Blog | Amodini's Movie Reviews - Part 92Amodini's Movie Reviews | Movie Reviews by Year, Genre and Rating

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

Posted in Best hindi movies, bollywood, recommended, Top 10 | 9 Comments

Review : Zubeida

Posted on May 24, 2005 by amodini

[amazon_link id=”B00005KIUM” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ] Zubeidaa [/amazon_link]Rating : Good (3.75/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2001
Running time : 2 hrs and 30 minutes
Director : Shyam Benegal
Cast : Rekha, Manoj Bajpai, Karisma Kapoor, Lilette Dubey, Amrish Puri, Surekha Sikri
Music : A.R. Rahman

ZUBEIDA : Beautifully enacted biographical tale

Zubeida is an almost experimental film, offering great acting, deft direction and a well-crafted screenplay. Benegal presents the tale with all the accompanying emotions, emotions that permeate through to the viewer. An off-beat, but true and biographical story by journalist Kalid Mohammed, is one of the strengths of this movie.The film begins with Riyaz (Rajat Kapoor), Zubeida’s son setting out to research her life, and to meet the people who knew her. The story is thus told in the form of memories/reminiscences. Zubeida is a Muslim actress, who’s career aspirations are thwarted by her film-producer father (Puri) who looks down upon a woman in acting. He arranges her marriage to her friend’s son, but that breaks up after the birth of her son. Zubeida is now back at her parent’s home, sad and depressed. Rose (Lilette Dubey) her father’s mistress tries to cheer-up Zubeida by taking her out. On one of these outings, Zubeida meets Prince Vijayendra (Victor) Singh of Fatehpur (Bajpai). Quite taken with her, the Prince woos and marries her.

Zubeida, now the 2nd wife of a Hindu prince, leaves her son behind with her mother (Sikri) and comes to live at Fatehpur. Here she meets the much older Mandira Devi (Rekha) the Prince’s first wife, learns about the etiquettes of being a Rani, and of the duties her husband has towards his first wife. Zubeida’s relationship with Mandira (whom she calls Mandy didi) is tumultous, seesawing between affection and jealousy. She frets about the restrictions on her as Rani and the chokehold of royal duties on Victor, often venting out her frustrations at not having her husband to herself.

When Victor decides to contest the elections, he relies on Mandira, as his Hindu consort (as opposed to Zubeida), to accompany him on his political jaunts. Zubeida, angry at being spurned, in obstinacy takes a decision, which has fatal consequences.

This film while slow-paced draws the viewer into an intriguing drama about love, life and its illusions. Karisma is stunning as the young and effervescent Zubeida, expressing the young woman’s desires, and zest for life, as well as her negative tendencies well. Manoj Bajpai, comes across convincingly as a suave and debonair Raja, expressing unending love to Zubeida on one hand, but stoking her jealousy unwittingly with his dutiful loyalty to Mandira. Rekha is the quintessential queen of all she surveys, as Mandira, beautiful, mature and crafty, as opposd to Zubeida’s wide-eyed innocent.

The supporting cast does its job well. Dialogues are apt, and vivid. Music by A.R. Rahman is good, has an old-world feel to it, and fits the genre of the movie well. Realistic and lacking the traditional “happy” ending, “Zubeida” is a quality film and a good watch.

Posted in bollywood, drama, historical, recommended | Comments Off

Review : Kuch meetha ho jaaye

Posted on May 23, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Bad (1/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hours and 11 minutes
Director : Samar Khan
Cast : Arshad Warsi, Mahima Chaudhary, Sachin Khedekar, Sandhya Mridul, Kanwaljeet, Parvin Dabbas, Rohit Roy, Jaspal Bhatti, Iravati Harshe, Mahima Mehta, Nasser Abdullah, Mrinal Kulkarni
Music : Himesh Reshammiya

Kuch meetha ho jaye : This “sweet” film is sour !

