Review : Salaam Namaste

Posted on September 12, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 40 minutes
Director : Siddharth Raj Anand
Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Preiti Zinta, Arshad Warsi, Jugal Hansraj, Tania Zaetta, Abhishek Bachhan, Javed Jafri

SALAAM NAMASTE : More juvenile fare

On the juvenile-O-meter this film fares a little better than “Hum-tum” , i.e.; it’s a little less juvenile. The story seemed to be actually interesting, until director Anand infused it with a dose of Hindi film surrealism. Direction is adequate although the screenplay certainly isn’t; certain situations seem to hiccup in execution. The script is riddled with improbabilities. On the bright side though, the songs are hum-able and well-shot, the Australian locales are beautiful, and the film has great dollops of comedy which shore it up no end.Ambar Malhotra (Zinta) is a student-doctor in Melbourne, radio-jockeying part-time to pay the bills. Her program’s name is ““. She comes into contact with architect-turned-chef Nikhil Arora, when he doesn’t turn up for a interview on her radio program. Infuriated by his lack of punctuality and courtesy (no apology etc.) she sets out to defame him via the air-waves. When Nick calls her up to reproach her for her offensive words against him, they give each other an earful.

 

Nikhil prefers to be called Nick and is the chef of restaurant Nick-of-Time. At a marriage where his resaturant is catering the food, Nick meets Ambar, although the two not having seen each other, have no idea that the other is anathema. Nick introduces himself as an architect, and Ambar introduces herself as a student surgeon. The attraction is strong and doesn’t diminish even when the two realise each other’s true identities. They end up falling in love, and moving in together into a glorious villa by the sea.

All is hunky-dory until Ambar gets pregnant . . .

The first half is juvenile fare, and bears great similarity to Hum-tum. The second-half is tolerable. Saif and Priti act decently enough, with Priti at her shrillest best. Warsi as Nick’s friend is good and adds to the comedy. Tania Zaetta as Susan, Warsi’s wife in the film is just about OK. However, Javed Jafri steals the show as a desi-Aussie “Crocodile Dundee” style landlord, with his wonderful English, his “Sorry” spouting Aussie girlfriend and classic “mis-quotes” such as “When in Rome, do the Romans”. Abhishek Bachhan in the latter-half slapstick scenes displays a flair for the comic. Jugal Hansraj as Ambar’s fellow student doen’t have much of a role, and pretty much serves as the shoulder to cry on.

Now for the kinks. Similar to Hum-tum, SN also tries oh-so-hard to be oh-so-cool. When taking in Saif’s bachelor pad for the first time we see objects like a cap with the words “Work Sucks”, a goldfish bowl, a laptop etc — all the evidence needed to prove how hip the guy is. When he clambers out of bed, he wears “Superman” logo-ed shorts, flexes his biceps, and mutters “Oh, crap” every chance he gets. Such a display of “hip-ness”, it makes me light-headed. Ms. Zinta’s character doesn’t lag too far behind. A student-doctor with far too much free time on her hands (sure don’t make the Indian dames work too hard in Aussie-land, do they ?); she employs it to party, RJ, decorate and watch movies.

Although based on an interesting premise, i.e.; exploring the live-in relationship, the film fails to get to the meat of the matter, being content to wallow in shallow, frothy waters. The sets and the clothes, and the “look” is well-detailed. The dialogues and situations are not. At the marriage where Ambar and Nick meet, everyone is young and yuppie, no older folks and no children are present (whatever happened to friends and family ?). After the ceremony the entire marriage party throws off their dressy outfits to reveal swimsuits and revel in an impromptu song-and-dance beach party. After the beach party, tents conveniently sprout up on the sand, and all nod off for a siesta. Kind of a hard to believe scenario, unless someone tells me that such marriages-cum-beach parties-cum-slumber parties are de rigeur in the land down under.

