Guzaarish

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has given us some good thought provoking movies, with a right mix of drama & memorable music. One of his strengths include his star cast and the powerful performances he gets out of them, irrespective of their standing in the film industry.
Guzaarish is the story of Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik Roshan), a magician who due to a fatal accident becomes a quadriplegic (for more explanations – check Wikipedia). His devoted nurse is Sophia (Aishwarya Rai) and they are in a huge mansion in Goa. Ethan has not got out of his house since his accident. Enter Omar Siddiqui (Aditya Roy Kapur – he’s so cute) to learn magic from him, but poses as a radio show producer just to gain entry in the house. Ethan is an RJ who also propagates how to live life despite the worst of conditions. Two more people are equally important in his life – his lawyer – best friend, Devyani(Shernaz Patel) and Dr. Naik.
Ethan has a wish, to end his life and gets a petition filed in court through Devyani. It gets rejected (quite obviously). He then uses his Radio show to get an opinion on his wish. Not many are supportive of his wish including Sophia. He then decides to make an appearance at court to justify his decision but again meets with a firm no from the law. In a dramatic twist, the final hearing is conducted at his house so that he need not be inconvenienced and all his near & dear ones testify his need to end his life. He also reminds everyone on who exactly was responsible for his condition.
Where there’s a will there’s a way is an old adage, which gives him the solution. He celebrates his last day of life and breathes his last, not before proclaiming his love for Sophia and marrying her. Even if it’s for a day of matrimony.
Anyone who has watched movies made by SLB earlier, will identify each movie with a medical condition or a color (Khamoshi – Speech & Hearing diasability, Devdas – Alcoholism, Black – Alzheimer’s Disease Saawariya – Blue). This is a little off the track since being quadriplegic is a result of an accident and the movie could have built a lil more entertainment with the magician angle. Euthanasia is relatively alien to the Indian audience and may have not made the connect.
What works:
Histrionics of the court session which gives the grounds of euthanasia
What doesn’t work:
No music to recall
Story not gripping enough
My rating: 2/5

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The 3rd installment in the Narnia Series brings in a new dimension. This one is made in 3-D. After an insipid Part 2 (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), Voyage of the Dawn Treader looks interesting.
This time we have only the younger 2 of the Pevensie kids are left back in England with their uncle and cousin, Eustace – an unwilling and unaccommodating kid. He thinks Narnia is a figment of the Edward’s and Lucy’s imagination and does not stop to make digs at them in his diary. Through a painting on the wall which reminds Lucy of Narnia, the enchanted story begins. They land up on the Dawn Treader, captained by Prince Caspian. The Dawn Treader is all set to sail to land of Aslan which is on the other end of the world. They have an obstacle on the course, the Dark Mountains, all evil and sucks in people alive.
Lucy and Edward feel at home, and are treated like royalty whereas Eustace sticks out like a sore thumb, constantly whining. A few hilarious moments where he hears a mouse (Reepicheep from the previous installment) talk, and attempts the same with a pigeon lighten the situation.
They come across an island, face hostility and almost get killed. In a rare moment of bravery, tables are turned and the inhabitants share their woes to Price Caspian. They then set out on the stormy seas to the Dark Mountain. On their way, their way, they find clues to dispelling the curse the Dark Mountains hold. They need to find the 7 swords of Aslan.
While nearing their destination, they are warned to not think of their worst fears, but Edward does so – the Sea Serpent, which guards the Dark Mountains thereby preventing its prisoners from escape, attacks them. Eustace who is a golden dragon due to a curse fights the Sea Serpent along with Reepicheep. All’s well that ends well!!!
Aslan is always there to help and makes his presence felt, though not significantly as expected.
What works:
Knowing it is a fairy tale, but it is believable
Screenplay and special effects, which can be related to without reading the book.
What didn’t work:
A lil more of Aslan as needed
Bit stretched out build up to the climax, or the movie maybe over in 30 minutes.
Prince Caspian - needs to be more charismatic and convincing
My rating: 3/5

Break ke Baad

BKB shows a newbie director, Danish Aslam and aptly supported by Kunal Kohli as a Producer. Stars Deepika Padukone as Aaliya Khan,Imran Khan as Abhay Gulati, Sharmila Tagore as Ayesha, Naveen Nischol as Jeet, Shahana Goswami as Nadia and Yudi as Cyrus.
BKB revolves around best friends turned lovers, Aaliya and Abhay. She is a fire brand – smokes,drinks,tantrum throws, and calls her mum by her name and is referred to by Aunt Lilette Dubey as Chudail. Aaliya is rebellious for any reason that suits her fancy. Abhay is the thoughtful, sensitive, sensible dependable, a total opposite of Aaliya. She sweetly calls him Gulati, Gelato and Julati. They fit the bill of opposites attract to a T. They’ve grown up in Jeet’s cinema hall, watching all-time romantic movies starting from Mr.India,JJWS,KKHH etc. They even know dialogues by-heart.
One fine day, Aaliya has been accepted to a course in Australia which she portrays as a course in Mass Communication, which her mum knows well that it is to fuel her ambition to be an actress. Ayesha herself being an actress, blames her failed marriage to her own ambition and does not encourage Aaliya. But then ziddi beti doesn’t care and makes her trip to Australia where she has to stay with her Hitler maasi. Soon she finds it uncomfortable and makes her way to a shack, managed by bro-sis, Nadia and Cyrus. Long distance relationships take a toll on Abhay and makes him insecure when he hears too much noise and a call from him being answered by a random guy. Abhay lands up there only to be told by Aaliya that she’s breaking up with him.
But love keeps him strong and put right there. He takes up odd jobs, and soon realizes that he can make his livelihood with food. He makes Cyrus his partner and sets up a restaurant. All this while, he tries to woo Aaliya back. Meanwhile, she lands up a prestigious acting assignment that her mom doesn’t approve of. Rebellious streak has long died in Aaliya and realizes her priorities.
All along, she had taken Abhay’s love for her as granted but Abhay decides to move on, which does not go well with Aaliya. She then realizes her love for him and the need to be with him. All’s well that ends well.
What works:
Cute banter between Abhay and Aaliya – the scene between Shah Rukh and Sunita; the under-table comfort zone; Abhay being the maanjha to Aaliya’s patang.
3 good songs – peppy and nice
Predictability of Indian romantic movies and aptly fitted dialogues from them.
Take home Imran character – he brings back memories of Jai Singh Rathore of Jaane tu ya Jaane na
Yudi’s character
What didn’t:
Tacky storyline – doesn’t really grip you in any part, elongated in certain places
Will someone please take charge of wardrobe makeover for Deepika – same set of shorts from Love Aaj Kal, Karthik calling Karthik and BKB.
Scowling Shahana Gowsami – she’s proved that she can act, except that they forgot that angle to her here.
My rating : 2.5/5 - Absolutely average!

