s saving people as Krish during the fire, are very well-done, kind of the super-hero introductions you see Superman and Batman getting. Plus the wide angle, 360 degree shots are novel, and interesting to see.

The acting is OK. Hrithik is above average and can emote decently. Rekha is an accomplished actress, even though she is swathed in heavy drama, so no worries on that account. Shah as the villain is very, very good. Thus the only weak point is Priyanka, who has one of those witless woman roles which are so dominant in Hindi films – not her fault really. Kiran Joneja appears in a very short role as Priyanka’s mom. Manini Mishra as Honey is the typical Bollywoodian female “saheli” and she does OK.

The songs are averge – I remember only 2 now. The background music is good though and adds to the quality of the film.

Although this is not a scintillating film, it’s still a very watchable one. I predict Roshan’s going to recover the millions he’s spent on this one.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, family-friendly, sci-fi | 5 Comments

Review : Phir Hera Pheri

Posted on June 21, 2006 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B000LP5F7W” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]
Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : comedy
Year : 2006
Running time : 2.3 hours
Director : Neeraj Vora
Cast : Akshay Kumar, Suneil Shetty, Paresh Rawal, Bipasha Basu, Rimi Sen, Johnny Lever, Shakti Kapoor, Rajpal Yadav

Phir Hera Pheri : Watchable fare !

I looked forward to this film, since it was a sequel to a pretty decent comedy. And then I do think Priyardarshan’s films offer a respectable respite from the films that purport to be comedies. I can’t say I’m disappointed (Paresh Rawal is fabulous) although I did expect better. “Hera Pheri” was definitely better than this film. PHP comes strung together on a very thin thread of believability, so leave your logical, inquiry seeking minds at home. And if you’re expecting a finished, polished product think again – PHP is slap-dash, moving scene-to-scene with very little attempt at finesse.

So, here’s the gist, I am too stricken with the Delhi heat (vacationing) to write more : there’s the trio Babu Rao (Rawal), Shyam (Shetty) and Raju (Akshay Kumar) like there was the last time, you know. The last film ended with the buffoons being swamped in cold, hard cash. Thus they are firmly ensconced in a Rs. 50 lakh posh bungalow (complete with swimming pool) at the start of this film. However they scheme to get richer and invest all their savings and the house and borrowed cash in a chit fund scheme run by Anuradha (Bipasha Basu). The scheme turns out to be fraudulent, rendering the threesome penniless and forced to move to a chawl. The real trouble however starts when debtors come collecting for the borrowed cash, and things turn nasty. Do our favorite goofy characters carve a way through the mess ?

OK, acting – Sunil Shetty is bad, bad, bad. Akshay Kumar displays comic timing while Rawal as I said before, is absolutely fab. The women (Sen, Basu) have very little to do except heave their bosoms when time permits, which is very often. Diya Mirza appears in an item number, and turns bosom-heaving into an art form. And what exactly does Bipasha Basu (not) eat – the woman has slimmed down like there’s no tomorrow !

The script defies logic and common sense and all else. Direction is perfunctory, basic enough to keep things in sync. – nothing to write home about. The songs are average – I don’t remember any except one. The end turns Wodehousian with all the characters, bad and good, converging on circus grounds, and displaying amazing acrobatic skills. Add to that a man in a gorilla suit, and you get the picture.

All that said, with all the trash out there, this film is still watchable. Only don’t pin your hopes too high.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, comedy, recommended | 1 Comment

Review : Fanaa

Posted on May 27, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Slightly above average (3.2/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2006
Running time : About 3.5 hours
Director : Kunal Kohli
Cast : Aamir Khan, Kajol, Rishi Kapoor, Kirron Kher, Satish Shah, Lillette Dubey, Jaspal Bhatti, Tabu

Loads of desi junta turned up to watch the first day show of Fanaa. And since as usual we reached right before the film began, the theatre had like one row empty – the one closest to the screen. Sitting that close to the screen is not very pleasant ; you have to turn your neck every time some character walks across the width of the screen, left-to-right, right-to-left and so it goes. I watched “Mast” from that vantage point and it left me with a crick in the neck which lasted 2 days. So, in the interests of my spinal health, decided to wait for the next show, an hour later to watch the movie. And while I’m twiddling my thumbs in the theatre lobby for an hour, I’m thinking, Man, this film had better be good ! And was it ? Not exactly.

