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

Review : Kabhi Alvida na Kehna

Posted on August 12, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.9/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2006
Running time : 3 hrs and 38 minutes
Director : Karan Johar
Cast : Amitabh Bachhan, Shahrukh Khan, Preity Zinta, Abhishek Bachhan, Rani Mukherjee, Arjun Rampal, Kiron Kher

KABHI ALVIDA NA KEHNA : Welcome to “grown-up” cinema!

I have never been a fan of Karan Johar. I consider him a maker of Stylized Toothpaste Commercials. Yes, of course you see his films, but you see them for the film stars, the fashion, the gloss, the well-choreographed dance numbers, the sheen of expensive film-making. It’s fun and interesting to see Amitabh do an arresting Shava-Shava at 62. Or even once in a remote while, see Shahrukh land in a chopper in the grounds of the Raichand palace, and assume it’s a normal day in the life of one very rich man. You don’t expect to see life’s truth’s reflected in the dialogues of these out-of-the-world (in more than one way) people. They exist but only in a fictional sort of way, and their life and worries are a world apart from the universe we common denizens inhabit.

So, a popcorn flick in what I’d expected in KANK. A few foot-tapping numbers, a few cliches, many sob-stories and lots of heavy emotional drama, none of which would make me shed a tear. Ofcourse I see it, first day, first show, in a packed theatre (what an opening !). One does what one must do. However, much to my surprise, Karan Johar actually steps into the “grown-up” zone this time, by tackling the substance under the candy-floss. KANK deals with infidelity after marriage, and takes the story (which is admittedly shaky) to a mature conclusion. A very bold step, considering that the Indian public prefers films to remain in the safe, predictable all-will-be domain.

Dev Saran (Khan) is a rising soccer star in the US, married to fashion magazine executive Rhea (Preity) and they have a son. Rhea works hard at her career, and hence spends less time applauding sour-puss hubby for every goal he makes, than he would like. Bollywood directors (even educated ones like Johar) must stop portraying career-oriented women as vixens – hey, what’s wrong if a woman loves her career ? Anyway that portrayal done with, we shift to Dev’s mom Kamaljit (Kher) a caterer of sorts, who’s most recent project is catering Rishi and Maya’s wedding. Rishi (Abhishek) runs an ad company, loves partying, adores his widowed Dad Samarjit (Amitabh), and is nuts about Maya. Maya (Rani) is a school-teacher who’s having second thoughts about the marriage, and these she talks about with Dev, then an absolute stranger who happens to wander into the vicinity only because of his mom’s occupation. In one of those quirky, surreal encounters (which happen only in Johar movies) Maya and Dev talk, and he encourages her to make up her dithering mind and marry Rishi – which she does. He leaves, and is caught in an accident, which damages his leg effectively ending his soccer-playing career.

Several years later they meet again, and again, realize that they are kindred souls and become good friends. As their respective married lives deteriorate, this friendship escalates to an affair. When later they are found out by Samarjit and Kamaljit, they decide to end the relationship and tell their respective spouses. And when they do, all hell breaks loose . . .

Let me tell you, from all the sobbing going on around me that there was not one single dry, female eye in the theatre. Johar has created a sob-story like no other. You weep (literally) for poor Rishi, and then you weep for …, well just for Rishi then. Out of the foursome, Rishi’s character is the most believably sketched, and Abhishek does a tremendous job, radiating love and sincerity, and managing to convey simmering rage and hurt. I never could quite figure out why Maya didn’t dote on her husband, he seemed adorable. Still Rani being the great actress she is, manages to make even a “fako” character seem believable.

Rhea and Dev’s characters seemed rather flaky too, the bone of contention between them being Dev’s slighted ego (wife more successful) and his gone-down-the-tubes career. To me, Dev seemed rude, irritable and just plain obnoxious. As far as acting goes, Shahrukh did what he does best. He wiggled his eyebrows. SRK is first and foremost SRK, and then any character he might be playing. He is too weak an actor too play a poorly-sketched character. Rhea is not the pativrata nari either, but her character has not been given much thought and it shows. Preity looks older, abd is heavily made-up throughout the movie. The part is small (she probably has the least to do) and even though she does OK, it somehow doesn’t jell.