The debut directorial venture of journalist-turned-director Samar Khan, this film features a large cast of lesser-known actors (mostly TV stars) – the exception being Mahima Chaudhary and Warsi. The film starts with an innovative premise, but fails in execution, due to inept acting, hammy dialogues, some overdone, ludicrous characters, and futile gimmickry.

The story revolves around a bunch of passengers stuck in an airport in Ganganagar, while their delayed Delhi-bound plane is being repaired for technical problems. In the first 2 minutes, we are introduced to the characters (through a narrator), and they are :

– The Manager of the airport, the drunk Khan (Warsi), pining for lost love
– His sidekick aka Deputy Manager Dubey (Jaspal Bhatti)
– Young lovebirds Farah (Mahima Mehta) and Rahul (Shravan), deathly afraid of Farah’s dad
– Old lovebirds (Mrinal Kulkarni and Kanwaljeet)
– A pair of bickering newly weds
– A divorced couple with daughter in tow (Khedekar and Harshe)
– An almost divorced muslim couple Gul and Gulaab Khan (Abdullah and Mahima C.)
– The married pilot of the plane (Rohit Roy), and his mistress air-hostess (Sandhya Mridul)
– An Italian born desi (Parvin Dabbas), hunting for a desi bride
– The two prospective canditates for “bride”

After that whirlwind introduction, we are lead onto details of each of these characters, and their problems. These dreary insights are given to us through private conversations between characters. The film drags on, with the flight getting further delayed. Towards the end, the characters having had the much needed time (because of the delay) to workthrough their problems, have all found wonderful solutions to life’s miseries, i.e.; they are one big happy family. Enter Shahrukh Khan, who awakens from deep sleep (intelligent man that !), poses for some photos and calls Farah’s dad in Delhi to smooth the lovers’ path. A state of frothy happiness now achieved for all concerned, the film ends.

There are several problems with this film. The plotline nosedives after the initial start, with virtually nothing remarkable happening. Ridiculous homespun philosophy, and the “all will be well” routine doesn’t make sense in this film. Realism, at which the movie makes a pretense, goes flying out the window, with gimmicky characters, and the contrived happy ending. The plot as director Khan sees it, requires the presence of talented actors; the ones who can deliver in a few moments of screen-time. However, this is not the case here. Hence, the charcters appear shallowly etched, very little screen time given to each inept actor, thus failing to drive home the emotion/pathos.

Good actors are wasted. Mridul as the air-hostess barely has a few minutes. Kanwaljeet as the ludicrously developed Col. Kapoor, and Pravin Dabbas as the Italian born desi are not made use of. New actors Mahima Mehta and Shravan desperately need acting skills. Warsi and Mahima C., Khedekar and Harshe do a decent job, and the rest are about average. Poor screenplay and ill-situated dialogues help the movie plumb the depths of bad film-making. Music is just about OK.

I have now officially assumed martyr status (see the bright light around my head ?) after suffering through this awful movie, just to write this review. Unless you too really need a halo, avoid this one.

Posted in bollywood, drama | Comments Off

Review : Kya kool hai hum

Posted on May 23, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Poor (2/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2005
Running time : 2 hrs and 40 minutes
Director : Sangeeth Sivan
Cast : Tushar Kapoor, Reitesh Deshmukh, Isha Koppikar, Neha Dhupia, Anumpam Kher, Shoma Anand

Kya kool hai hum : In your face crudity

Prepare yourself. Suspend all ties to reality, logic, intelligence. Prepare to ingest large doses of vulgarity and comedy of the double entendre variety. This is not a “family” film. This is juvenile nonsense, to put it mildly. Here’s the wishy-washy plot :

Rahul (Tushar) and Karan (Reitesh), are 2 losers, forever in need of money. Expelled from the the school of fashion design where they study, they get jobs at a clothing store, under Boss (Raj Zutshi). Although good friends, Rahul is a simple guy, wanting to make it big as fashion designer while Karan’s ambition is to marry a rich girl and enjoy the spoils.