The Social Network

For most people, it would mean the movie on how Facebook came about in existence. It is essentially based on a book “The Accidental Billionaire” by Ben Mezrich.
Facebook is such a popular social networking site that one does not realize that it has risen from a person who suffered a heart break, due to lack of social acceptance by his peers Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). With no business sense and one best friend Eduardo Saverin(Andrew Garfield), starts a revolution online way back in 2004, from his dorm in Harvard. He causes some serious issues and points our security flaws on the IT backbone of Harvard while achieving this.
In addition, he also brings upon himself 2 lawsuits, which is the thread of the screenplay, with the events leading to it making up for the rest of the script. One lawsuit is from Eduardo, who cannot believe certain business moves that Mark has made without his consultation (since he is the CFO of Facebook) and with advice from Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who has a slightly dubious history but experience in the mean, mean world.
The other lawsuit is from the Winklevoss twins, who accuse Mark of stealing their idea on the creation of Facebook, albeit by a different name (the Harvard Connection). They approach him for coding and making their idea go live, but Mark subtly avoids them. During the course of the lawsuit with them, Mark is totally ignorant on the implication of his actions due to his lack of people skills and in love with what he knows best, coding .
No fluff, just plain business on the script. Mark mixes business and personal equations smoothly that betrayal of friends or enemies is alike and totally unintentional, while trusting a total stranger seems acceptable. He does not know how to celebrate on achieving 1mn users since he does not seem comfortable with the idea. The Winklevoss twins try every trick in the book (Law and Harvard) to sue him, which in its moments lighten up the story, but only end up with an out of court settlement of $65mn.
What worked which is the core of the movie:
Breezy script
Crisp dialogues
Easy rendition of the book with right mix of facts
What didn’t work: Yet to find in this movie
My rating: 5/5 (this is one intelligent movie)

Action Replayy

Action Replayy brings back the team of Vipul Amrutlal Shah and Akshay Kumar, after hits like Aankhen and Waqt. It also pairs Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Akshay Kumar after Khakee. Also stars newbies Aditya Roy Kapur & Sudeepa Singh , veterans Randhir Kapoor,Om Puri, Kiron Kher and of course Rajpal Yadav & Rannvijay (from MTV), and Neha Dhupia.
The movie is ‘inspired’ by Back to the Future. The movie opens with Kishan (Akshay) and Mala(Ash) in one more of their fights and beta Bunty(Aditya) trying to keep peace. All the fights makes Bunty become averse to the concept of marriage. This is a constant problem between him and his girlfriend Tania (Sudeepa). Tania introduces Bunty to her grandpa Prof. Gonsalves (Randhir) and he sees the time machine.
Seeing the fight between his parents on their anniversary and allegations flying across, Bunty decides to solve the problem of their squabbles, with the Time Machine, of course. He lands up in the exact time frame when his parents were still single, but neighbours. Mala, Kundan(Rannvijay) and Bhiku (Rajpal Yadav) are constantly irritating Kishan and his dad Rai Bahadur (Om Puri). Kundan likes Mala but cannot declare it since he has failed before, with other girls. Love marriage was taboo on those times. Bunty decides that his parents need to discover each other and starts meddling. He makes timid Kishan a macho man and rowdy Mala a demure and coy girl. The movie ambles on with some infused humour which forces you to laugh. Kundan tries his best to be meddlesome so that he can get Mala and Bunty thwarts all plans.
The climax is a very familiar scene of the 70s where Bunty helps Mala and Kishan to run away, with Bholi Devi (Kiron Kher), Kundan, Rai Bahadur and Bhiku chasing them. As fate or rather the script demands, they get together. Mona(Neha Dhupia) falls for the cute Bunty, not knowing the twist in the tale.
The movie then shifts back to the present and the romance is still evident in the lives of Mala and Kishan. All’s well that ends well!!
What works:
Bunty as a debutant is very charming
2 songs – Zor ka Jhatka and O Bekhabar
Aishwarya’s 70s appearance
What didn’t work:
Humour was forced into the script- like stealing flower pots from Kishan's garden while keeping him engaged on the phone, stripping Kishan of his clothes (making him feel raped)
The 70s setup was very pedestrian
Talent of Kiron Kher and Om Puri was not utilized
Music was not very catchy for someone like Pritam who has delivered great music earlier
My rating – 2.5/5 – can catch it on TV soon

Aakrosh

Aakrosh is a Priyadarshan movie, who has taken a break from comedy to tackle a serious issue like honour killing. Quite relevant and current in India.
The film opens with a bunch of policemen chasing a bunch of youngsters, and then portrayed as missing in the next scene. A lot of media attention is given to the missing youngsters since they belong to high-profile families in the nation’s capital. Investigating this case is the CBI, represented by Siddhant Chaturvedi (Akshaye Khanna) and an Ex-army officer Pratap Singh (Ajay Devgn). They share a love-hate relationship on their approach to the case which props the story.
The face the typical Indian bureaucracy headed by Ajatshatru Singh(Paresh Rawal), a cop and a bunch of politicians – essentially they are goons with a license from the government to do as they please. No one in the village is ready to cooperate with the Siddhant and Pratap, fearing their lives. Jamunia (deglam Reema Sen) is one of the few people in the village who is affected by the politics and the goons. Her brother is one of the youngsters missing.
Pratap also encounters his ex-flame Geeta (Deglam and bihari speaking Bipasha Basu), who is now married to Paresh Rawal to complain about the Shool Sena (the reference to a similar outfit in our country is very striking). Geeta knows the goings-on of her husband and his cronies but cannot reveal anything for obvious reasons.
A lot of demonstrations and gruesome displays hooliganism runs the rest of the story. Unable to crack the case, Siddhant faces a lot of flak and is asked to wrap up the case. Under serious pressure, they decide to use the old British approach “Divide and rule/conquer”. They then have the goons tried in the court of law and solve the case.
One item number by Sameera Reddy and one romantic number picturised on Bips and Ajay
What worked:
Movie based on a current and relevant topic
Strong performances by Ajay Devgn and Akshaye Khanna
The stunt by Ajay Devgn, sitting on the rooftop of an SUV while Akshaye navigated through the forest, trying to find the crooks.
What didn’t:
Loose storyline – fails to grip the viewer
My rating: 2/5

Eat,Pray Love!!