Besides these 4 , there is Rishi’s flamboyant Dad, Samarjit. Or as he calls himself, Sam. Sam wears the brightest reds, beds the youngest women, and parties like there’s no tomorrow. He also, in his heart of hearts still loves his dead wife and remembers the day he first met her by gallivanting around on that anniversary, with nubile, semi-clad nymphets and rocking to hip-shaking numbers. Also in the grand old Indian tradition of the “elder’s wisdom” , he is not above giving sane and fatherly advice to his son and daughter-in-law. Amitabh accomplishes all this and more, because underneath that larger-than-life persona, he is a superb actor (and you always knew it). That leaves us with Kamaljit, Dev’s Mom. Kher has a small role, but plays a Sardarni from Chandigarh with aplomb.

The story, as I’ve implied before, is shaky. One disbelieves the motivation for disagreement between the couples and it tempted to pooh-pooh at the trivial issues the director brings up as reasons for dis-enchantment. Still one hangs in there, because some moments are magically shot, some dialogues are blissfully meaningful (although it does seem a bit awkward to have these beautiful, stylish people spout reams of philosophy embedded with all this “serious stuff“), and much of the emotion permeates through.

The music is very good ; I especially like “Mitwa” and “Tumhi Dekho Na”. As with all Johar movies, the background score is also effective. Despite all the pros, and the perceived cons, I really liked this movie – the first Johar movie that I have more than tolerated. So, I’d say yeah, see it for sure.

Update : This review was judged one of the 10 best reviews submitted to Rediff for “KANK” and is now also featured on Rediff.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama, romance, watchable | Tagged karan johar | 3 Comments

Review : Chup Chup ke

Posted on August 9, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Below average(2.9/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs and 41 minutes
Director : Priyadarshan
Cast : Kareena Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Anupam Kher, Shahid Kapoor

CHUP CHUP KE : Medieval cinema makes a comeback !

Watching CCK makes me remember the old Southie-based films starring white-shoed Jeetendra and the very young and plump Sridevi. In most of these films Sridevi would be the hot-pant-donning, much-coddled daughter/sister/niece of a feudal landlord, and Jeetendra would be the modern upstart come to whisk the princess away from her medieval and cosy jail. CCK is very similar. There is no Kader Khan ofcourse, so we have Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Rajpal Yadav doing the needful. It is indeed a pity that a fine actor like Yadav is forced to do these 2-bit, excrutiatingly stupid roles. Set in what can only be described as feudal times, where cocooned-in-the-family’s-bosom women are protected so much so that wars rage at the drop of a tear, CCK gives you a dose of uncalled for bad-film nostalgia.

Ok, so a we have a good-for-nothing, spineless young man Jeetu (Shahid Kapoor) deep in debt, after attempting to setup one unsuccesful business after another. Don’t blame my prejudices for the harsh description, the guy really is depicted as a big-time wastrel. His old father (Kher) is harassed and humiliated by the daily calls of various money-lenders but that does not stop our young man from trying to get his father to take the onus of repaying the loans. His mother is however still full of “motherly love” and waits on him to serve him hot food. And that’s not all, the SW (spineless wastrel) has a beautiful young fiancee Pooja () in love with him (what does she see in him ? Your guess is as good as mine). So what does SW do ? He committs suicide ofcourse – to let the money-lenders collect from the insurance money. However his attempt at suicide is also unsuccesful, and he ends up in a fisherman’s net.

When awakened from his near drowning, Jeetu finds himself in Kolkata, in the august presence of boat owner Gundya (Rawal) and fisherman and sidekick Bandya (Yadav). Jeetu being the limpet that he is pretends to be deaf and dumb, so that he can sponge off them. However he finds himself “mortgaged” to Prabahat Singh (Puri) in return for Gundya’s boats, and thus ends up as a servant in a palatial haveli in Kolkata. Here he meets Prabhat Singh’s beautiful daughter Meenakshi (Dhupia) and dumb (not deaf) niece Shruti (Kareena Kapoor). Shruti is having a hard time getting married because of her disability. Although she is the apple of her brother’s eye, Mangal Singh (Shetty) the brother who cannot stand to see his princess in tears, is ready to marry her off by promising enormous amounts of dowry.