In such a yuppie, young, urban film, the thing I’d least expected to see was the display of women in a deragatory/patriarchial light. But it’s there nonetheless, whether it be in Nick’s comparison of a wife and a mistress (he’s using it as an analogy for dish presentation, no less), or his callow, use-and-throw attitude towards a woman with whom he’s apparently spent the night. Really, even for Hindi films, can we not have a single grown-up hero, one who’ll not give in to the “boys-will-be-boys” charade ? More breaks in reality come in the form of Ambar’s prancing and dancing abilities when massively pregnant with twins. Obviously the director has never been pregnant, but has he SEEN pregnant women ?

OK, what it boils down to is – if you liked “Hum-tum” you will love SN. If like me you though Hum-Tum was pathetic, you might want to wait for “Salaam Namaste”‘s DVD release.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, romance, watchable | 7 Comments

Review : Mangal Pandey

Posted on September 7, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 30 minutes
Director : Ketan Mehta
Cast : Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Amisha Patel, Toby Stephens, Kiron Kher, Tom Alter

: Nothing to make a “halla” over !

When an actor like Amir Khan comes out of self-imposed hibernation after 4 years, the film had better be good. Or so I thought. MP falls way below expectations. The plot ofcourse is historical – the great Sepoy Mutiny of 1857. However the director has been unable to make up his mind : documentary or compendium of item numbers and bare skin ? Honestly I was bored. The film should have been half the length it was, and tauter; unnecessary filmi extensions and sequences of Holi and dancing in kothas drag down this film. The problem : it’s too documentar-ish for a commercial film, and too commercial to be a documentary – neither here nor there.

Mangal Pandey (Khan) is a loyal Sepoy in the British Army and good friends with white British officer William Gordon (Toby Stephens). Trouble brews when the British change rifles, and force Indian sepoys to use them. The rifles use cartridges greased with pig and cow fat, unacceptable to both Hindu and Muslim Sepoys. The Sepoys led by MP rise up in revolt. MP is caught and hung, but this only stokes the fire of rebellion. The film ends with MP’s death.

Inserted into the film are vignettes on MP’s life; his friendship with Gordon and the pranks they pull off, his romance with prostitute Heera (Mukherjee), and his altercations with the untouchable village sweeper. The movie also presents a colorful Holi song-dance and a depiction on “Sati” with Patel playing the widow, Jwala. Jwala is rescued from the Sati pyre by Gordon, and in time becomes his mistress.

The film is narrated by veteran actor Om Puri. The narration throughout the film made me compare MP to Doordarshan’s yesteryear serial “Bharat Ek Khoj”. And “BEK” was better. MP is a history lesson cavorting as a masala-movie-wanna-be. I’m not a history-buff, but I’d expected the film to breathe life into a textual character. And Khan, while he acts well, is too full of fire and bluster to be an intelligent Mangal Pandey. Brave – yes, imbued with common-sense – no. The swagger and the hair don’t help either.

Mukherjee and Patel have little to do. Kiron Kher and large amounts of her cleavage appear fleetingly in a few scenes. Toby Stephens does well and steals the show as Gordon. The music is terrible; the songs are little more than words strung on a few drum-beats and item-numbers have been forced into the film. The Sophia Haque village dance is pretty awkward for a period film, and Rani’s Mujra does little to evoke interest.

Not recommended, unless you’re an AVID history-buff, and unwilling to cringe at the sight of winking sexpots.

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Review : Yahaan

Posted on September 6, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Below average (2.9/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Director : Shoojit Sircar
Cast : Jimmy Shergill, Minisha Lamba, Yashpal Sharma, Mukesh Tiwari

: Dreary !

Ad-film maker Sircar’s first foray into films, Yahaan is one long stretched-out film. The subject tries to straddle both romance and war in one go, and that’s difficult to carry off with aplomb. Full marks to Sircar for trying. Unfortunatly, he doesn’t succeed. Although the film on the whole is decently-made and displays sensitivity, the pace is EXTREMELY slow (I nodded off a couple of times). Another turn-off was the bluish tint of the film – gave it a dull, depressing aura. As beautiful as the Kashmir valley is, seeing it in real color would probably have added the much-needed sparkle to this movie.

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 !

