Amodini's Movie Reviews

Now for the second plot : Tanya (Sen) is a happy-go-lucky college girl, without parents, but has a retarded younger brother (an aging Rakesh Bedi). What she uses for money is anybody’s guess – maybe she’s an heiress ! Anyway, poor Karan (Kapoor) who is a student and works in the college canteen to make end’s meet is besotted with her. And she comes to like him too. It is to his B’day celebration that she’s driving when she encounters the scientist, and he unbeknownst to her slips the parrot into the gift she’s carrying for Karan.

After witnessing the scientist’s murder, Tanya, scared for her life, goes back home, gathers up her belongings and her brother, and runs away. Karan waits for her, but realises she’s left, when he comes to her home to find her. He finds the gift she was bringing to him, looks inside and finds the parrot, and believing it to be from her, keeps it as a treasured memory. He still tries to find her, and gets news that she’s in Dubai living with an aunt. Hence intelligent Karan, and the canteen’s owner Murugan, hire Rocky (Akshay Kumar) to find her in Dubai, and Karan gives Rocky the parrot to show to Tanya as a sign of recognition/love.

Rocky travels to Dubai, finds her, and falls in love with her himself. Being a crook of the first order, he gives Karan a story about Tanya being married and disabled etc. Karan is undeterred however and wishes to assist her, therefore stays back in Dubai. He soons finds out that Tanya has changed her name to Natasha, and Rocky has been decieving him because of his own feelings for Tanya.

Tanya’s coterie consists of her aunt (Supriya Pilgaonkar), handicapped Tommy (Paresh Rawal), wanna-be-boyfriend and handicapped architect Sanju (Shetty). Now Tommy, Sanju, Rocky and Karan, and a blind scooterist (Asrani) are all vying for Tanya’s love, and Tanya’s just the innocent babe in the woods. Now who actually gets her ? Also you’ve got to be wondering about the first plot, and the parrot, which is currently in Rocky’s custody. It all mashes together in the end, with some interesting chase sequences, and the daily dose of sacrifice (we are desi, what to do ?).

Now for the acting : Shahid Kapoor and Rimi Sen are bad actors – plain and simple. Johnny Lever as Murugan overacts and is not funny. On Puri, Suresh Menon (as Puri’s son) and Vijay Raaz (as Rocky’s side-kick) contribute hugely towards the comedy. Paresh Rawal and Akshay Kumar are good in their roles, and Supriya Pilgaonkar is about average.

The film moves at a pretty fast clip, there’s lots happening and it’s happening really fast. Sandwiched in-between are the songs, which don’t uplift the movie any. Direction is OK although the film’s story has BIG kinks in it. Even ignoring some of the minor ones, here’s a biggie : Why is Tanya/Natasha who’s so scared for her life, that she’s actually changed her name, attempting to be a singing star (a public figure) and prancing about on television ? Won’t the killers actually find her then ?

Oh, well ! I can’t recommend this movie. But if you absolutely ignore the voice in your head that tells you that the director is insane, you might be able to sit through this one.

Chip, Deva, Rocker, PP and Sim are 5 musical friends, who come together to make music in the evenings after their day jobs end. Sim or Simran (Dutta) is a lucre-loving gold-digger, PP (Irfan Khan) an artist, Chip (Warsi) a computer hacker, and Rocker (Shetty) steals cars. Devaa (Hashmi) is a musician. Among these five people with very different personalities, there are under-current of conflict and attraction. Mysteriously one day, a sum of 20 million pounds is stolen, and 30 people are killed on a boat carrying arms. Rocker, also dead, is blamed and his friends Sim and PP are hauled in for questioning by the British cops. Monsoon, a journalist gets wind of the news, and persuades cocky and succesful attorney Krish Pundit to take their case.

As Krish delves into the intricacies of the case, and tries to get the story out of Sim and PP, many versions emerge. The depiction of the story versions, in flashbacks, take up most of the film. Krish then defends them in the court. Does he succeed in setting them free ?

The first half of the film is insipid. The second half fares better. Kapoor is full of bluster and swagger, and unbelievable, and looks unintelligent. Warsi as Chip has a short role, and is wasted in inconsequentialities. Among the rest, the only one who can act is Irfan Khan, and he does a good job as the sly, manipulative PP. Tanushree, poured into skin-tight, miniscule bits of clothing, desperately needs to improve her acting. Sushma Reddy in very mismatched, non-chic clothing (is this what British journalists wear ?) adds very little to this film, with her non-existent acting skills (or was it the badly defined role/character ?).

Direction is passable, but not consistent. The dialogues are flashy and screenplay not watertight (as it should be when attempting a suspense film). The script has moments of interest in the post-interval half, and obvious red-herrings are scattered throughout (what ? cinema for dolts ?). Honestly if you can get through the first half, (where I was sorely tempted to shut off the film) it does get better. I was intrigued by the whole rapidly changing story thing – so yes there’s suspense. The characters are highly unlikeable people, mild deviants really, badly developed in the film, so you really aren’t rooting for anyone, and you don’t really care if they live or die. This is a major flaw.