Fanaa was what I would call “a strongly anticipated” film. Why ? Because there’s a dearth of films. Really, I mean it. Plus Kajol’s comeback film. Plus Aamir. Plus it being a Yash Raj film and all. The only downer to the story was Kunal Kohi, whom I’m not gaga about, courtesy his earlier directorial ventures – the guy seems to be all froth and no substance – I‘m convinced that he might be able to make a good film (if he tries really hard) but never a fantastic one. Still the positive factors weighed down the negative, and I the perennial optimist, head for the theatre.

OK, the film : Happy-go-lucky, poetry-spouting, tapori tour guide Rehan Qadri (Aamir), meets blind Kashmiri girl Zooni Ali Beg (Kajol), when Zooni comes down to Delhi to give a performance for the Republic Day celebrations. He is floored by her beauty, and unnaturally fresh with her, and she is unnaturally coy – I would think any other girl would have slapped a tour guide silly if he had tried advances of that sort. So then he’s apparently in love with her, and she with him. All’s fine and dandy, yeah ? Uhh, . . ., not really.

Rehan suddenly gets the I’m-not-good-enough-for-you-just a-guide-blah-blah fever thingy, and avoids Zooni. But our Zooni will have none of it, and moves Rehan so much with her selfless love (and a night of passion) that he is forced to come pluck her from the train which is carrying her home, to his very nice digs (for a poor tour guide, I mean). The couple are deliriously happy, as Zooni obtains her parents (Rishi Kapoor, Kiron Kher) approval for the marriage. But there’s more good news folks – a visit to the eye-doctor reveals that with recent advances in technology, Zooni could actually have her eyesight restored. Oh, yippee !

So, we have Zooni all ready for the operating theatre anticipating the gift of eyesight, while Rehan is leaving to fetch Zooni’s parent’s from the railway station. Yup, you guessed it – the operation is a success, Zooni opens her eyes to find her Ammi and Abbu right before her eyes, but no Rehan . Where is Rehan ? Is all actually as it seems ? Is that the end of the Zooni-Rehan saga ? Yes ? This is a hindi film folks, think again. Or, watch Fanaa.

Now the story which I‘d heard of before watching the movie, struck me as a little . . .err, odd : a blind girl and a tour guide with a mysterious background – there’s gotta be problems, you know real-life problems. The director apparently didn’t see those problems , being content to focus on some very contrived ones instead. To put it baldly, the script turns into a piece of crap, after the interval. Add to that piece of crap jaded cliches, ridiculous coincidences, and a heroine who seems to remember all her parents advice, except the “don’t jump into bed with the local tour guide” part, and you have Fanaa. You can stretch reality, yeah, only you won’t have a very good film after that. The film changes tracks mid-way to morph from an easy-going romantic yarn (and I’m thinking Wow, there’s hope) into a really cockamamie tale of anti-nationalists, love, betrayal etc. Imagination is good, true, but let’s not get carried away here.

The characters depicted in the film were OK – I just didn’t find them believable enough. One would think that even liberatarian, shairi-loving mothers would have qualms about blind daughters deciding to marry the local, penurious, apparently uneducated tour guide. And what is with the knitting – why is Zooni knitting like there’s no tomorrow ? Kajol’s character goes from innocent and coy, misled by the first tour guide she meets, to a resilient, strong woman, bringing up her kid as a single parent, and deciding what’s good for the country. Some resume, huh ? She sounds like Superwoman in salwar-kameez. Practical matters are like fluff – easily blown away. No grief, no apparent hardship, no unwed mother stigma, please – I’m just another Bhartiya nari with super-powers. Plus from which angle does Kajol look even remotely Kashmiri ? Also, am curious, do all remotely located cottages in Kashmir come equipped with modern bathroom equipment like bathtubs, and hand-held shower systems ? Resident Kashmiris, please advise. Lot’s of problems with Rehan’s characterization too, but I’d be giving away the movie if I went into those details.