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Review : Maine pyar kyun kiya

Posted on September 1, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Poor (2.75/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2005
Running time : 144 minutes
Director : David Dhawan
Cast : Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen, Katrina Kaif, Sohail Khan, Arshad Warsi, Bina Kak, Rajpal Yadav

MANE PYAR KYUN KIYA (MPKK) : Dumb and dumber !

Oh, what a quandary people ! Is MPKK more stupid than silly, or is it more silly than stupid ? What a dilemma – really stressing me out ! Maybe, I should “just chill”. Or better still, maybe I shouldn’t have seen the movie at all (what I do for you, my readers !). I am allergic to David Dhawan’s films generally speaking. But this one is just impossible. Admittedly, it has lots of color, energy, and good songs. What it lacks is a script which can stand on its own, and some rhyme and reason even in a farcical comedy such as this. Anyway, here goes :

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.

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Review : Sehar

Posted on August 31, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Excellent (4.5/5)
Genre : Drama, Action
Year : 2005
Running time : approx. 2 hrs
Director : Kabeer Kaushik
Cast: Arshad Warsi, Mahima Chaudhary, Pankaj Kapoor, Sushant Singh, Suhasini Mulay, Ravi Jhankal

SEHAR : Nicely done !

Once in a while you come across this little known movie, which didn’t even make it to the cinema halls (in the US), and you see it because you are an avid movie watcher. And this little unknown movie with secondary star-power turns out to be a diamond in the rough. “Sehar” is excellent, better than “D”, though not as good as “Company”. Acting is good, screenplay taut, and dialogues are meaty, succint; not a syllable goes waste. Director Kaushik is here to stay.

The film is narrated in flashback by a University Professor Tiwari (Kapoor). The professor, a scholarly man has helped the police in tracking criminals. Ajay Kumar (Arshad Warsi) is the newly appointed, honest SSP of Lucknow police. Of his family only his mother (Mulay) remains, and she inspires and motivates him to do the right thing. Ajay tries to crack down on the UP mafia, but more often than not is betrayed by information-leaking local police officials. His boss tries to aid him by shielding him from political pressures, and by getting sanction for Ajay’s brainchild – a Special Task Force (STF), which would work across local jurisdictions, and state lines.

Criminal activities in UP are dominated by Gajraj (Sushant Singh) and his gang. Aided and abetted in his nefarious activities by feudal lords and politicians, Gajraj is an intelligent and ruthless criminal. Trying to pin him down, the STF takes help from a physics professor Tiwari (Kapoor) who helps them track down cell-phone conversations, and thereby the location of the criminals. The STF then makes headway in combating crime across the state, but is still unable to get Gajraj.

The final attempt to get Gajraj forms the climax of the film.

The romantic angle is provided by Anamika (Chaudhary), daughter of an erstwhile friend, an Army Major. Perpetually chiffon clad Anamika is an Economics professor at the university. Although her acting is passable, Mahima presents a highly glamorous and very unrealistic “look” for an Economics professor – a slip-up in an otherwise stunning film.

The film is moderately paced, a well-thought out and beautifully executed presentation. This is a novel story, in that it’s from the policeman’s perpspective, giving credence to the police force for the work they do. Warsi delivers an under-stated but highy effective performance as SSP Ajay, portraying Ajay’s willingness to fight criminal targets as well as his inner demons. With this display of finesse, Warsi proves that he is actor to contend with in meaty, serious roles. He is ably aided by other fine artistes like Mulay and Kapoor.

Most characters in the film are well-defined, and speak true UP-ite hindi. The basic cop-against-hoodlum story is strenghtened by apt dialogues, a strong screenplay, and the presumption of intelligence (very rare these days). Be prepared however, for graphic (sometimes gory) fight sequences. A “clean” film by any standards, it doesn’t have any item numbers (probably accounts for lack of film’s commercial appeal) or bare skin (except Mahima’s deep neck-lines). Nowhere does Kaushik let slip the reins of direction, giving us a polished, interesting product. This is a sincere, tell-it-like-it-is film, and it’s earnestness doesn’t fail to touch the viewer.

