Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews - Part 91Amodini's Movie Reviews | Movie Reviews by Year, Genre and Rating

Review : Hazaron khwaishen aisi

Posted on June 20, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Good (3.9/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Director : Sudhir Mishra
Running time : 2 hrs
Cast : Shiney Ahuja, Chitrangada Singh, Kaykay Menon

HAZAARON KHWAISHEN AISI : The do-gooders and the fixers

HKA, a Pritish Nandy Communications production, is a politically tinted story contrasting ambition and idealism, and the paths they lead us down. And then it raises the bigger question of whether ambition or idealism is ever enough or long-lasting ? There are no straight answers; however we follow the lives of the three main protagonists in the search of some.The story starts off in 1969, the age of flower-power, student politics, and the Naxalite movement in Bihar. We get to meet Geeta (Chitrangada Singh), a student in a Delhi college, and the two men (also students) who love her. Vikram (Shiney Ahuja), the son of an idealistic, middle-class political party worker from U.P., is tired of the travails of the middle-class and longs to build a brighter and materially richer future for himself. Siddharta (KayKay Menon), son of a rich ex-judge, is given to idealism, and thoughts of revolution and fighting for the rights of the oppressed. Geeta, a Telugu speaking South-Indian, bred in the UK, Africa and India, has led a sheltered life and is moderate, although drawn into Siddharta’s circle because she loves him.

Siddharta, however is steadfast in his beliefs, and since Geeta is unwilling to devote her life to Siddharta’s cause, they part. She marries an IAS officer (Ram Kapoor), but has an affair with Siddharta begind his back. Finally, unable to bear a separation from Siddharta, she divorces her husband, and joins Siddharta in the villages of Bihar where he works. Meanwhile Vikram, is steadfastly climbing the ladder of success, accquiring wealth and contacts.

The story wends its way through Geeta and Siddharta’s life, its trials, and tribulations, exposing their thoughts and inner ideals. We also see Vikram, who although drawn to power and money, cannot get over Geeta and is tied to her through his attempts to rescue her from hardship. Can Geeta and Siddharta endure in their life of service ? And what of Vikram, who still loves Geeta ? The film leads us through their lives, stretched thin by love, relationships and commitment to their private ideals.

The film is stark and true, and brutal at times. It throws up many interesting questions, and is quite intriguing even at a philosophical level. English is used in atleast 50% of the film if not more, which was quite surprising. Moderately paced, the movie heats up towards the end, finishing up quite unpredictably. All three lead characters act well and convincingly. The script and direction succeed in delving into the characters lives and their private philosophies in depth, allowing the viewer to sympathise and feel for the characters. Direction is good, and storyline believable. This is a serious film, no song-dance routines, no frivolity, just a good story well-told. A must-see.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama, rating-PG13, recommended | Comments Off

Review : Parineeta

Posted on June 10, 2005 by amodini

Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 25 minutes
Director : Pradeep Sarkar
Cast : Sunjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Diya Mirza

PARINEETA : Yester-year love tale is charming on screen

Although based on Sarat Chandra chattopadhyay’s novel of the same name, this film reminded of the old Dilip Kumar-Madhubala love-story films, where all seems to be lost, but not just yet. I haven’t read his work so am unable to tell whether Chopra sticks to the original plot. Of course it is obvious that he does take certain filmi liberties with the film, thus rendering it just a tad overdone.

Set in the Calcutta of 1962, the film plays out partway in flashback. It starts off with depictions of Shekhar’s wedding day, when Shekhar leaving his family-filled home, steps across the street into his neighbor’s home, meets the aging matriarch there, and reminsces…

Shekhar, the son of rich businessman Naveen Rai and his neighbors Koel, and her cousin Lolita have been friends from childhood. Lolita’s parents having expired Lolita comes to live with her uncle (Mama) Gurucharan, when she is little. The three grow up, with Lolita (Vidya) and Shekhar (Saif) developing a mutual attraction. Shekhar’s parents now look for a suitable bride for Shekhar, and overlooking Lolita, settle on Gayatri Tantiya (Diya Mirza), who seems to be a favorable alliance, since she is rich and her family can further many of Mr.Rai’s business ambitions. Shekhar, now dabbling in music as a music director, loves Lolita but afraid of offending his father meets the westernized, Anglo-Indian Gayatri.