To be fair, the acting is pretty good. Aamir outdoes himself especially in the emotive scenes – I really felt bad for the guy inspite of the negative overtones of his character. I’ve got to say though that good as the guy is at acting, in that guide get-up he really showed his age, with those crinkly-wrinkly eyes, and the crow’s feet. Kajol is good, but still not in Aamir’s category. Physically she looks good, she’s taken off all the pregnancy fat, and she wasn’t one of those skinny heroines to begin with, so I’d say she’s back to pre-pregnancy fat levels (I don’t mean to be catty, it just sounds that way). Fat levels aside, kudos to her for making a comeback in films after mother-hood, there’s a dearth of working moms with very young children in the industry. Rishi Kapoor as the doting father and Kher as the romantic-philosophy spouting mother, encouraging her daughter to find “her prince” are OK. Jaspal Bhatti as the security guard is annoying. Lara Dutta, flits by in a guest appearance. And Shiney Ahuja, appears for a few seconds in a two-bit role – utterly wasted (what was he thinking ?). Tabu acts as a RAW officer, and does a decent job. The child artiste is OK, although he’s sassy, has the desi version of ESP (don’t they all ?), and seems to smart-talk a lot.

Music : some songs are good, especially the “Chand Sifarish” , “Mere haath mein” numbers. The film was about 3.5 hours long, or maybe it just seemed that way – where’s an editor when you need one ? Me thinks it could easily have been shortened by 50%. And I, unlike Sayesha, didn’t have an aloo-paratha to see me through. No siree, they had no samosas, or pakoras at the theater; I had to make do with popcorn.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama, watchable | 11 Comments

Review : Banaras

Posted on May 9, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Below average (2.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Director : Pankaj Parasher
Cast : Urmila Matondkar, Asmit Patel, Raj Babbar, Naseeruddin shah, Dimple Kapadia

BANARAS : A WANNA-BE DIFFERENT FILM FALLS FLAT !

All these reviews saying that it’s a “hatke” movie, that poor, innocent me got taken in. And no, I don’t mean that it is not “hatke” – it is, but whoever said that “hatke” was good ? I have 2 explanations for this disaster of a movie, either the director didn’t know what he was doing, or that he knew what he was doing but all that “mysticism” finally got to him. And the badly etched characters, daft dialogues, and atrocious acting didn’t help either.

Basically it’s the story of one woman’s journey through life. And you guessed it – full marks people – the woman is Shwetambari (Urmila), who transforms from bright, peppy, capri-clad (in Banaras ??), song-singing, bosom-heaving university student to all-knowing spiritual healer “Maa”. And the journey is ardous, for the movie-watcher. She on the other hand, prances her way through, submerged in love with lower-caste Soham (Patel), and then submerged in sorrow at his untimely death, subsequently leading to her distancing herself from her doting, upper-caste parents Mahendranath (Babbar) and his wife (Dimple). Of course seventeen years later, when “Maa” is finally ensconsed in Mauritius she gets heavenly visions of her father in his death-bed and must decide to visit Bananaras again . . .

As far as acting goes, Urmila does a shoddy job, quite a come-down from the “Pinjar” days. The less said about Asmit Patel the better. What was that expression on his face that he used in place of actual acting – the “I can’t act and the director doesn’t know better” expression ? I develop hives whenever I see Raj Babbar onscreen, but I’ll have to say that in this case he did fairly OK as Shwetambari’s father. What do they say about the land of the blind . . . Dimple who’m I consider a fairly accomplished actress, does not manage to breathe a glimmer of a spark into the under-developed role she plays. So, that leaves us with Naseeruddin Shah – the only actor in the entire film who acts and looks good doing it.

