Thursday, December 17, 2009

Radio - It is complicated!!!


Himesh Reshammiya is back in his new avatar – weight loss, no cap, neat hairstyle and no nasal twang. The result is seen in Radio, whose story revolves around Gen X, which takes its relationships and online life with equal seriousness.

The movie opens with the divorce of Vivaan (Himesh) and Pooja (Sonal Sehgal). At the end of the fateful day, there is a clown at Vivaan’s door singing “Happy Anniversary”, and he is not amused, since the sender’s name shows as Pooja. He then drives the clown (Shania – Shenaz Treasurywala) across Mumbai to make her realize her immaturity on the gesture. But the flowers were to be delivered elsewhere…(why is this predictable in the land of misunderstanding).
In the next few days, RJ Vivaan keeps bumping into Shania through sheer coincidence and they strike a friendship, to the extent that she suggests a new angle to make his radio show more interesting.
Parallely, Vivaan allows us to be introduced to the funny family of Shania which is a Punjabi Parsi household. They even have a lassi called as Paranjaabi lassi(heaven knows what went into making it. The movie is all done in a chapter by chapter version (for a the much deserved break for the viewers)
While we go back to the Radio show, Shania and Vivaan come up with a “Mystery Girl” idea and that’s where this whole movie resembles the relationship status of Vivaan – “Complicated”. On the other hand, Pooja is in a damsel in distress mode and calls her ex-husband at the slightest hint of trouble even though she had claimed that she cannot live with him. He helps her out like the knight in shining armor and the sparks continue to fly, even buying a Karva Chauth lamp (what on earth is that, and who’s bright idea was it?) To the extent that one night she calls him and asks him on his relationship with Shania, after downing quite a few drinks.
So, now there are 3 equations in this complicated triangle:
Pooja still cannot let go of Vivaan, but thinks that he will be happy with Shania and tries to get them together.
Shania thinks that Vivaan cannot forget Pooja and tries to bring them back together
Shania and Pooja strike a friendship which does not let them talk about their feelings for Vivaan honestly
While the women are shopping and bonding, Vivaan is busy trying to fix the Dish antenna in Shania’s house so that they can watch TV.
The three of them believe that breaking crockery is a sign of good luck, while Shania, provides an update oh-so regularly on Facebook on her relationship status but cannot tell Vivaan that she is in love with him. Her family though believes and treats Vivaan as her boyfriend.
And then we come back to the subject of this movie, Radio, which by now has been relegated quite obviously to a second-grade status. The show that they are doing is obviously fiction based but it is said “Fact is stranger than Fiction” and a few complications later, which has been the bloodline of this movie, “all’s well, that ends well”

This movie was so tiringly boring and inanely silly, that it is best to give it a miss. No Himesh’s trademark music/songs to look forward to and nothing really worth remembering it for, except for some mistimed “Ghanta Singh” rip offs by Paresh Rawal. And for the women, looking pretty is not quite sufficient, acting is a pre-requisite to be called an actor.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Paa

Paa
As the pre-release publicity has suggested, Paa deals with a rare condition called Progeria, which is caused due to a genetic defect. The condition causes the body of the person to age 5-6 times the actual age, making the constitution of the person go hay-wire. Mentally the person would still have the brain functions and development of the actual age. The life span of Progeria patients is not beyond 13-14 yrs with a maximum of 20 yrs.
(Source: Wikipedia)

Paa has its opening credits narrated in a very artificial way by Jaya Bachchan (the only missing person in this movie was the Bachchan Bahu, to complete the family participation) – found it mistimed.
The movie is set in a school which has Auro (AB) being brought into frame with a bathroom accident and happens to be the winner of the prize for the best “Vision of India” depiction. The judge for this contest happens to be – no prizes for guessing – AB Jr, whose looks have been modeled on Sachin Pilot.
With a politician visiting a school, there is bound to be media coverage…and Auro’s condition is splashed across national television. Only to be noticed by Vidya, Auro’s mother (played by Vidya Balan – without being a fashion disaster this time around)……n then Flashback
(Med student)Girl bumps into (Political Sc student) boy…sparks fly….and poof …she’s pregnant. And typical situation, they can’t get married now, since studies and career are more important than the relationship. Boy asks Girl to abort the baby, but she doesn’t want to…goes home to mom…..crying obviously. Here comes the kahaani mein twist…mom is not the type cast Indian mom, who says “ Beti, yeh tune kya kar diya? Hamari izzat ko mitthi mein mila di….main kisi ko moonh dikhaane layak nahin rahoongi”. She takes care of the daughter and the grandson.
Enter Auro as a child whose condition of Progeria is confirmed to have no cure. Then starts the engaging Auro, who would need hospitalization since his body cannot take the stress of school, n then mom, has to drop him off every morning, which he finds very embarrassing. Meanwhile as a make-up for the media disaster, AB Jr, promises him a trip to Rashtrapati Bhavan. But due to unavoidable political circumstances, he stands Auro up, is not forgiven easily,
In a totally filmi moment, mom reveals who the dad is, on his b’day. This strengthens Auro’s resolve to meet the politician father.
And then the trip happens, with a bonding session. On return, Auro violently falls sick and requires hospitalization, paving way for a predictable climax.

The movie has its highs and lows.
The highs being: Auro’s matter of fact dialogues and good performance by Vidya Balan & Amitabh Bachchan. Just 2 songs which are pleasant
The lows being: a lil dragged out storyline in patches and a typical political father act by Paresh Rawal, which can border on the lines of insensitivity.