The music of the film is very good, almost all numbers haunting and catchy. “Halka halka sa” reminded me of “Pehla Nasha” from “Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar”.

All-in-all worth watching once.

Captain Aman (Shergill) is a fearless army-man posted in Kashmir. Humane Aman protests against his superior, Major Rathod’s (Tiwari) callous disregard for human dignity and earns his wrath. Also via the medium of tea and torches, falls for local girl Adaa (Lamba), and she for him. The attachment is opposed by her father, and the locals who are wary of the Indian army, and outsiders.

Meanwhile, in the line of duty, Aman is captured by terrorist Shakeel (Sharma), who is Adaa’s brother. Adaa, in desperation manages to rescue Aman from Shakeel. However, when Adaa and Shakeel’s relationship is known, Aman is suspected and brought up for a court-martial for having links with terrorists. How the mess gets resolved makes for quite a shaky and far-fetched second half.

Sircar handles sensitive moments well; I suspect he might churn out quite a tender love story. However a weak script, filmi dialogues (especially towards the end), and the S-L-O-W pace sink this film. The actors do well; Shergill is as earnest as ever and Ms. Lamba makes an impressive debut as innocent Adaa. Yashpal Sharma plays to the hilt the role of Shakeel, and portrays his shaky convictions well. Other characters’s like Adaa’s dadi and Major Rathod also act ably. Character definition is not as slick – especially Adaa’s. Sometimes shy and sometimes caustic, her character seems to veer from an innocent valley girl, subject to the insecurities of new-found love, to that of a tenacious-willed woman, willing to go public about her “un-acceptable” relationship.

The music has a very Kashmiri flavor to it, but the songs, save one, aren’t really worth remembering. The locales are of course beautiful, and the director displays Kashmir well. I wouldn’t really recommend this film, inspite all the things going for it, because of it’s lackadaisical gait (where’s an editor when you need one ?). However, if attempting to watch :

– Do not view film from a supine position, ensconsed in cosy comforters (as I did) or all will be lost.
– Do keep large reserves of patience at hand. They will be needed.
– Persevere and thou shall see the end of this film !

Samir Malhotra (Khan) is an orthopedic surgeon. Now, I do believe that the words “Salman Khan” and “Doctor” are oxymorons. Imagining (even for a fraction of a second) Khan in the role of a doctor, is akin to building the Taj Mahal on Jupiter; stretching the imagination this far puts a great deal of stress on already fragile, Hindi movie-fed minds. I digress however – back to the story.

So Salman’s a Doctor, and Naina (Sen) is his devoted nurse-cum-assistant. Dear Doctor is a pure-bred Casanova – chases anything female. And then to avoid entanglements tells the females in question that he’s already married, which causes the women to back off. Not so with current flame Sonia. Samir wants to marry Sonia, but Sonia won’t marry Samir until she meets his wife (talk about a guilt complex !). Samir is in a quandary until he persuades Naina to impersonate his non-existent wife. However, there is no end to Sonia’s demands. Now she wants to meet his children too! And then she wants to witness his divorce proceedings !

Samir’s rather elaborate drama is interrupted by his slap-happy mother’s (Kak) arrival from dear old Punjab. Mom banishes all thought of Samir’s divorce and organizes a honeymoon for Samir and Naina. Naina is a good egg, and suffers through it all. However, soon the jig is up, and Mom retires to introspect, leaving Samir free to pursue Sonia once more. Do things work out ? The rest of the movie reveals all.

OK, people, not to give out spoilers, but this film was supposed to be a comedic romance; you know the ones where the delectable prince realise his true love (the one under his nose all the time) at last. However this movie didn’t turn out that way (no warm, mushy feeling at the end), primarily beacause :

1. The prince wasn’t that delectable
2. The women were way too smart and leggy for this Doctor

I mean Sen looked more the doctor than Salman. And Sen sort of exudes common-sense, which would automatically preclude Salman from the list of prospective bridegrooms, wouldn’t it ? As far as acting goes, everyone did decently enough – as much as the script allowed. The best of all was Sohail Khan (as Pyaare, Sonia’s besotted neighbor) delivering a perky, slap-stick-y performance with natural elan. Rajpal Yadav is wasted in a two-bit role, and Warsi has a few, flitting scenes, as Samir’s equally Casanov-ish friend.

Now, I do agree that with Dhawan-esque comedies you’d be better off not expecting logic and common-sense. However, can there not be a semblance of, a shred of a semblance of character definition? Asking for the moon ? Well, maybe. All-in-all, you might enjoy this one, if keeping your eyes open is all you’re up for. If you’d like more, then MPKK’s not for you.