The story is to put it politely : uninteresting. OK, so Shwetambari’s morphing into some kind of semi-goddess, but why should I care ? Where is the effort to garner viewer interest, forget about viewer sympathy ? Character development is missing, so of course rooting for a protagonist goes out the window. And as open-minded as I am, I do need that the director present his story believably and with some hint of common-sense, especially when attempting a “hatke” movie. Urmila cavorting in tight clothing suddenly morphing to a religious icon is stretching the imagination a tad too much. Build-up and character development is neccesary in roles which attempt to present to us “supposedly” higher forms of knowledge. And this is so hideously under-done in Banaras that not only I, my dog didn’t believe Urmila either.

This is one of those films, where you think that the director is trying to do something good, but ends up losing his way big-time. The film has few redeeming qualities and music is one (the only one ?) of them. The film has very little entertainment value, I mean you can laugh at it, yeah, but that’s pretty much it.

Banaras, thus, is a definite no-no.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama | 7 Comments

Review : Being Cyrus

Posted on May 2, 2006 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B004BF0DQG” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Average (3.2/5)
Genre : Suspense/Thriller
Year : 2006
Running time : 90 minutes
Director : Homi Adajania
Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Dimple Kapadia, Boman Irani, Simone Singh, Honey Chhaya, Manoj Pahwa

BEING CYRUS : DARK !

“Being Cyrus” is very different from regular desi films, because for one thing it’s completely in English, and secondly deals with psychotic characters, deranged in their own, very specific way by dint of their own, very specific circumstance – a subject very rarely touched upon by Bollywood. While the film is about average, and acting here is OK, the characters (especially the psycho ones) needed more in-depth development.

Cyrus (Saif) is an art/pottery student, come to apprentice under the famous, but defunct in his old age, Dinshaw Sethna (Shah). Sethna lives in Panchgani, away from city-life, with his pretty, but dissatisfied wife Katy (Dimple). He also has a brother Farokh (Irani) who lives with his demure, docile wife Tina (Simone) and his old father Fardoonjee (Honey Chaya) in Pune, where Farokh manages his father’s property, an apartment building. As Cyrus settles into the Sethna household and begins an affair with Katy, under Dinshaw’s unsuspecting nose, he along with helping with household chores is often sent into Pune by Katy, with gifts for her father-in-law.

Amiable Cyrus is soon embroiled into Katy’s plan, for what he does not know is that Katy and her brother-in-law love each other, and she’s hatched a scheme to leave Dinshaw and her unexciting life in Panchgani for Farokh and his father’s inheritance . . .

The story is vaguely interesting – you don’t know where it’s going ot what, if anything, it’s building upto. The Sethnas are an odd bunch, Dinshaw amiable but stoned and impractical, Katy, sweet but a screaming banshee, Farokh, cruel and boorish, and Tina, much too docile to be true. Fardoonjee the father is mis-treated by Farokh and borders on senility. We view all these people through Cyrus’s eyes, through Cyris’s narration of the happenings, and we know through snatches of Cyrus’s inner voice that he has emotional problems of his own. A great cast of characters for bizarre happenings and unexpected results.

However, What is frustrating in the script, is that after all this build-up and this seemingly perfect cast of odd characters, it piques your interest with little bits of psycho babble, and a few seemingly disjointed asides/flashbacks but doesn’t deliver on the promise. Probably the flaw in the film lies in that when the climax comes and things start falling into place, it comes with such little impact that it’s not worth the money. Subtlety has it’s virtues but let’s not overdo it. I do think that the second-half of the film sits better than the first half, and as a teacher of mine once put it – If the ending seems to lack punch, the problem is probably in the body of the story, the begining and middle have not been sufficiently developed to prepare the audience for the end.

I also found character development lacking – if you are building a character to be a full-scale mad-man/woman, then you need to do a little more than show the character clutching his/her head in moments of stress. As far as the acting goes, Shah, Manoj Pahwa, Irani are very good. Dimple, a decent actress otherwise, over-acts – her shreiks ring in your ears. Saif tries hard, but his character fails to convince – and that might be character development and not his acting – I’m not sure.