Meanwhile, a family friend’s rich brother Girish (Dutt) comes visiting from London, and on meeting Lolita, is quite taken with her. Lolita socializes with him without any romantic notions, unwittingly stoking Shekhar’s jealousy. At work in Naveen Rai’s real-estate development office, Lolita gets wind of a secret, new Hotel project in which her uncle’s home/haveli is to be turned into a hotel ! It turns out that the haveli is mortgaged to Naveen Rai and he intends to have it.

Lolita, perturbed, asks Shekhar for a loan , but he, in his usual easygoing, careless manner, waves the matter away for later. Girish, hearing of the matter, loans Gurucharan the money on a pretext, and Gurucharan is able to save his home, still believing that Naveen Rai is a good and kind man. In anger at losing his pet project, Naveen Rai, arranges for Shekhar to be out of town on a business pretext, and while he is out, fires Lolita and abuses Gurucharan’s family. Gurucharan, because of this has a heart attack.

When Shekhar returns he finds that owing to Gurucharan’s ill-health, a quick marriage has been arranged between Lolita and Girish. He swallows his father’s stories about Girish having bought out the Gurucharan family, and in anger at being spurned, watches as Girish packs up the entire family and takes them to London for treatment of Gurucharan’s worsening condition…

Direction is excellent, and set and film-style give credence to a Calcutta of the 60’s. The story, I presume, has been stretched a bit to include filmi theatrics, especially towards the end, where the good versus evil morality holds strong sway. Dialogues are apt, except at the ending where they go over-the-top. And the music is melodious, kind of sweet and old-worldy – in keeping with the genre.

Ms. Balan makes a good debut, expressing emotions adequately, in a subtle and restrained performance. Saif, while acting fine, is slightly miscast as a yesteryear playboy – he’s still sorta in the “Dil chahta hai” mode. Sunjay Dutt as the besotted Girish, does well too. Raima Sen, as Lolita’s cousin Koel, does justice to her perky character, while Diya Mirza is visible in a fleeting few scenes, hardly enough to make an impression. The supporting cast – the parents, Rai and wife (Sabhyasachi Chakraborty and Surinder Kaur), and Gurucharan (Achyut Potdar) and wife do their job ably.

This is a good, moderately-paced, story-based entertainer. Not the urban, slick film of the modern world, this old-ish tale still keeps the viewer engrossed. Recommended.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama, recommended | 2 Comments

Review : Kabhi khushi kabhi gam

Posted on June 8, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Above average (3.5/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2005
Running time : 3 hrs and 40 minutes
Director : Karan Johar
Cast : Amitabh Bachhan, Jaya Bachhan, Shahrukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Kajol , Kareena Kapoor

KABHI KHUSHI KABHI GAM : Bonafide Masala entertainer !

KKKG is what I call an extended STC : “stylized toothpaste commercial”. Doesn’t mean its a bad film, it just means that its a L-O-N-G story without a real villain, with lots of jingly tunes, and a whole host of characters from one big happy family. And yes it entertains, if you know what you’re getting into. This is not serious path-breaking cinema. This is giving the masses what they want, albeit with a little style and panache.And yes, if you are able to tune out the fact that the script is paper-thin, and the characters unnaturally good and nauseatingly selfless you will enjoy this film. Because it has all the makings of a “masala” entertainer; the pathos and the tear-jerkers, rich costumes and sets, lots of foot-tapping numbers with well-choreographed dances, big stars, and the sheen of polished film-making which can only come when the rich make films about the moneyed. Now the story :