In the filmworld, there are hits and misses. “Sehar” is a direct hit.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama, outstanding, rating-PG13, recommended, thriller | Tagged | 6 Comments

Review : Dus

Posted on August 8, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Action
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 30 minutes
Director : Anubhav Sinha
Cast : Sunjay Dutt, Sunil Shetty, Shilpa Shetty, Zahid Khan, Esha Deol, Raima Sen, Abhishek Bachhan, Ninad Kamath, Pankaj Kapoor, Gulshan Grover

DUS : Yuppie cops and all that jazz

Anubhav Sinha directs Dus, quite a departure from his earlier romantic flick “Tum Bin”. Dus is an action film; visual presentation is sublime, the action slick, the rest slippery. Lots of action sequences, some surprising twists, and catchy numbers make this film an entertainer. What brings this movie down a couple of notches is the inept handling of the non-action part of the film, and the non-development of the characters themselves. The shaky and cliched story-line isn’t new; only a repeat of yesterday’s hashes.

Siddhant (Dutt) heads the Anti Terrorist Cell (ATC). His close aides are Shashank (Bachhan), Aditya (Khan), Aditi (Shetty), Roy (Kamath). Hot on the trail of criminal Jamwal, Siddhant comes to know of a plot to cause the deaths of thousands of people. This act apparently will take place on the 10th of May, but exactly when or where the ATC does not know. Racing to prevent the catastrophe, Siddhant encounters stiff resistance from the Government because of corrupt ministers in Jamwal’s pay, and the Home Ministry decides to shut down the ATC in a week’s time. So Siddhant and his team must find Jamwal and prevent disaster in 7 days.

Hearing of Jamwal’s being in Canada, Siddhant dispatches 2 aides Shashank and Aditya to Canada. They, and resident ATC agent Neha (Deol), must capture Jamwal’s aide Himmat Mehndi, and pump him for information. Meanwhile in an encounter, the ATC gets hold of notorious criminal Altaf, who is in Jamwal’s gang. To free him, Altaf’s organization kidnaps Shashank’s sister (Mirza) and her husband. Siddhant tries to get Shashank’s sister and brother-in-law free, while trying to unearth a spy in his organization. Meanwhile Shashank and Aditya, aided by Canadian policeman Danish (Sunil), are in hot pursuit of the criminals in that country. Time is quickly ticking away. Are they able to prevent disaster ?

The story is fast-paced, and the acting is pretty decent, considering that emoting opportunities in this film are scarce. Logic is defied, i.e.; the script has holes in its reasoning, but the next car chase zaps all reason out of your mind. Shilpa gets to do a few action sequences, but the 4 men get to do it all. And they do it passably well. Action sequences are packed with lots of gun, cars, explosions, and sound effects are rife with the sound of squealing cars and screeching brakes. Everyone wears smart holsters and dresses like the men/women in black. Snappy repartees fly around like bullets.

Diya Mirza appears for one song sequence, and Raima Sen has a walk-on part as Danish’s wife. Pankaj Kapoor is excellent as psychotic Jamwal. Esha is as good a non-actor as ever, and her awkward wig helps. Besides Esha’s the only other female character allowed a few dialogues and a few lethal kicks is Ms. Shetty. I’d say her kicking is better than her acting. The 4 men bring in different flavors, Abhishek the smart-talking Shashank, Zayed the young and brazen yuppie Aditya, Sunil S. the not-so-intelligent Dan, and Dutt big brotherly Siddhant. Not all good flavors you understand, just different.

If you like action films, this one is for you. Added to the mix is a little family drama, i.e.; Siddhant and his little family of Crime-fighters who are like brothers etc. There is emotion to go with it of course, but that’s pretty much limited to Siddhant crying his eyes out and calling everyone (except Aditi) Beta. Surprisingly, there is almost no romance in the film. What little there is occurs in awkward places. Siddhant and Aditi love each other, but apart from Aditi acting coy in a dance sequence, we have no hint of that at all. Aditya apparently had feeings for Shashank’s sister, but she marries someone else. Shashank is in love with Neha, but never has the courage to express it. And Danish is trying to get back with his estranged wife.