Eat Pray Love is based on the book of the same name by Elizabeth Gilbert - a journey on self-discovery.
Stars Julia Roberts (Liz), who is a writer and suddenly discovers her marriage is not what she thought it out to be and finds herself weeping on the floor of her bathroom, before she runs into the arms of an actor (quite sudden). She watches his theatre performance and love strikes at first sight and soon she moves in with him. Things seem fine till a few days later, trouble starts in paradise and she decides to take a break, one from her life and the other from a writer’s block.
Eat – First stop is Italy. Discovers boarding and a land lady who explains that in order to fill her bath tub with hot water, she needs to keep filling it with a 1 gallon jug….. moves onto making friends and finds food as well. She discovers a tutor who helps her learn Italian, all cos she finds it romantic to talk in the language. On a whim she goes all the way to Naples just eat the best pizza in the world, makes a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, with her new found circle of friends. The turkey is not defrosted in time for lunch and they eat it later, hilarious but expected.
Pray – Next stop, India. She books herself into the ashram where the Guru of her actor boyfriend supposedly resides. Finds Richard from Texas, who is her guardian angel. He even takes her out for Thums Up, which she should drink only with a straw, as it is not advisable to touch anything else with your hands. (need to check which century was the director referring to on hygiene in india). She also becomes a mentor to Tulsi, a devotee from generations at the ashram and dedicates the Gita chant to her, since the girl is forced into an arranged marriage. Here, Liz looks very endearing in a saree and does not look awkward at all. And just when her friendship with Richard was taking shape, he has to leave back to Texas, and she also accepts the ways of the ashram.
Love – last stop before she makes it back to face her life at New York, Indonesia (Bali to be precise) . She had been there earlier on an assignment and had made a medicine man/astrologer/miracle man called Ketut. He had predicted that she would lose all her wealth for a reason. She meets Ketut as soon as she lands there, just to let him know that he was right. Her divorce settlement made her lose her wealth. In one freak accident, which is not even Bollywood believable meets Felipe (Javier Bardem), a divorcee from Mexico. He shows her how to get out of her hangover, enjoy life and discover emotional self. As predicted, they fall in love, but she refuses to accept it. She even helps out a local Balinese healer build her own house with donations from her friends and family.
What works:
You can relate to it if you have read the book
What didn’t:
Julia Roberts cannot pass off as a 30-35 yr old even with all her make-up
Adaptation not really justifies the book
Slow storyline and some unrealistic moments
My rating: 2 /5 – catch it on TV soon!!!

Yet to release...but not big enough

Rakta Charitra (Vivek and Ramu are back together) - http://youtu.be/hIkDDkKiwbQ - Not happening
Emraan Hashmi with a new babe this time in Crook - http://youtu.be/ZRn9PE8PWVQ
Abbas Tyrewala and A R Rahman team up after Jaane tu ...ya Jaane na...for Jhootha hi Sahi (John Abraham this time) - http://youtu.be/PyhnCtVP2vw - Sank quickly...we know why
Hottie Imran and Deepika in 'Break ke Baad' - reminds me of "Girl Next Door'

Big releases later this year

Ash and Akshay are back in Action Replay - a movie with a retro look and feel http://youtu.be/4vekZFg_xoE - Released and will sink soon...Not worth watching!!!
Ash again this year, teaming up with Hrithik and Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Guzaarish
http://youtu.be/6yWW6msdXNc
Deepika and Abhishek: Khelein hum jee jaan se
Kat and Akshay are back together...this time in Tees Maar Khan

Enthiran (The Robot)

Enthiran is touted as Asia’s most expensive movie (62 crores) and also the first pure sci-fi Indian movie, starring Superstar Rajnikanth (who can make onions cry and boil water just by looking at it), Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Directed by Shankar (Kadhal Desam, Jeans, Nayak) and music by, of course, A R Rahman.
Enthiran is an out n out Rajnikanth movie where anything n everything is possible, much beyond human imagination (that would be an understatement really). The plot has Vasi (Rajni), a scientist, who is designing the first Humanoid and is successful as well (quite obviously). Sana (Ash) is a doctor in the making, plays his love interest and is always livid with him since he does not have the time to spend with her. One fine day, he successfully brings to life (electrically and electronically), Chitti, whose looks and swagger are modeled on himself. He needs to test it in the real world before having this approved and patented. Here is when the Rajniisms start – the whipping up gourmet meals, driving people crazy with his witty one-liners, fighting singlehandedly with a bunch of goons in a local train, recharging himself from a power outlet, near the railway tracks. On presentation to the Board for the patent, Chitti is rejected as unfit for society by Professor Bora (Danny Denzongpa), largely due to jealousy that Vasi, his protégé is successful while he’s not. He tries all ways to steal the neural schema, which is what makes Chitti unique, capable of human-like emotions.
Since the Humanoid is capable of emotions, trouble starts. Chitti is in love with Sana and will go to any extent to be with her, even at the cost of eliminating his creator. The story then takes on the flavor of Frankenstein. In a fit of rage, Chitti is dismantled and thrown in the garbage dump, only to be discovered by …. No guesses…Prof Bora. He needs this robot for his nefarious activities, which he has promised some terrorist group (not sure which country they are from). He is successful in copying the neural schema and makes a slight twist to the program, to suit his needs. Soon there is mayhem in the city and Vasi is accused of creating the monster. But he being a law-abiding citizen devises a strategy to capture his creation (which is only in destruction mode now). and in a typical story, Chitti has held the lady-love hostage. The rest of the plot involves a gamut of special effects, mostly unbelievable on a normal plane, but for a Rajni movie, “Impossible is I’m possible”. And all’s well that ends well.
What works:
Rajni – the movie is all about his star power, everything else takes a back seat.
Special effects – running sideways on a train, combining all guns and firing at the same time, the formations when the robots are in destruction mode are amazing.
Consolation prize to Ash – most Rajni movies leave little for the leading lady to do, but Ash holds her own for the sheer fact that it is her.
Dialogues: Typical Rajni witty one-liners
What doesn’t:
Music – I can’t recall even one song. A R Rahman lets us down again. You need a sabbatical after all the duds you have delivered this year (Blue, Vinaitthandi Varuvaya, Raavan)
Costumes – Garish colours and comical costumes for Ash in all the song sequences, enhancing her unappealing figure
Script – while a Rajnikanth movie normally does not warrant a script, this was a desi, special effects loaded rendition of Frankenstein. This includes lack of a convincing confrontation between Danny and Rajni, which usually is a mainstay of Indian movies.
My rating: Must watch only if you a die-hard Rajni fan (I’m not though)