When, many convolutions later, Jeetu and Shruti fall in love, Mangal is ready to get them married. However, in the Bollywood tradition of timeliness, Jeetu’s father, mother and fiancee (the fiancee’s been living as a widow since Jeetu’s death !) appear at the marriage mandap. Will spineless Jeetu be forced to choose between Shruti and Pooja ? . . . Hmm, what a quandary ! Do consider the elements that make up this mess – a weak-kneed caricature of a man, and 2 women with very, very low self-esteem who want nothing more than to become the property of a certified good-for-nothing free-loader. Ah, the opportunities life presents !

This film, in it’s story, demeanour, and dialogue might have fitted it’s locale, had the locale been a rural village in the 1800s, instead of bustling modern-day Kolkata. It transported me to a time (was there ever such a time ?) when a city/town bred, educated young woman decides to wear whites, discard all pleasures of life, in honor of a missing fiance. And the man in question is not much bothered by the fact that he has a fiancee somewhere and is content to gambol wwith other women. Still ofcourse the “good boy” image persists, and we keep the tradition of the “pativrata” nari alive in Bollywood. I am left fuming that the film carries a flag for the righteousness of living like a widow – atrocious in this day and age. Do the censors not feel the need to edit out such regressive messages ?

The direction and acting is average. The songs are not hummable. The characters are annoying and the really big flaw in this film is it’s stupidity. Priyadarshan’s losing his touch.

Posted in 2006, bollywood | Comments Off

Review : Omkara

Posted on July 31, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Excellent (4.35/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Running time : 3 hrs
Director : Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast : Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kareena Kapoor, Deepak Dobriyal, Bipasha Basu, Vivek Oberoi

Omkara : An engrossing Othello !

The film show which I attended was sparsely sprinkled with desis, and everybody favored the seats at the rear of course. So here I am and there’s this gaggle of girls sitting in the row behind me, which is all fine and good, except that they talk loudly. Which is also fine (they didn’t talk during the movie), except that during their talk in the interval, they loudly reveal the ending !! And I’m well within earshot. God, dumb people ! I mean if you know what’s going to happencan you not tell the whole world ? Aaghh !

Knowing the end lessened the impact but I still enjoyed the movie – so you can imagine how good it is. Like “Maqbool” which was based on “Macbeth”, “Omkara” is based on another Shakespearan tragedy “Othello”. Vishal Bhardwaj provides the music, co-writes the dialogues and screenplay and directs, which leads me to believe that the man must be a genius, because he does each task beautifully. The story is well adapted to rustic Uttar Pradesh, the dialogues, the dialect and the accents sound authentic, as does the acting. Omkara is quality cinema.

Omkara or Omi Shukla (Devgan) leads a gang with his two right hand men Langda Tyagi (Saif) and Kesu Firangi (Vivek) , and aids and abets the local canny politician (known only as Bhaisaheb (Naseeruddin Shah)) in the criminal neccesities of his political career. Omkara falls in love with Bhaisaheb’s lawyer’s daughter Dolly (Kareena) and she with him, and abducts her from her marriage mandap. After much bad blood between the lawyer and Omkara, matters are resolved when Dolly admits to loving Omkara in front of her father, and he in humiliation and anger issues a warning on woman’s fickleness to Omkara. Nevertheless Omkara and Dolly plan to marry and Dolly is firmly ensconsed in his home. Meanwhile Bhaisaheb wins the elections and his parlimentary seat and elevates Omkara to a party post. So Omkara promotes Kesu as “Bahubali” to head the gang, which makes Langda jealous. Thus Langda, in cahoots with Dolly’s spurned to-be husband Rajju (Dobriyal), hatches a plot to gain his revenge . . .