Sinha misses out in developing the emotional quotient of the film. What you see is what you get. No more to it than meets the eye. What does strike one head-on is the stylish look of the film. Visual technique is polished and very Hollywood-ian. Clicking teletype letters on-screen name characters, actors move in slow-motion, and flash-backs are artistically sepia-tinted.

All said, this film didn’t keep me glued to my seat, but neither did it drive me out of the theater. A snazzy ride with stylish, and very desi cops. Jump on !

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama, thriller, watchable | 3 Comments

Review : Waqt

Posted on July 25, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Below average (2.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 33 minutes
Director : Vipul Amritlal Shah
Cast : Amitabh Bachhan, Akshay Kumar, Priyanka Chopra, Shefali Shah, Boman Irani, Rajpal Yadav

WAQT : Tough love, desi style !

Based upon a Gujrati play, Waqt is a filmi family drama, with an emphasis on the father-son relationship. This in Bollywood-ese, unfortunately translates into a melodramatic film, devoid of commom sense and reasoning. The movie is chockfulof exaggerated filmi emotions, the story is shaky and not particularly believable, and situations oh-so-contrived. You could still enjoy this film of course; like me you could laugh at it.

Aditya Thakur (Akshay) is the spoilt son of Ishwarchand (Bachhan) and Sumi (Shah), a super-rich couple. Ishwar is devoted to his son, and tries to satisfy the brat’s every whim. While Sumi tries to stop Ishwar from doing so, believing that it is making Aditya weak, dependent and irresponsible, Ishwar takes no heed. Thus, while Ishwar the self-made man earns the money, Aditya is content to spend it like water. Aditya, then goes ahead and marries his girlfriend Pooja (Chopra), without his parents knowledge. When he returns home with her, like everything alse this too is forgiven, courtesy Ishwar.

Now, Ishwar is diagnosed with cancer, and has only a few months to live. He realises now, that he must teach his spoilt son to become independent and ready to fend for himself, since he (Ishwar) won’t be around much longer. So, keeping darling son ignorant of real matters, Ishwar and Sumi lay down stringent rules for Aditya and his now pregnant wife Pooja, thereby forcing them out of the house, sans money etc. Aditya soon realises that his parents are not joking and mean for him to fend for himself and wife.

Thus begins Ishwar’s race against time. Will his ploy work ? Will he be able to knock some sense into Aditya’s head, without jeopardising the love and affection in his family ? The rest of the film reveals all.

The characters in this movie are typically filmi, i.e.; they do stuff sans explanations, their emotions and actions have no greys – all is black or white. This makes for highly unrealistic cinema. The dialogues are in the same vein. Add to this some ludicrous scenes (I was laughing out loud at a “serious” scene), and overdone, milked-for-all-their-worth emotions (everyone weeps at the drop of a hat) and you have “Waqt”.

Direction is adequate. Both Bachhan and Shefali act well. However, Akshay is OK, and Priyanka remains the queen of incompetent actors. Comedy is provided by Rajpal Yadav, as the daft servant, and Boman Irani as Nattubhai, Pooja’s father. Music is OK, with a couple of catchy songs.

Unless a sucker for water-work inducing family drama, skip this one.

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Review : Mumbai Express

Posted on July 25, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2005
Director : S. Sreenivasa Rao
Cast : Kamal Haasan, Vijay Raaz, Manisha Koirala, Master Hardik, Om Puri, Saurabh Shukla, Pratima Kazmi, Sharat Saxena

Mumbai Express : Comedy of errors !

Although an average situational comedy, with a strongly comic premise aided by bumbling characters, this film suffers from awkward dialogues. Acting is pretty good, with Haasan over-doing it a bit, at times. Besides his Southern accent is obvious, and a misfit. Raaz, Puri and Shukla save the day with their talents.