Anjaana Anjaani

AA has been projected as one of the most happening movies in terms of its hot leading couple and the location of the movie. Alas, it didn’t live up to the expectations. Produced by Sajid Nadiadwala and directed by Sidharth Anand (who directed Salaam Namaste), music by Vishal Shekhar , starring Priyanka Chopra and Ranbir Kapoor…and shot mostly in New York, Vegas and San Francisco.
AA starts with Akash(Ranbir) trying to commit suicide on the George Washington bridge and bumps into Kiara (Priyanka), a lil drunk. One is depressed cos of the downturn in the economy, the other in love life. Not successful on the first shot and then in another attempt end up in the same hospital from which they escape. They start living together, since it is just more convenient (;)) for the story to amble on and also try unsuccessfully to enjoy their lives. And then they get talking about their respective lives. Akash has never had a serious relationship and wanted to wait for the perfect girl before losing his virginity and Kiara wants to do random mad things, now that they have decided to die in a few days. They both start planning their days based on each other’s wishes, but in a very strange just acquaintance way….but eventually end up becoming friends. They share the reasons on why they were trying to kill themselves.
And then one night, changes the whole scheme of things which sees Akash falling for Kiara. They then decide on a road trip to Vegas, where surprisingly, Kiara also realizes her feelings for Akash but is unable to come to terms with it. He then drops her back home in SFo, and return to the family of one of his business partners, who welcome him with open arms and also decide to come back to India. Meanwhile Kiara is restless and is not at peace with herself and on an impulse returns to the same bridge where they first met. After all, they did decide to end their lives on New Year’s Eve. Then we all know what will happen just like any other Bollywood movie….a happy ending where the two unite. Yawn!!! Did they have to make a movie to tell us this???
What works:
The title track – well filmed and Priyanka looks good with Ranbir in the song. Loads of spunk and attitude.
Locations – New York, Vegas and the sights.
Blush – the cranky car which needs mollycoddling to function as a car, owned by Priyanka and which takes them on the road trip.
What didn’t work:
The storyline – not fast enough…dragged out and straining mostly
Music – except for 2 tracks (Anjaana Anjaani and Tumse hi), no retention capacity
Chemistry – for 2 good looking Bollywood stars, the chemistry was as thanda as the ice in the Arctic.
My rating: 2.5/5 (You can watch it if you really have no expectations from anything in a movie and how to commit suicide and be unsuccessful)

We are Family!!

Breaking news: Karan Johar movie minus SRK!!!

Another outing for Dharma Productions, with yet another newbie for direction, Siddharth P Malhotra (should find out his claim to fame lineage). This time the story is the adaptation of Susan Sarandon-Julia Roberts, soppy sweet story of “Stepmom”, but with a desi touch. I even got reminded of "Raising Helen" (with Kate Hudson, in some pieces)
WAF stars Kajol as Maya – Susan Sarandon, Kareena Kapoor as Shreya – Julia Roberts and Arjun Rampal as Aman. Possibly for the first time in a KJo movie, I didn’t hear anyone’s surname which is usually oh-so- important. Never ever mind…and of course the 3 kids – Aaliya, Ankush and Anjali.
Story starts with a birthday party for Anjali, to which Aman brings Shreya to befriend the children, as it’s been a while since Maya and Aman are divorced and he’s been together with Shreya. As expected, life is not a bed of roses and things get messed up from the word go. Then comes a situation, where Shreya has to watch the kids since both parents are out on their respective priorities. One of the kids go missing and mayhem follows. This leads to Maya not wanting Shreya anywhere near the kids without her permission. Aman really can’t do a thing about it…. He’s actually caught between both women.
One fine day, Maya is told by her doc that she is sick. She takes Aman into confidence and he moves back in and they function as a happy family unit. Shreya is obviously unceremoniously dumped. Poor her, she didn’t even know what was wrong. Complications arise in Maya’s health, and she ultimately turns to Shreya for help.
Then comes the maternal emotional tug-of-war. Each have their own way of bringing up the kids, and the friction irks Aman to no end. Soon Maya has few days to live and she hands over the reins of the children’s lives to Shreya.
What works:
Kajol as always- she does not need to act to be the perfect mom.
The kid Anjali - she thinks everything can be done in this world with her magic wand, hamesha and forever.
What sucks:
Except for the tribute to Elvis (Jailhouse Rock), no songs which are characteristic of Dharma Productions or Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
The 3 kids of ages 4-13, hang out together in the house all the time, don’t have a normal life or friends (except for a brief rebellious situation of Aaliya going out for a party of beer n boys..yawnnnnnn)
Kareena Kapoor – has very little to do, not that I’m complaining.
Arjun Rampal – could not really display his perfect bod, since this is a family movie
Unexplainable and irrational bratty behavior by Aaliya for a 13-yr old
My verdict:Unless you are a hard core Kajol fan like me, you would want to give this movie a miss.
Poor Dharma Productions, they may also be crying equally lots....they may not even recover the flight charges incurred for making this movie in Australia!!

Once Upon a Time in Mumbai

Imagine Ekta Kapoor without all the designer, crystal studded sarees, glittering diamonds and the sindoor bhari maang at her disposal. Kinda weird right…but that’s how OUATIM is made, and the icing on the cake, she actually has not cast Tusshar Kapoor in even one frame!! Nepotism is not her favorite subject I guess. :)

OUATIM is set in the 1970s with the storyline talking about the Mumbai underworld and the world of glamour and politics that is always associated with it. Rags to riches epitome is Sultan Mirza (Ajay Devgn), another good and solid performance from him after Raajneeti. He has very simple principles, he only does things what the Government does not permit (not his conscience), and he also knows that stepping on other smugglers’ toes is not going to help anyone. He divides the entire city of Mumbai among others and keeps the sea as his territory. Smart move I must say!! He only has one distraction in life, actress Rehana (Kangna Ranaut). He is besotted by her and she is impressed by his persistence in wooing her.
Meanwhile, there is a crown prince in the making Shoaib (Emraan Hashmi) who is a chota chor and has a cute girlfriend Mumtaz (Prachi Desai). She has no clue what he does for a living, except for the fact, they both are totally in love with each other. She works in a jewellery showroom and looks grossly out of place convincing customers on their choice. Shoaib’s father is a cop and this helps him get away with his petty thefts.
ACP Agnel Wilson (Randeep Hooda) is hot on the trail of underworld and just needs a toehold into the whole web, but is unable to do so. He then decides to somehow have Shoaib as a guinea pig, with the thought of making him a state witness, should things go wrong in the case.
Sultan is content being the messiah for the poor and underprivileged and raises his empire to great heights. A personal tragedy strikes and he hands over the reins to Suhail, while he sorts out matters. Shoaib starts running things his way and this becomes a bone of contention for the two dons, paving the way for the climax.
What worked:
Crisp storyline… healthy pace and intrigues the viewer.
Controlled performance and nothing OTT
What did not fit:
Prachi Desai showing glimpses of her Bani avatar