Yashovardhan Raichand (Bachhan) and wife Nandini (Jaya), a fantabulously rich couple, have 2 sons younger son Rohan (Hrithik) and adopted son Rahul (Shahrukh). The family also has two grandmothers (Sushma Seth and Achla Sachdev). Rohan much younger than Rahul, is away at boarding school when Rahul falls in love with a middle-class girl Anjali (Kajol) and marries her, spurning the family choice Naina (Rani) who is thought to be more of a social equal. This earns him his father’s wrath and pointed reminders of his being adopted, not having the Raichand blood in him, and hence not able to live upto expected ideals. Subsequently he is estranged from the family, and settles down abroad with wife, sister-in-law and the family Dai-jaan (Farida Jalal). Of course, he misses his family and yearns to see them. The parents apparently miss him too, and Johar milks this emotion for all its worth, stretching out these scenes interminably.

Some years down the road, Rohan all grown up, travels abroad to effect a family reunion. There, while living with Rahul and family, incognito, he meets and falls in live with Anjali’s younger sister Pooja (Kareena). Together the two plan to bring the splintered family together. How they succeed is the rest of the movie.

The film is like a whirlwind of overdone emotions – first the abundant display of close-knit family ties, and the mother-love-drenched emotional scenes. Next the pain of separation, emphasis on parents. Again puke-ably overdone. Third – the yearning for loved ones, emphasized with overwrought dialogues, much handwringing, and restrained sobbing from the men-folk. A fourth emotion, pseudo-patriotism, with scenes engineered via Anjali, is dealt with, with much covert and comedic verbal abuse against the Londoners. If this was targeted towards the NRIs, it was done badly, and I for one found it hard to swallow. It is possible to be patriotic without dissing the country in which you live, but apparently Johar does not share the sentiment.

Acting is good (as good as it can be with this script), and direction is slick. Water-work inducing emotions are balanced out with comedic action from Kajol and Johnny Lever, and dance numbers sizzle courtesy Hrithik and Kareena. Nostalgia, and cliched pativrata sentiments from Jaya B. and Kajol, come in handy to fill in those family-bonding moments.

Ultimately, this is a consummate work of fiction, told with an infinite stretch-it-till-it-breaks emotional quotient. A nice story about the high-fliers and their lofty concerns, sugar-wrapped to be palatable to the common man. Watchable once.

Posted in 2005, bollywood, drama, family-friendly, rating-G, watchable | 5 Comments

Review : Zeher

Posted on June 7, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Poor (1.5/5)
Genre : Thriller
Year : 2005
Director : Mohit Puri
Cast : Emran Hashmi, Shamita shetty, Udita Goswami, Ninad Kamath

ZEHER : Like poison, only worse !

This film is one the tried-and-tested formula films of the Bhatt camp. The formula: a storyline lifted straight from Hollywood, B grade stars, sufficient sleaze factor, decent enough songs, and voila! You have a film which will ensure returns considering its made on a shoestring budget. And “Zeher” is no different. It is, of course another matter that direction is inept, the Indianised script riddled with holes, and acting way below par.

Siddharth (Emran Hashmi), the head honcho of a Goa police station, is active in pursuing the bad guys in the drug trade, and has just nabbed drug gang members and a large haul of a narcotic and lots of illegal money. On the home front, he is estranged from his wife Sonia (Shamita Shetty), who’s also a police officer. Of course, despite their differences, and his apparent inability to stomach a successful wife with her own career, Siddharth still loves her.

Siddharth meets Anna (Udita Goswami), abused wife of a local goon Sean (Sameer Kochhar), and they have an affair (OF COURSE, Siddharth still loves Sonia oh-so-much). Anyway Anna gets pregnant with Siddharth’s baby, and at the same time finds out that her dormant cancer has returned to malignant status. The only way to save her and the baby, is a costly medical treatment. Since she doesn’t have the money, her husband is an uncaring cad, and she loves Siddharth and is basically a good girl imbued with qualities of self-sacrifice, she decides to leave Goa to relieve Siddharth of her problems. Siddharth is torn with guilt, you know, because he’s basically a nice chap, although he’s never heard of marital fidelity. And what’s an honest cop to do when caught between a rock and a hard place ? Of course, hand over illegal drug money housed in police station locker to current girlfriend !