Digamber and his 2 cronies, are small-time crooks planning to kidnap the son of a rich businessman Mehta (Saurabh shukla), to extort a ransom from him. The plan is to kidnap the child from the playgrounds of his school, using a crane. The night before the kidnapping is to take place, one of the gang members, the lift operator lands in hospital with a stomach ulcer. A new lift operator is needed for the plan to succeed. On their hospitalised friend’s wife’s (Pratima Kazmi) advice, the remaining 2 now rope in her brother, Avinash also know as Mumbai Express, to do the job. Good-hearted Avinash, a motor-cycle stuntman in a circus/mela, is simple, brave and uses a hearing aid.

On the way to the site of kidnapping, the threesome are involved in an accident, delivering the 3rd member out of action. But Avinash and Digamber forge ahead, and do manage to kidnap the child. However, they kidnap the wrong child. This kid Daddoo (Hardik) is the illegitimate son of ACP Rao (Om Puri) and his mistress, ex-bar-dancer Ahilya (Koirala). Deathly afraid of the police when he discovers this, Digamber wants to kill the child, but Avinash won’t let it happen….

The film is enjoyable, with confusion abounding, and comedic situations galore. The story is nuanced to achieve maximum effect, like the money/hand-eating horse owned by one of Digamber’s friends. Avinash’s hearing defect is also used to create funny situations. Although acting on the whole is good, Koirala could have done better in terms of acting and Kamal Haasan looks too old for the part. Master Hardik is a non-actor. The latter half of the movie appears a bit convoluted with some scenes recieving inadequate treatment. Music is average.

All-in-all, a decent enough comedy.

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Review : Viruddh

Posted on July 22, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Above Average (3.3/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 31 minutes
Director : Mahesh Manjrekar
Cast : Amitabh Bachhan, Sharmila Tagore, John Abraham, Sanjay Dutt, Sachin Khedekar, Anusha Dandekar, Prem Chopra, Shivaji Satyam

VIRUDDH : Powerful notion, weak execution

Viruddh is the story of an aged couple fighting against (hence the name) the corrupt system to clear their dead son’s name. The story is strong and held much potential, until it was watered down into regular, old, soppy Hindi cinema. Manjrekar, the director of such outstanding films as “Astitva”, and “Vaastav”, lets us down this time.

Vidyadhar Patwardhan (Bachhan) is a retired employee of Air-India, and lives with his wife Sumitra (Tagore) in their home in Bombay. Their son Amar (Abraham) is studying in London, and hasn’t been home for 2 years. He plans to come home for his birthday, and the parents are delighted, and look forward to seeing him. Amar does come home, bringing with him his live-in Britsh-Indian girlfriend Jenny (Dandekar). After the initial rebuke by Sumi, both Amar and Jenny are welcomed warmly. There is more cause for happiness and celebration when Sumi and Vidyadhar get Amar and Jenny married.

Planning secretly for Amar’s upcoming birthday, Sumi, Vidyadhar, and Jenny conspire to get Amar out of the house, by sending him to a friend’s party alone. At the friend’s party, Amar witnesses a shooting incident, and is also shot when he tries to prevent the assailant from escaping. Amar dies in the hospital. Sumi, Vidyadhar and Jenny are incoherent with grief. But there is more to come. It appears that the assailant was the son of the Chief Minister, and to protect him, the police fabricate a story about Amar and Jenny being drug-pushers, and plant evidence in their home. They arrest Jenny, and malign Amar in court, through bribed witnesses and false alibis for the CM’s son. Sumi and Vidyadhar lose their case in court, but refuse to accept defeat …..

Viruddh is the story of their fight for justice.

All actors have done a good job. Amitabh and Sharmila, seen together on-screen after many decades, mouth their dialogues with natural ease. And even Abraham, whom I consider wooden, has managed to render his character adequately. MTV VJ Dandekar, a newcomer in films, does well also. Sachin Khedekar, as the police officer forced to toe the chief minister’s line, is good, but his character has not been well-developed in the script. Sunjay Dutt, as mechanic Ali, delivers his performance with aplomb. In spite of such good acting performances, the film lacks the pathos which such a script would naturally generate. Yes, there are some touching and poignant moments, but they are few and far between.