Lafangey Parindey

One more gaaliful title….after Kaminey and 3 idiots (LOL), this time from Yashraj Films starring Deepika Padukone as Pinky Palkar and Neil Nitin Mukesh as One shot Nandu.
The movie starts with a fight club like scene with Nandu winning with his trademark single shot which has earned him his title. He gets bashed up like no one’s business and is always blindfolded. He then lands the Kayo punch just when his opponent thinks he has won the bout and has let down his guard. Making money out of these fights is Usman Bhai (Piyush Mishra). Pinky meanwhile is seen skate dancing around in an abandoned house with her colleague in a pristine clean Mumbai chawl (how typical Yashraj).
One rainy night, in a freak accident Anna (Kay Kay Menon) is killed after being sent out to kill a business rival and Pinky also loses her eyesight. Surprisingly, the rest of her body is scratchless….Teflon coating tha kya?!?!?! Taking her of her medical expenses is the secret angel Nandu thru her so-called brother Chaddi (Namit Das). Pinky is unperturbed post her loss of eyesight and wants to continue her efforts for a dance reality show which would mean instant fame and passport to a better life. But alas, her partner is not so understanding and eventually backs out. Nandu meanwhile decides to help her improve skills to compensate for her lack in eyesight. How? Since he fights blindfold…Why? Isn’t it obvious…. And also becomes her dance partner, on skates, while teaching her how to judge distances with ringing bells, sacks of fish and hens.
Soon, as predictable as ever, they reach the finals and in the process fall in love as well. On a parallel track, the cops investigate Anna’s death and linked somewhere is Pinky’s accident. The moment of truth is revealed to her just when she is about to perform, but that does not deter her a teeny weensy bit.
And all’s well that ends well!!!
What worked? – Nothing much….maybe some of the dialogues which maybe original
What didn’t: quite a lot
A Mumbai chawl that’s well landscaped and too clean
Neil’s out of place with Marathi;
Deepika still can’t act, dance and use her height to her advantage
Very thin storyline…nothing outstanding; too much Marathi used which looks fitted in for the sake of it.
Music – not worth remembering
My rating: 2/5 - we can soon find this being telecast on First time on Indian Television category

Aisha

Legendary Anil Kapoor has finally launched his own production company with “Aisha”, but completely executed by his younger daughter Rhea Kapoor.
Aisha (Sonam Kapoor) is a bubbly, vivacious girl whose sole purpose in life is match-making among her closest set of friends/relatives. Courtesy: She was instrumental in setting up the match between her maasi (Anuradha Patel) and an army guy. Aisha drives around Delhi in a Beetle, shops whenever she feels like it and is always glammed up along with her best friend Pinky Bose(Ira Dubey). Her dad even sweetly admonishes her spending but also pays the bill….. why can’t we all have dads like this?Randhir Gambhir (Cyrus Sahukar) a scion of a successful mithai house, is besotted by Aisha.
Enter Shefali (Amrita Puri), a girl from Bahadurgarh who is a complete behenji, who Aisha thinks will be perfect for Randhir. She gives her a complete make-over, but gets ridiculed by Arjun Burman (Abhay Deol) for being meddlesome. And Aisha cannot stand him, thinks he’s a corporate slave, and is uncomfortable with his firang friend Aarti (Lisa Haydon – Angelina Jolie look alike).
Just to spice up things, Aisha gets together with Dhruv (Arunoday Singh), her maasa’s beta. Dhruv, is a super flirt and has the good looks to support his intentions. Just to get out of Delhi and avoid Arjun, she n Shefali even go with Dhruv to Mumbai, where she tries match-making between Shefali and Dhruv.
In a weird twist of tales, Pinky calls her bitchy. Arjun is protective of Shefali and Aisha is left alone. She then goes to the wrong party t confess her love….and then everyone is happy ever after.
It reminds me of Clueless in most parts, and good ol’ Bollywood masala for the ending.
What I like:
Sonam’s Clothes and looks – she looks wow
Abhay Deol – very natural and effortless acting. He certainly is the best looking Deol. (his dance moves have not been tested though)
Music – very refreshing, but needs some time to get used to. Only Gal Mitthi Mitthi bol is catchy enough.
What I didn’t like: Predictable story
My rating: Just about average – one time watch for all the hype

Inception

Inception is one of those movies, where if you blink, you may end up missing a crucial link in the storyline. You may even forget to chomp on your popcorn or sip your drink, but blink you may not want to.
Cobb (Leonardo Dicaprio ) is accused of intending to murder Saito (Ken Watanabe) after being found on the seashore with a gun and a curious top- the kind that spins. Just when you think that this is another random story of espionage and conspiracy, there is a twist which shows a riotous crowd and Cobb being shaken awake to no luck.
The scene then shifts its focus to Cobb and him wanting to get back to his family. Saito promises him one last extracting assignment and freedom as his payment. Cobb first goes back to his father-in law for help, to get a replacement as an extractor. What does an extractor actually do? An extractor taps a person’s thoughts when they are in a dream like state, leads them to believe certain thoughts and can even change their mind. But this is a technique that does not come easily, and requires out of the box, a different plane imagination. He finds an able student in an architect and he starts his preparation on the last assignment.
The assignment given by Saito is that he needs Cobb to create an inception in the mind of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), a business rival, taking the meaning of industrial conspiracy/espionage to a whole new level. The team eventually starts the project on a long 10 hour flight which Fischer takes to go meet his father, who’s on his deathbed.
Complications arise as Cobb’s wife keeps turning up, lowering his defenses which worries the young architect. Alternately Fischer creates his own defense mechanisms making way for those subtly inserted action sequences that suddenly seem out of place.
The screenplay and the visual effects shoulder the script very well. The entire cast has been well thought of with the icing on the cake being the role of Cobb played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Have not seen a movie with s simple concept but presented elaborately, without the mental agony of figuring out the predictability of the plot.
The entire movie keeps you on the edge with concepts like dream within a dream and how if you die in a dream, you end up with complicated results. You also need to have an object that allows you to differentiate between reality, your dream and someone else's dream. The climax is very well spun and is in line with the whole theme and gets a wee bit dragged out in an attempt to show the concept of multi-layered dreams among a group of people and who need to wake up exactly at the same moment.
My rating: 4/5

Aisha, We are family

Trailer of Aisha - releasing this August: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugdn5sG4gVU
Trailer of We are Family - this September: http://in.movies.yahoo.com/video-play.html?video_id=4417