This film is definitely intelligent, put-your-thinking-caps-on cinema. And while it is watchable it’s not an easy-going entertainer for the family.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama, watchable | 6 Comments

Review : Taxi No. 9211

Posted on April 28, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.85/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs and 56 minutes
Director : Milan Luthria
Cast : Nana Patekar, John Abraham, Sameera Reddy, Sonali Kulkarni, Shivaji Satam, Ritesh Deshmukh, Kurush Deboo

TAXI No. 9211 : A DEFINITE ENTERTAINER !

This film I enjoyed, despite the fact that it’s based upon a Hollywood film, and despite the fact that when people go around aping Western stories, they generally make a mess of the film. Taxi-No-9211 is different because although the essence is the same (2 guys bent on retribution, and the red haze doesn’t help), it’s sufficiently Indianised with a good old dose of desi morals, and no overt preaching. This is one more film, where instead of the usual boy-meets-girl routine, you actually have a story. Yeah, the story is borrowed, but what the heck – it’s told well, and makes a decent entertainer

Taxi No. 9211 is based upon the Hollywood flick “Changing lanes”, a chance encounter between 2 unknown parties, in this case an arrogant, rich wastrel Jai Mittal (Abraham) about to lose his millions, and an irate, ill-tempered cabbie Raghav Shastri (Patekar). Jai is fighting a court case to get back the millions his dead father has willed to his best friend (Shivaji Sattam), and in a hurry to reach court he takes a cab. He urges the cabbie to drive faster and faster with money, and when there is an accident slips away quietly, leaving Raghav in the lurch. However he accidentally leaves a very important key in the cab.

Raghav is harassed by the police, humiliated, and his wife leaves. Now he’s bent on revenge and it’s all-out war between him and Jai . . .

Acting is good. Patekar plays what he plays best : a borderline psycho. Sonali Kulkarni is very effective as his troubled wife. John Abraham improves his acting here; he seems to get better in every film – in 10 years his films will be a treat to watch ! But, seriously he does relatively well in this young, urban role. Sameera Reddy plays his girlfriend – the girlfriend who looks forward to sharing the riches his Dad’s left him, and while she does OK, her character lacks the spark to get her out of the starlet rut. Besides, she’s gotten chubby. Priyanka Chopra appears in a 2 minute role, and her screen time is felt and remembered, and the director, with the help of some great nostalgic filmi music succeeds in milking that 2 bit appearance with John for all it’s worth. Nicely done – I couldn’t help smiling !

Music is good, with the “Meter down” number probably the best – appeared at the end of the film (on DVD). Direction is good and there are no obvious slip-ups.
A good watch – fulfills it’s entertainment promise.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama, recommended | 3 Comments

Review : Maalamaal Weekly

Posted on April 18, 2006 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B000I0RVL8″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Above average (3.6/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs and 40 minutes
Director : Priyadarshan
Cast : Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Ritesh Deshmukh, Reema Sen, Shakti Kapoor, Sudha Chandran, Asrani, Rajpal Yadav, Arbaz Khan

MALAMAAL WEEKLY : A COMEDY Of ERRORS !

I generally look forward to films by Priyadarshan, because they have decent comedy based upon some very humanly idiotic traits. People lie, people are greedy, people are tempted by money ; makes interesting stories. And ML is one such story. Loosely based on Brit. comedy “Waking Ned”, this one is told country-bumpkin style.

Laholi is a poor village, whose inhabitants are knee-deep in debt. The rich money-lender is Thakurani (Sudha Chandran). In the same village live lottery vendor Leelaram (Paresh Rawal), milk-man Balwant (Om Puri), and Balwant’s servant Kanhaiya (Reitesh). Leelaram one day finds out that a ticket he has sold has won the bumper prize of 1 crore. Since most villagers are un-educated, he doesn’t tell anyone of this, but plans to get the ticket back, by inviting all the ticket holders for a dinner. However, the winner of that ticket doesn’t turn up. Leelaram thus decides that it must be the village drunkard Anthony (malyalam actor Innocent) and turns up at his house, only to find him dead.