And that’s what our charming Sidhharth does. Anna refuses, but then accepts. That very night, Anna’s house burns down, with apparently Anna and Sean still in it. Investigations are on – was it a murder ? Clues point to Sidhharth, and he has to unravel this mess, before his wife, as Chief Investigating Officer in the case, does.

The film on the whole has a very cut-and-paste feel to it. Characters seem shallow. Direction is OK. Acting is poor, especially Ms. Goswami’s. Hashmi is a close second, with the best actor in the film actually being Ninad Kamath who plays Siddharath’s friend and deputy James.

Avoidable.

Posted in 2005, action, bollywood, drama | 1 Comment

Review : Kaal

Posted on June 6, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Poor (2/5)
Genre : Thriller
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs
Director : Soham
Cast : Ajay Devgan, Vivek Oberoi, Esha Deol, Lara Dutta, John Abraham

KAAL : Weak thriller falls flat

This film, although trying to break new ground, is poor. As far as pioneering something new, it doesn’t succeed very well. The script is thin and shaky and meanders unbelievably.Krish Thapar (Abraham) is a wildlife researcher, on assignment for the National Geographic. He journeys to investigate the sudden spate of killings by man-eater tigers in Orbit National Park, accompanied by photographer wife Riya (Esha). Meanwhile, Dev (Oberoi as a rich wastrel), his girlfriend Ishika (Dutta) and 2 friends are driving to a farmhouse when his new Lexus LX470 breaks down in the middle of nowhere. They manage to get a ride with an ominous sounding jeep-driver, who lures them into Orbit Park with promises of hunting some game. They meet-up with Krish and wife who’s vehicle has also broken down, and offer them a ride.

As they progress into the jungle, mysterious deaths and dissapearances start occuring. Heads are lopped off, bloody bodies are decimated, and a general atmosphere of impending doom looms large. And the tigers are considered responsible until the party meets Kali Pratap Singh (Devgan), a darkly clad man of the jungle, who warns them of bad vibes and unnatural powers emanating from the deep woods. Now the group led by Kali, who claims to know the jungle, aim to leave the jungle, fearing death and worse. Are they able to make their escape ?

The storyline is weak, with characters not very well fleshed out. Acting is poor all around, and the women have little to do, save nod in assent to suggestions by boyfriends/husbands, or scream and act petrified when required. They also wear skimpy clothing, apparently immune to jungle insects/plants and suchlike. The attempted “ghoulish” visual effects are not ghoulish enough, i.e.; not enough to even mildly chill the marrow in your bones. The director tries to induce fear via the “shock” factor and sound effects, but fails. Direction is splotchy and the film’s pace does not manage to keep the viewer engrossed.

The background score is poor and reminded me of the music of a film I detested “Daud”. The songs (2 in the film, 3 if you see this on DVD) are good, and well shot. The film however, lacked the groundwork and the “reading in between the lines” that scary films require. Although the camerawork appers to be polished and some shots are stylistically taken to emphasize the macabre, the film in totality lacks maturity, focus and depth.

One would hope that in the future, quality entertainers like Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar would view the films they produce, before unleashing such disasters on the unsuspecting public. Needless to say – this film is best when avoided.

Posted in 2005, action, bollywood, drama, ecstatically stupid, thriller | Comments Off

Review : Dil pe mat le yaar

Posted on June 2, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Good (4/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2000
Running time : 149 minutes
Director : Hansal Mehta
Cast : Manoj Bajpai, Tabu, Saurabh Shukla, Divya Jagdale, Aditya Srivastav
Music : Vishal Bhardwaj

DIL PE MAT LE YAAR : Life in this bad, bad world !

This is an excellent film, deftly directed, realistic, and well-told. The storyline is strong, with well-fleshed out characters who behave normally (as normally as filmi characters can behave). A taut screenplay helps this believable tale remain grounded.