I Hate Luv Storys

IHLS is another product from the Dharma Productions, encouraging young and new talent. This time it is Punit Malhotra, nephew of the famed designer Manish Malhotra (who designs and makes all of K Jo’s cast look like they’ve just descended from heaven)
IHLS starts with Jay Dhingra (Imran Khan) who just cannot stand the mush that his boss Veer Kapoor(Sameer Soni – spoofing Karan Johar) makes and believes in. He thinks all the movies are just recycled with different actors with slight difference in the drama and location. He bumps into Simran (Sonam Kapoor) during one boring assignment of his and they start on the wrong foot. Next thing he knows, is that Simran is the Production Designer of the latest movie Veer is making, and Jay is her assistant.
Simran is one of the typical characters who we could have seen in movies from the Yashraj banner, Karan Johar movie; all mush…loves pink and romance. She has a long standing relationship to Raj (Sameer Dattani – whose character is somewhat like Subodh of DCH) and Jay thinks they are all too filmy to be true. Raj and Simran always are seen in clothes that have been coordinated, that somewhere you think they could’ve been twins rather than lovers. They even have a funda like ,”We don’t drink on weekdays”. For someone to be playing Raj on the lines of SRK, needs to be really good and convincing. All that this Raj comes up with is expensive gifts and a white flower everyday
While they’re getting to know and work with each other, Jay and Simran start covering up for each other she even starts noticing major differences in their personality that she can’t helpthinking about Jay every time she’s wth Raj .Simran think she’s in love with Jay,who does not believe in the concept of love. She confesses her feelings for him only to be turned down.
The scene then shifts to the outdoor location of the movie they both are part of, where Jay discovers his feelings for her and confesses. But this time she says no. After a few glycerin induced moments which kind of span about 30 min of the movie, which can make you get up and shake these two up and say “ Go and get a grip of yourselves”, and a dramatic enlightening moment, they finally get together.
What I liked:
The breezy first half which showed the chemistry of Imran and Sonam
Sonam’s presentation
Clichéd filmy moments
The title track set in the beaches of Goa, and the track “Jab Mila Tu”. The other 3 tracks are hummable
What bored me:
The 2nd half, where the movie just was showing me a moping Sonam and Imran.
Imran’s acting has gone on a downward spiral; all the promise he showed in Jaane tu…ya jaane na and the kind of gene pool he’s part has disappeared. He has concentrated more on getting a good lean look and lost all faculties of his facial muscles
Sameer Dattani –why does the third angle to a love triangle have to be such a loser, that it’s obvious?
My rating: Average (3/5) – it’s good for an audience which loves the romantic movies from YRF, Dharma with the chiffon and snow

Awaiting... Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

November 2010 and July 2011 - Last (2)installments in the Harry Potter series in 3D

http://youtu.be/Yp5IggAXBa4

Raavan

Raavan
Mani Ratnam is always known for his hatke take on absolutely normal topics and spin a magnificent visual around it with the music of A R Rahman. From the likes of Roja, Dil Se, Alaipayuthey, Thiruda Thiruda,Guru etc he has now given us Raavan.
Raavan stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan (Ragini – Sita), Vikram (Dev – Ram), Abhishek Bachchan(Beera – Raavan), Govinda (Sanjeevani – Hanuman) , Priyamani (Jamunia – Soorpanakha) and of course Nikhil Dwivedi and Ravi Kissen.

The movie starts with a visual of Hogenakkal falls and Beera contemplating a jump. And in the next scene, shows Ragini taking a leisurely boat ride, complete with a music player, taking in the scenery. She then gets kidnapped and the next thing she is aware of is she is in the clutches of Beera. Here starts the agony of a ardent Mani Rathnam follower… for a while all that happens is she struggles to escape, slips, gets bruised and challenges Beera into killing her. Random songs, which are uninspiring, which made me think if Rahman was in a coma while composing music for this movie. Dev starts his search and encounters Sanjeevani (the multiple times suspended specialist Forest Guard who really has taken his Hanuman role too seriously). Reluctantly, Dev allows him to accompany the search for Ragini, since he alone knows the way of the jungle.
Few encounters later, the first half of the movie is suddenly over and it is time for the best thing in a movie – popcorn and a soft drink. The 2nd half takes us deeper into the search for the elusive Beera and eventually Ragini. Then the motive of her kidnapping is revealed (thankfully, or the movie would have looked like a rain forest documentary). Since violence is not the solution to any problem, a peacemaker is sent from Beera to Dev, whom Dev promptly kills. This results in a blood bath and a breathtaking, gravity defying one-on-one fight sequence later, Ragini is rescued and reunited with Dev.
But Dev doesn’t seem all excited about seeing Ragini again and suspects her of infidelity. Asks her to go through an Agni Pareeksha – polygraph test. Ragini is shocked at the allegation and decides to leave him. For the ending, you will have to see the movie, but am not sure if you think it is worth the effort.
The only good part of the movie was the location. It was breathtaking, thanks to Santosh Sivan’s cinematography.
Ash was looking very bored most of the time and she’s anyways not on my list of fave actors.
Abhishek used the make-up budget that would normally be used on Ash. He would have amazing skin in his forthcoming releases, thanks to all the Multani Mitti that he had to use. He plays the Raavan with a half his heart in gold, which longs for Ragini. And when he does not how to express himself , he does a “jhig-jhig-jhig-jhig” or “ bak-bak-bak”. Since when did the world know men to be very expressive
Vikram’s role was a very sporadic one. He is Raam with a lil bit of Raavan in him
Govinda did complete justification to his role and whatever screen presence he was given.
Story and music was a huge disappointment
Only 3 songs I could remember and that too not something I would recall quickly & completely like I usually do – Behne de, Ranjha Ranjha and Beera (still didn’t understand the situation of the song)
Agree with Rajeev Masand’s verdict on this movie - 1.5/5

Awaiting.....

Next awaited watch - I Hate Luv storys
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbKuI8ut1as

