Monday, March 10, 2008

Manorama 6 Feet Under (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Abhay Deol, Gul Panag, Sarika Hassan
Director: Navdeep Singh
Music: Jayesh Gandhi, Raiomond Mirza



Satyaveer is an engineer by day and a writer by evening. His only published book falls dud and he also gets suspended from his work because he accepted bribe. His wife (Gul) nags him about their lifestyle and his son keeps him on his toes. Sitting home making no money Satyaveer's life is not going great until, a lady calling herself Manorama knocks on his door and offers to pay a huge sum of money if he can spy on her husband who is a rich local politician.

Satyaveer accepts the offer and starts spying only to get entangled in the murder of Manorama under mysterious circumstances. Satyaveer meets Manorama's roomate Sheetal to talk to her about Manorama's disappearance and they get to spend a night together in his house alone as his wife had gone back to her parents house with their son...

After a lot of investigation and stress and interesting twists what does Satyaveer discover? What happened to Manorama? Who is Sheetal? Do catch this movie. It is definitely an awesome crime story and it has a funny side to it too.

Once again, I like Abhay Deol and definitely love his acting and is probably the only Deol who can act, at least in my humble opinion.

Ek Chalis ki Last Local (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Abhay Deol, Neha Dupia
Director:
Music:

Such movie rarely get any recognition. This one is a dark story (it all happens during the night) but with a sense of humor. Once again Abhay Deol has done it. I liked him Socha Na Tha, Manorama 6ft Under and in this one...He is brilliant. Wonder why he is not getting into the main stream...maybe because he is a good actor. Definitely a fast paced film and especially if you see it following Jodha Akbar then you will know what I am talking about :)

Nilesh (Abhay) who works for an IT company, after a late night at work misses the last train home for the night. His next train is not until 4.40 in the morning. He has to spend the night in the station or take a rick home. When he finally manages to find one, a lady accosts the same rick and they both come to know that there is an auto strike and their only way home will be to walk...the lady also claims that she is headed in Nilesh's direction so they start walking together.

Along the way they see a dance bar and the two of them decide to spend whiling away time in the bar. While at the bar Nilesh meets a friend of his who asks him to gamble with him with some underworld bigwigs. Nilesh's luck favors him but eventually he does start going down the drain...but with some fake confidence he does rustle some feathers with the goons. On his way to use the restroom he sees that someone is trying to molest his lady friend. In an effort to save her the molester dies by crashing his head on the wall. The molester is none other than one of the goon's brother.

Only then does he also notice that his lady friend Mala (Neha) is a prostitute having a rendezvous with her favorite customer in the bathroom...from here on it is a quick spiral for Nilesh. Does he make it out alive from there? Find out by watching this awesome fantastic movie!

Definitely a must watch for some real cool acting, humor, and time pass.

Jodha Akbar (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, and 10,000 others
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Music: A.R. Rahman


I have been dying to write the review of this movie. How can a movie critic not love a movie that has made such an impact on the film industry and in the box office? What do I think of it? B.O.R.I.N.G. If you go with loads of expectations then this movie is a bore but if you go knowing it is a bore then it might not be that bad...and better still if you have a remote control then it will be fast too...hehehehe

Music:
I think is just above average...either ARR has run out of steam or he has forgotten how to copy...er...get inspired...anyways the Jashn bahara song's starting is lifted straight from 'ek ladki ko dekha' from 1942 a Luv Story...and the other songs put you to a soft sleep and this happens pretty easily considering the slow pace and the length of the movie. I know the AR cannot do a ma ma mind blowing mahiya for this movie but still could have given life to it...don't we have period movies that have brilliant songs that captivate our minds? Say what about 'jab pyar kiya tho darna kya' from Mughal-E-Azam?

Movie:
Why I did not like this movie much:

1. Akbar looked like this...


and this is Hrithik Roshan and not Akbar...FYI Akbar was a Mughal which means he had Mongol features...and was related to Ghengis Khan...



2. Akbar had like four known wives and many concubines now how can you prove that this marriage was the one in which he truly loved his wife?
3. Why is it shown as if Akbar only had time for Jodha and not his other wives or women in his life?
4. What is the deal with Akbar dancing like a dumbass at the end of the Kwajaji song?
5. Wasn't Jodha very young when she got married to Akbar...why does she look 40?
6.Why are the fight scenes so blah?
7. Why are the songs so slow and melodramatic?
8. Why is Akbar shown as a wimp in certain scenes? Did he really spend most of his day daydreaming and walking soooo slowly thinking of Jodha?
9. You claim to be a historic film but then also disclaim anything and everything about it...then why not simply make a movie and call it Ojdha-Kabar in stead of calling it Jodha Akbar?
10. Other than a few scenes in the movie most of it is fiction, there are no documentation of any of it even in Akbarnama...why are you serving the viewers with a fake story served on a wooden (boring) platter?
11. The other noted Akbar's Hindu wife converted to Islam before marrying Akbar...So what proof do we have that Akbar let Jodha remain Hindu and not have her converted?
12. History tells that Maham Anga wanted to rule Hindustan by keeping Akbar as a puppet but other than that there is no written documentation of her trying to poison Akbar's mind against Jodha.

I could go on and on and on...the only ones who liked this movies are fans of Hrithik or people who are excited at the prospect of watching anything that is historical...

Plot:
Akbar the all powerful Mughal king is requested by a Rajput King to marry his daughter in return for peace. Akbar obliges and Jodha marries Akbar. Jodha wants to stay Hindu and practice her religion inside the palace and Akbar smitten by her obliges...but in a twist of villainous fate Akbar sends Jodha back home. And then he realizes his mistake and fights (literally according to Ashutosh and his writer Hyder Ali) to bring her back...

The plot also involves Sujamal who is like a brother to Jodha which forms the subplot of the story to show that Akbar is not only a lost loveboy but can also wage wars and make official decisions on the side...

Review:
Ashutosh thinks it is his birthright to make movies longer than 2.5 hours. He is very confident that he can make long movies and get away with them because people did not complain in Lagaan and Swades (although a few raised their voices)...but sorry both those movies were at least a little interesting and fast paced...this one here is a dud...so slow that even a tortoise will win the race hands down.

The movie has no freshness appeal to it. It just seems to drag on and on and feels like forever before you get to the intermission. There is no doubt that this movie can be watched with entire family but what a boring affair that would be. But I would say definitely watch it once just so I can know if you agree/disagree with my review...That was a long review...now I am tired...

Ratings by outbrain