He now has the ticket but is discovered by Balwant and is forced to make him a partner. They are in turn discovered disposing of the body by Kanhaiya, and are forced to include him too. Events occur and the trio are forced to take on many partners, splitting the anticipated lottery money down by percentages. Now all they have to do is hoodwink the lottery inspector (Arbaz Khan) and get their hands on the money. However this turns out to be a difficult task . . .

This is a funny film, free of the usual double meaning comedy, and relatively “clean”. Paresh Rawal does a great job, and he is ably supported by Puri, and other actors. Script, screen-play and dialogue are apt. There are not many songs (only one I think), so music doesn’t play a big part. Priyadarshan manages to run little sub-plots within the bigger plot, to create a Wodehousian-like comedy. Lots of twists and turns in the story ensure entertainment.

A must-see.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, comedy, family-friendly, recommended | 5 Comments

Review : Water

Posted on April 17, 2006 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B000GIXE86″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Drama Year : 2004
Running time : 1 hr and 44 minutes
Director : Deepa Mehta
Cast : John Abraham, Lisa Ray, Seema Biswas, Manorama, Waheeda Rehman, Raghuvir Yadav, Sarala, Kulbhushan Kharbanda

WATER : Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink !

With “Water” Mehta completes her Trilogy, the controversial “Fire” and the fabulous “Earth” being the earlier two movies. And comparitively, this film is a let-down. While “Fire” was about a lesbian relationship, and “Earth” based upon the novel “Cracking India”, “Water” is the story of the Vrindavan widows. While I applaud Mehta for making a film on this very controversial but important topic, after seeing the film, I feel she tilts the movie for the international film festival circuit, sacrificing quality.

9 year old Chuhiya (Sarala) is newly widowed. With her husband, a man she barely knew, now dead she is sent to the widow ashram to live out the rest of her life. There she meets other widows, all with their shaven heads, measly belongings, frugal lifestyles, doomed to exist in misery. All are older than her, but many have been widowed at early ages (as she finds out later), and now live their lives in penury. Among them is Madhumati (Manorama), the tyrannical, older widow who pimps out the younger, beautiful widow Kalyani (Ray) via eunuch Gulabi (Yadav). Shakuntala (Biswas) is a middle-aged widow in the ashram, the only one who has guts enough to defy Madhumati, but is not willing to stir the waters.

Feisty Chuhiya finds a surrogate mother in Shakuntala, and an older sister in Kalyani. When Kalyani falls in love with Narayan (Abraham) and wishes to leave the ashram to marry him, Madhumati objects but backs down when Shakuntala lends her support to Kalyani. Kalyani leaves to be united with Gandhi-vadi idealist Narayan, but is dis-illusioned when she finds out that he is the son of a wealthy businessman to whom she has been pimped out. On returning when she is faced with the prospect of prostituting for Madhumati, she ends her life. Madhumati then decides to trick young Chuhiya into prostitution . . .

This film has a reasonably strong storyline, but fails because of poor acting from it’s lead pair – John Abraham and Lisa Ray. Seema Biswas, Sarala and Raghuveer Yadav do very well, and pretty much carry this film, along with strong support from stalwarts like Waheeda Rehman and Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Yesteryear actress Manorama is all bluster with no great attempts at finesse. Lisa Ray looks like an urban model, and very little like the character she is supposed to portray. A plain sari cannot hide Ms. Ray’s non-Indian looks, or her accented Hindi. John Abraham looks like the well-read (Bengali ?) babu, but can’t inject realism into Narayan’s character. I am convinced that the presence of strong lead actors (like Rani Mukherjee/Nandita Das/Aamir Khan etc.) could have made this a great film.

The locales look fine, although it is a pity that Mehta couldn’t shoot in India, because of political opposition. The music is mild enough to go un-noticed (I can’t recall it). The film is on the whole, slow-moving – not sure what is at failt there – script or screenplay, and could have done with some tightening up to keep interest. As far as the emotional factor goes, the film does move you – the wretched plight of the widows does get to you. What is absolutely saddening about this is the fact that in watching this it is brought home to you how Indian society actually values women.

So, this film is watchable. However, if looking for arresting, path-breaking cinema, look elsewhere.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama | 4 Comments