Raajneeti

Raajneeti is a movie based on politics and lives it up completely without any deviations throughout, for a Hindi movie which is a rare feat these days.
The movie is set in a non-metro, which adds to the charm of the story. The movie is gripping from frame 1 and it is essential to keep up with the story. The parallel has been drawn to Mahabharat and this is justified, with a bed ridden, partially paralysed patriarch Bhanu Pratap who nominates his younger brother to take over the reins of the political party (Dhritarashtra making Pandu the king). This irks the son Veerendra Pratap (Manoj Bajpayee - Duryodhan). Chandra Pratap and elder son Prithvi (Arjun Rampal-Bhim) continue the campaigns. Younger son Samar (Ranbir Kapoor-Arjun) who comes down to India from America for the b’day celebrations of his uncle is away from the political goings-on in the family. Indu (Katrina Kaif- not sure if it was Draupadi’s character) in restrained clothing but free spirited role is in love with him and proposes to him. But Samar refuses since he has always seen her as a best friend.
Samar has to stay back in India due to the untimely and tragic demise of his father, and help his brother Prithvi achieve political greatness. Veer Pratap’s suggestions and moves for the party are always questioned and resentment builds up. He does not have a worthy ally until Suraj (Ajay Devgn- Karna), a representative of the backward classes, is also equally wounded politically by Prithvi’s moves. The friendship of Karna & Duryodhan has been portrayed by Veer and Suraj. Suraj has to be by his friend and calm him in moments of unrest and attack, similar to how Karna shouldered responsibility & wisdom while stood by Duryodhan.
Craftiness and conspiracy becomes inherent in both teams and they make use of it in abundance. Samar and Brij Mohan (Nana Patekar- Krishna) duo have an uncanny resemblance to Arjuna and Krishna. Veer Pratap forces the eviction of the brothers from the party and they launch their own, and rise in the eyes of the masses. Each step is planned meticulously that backfiring is not an option.
Meanwhile Sara, Samar’s girlfriend from America visits since he has not returned as promised. With a little bit of romance thrown into his character, he plays it with clinical precision. He cannot be distracted by her with all that is happening around him, which requires him to be 2 steps ahead of his rivals. Tragically, the 2 important people of his life, Prithvi and Sara get killed as a result of the conniving Suraj and Veer Pratap. But nothing can stop his mission, not even death. He consoles bhabhi Indu and prepares her to take on the mantle. He ensures that she plays on the sympathy from the masses and gains support.
Eventually he plans the elimination of his rivals, step by step and avenges the deaths of his father, brother and girlfriend.
For all those who were objecting to this movie claiming it was the story of the Gandhi family and was not being portrayed appropriately, Indu’s entry into politics was the closest it got. The rest of it was the Mahabharat revisited. The resemblance to the Mahabharat is so strong in the scene where the mother of Prithvi and Samar, goes to Suraj (her illegitimate son) to spare the life of Samar and join the family in the midst of the clashes between Veer and Prithvi. Quite similar to Kunti going to Karna and requesting him to join the Pandava army or atleast spare the life of Arjuna. Including the confrontation by the banks of a river.
What I liked about the movie:
· A hatke performance from Arjun Rampal and Katrina Kaif where the roles were not based on the glamour quotient.
· Ranbir has shed his teeny bopper and fun image (from Wake up Sid and Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani) and delivered a serious & mature role. Even his romance track is calculated. He is so determined in achieving his goals, that his smiles are also with absolute purpose.
· After a very long time, this is a Hindi movie, minus the OTT costumes (most characters are in Indian clothes of kurta pyjama; for Ranbir it was more dress down in khakis, button-down shirts glasses), naach-gana, and dream routines and with a well written script with distinct characters.
· A special appearance by Naseeruddin Shah, who starts the ball rolling in the story and a distraction in Shruti Seth to add spice to the tale.
· Nana Patekar, has abided by “ Actions speak louder than words”, quite a different take from his usual hard-hitting ground reality kind of dialogues.
My rating: 3.5/5 and possibly add a 0.5 for just the oomph of Ranbir Kapoor
Thought I'd add this : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3-OPh8xl5g
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/video-play.html?video_id=4283

Kites – review One of the most awaited release of Bollywood post IPL….Kites. A bit of controversy surrounding the lead pair had given this movie an initial push. Kites is the story of an American dance instructor Jay (Hrithik), and Geena (Kangna Ranaut), his dance partner. She is also in love with him. Over time, he is introduced to her family, who are part of the underworld. Jay meets the family and meets her brother Tony and his fiancé Natasha (Barbara Mori). Cut to flashback, Jay who wants to make money anyway possible to realize his dreams of making it big. One of his part time money making schemes includes, posing as the husband to illegal women immigrants and granting them citizenship. One of his business deals involves Linda (Barbara Mori). The night before Linda/Natasha’s wedding, she wants to hang out with her friend (Jay) and Tony finds out, that they know each other. They escape from him and the rest of the story involves car-chases, hot air balloon escape, a bank robbery and a wedding around the deserts of America. What works for the movie: there isn’t anything in the movie since they forgot to write a decent story. One dance performance of Hrithik and Kangna is a saving whisker. What does not work: There’s a long list of it: No storyline – for a dance-based movie, hardly any dance in it So called chemistry of the leading pair is missing Barbara talking constantly in Spanish and Hrithik in English/Hindi and most of the movie with no dialogues. Trademark music from Rajesh Roshan absent since there are abt 2-3 songs and rest of it is just background music. From Rakesh Roshan’s stable, this is a huge disappointment. This could well have been a Hollywood movie, starring Hrithik and Kangna. My rating: 1.5/5

55th Annual Filmfare Awards!!