Ram Saran Pandey (Bajpai) is a simple, naive, young man from Jaunpur, who comes to Bombay and gets work as a mechanic. Honest and hard-working Ram, has a good friend in Gaitonde (Saurabh Shukla), who is a videographer. Ram one day, meets Kamya Lal (Tabu) a journalist who comes to have her car repaired at the garage where he works. Impressed with his straight-forward manner and honesty, Kamya writes a series of articles about Ram’s honesty. Ram is by now smitten with Kamya and dreams of her reciprocating his feelings. Kamya too seems to value his company, and even gives up smoking on his advice.

Meanwhile Gaitonde’s foreign-returned friend Tito (Aditya Srivastav) comes to stay at Gaitonde’s home for a while, and attempts to sway Gaitonde negatively. Ram tries to steer Gaitonde towards the straight and narrow and away from the nefarious activities that Tito suggests, but things take a turn for the worse. Our boy from Jaunpur in now stuck deep in the quagmire, as illusions shatter and his friends and lover seem to reveal their unfriendly sides. Is it too late for Ram to extricate himself ?

The cast of this film has done a great job. Bajpai is perfect as small-town boy Ram, and his slowly enunciated, vernacular hindi drives home his alienation in modern and superficial Mumbai. Tabu is believable as Kamya, and Saurabh Shukla is very good as Gaitonde.The supporting cast also does its job ably. Direction is crisp, with dialogues in-sync with the character’s definition. The plotline and screenplay flow strong and smooth, fleshing out situations and backgrounds adequately. The background music adds to the suspense of the film’s plot, and is well done. Songs are entrenched in the script and seem to emerge naturally out of situations.

This one is hard to criticise. Enjoy !

Posted in 2000, bollywood, drama, Good Hindi Movies To Watch, outstanding, recommended, thriller | Tagged outstanding | 1 Comment

Review : Maqbool

Posted on June 2, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Excellent (4.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2004
Director : Vishal Bharadwaj
Cast : Irfan Khan, Tabu, Pankaj Kapoor, Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri

MAQBOOL : Well-enacted gangster drama

Borrowing from “Macbeth” this intriguing drama tells the story of in-fighting and the struggle for power within a gang. Bharadwaj, who has also written and scripted the film, has done an excellent job, and been ably supported by the cast.

Jahangir Khan/Abbaji (Pankaj Kapoor) is the aging leader of a Bombay gang. Nimmi (Tabu) is his mistress. Members of the gang include Maqbool (Irfan Khan), Kaka (Piyush Mishra) and his son Guddu (Ajay Gehi), and 2 cops Pandit and Purohit (Puri and Shah respectively). Maqbool and Nimmi love each other, but since Maqbool will not defy Abbaji openly, their affair is kept secret. Nimmi wishes to leave Abbaji and live with Maqbool, but realises the futility of it while Abbaji is alive. So, she slowly but surely begins to put ideas in Maqbool’s head.

Meanwhile Abbaji’s grown-up daughter (from his dead wife) Sameera (Masumi) loves Guddu, and when their affair becomes public, Abbaji agrees to the marriage. Nimmi uses this to put pressure on Maqbool, teeling him that Guddu will reign on the gang in the future, and Maqbool will be edged out. Maqbool finally kills Abbaji, and tries to pin the blame on an opposing gang. Then he has Kaka killed and tries to pin the blame on his son Guddu, who having guessed Maqbool’s intentions is on the run. Although everyone suspects Maqbool, none have the might to oppose him. Sameera is distraught at Maqbool’s subsequent ascension to Abbaji’s throne, and his now open relationship with Nimmi.

However, Guddu joins hands with other breakaway factions of the gang, rescues Sameera and wages war. Suddenly Maqbool finds the chips stacked against him ….