Ajay Devgun has another “Company” like role, only this time it’s not a don in Dubai, but a small-time goonda in the rural towns of Uttar Pradesh. And he does just as well, giving an arrestiing performance. Saif crowns his acting career with a jewel of a role and shines as Langda Tyagi, which is quite a departure from his usual suave, urban-boy roles (Dil Chahta Hai, Hum Tum etc. ). Vivek has a comparitively small role as Kesu but is competent. And Kareena, who’m I considered an average actress, is superb as Dolly, essaying innocence and naivete perfectly. Konkona Sen Sharma plays the role of Indu, Langda’s wife, and is her usual competent self, doing a convincing job as a rural woman with cynical tendencies. Bipasha Basu has a pretty small role (billed as a guest appearance in the credits) as the local nautanki wali Billo Chamanbahar, and Kesu’s love interest, but manages to make it work (yeah, wonders never cease), although the first time she opens her mouth to speak Hindi in the rural drawl, it sounded like she was speaking some exotic foreign language ! The find of the film is Dobriyal, who plays Rajju, Dolly’s spurned would-be groom with panache. And ofcourse nothing need be said about Shah’s depiction of the politician; he is as good as ever.

The film has good songs and background music, and Bharadwaj squeezes in 2 catchy item numbers (something we didn’t see in Maqbool) filmed on Bipasha. Pretty fast-paced in the first half Omkara slows down post-intermission, with less of the action and more of the subtle mind machinations. The film has humor and poignant moments interlaced with the action, and the director takes pains with details and in building up the characters (little touches like showing Langda painting his finger nail). The story is believable and well adapted but there are some logical gaps (unlike Maqbool) – stuff like Omi not recognising Langda’s overt mind poisoning, or Dolly not recognising the importance of a family heirloom and treating it with the carelessness of an inexpensive toy (how naive can you get ?).

So although it’s not as fantastic as Maqbool, Omkara is a close second. A must watch.

Posted in 2006, bollywood, drama, outstanding, recommended, thriller | Tagged outstanding | 9 Comments

Review : Golmaal

Posted on July 17, 2006 by amodini

Rating : Worse than I imagined (-10/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2006
Running time : 2 hrs and 30 minutes
Director : Rohit Shetty
Cast : Ajay Devgun, Paresh Rawal, Arshad Warsi, Sharman Joshi, Tushar Kapoor, Sushmita Mukherjee, Rimi Sen, Mukesh Tiwari

GOLMAAL : How brain-dead can you get ?

OK, here it comes ** drumroll ** the first negative rating of the year ! This film is INSUFFERABLE. Although it’s been a few days since I saw it, the trauma is still fresh. And to be fair, I’ll have to tell you that sometime after the interval I had to leave the theatre because the film went from really, really bad, to really, really terrible, and I could take it no more. The story is feeble, true. However I expected no better. What it also is, is vulgar, and insulting to women – like yeah ! let’s have a gag about women being raped.

OK, so we have 4 absolute-good-for-nothing con-men (Devgan, Kapoor, Joshi, Warsi) forcing themselves into a blind couple’s home, pretending that one of them is the couple’s America returned grandson. There of course they meet the beautiful, dumb neighbor Rimi Sen, and promptly fall in love. More foolishness ensues as the foursome evade their debtor Vasool bhai (Tiwari) and foil a gangster’s plan to retrieve stolen diamonds. And that’s the story.

The first half of the film has some truly funny lines, besides the usual, vulgar one-liners. In the second half the film degrades big-time to become an absolutely meaningless, piece of crap. Devgun has no sense of comic timing. Warsi and Kapoor however are good, Tusshar being the mute guy. Sharman Joshi is OK too. Rawal as usual is very good, but I found Mukherjee terribly annoying as the old blind woman. And Rimi Sen, she’s slowly perfecting the art of looking scornful and pleased at the same moment.

This is the kind of film I’d ideally like to rip to shreds, but then I think, why waste more time on garbage ?

Posted in 2006, bollywood, comedy, watchable | 2 Comments

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