55th Filmfare Awards
The Filmfare awards is always one of the most awaited award functions in Bollywwod. The perfect time to show of the best of creations and attitude on the red carpet, which gives us a feeling of Oscars, desi isthyle. With the same spirit, the 55th annual Filmfare awards started with the best of the industry being greeted by Swapnil Joshi and a midget asking the stars all kinds of cute questions.
SRK – SAK Jodi made their grand comeback as the hosts and the ghosts of their humour was heavy in the air. Keeping in tune with the current developments, the event started off with a mock scan of SRK which could happen in “Immigration” and the results of which cannot be shared here (LOL)
The first award was for the Lifetime Achievement Award, given to Shashi Kapoor, rightly presented to him by Shabana Azmi and Yash Chopra – from 2 icons to another. Following this, was the hilarious session by the Khan twosome…picking up right where they left it couple of years back. This time around they made themselves the butt of the jokes. Talented I must say!!
Then came the first set of technical awards:
§ Visual effects- Kaminey
§ Sound design – Firaaq
§ Prod design and art direction - Dev D
§ Editing – Firaaq
§ Choreographer – Chor bazaari– bosco caeser – Love Aaj Kal
This was followed by a very insipid performance by Deepika Padukone with the tracks “Uff Teri Adaa” and “Twist” – she had more energy in the movie picturization than on stage. And the stage got taken over by K Jo and Sidharth (the guy from RDB) for the next set of technical awards, giving the rib-ticklers a break.
§ Action – Wanted
§ Cinematographer – Dev D
§ Costume design – Firaaq
§ Background score – Dev D
This was followed by a performance by Riteish Deshmukh and Jacquline Fernandez (who she is – the one who debuted in Alladin…whetever) to introduce their “out of this world” movie, which I’m sure will live up to its name.. Saif ka saamna happens and is equally controversial :
o Hrithik – How high does your kite fly? - As much as kurbaan did/ billu barber
o Neil – Where is the surname? – Ridiculous question acc to Neil, and he was insulted (scripted or not – can’t tell yet) and then there is pin-drop silence
o Madhavan - Want to learn Tamil from him – Translate dialogue from Love Aaj Kal
o Vidya Balan – What are her first words when she sees Saif? - sodium sulfate and she would choose death even if these 2 are the last men on earth
And then Bollywood saluted Sachin Tendulkar for the awesome 200*….then back to awards, starting with popular ones in Music
§ R D Burman award for upcoming talent in music –Amit Trivedi
§ Playback singer – Female – Kavitha Seth for Iktara – Wake up Sid & Rekha Bharadwaj – Genda Phool – Delhi 6
§ Playback singer – Male- Mohit Chauhan – Masakali – Delhi 6
And then a silly lyric writing session by taking random words like Baingan – bistar – twitter – hurrrrrrrrrrr – peth – with a c-minor key chord
Mere dil ka baingan – duniya ka bistar…..
§ Lyrics – Aaj Din Chadaiyaan – Love Aaj Kal – Irshad Kamil
§ Music – A R Rahman – Delhi 6
Though Pritam had 2 nominations, Shankar-Ehsaan Loy , Vishal Bharadwaj, who can possibly compete with a legend like A R Rahman – and his 25th award, very humbly put. What a man!!
And a performance by Katrina Kaif to some peppy numbers like Main tera dhadkan, Tera hone lagaa hoon, Yaaron jee bhar ke jee le pal….
And we had the gorgeous Shruti Hassan and Sidharth hosting a part of the show for the next set of awards
§ Story – Abhijat Joshi , Raju Hirani – 3 idiots
§ Screenplay – Abhijat Joshi, Raju Hirani and VVC – 3 idiots
§ Dialogue - Abhijat Joshi, Raju Hirani – 3 idiots
A solemn moment to remember all those who left the film fraternity and made their loss felt: Shakti Samanta, Feroz Khan,Prakash Mehra,Gulshan Bawra(yaari hai imaan), Simple Kapadia,Joginder,Leela Naidu(one of the 10 most beautiful women by Vogue),Sujit Kumar, Tahir Hussain,Nirmal Pandey & ……Michael Jackson.
Shahid Kapur pays tribute to MJ in a befitting manner

And awards for :
§ Debut – Female – Zoya Akhtar – Luck by Chance
§ Debut – Male – Ayan Mukherji – Wake up Sid
§ Supporting role – Female – Kalki Koechlin – Dev D
§ Supporting role – Male – Boman Irani – 3 idiots
And a new product was launched: Bipasha’s fitness video and it gets promoted thru a jumping jack with Ramesh Taurani,SRK, SAK (these two can make anyone dance to their tunes)
After a spoof by Saif on his sweetheart Kareena, an act by Kareena on Zoobi doobi
§ 2nd lifetime achievement award – Khayyam
§ Critics award
o Film –Firaaq
o Actress – Mahie Gill – Dev D
o Actor – Ranbir Kapoor – Wake up Sid
§ IPL – idiotic performances auction
o Kaminey – horse - to Salman – looks good always without a shirt
o Paa- Auro’s uniform – to Katrina – for learning Hindi in a Hindi medium school
o Wake up Sid – socks – Sherlyn Chopra – to match her swimsuit
o 3 idiots’ bums – (Aamir doesn’t turn up for award functions nor does he send his body parts also) – John Abraham – to be used for sequels of Dostana

§ Salman’s performance – Ek baar jo maine commitment kar di to main apne aap ki bhi main nahin sunta nahi – with his superman tee, was like having the best and longest performance for the last but again, the zing was just not there.
o Tune from HAHK (pehla pehla pyaar)
o Kabootar ja ja ja
o Jhoothe le lo
o Oonchi hai building
o Jeene ka hain char din
o Yeh raat aur yeh doori
o You’re my love
o Love me love me
o Maria maria
o Jalwa
o Barso yaaron barso
o Hanuman ki jai

§ Leading role – Female –Vidya Balan – Paa
§ Leading role – Male – AB – Paa
§ Best director – Raju Hirani – 3 Idiots
§ Best movie – 3 Idiots

Somehow humour is not so obvious and is coming at very long intervals…not like it used to be. And SRK & SAK have begun to border on the outrageous when it comes to humour. We need a change in anchors for the next edition.
3 Idiots, one of the biggest hits of all times walked away with most of the popular awards with some competition from Dev D so much like the David Goliath story but Firaaq was a surprise. Should watch the movie to find out what it is about. This year also marked a change in handing out awards for best debut...it was to diretcors rather than actors...could be cos there was no impactful acting performance by actors..

Looking forward to a better Filmfare awards nite next year!!!

Karthik Calling Karthik

A phone call can change everything!!
Well, the tag line of Karthik Calling Karthik (KCK) created a lot of curiosity… going by the kind of movies that Farhan has made or acted in, was actually expecting a path breaking movie, but alas…. It’s like all good things come to an end.
Movie starts with a dorky Karthik Narayan (Farhan Akhtar) who is overburdened and treated as much like a wallflower, but the sunflower of his life, Shonali Mukherjee (Deepika Padukone) gives him reason to live. He composes mails everyday to her but does not have the guts to hit the all important “send” button. And it takes a while in the movie before you figure out her job profile, cos she dresses like a socialite, waltzes into work cheerily at 1 pm and wishes “good morning”. I kept thinking she was the EA or the PR person till it gets revealed that she’s an architect. She spends more time on her clothes and smoking than on the blue prints. Plus she has a cute affair with office hottie (Vivan Bathena – he was Abhimanyu Singh in Chak De India).
How does he spend time after work? Visits a psychiatrist to help him get over his guilt ridden childhood. And then one fine night rather, he decides to end his life, with a huge bottle of pills and then the phone rings…… which really changed the narration of the story. The call becomes a pep-up pill, acting like a guardian angel, giving him advice to stand up for himself and get what he deserves. Soon, wardrobe revamp, glasses are off, gets a new bike and of course Shonali after a lot of pleading and begging for a cuppa. Well all’s well in paradise, until he decides on being honest… since when did honesty in a relationship make things easy thereafter???
And then the rigmarole of his mental disorder, the break up and his decision to start life all over again takes you thru the 2nd half. And then the lovers re-unite… how predictable!!
Some of the stuff at the start is really funny: the bad boss, the persistent landlord, having coffee in Khandala, the new –improved version of Farhan. The song “Uff teri Adaa” is a peppy number while “Hey ya” has good vocals
What sucks: the exaggeration in the 2nd half, Deepika doing similar roles of the independent new-age woman who scars herself in relationships (Bachna Ae Haseeno, Love Aaj Kal, KCK) and yet foes back to the guy…
My verdict: Maybe a one-time watch for Farhan Akhtar fans.