Surprisingly there are no songs in this film, and the background score is mediocre enough to go un-noticed. The first half of the film is pretty much used to “set-up” the characters, through detailed scenes showing the love and understanding between Vidyadhar and Sumi, as well as the camraderie and respect they share with their neighbors and friends. The director manages to create a natural atmosphere in the Patwardhan home, with Amitabh providing much of the well-timed humor. Not to say that there aren’t kinks in the script – there are. Besides that, the director adds to the film cheesy advertisement like scenes, extolling the virtues of Elf Engine oil as used by mechanic Ali, Nerolac paints as used by the Patwardhan’s to paint their home, and Western Union as used by Amar to deliver funds to aged parents, seriously detracting from the flavor of the film.

The first half pretty much deals with Sumi and Vidyadhar, kids and the good life, while the rest of the considerable story is squeezed into the post-interval second half. And this leads to under-development of the drama, and inadequate attention to plot twists which warranted more leisurely treatment. I’d consider this the major problem in the movie, and one of the chief reasons why the film loses impact. Also, in the second half, the director resorts to over-done and slightly unrealistic emotional moments to shore up his degenerating script, but it doesn’t help.

Needless to say, this movie falls way short of my expectations, which were of a “Saaransh” like film. OK, OK, I agree that that is aiming a bit too high, but I did have justification, with Manjrekar’s past record and all that. So, to be fair, sans comparison, this is a reasonably decent film, an attempt to do something novel and “hatke”, and does warrant a “dekho”.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama, watchable | Comments Off on Review : Viruddh

Review : Yakeen

Posted on July 18, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Just about Average (2.75/5)
Genre : Thriller
Year : 2005
Running time : About 2 hrs
Director : Girish Dhamija
Cast : Priyanka Chopra, Arjun Rampal, Kim Sharma, Sudhanshu Pandey, Saurabh Shukla

YAKEEN : Good story but shaky execution

Inspired (and I use that term loosely) from the 1991 Hollywood thriller “Shattered”, Yakeen is debut director Girish Dhamija’s first product. This could have been a taut suspense thriller, but degrades to a very mediocre level, thanks to incompetent handling, and some very sorry acting.

The film starts off showing a car crashing off a high road. As it smashes down into a valley below, the camera cuts to the hospital where we find the car’s 2 passengers – Simar Oberoi (Chopra), who has a few scratches and bumps and her husband Nikhil (Rampal), who is seriously hurt and has lost his memory. Nikhil requires many operations and lot of medical treatment/therapy before he is the man he used to be, and his loving wife administers care and lends her support through it all. As he is brought home by his wife, he begins to settle into life at home, and meet old friends.

However, he is rudely shocked, when upon returning to work as an architect, he finds his will in one of his office files. In his will, which was made right before theaccident, he has disinherited his wife. Questions crowd Nikhil’s mind, and he tries to find out about the condition of his marital relationship from his friends. In this he is helped by Tanya (Kim), an old friend, who also senses that all is not well. It turns out that Nikhil was about to divorce Simar, based upon evidence of her adultery, before the accident. However, now Simar is all sweetness and light, won’t admit to any wrongdoing, but acts supiciously. So Nikhil enlists the help of a detective (Shukla) and Tanya in finding out the truth about Simar…

The strongest thing about this film is its story-line, which has many surprising twists and turns, and could have served to keep you on the edge of your seat. It is not be so however, because characterization is incomplete and flawed, dialogues are filmi, and acting poor. Priyanka as Simar looks and acts artificial, while Kim Sharma is just a tad better. Rampal is adequate, as is Pandey.

The music is nothing to write home about, and editing could have been better. Direction needed to be crisper, in such a fast-paced film. Besides all this, there are inherent flaws in situations/sets and event flow, all of which smack of incompetent direction and insufficient attention to detail.

All-in-all, just about average, watchable once.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama | Comments Off on Review : Yakeen