Pretty much everything is excellent – direction, dialogues and acting. Even lesser known actors like Gehi and Mishra leave their mark. The story is taut and holds your interest till the very end. Irfan Khan gives an astounding performance as Maqbool, while Tabu sharpens her claws as the vixen-ish Nimmi. Pankaj Kapoor is impressive as Abbaji and Shah and Puri are perfect as the clever, corrupt policemen. This is a “serious” film, no frivolity here. A must-see.

Posted in bollywood, drama, outstanding, rating-PG13, recommended, thriller | Tagged bharadwaj, outstanding | 5 Comments

Review : Jo bole so nihaal

Posted on June 1, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Worse than I imagined (-13/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2005
Director : Rahul Rawail
Cast : Sunny Deol, Surekha Sikri, Shilpi Sharma, Kamaal Khan
Music : Anand Raj Anand

JO BOLE SO NIHAAL : Stupidity honed to a fine art

This is an incredibly mind-numbing film. I do agree that with most hindi films, you’d better leave your thinking caps outside the theater, but this film surpasses all, in not even having an iota of common sense in its entire 3 hours. In short, this film is a disaster. And a real let-down from Betaab director Rawail.

Nihaal Singh (Sunny Deol) is an honest and simple constable patrolling the village of Moga in Punjab. He accidentally comes across notorious criminal Romeo (Kamaal Khan), and unsusceptible to bribes, takes him into custody. Romeo, then weaves an imaginary story of a dying daughter in need of help and money, hoodwinks the naive constable and runs away. Nihaal Singh is accused of abetting the criminal, suspended and disgraced. Romeo meanwhile escapes aross the border and makes his way into the States.

So, when the FBI, having discovered a plot to assasinate the US President, need Nihaal’s help in identifying Romeo, he refuses to give them a description, and insists on going to the US himself to catch Romeo. He finally does, and there encounters beautiful FBI agent Satinder Kaur (Shilpi Sharma). Satinder apparently has the job of sticking to Nihaal, while he cavorts around New York, encountering Romeo several times without catching him, and makes a royal ass of himself. And on and on, this torturous film goes, until its guessable and very daft ending.

The direction is adequate, dialogues are over-the-top, and situations are unreal. The script has holes so big, you could see them from the moon. The director and script writer have apparently mistaken stupidity for simple-mindedness, in this script. As a result the lead character appears to be a pompous, bigoted buffoon, bereft of brain cells. Sunny Deol hollers and snarls his way through the movie, except for the times his emotions are stirred by family ties/Shilpi Sharma’s womanly charms. Shilpi Sharma, shown to have a penchant for minimal clothing, does what is required of her. Kamaal Khan as the villain, is an inadequate one, without acting abilities. And Surekha Sikri, a fine actress, is reduced to a caricature of a mother with telepathic ties to her son.

To sum up, this is film-making at its worst. To paraphrase Nihaal Singh “No if, no but, just don’t see this film.”

Posted in action, bollywood, drama | Comments Off

Review : Bunty aur Babli

Posted on June 1, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2005
Running time : About 3 hrs
Director : Shaad Ali Sahgal
Cast : Rani Mukherjee, Amitabh Bachhan, Abhishek Bachhan, Raj Babbar, Rameshwari, Ranjeet, Prem Chopra, Ravi Baswani, Kiran Joneja, Puneet Issar
Music : Shankar, Ehsaan & Loy

BUNTY AUR BABLI : Initial promise loses steam

This Indianised version of Bonnie and Clyde, here almost Robin Hood like characters with hearts of gold, is great in the beginning and has all the makings of a quality film. Midway however, momentum is lost, and the plot derails. If I had to rate this film by the 2 halves (pre and post interval), I’d give the pre 4/5 and the post 2/5 — you get the idea.