Rape/murder crimes begin to occur around the city, and the police mistakenly suspects Rahul of being the killer. To catch him they bring in noted psychologist Dr.Screwala (Anupam Kher), who wants to catch the killer red-handed. With police inspector Urmila Martodkar (Isha) he hatches a plan to nab Rahul using Urmila as luscious bait. Thus Urmila transforms from gruff, prone to violence Inspector Martodkar to a soft, sweet, semi-clad girl, trying to entice Rahul to show his true, murderous colors.

Meanwhile, Karan, always on the lookout for rich, wife material, happens to talk to moneyed Kiran, his bosses’s ex-girlfriend. Promising her undying love, he sets out to woo her, and her parents. Her parents however, doubt that Karan is in his right mind, and call on Kiran’s psychologist cousin Rekha (Dhupia) for help. Rekha, however falls in love with Karan. Can she stop him from marrying Kiran ? And does Rahul manage to prove himself innocent ? The rest of the movie resolves these problems.

Direction is adequate as is the acting. The dialogues are an excercise in vulgarity, turning even the most innocent of situations into smut. The film in trying to be “funny”, pokes fun at women and displays extreme insensitivity to violence against women. Suspending reality is one thing, but making ribald “jokes” at the expense of women and violence is going too far.
The story-line is incongrous and riddled with holes. The film is rife with “sponsor” shots, i.e.; shots which feature film sponsors like “spykar jeans” etc. Songs in the second half seem forced, but the music is decent. Juggy D and Rishi Rich make an appearance in the film, singing a song on stage.

Posted in bollywood, comedy, ecstatically stupid | Comments Off

Review : Saathiya

Posted on May 13, 2005 by amodini

Rating : Very good (4.25/5)
Genre : Romance
Year : 2002
Director : Shaad Ali
Music : A.R. Rehman
Cast : Vivek Oberoi, Rani Mukherjee, Sandhya Mridul, Tanuja, Satish Shah, Sharat Saxena, Swaroop Sampat

SAATHIYA : Romance with a touch of realism !

Saathiya is a well-detailed, beautifully screen-played film, where the director has pretty much crossed all the T’s and dotted all the i’s. He has had help however, since this is a remake of a Tamil film, originially directed by Mani Rathnam, and where Shaad Ali assisted. The romance and ensuing drama (what – no drama in a Hindi romantic flick ??) are realistically done with the help of a good cast, nice-sounding music, and deft direction.The film starts off with hero Aditya Sehgal (Oberoi) waiting at the station to pick up his wife Suhaani Sharma (Rani). Only she doesn’t show up. So we flashback to the time Aditya and Suhaani originally meet, fall in love, and face familial opposition (classwise difference, he rich, she poor). Suhaani is a doctor-in-training while Aditya is working on his own software business. They eventually elope and marry, thereby alienating both families. Residence is taken up in a semi-built-up apartment with nosy landlords to boot. All is well and good, unti life happens and the love starts to sour. To the point where Suhaani thinks about leaving…

The film develops along a believable story-line with normal, everyday characters, give and take a few extraordinary traits. And that for a Hindi film, is a plus-point by itself. It takes a close look at marriage and the bonding (and un-bonding) of the pair, way beyond the first flush of young love. What is so fresh about this movie, is its ability to delicately handle romance, and all its associated highs, without resorting to over-the-top sentimentatlity, and exaggerated emotions. Situations seem realistic, dialogues remain down-to-earth, and its an almost real tale of boy-meets-girl. The “happily ever after” part is sorta up in the air.

Vivek Oberoi does his part well, lending charm and ehuberance to his character. Rani is as always very good. Tanuja as Suhaani’s mom and Swaroop Sampat as Aditya’s come across convincingly, and so do the dads (Shah and Saxena). Sandhya Mridul has a small but effective role as Suhaani’s supportive sister Dina. Music byRehman is good; and the lyrics have been well-adapted to a Hindi version, of the Tamil original. To put it succinctly: a must-watch.

Posted in bollywood, outstanding, recommended, romance | 3 Comments