Rakesh Trivedi (Abhishek) is the creative son of an Indian Railways Ticket Collector (Raj Babbar), living a respectable middle class life in Fursatganj in modern day U.P. Rakesh has big dreams and get-rich-quick schemes which he attempts to peddle, rebuffing all his parents attempts to place him in a “sarkari” job. Given an ultimatum by his father, Rakesh leaves home and travels to Lucknow to sell his chit fund scheme to a large chit fund company, but is spurned. At the station, he meets Vimmi (Rani) from Pankhipur, a Sardarni with hopes of becoming a model. She too is down in the dumps because she, having run away from home to avoid an arranged marriage, has missed the entrance deadline for the Miss India sub-contest.

Both decide to travel together to Bombay to further their dreams, and resort to small-time trickery to obtain money from those who had hustled them. After a couple of con jobs, and sufficient funds, they reach Bombay only to discover a mutual love for each other and the hustler’s life. They get married and take up nicknames, hustling professionally, pulling big jobs which gets them noticed as “Bunty aur Babli”. This sets the police hot on their trail, with the baton being weilded by DCP Dashrath Singh (Amitabh).

Babli meanwhile is now pregnant, and wants to revert to being a good citizen because of the child. Bunty begs for a last job, and the two decide to rob the RBI gold reserves, being transported by plane. They know that the DCP is in charge of the gold, and decide to bell the cat as a fitting goodbye to their hustling career. The DCP wary of the quick-witted duo, is on the lookout. Does he manage to catch them ?

The film is great pre-interval, comedy and pathos mixed optimally to tell the story of rustic “bhaiya” Rakesh, and fashionably “behenji-ish” Babli. Character development is adequate giving a sense of realism to the film. The supporting cast is good, with Rameshwari (resurfacing after many decades) and Babbar playing the role of Rakesh’s parents, and Kiran Joneja and Puneet Issar playing Rani’s. Old-time screen villains and charcter artistes (Baswani, Ranjeet, Prem Chopra) roped in as victims of the the Babli-Bunty escapades, add to the mirth factor. Although the first half is slow-paced it lends credibilty to the story’s rural beginnings, and the modest aspirations and genteel respectability of small-town middle-class life.

Post-interval, fate has me sitting in the theater bewildered, trying to figure out the happenings on-screen. Did they change directors mid-way or did the director just manage to lose it big-time ? Why am I flummoxed ? Because this pleasant, fun-filled film has suddenly morphed into a B-grade action flick of the 80s, complete with cliched music, hokey chase sequences, pious homilies, and odes to that venerable institution – the family. Interminable, unrequired songs, of no great listening value are squeezed into the latter half of the film. The film does redeem itself a bit towards the end, though.

Rani does an excellent job in her potrayal of Vimmi. Abhishek is a weak second, a come-down from the potential he showed in “Yuva”. And although I do admire Amitabh’s longevity in films, it is worth noting that he is an angry, young man no more. Hence the bluster and swagger of an DCP ardently in hot pursuit of the bad guys, falls flat here. The director also tries to harness the father-son synergy here, but that doesn’t jell.

All-in-all an average film, watchable for the breezy and good-humored first half. And a damp squib from the director, who promised greater things after that block-buster “Saathiya”. Although Shaad Ali does manage to get it together towards the ending, the effort is not enough to leave the departing moviegoer with that warm, fuzzy feeling you get from seeing a good film.

Posted in bollywood, comedy, drama, family-friendly, recommended | 1 Comment

Hinglish films

Posted on May 25, 2005 by amodini

Hinglish films : This is a slightly ambigous “genre” so to speak, and encompasses a broad range of films like English films made in India, which are a hodge-podge of English and Hindi. Then there are the diaspora films, which although primarily made in English, deal with “desi” culture and genreally have a smattering of Indian languages in them. Here is a list of the top 10 Hinglish films :

1. Bend it like Beckham
2. Monsoon Wedding
3. Bride and Prejudice
4. Being Cyrus
5. Bollywood Hollywood
6. East is east
7. Missippi Masala
8. Hyderabad Blues
9. Everybody says I’m fine
10. Bombay Boys

Others which didn’t make it to the top 10 :

– Split wide open
– Mitr, my friend
– Chutney popcorn
– Bhaji on the beach
– A nice arrangement