Chennai Talkies! The World of Movies

Striker (2010) - Hindi Movie Review

2010-03-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3/10

Cast: Siddarth, Aditya Panscholi, Ankur Vikal, Padma Priya, anupam Kher

Director: Chandan Arora

Music: Various Artiste

For some odd reason the story reminded me of Slumdog Millionaire. Probably because it was set in Dharavi or probably because of the pace of the movie but it was was an interesting movie.

Surya (Siddarth) starts playing carrom at a little age and becomes a national pro before he gives it up. One day he picks up a fight against a local goon Jaleel (Aditya) who challenges him for a game of carrom. He gets back his hand at the game again and plays at betting games making small amounts of money on and off. All the while he is unaware that his best friend Zaid is using him to pinch money from Jaleel who is also Zaid's boss.

Then the Bombay riots happen and Jaleel is behind it. Surya looses his sister and her husband during the riots that were carried out by Jaleel and his men. How Surya meets out his revenge forms the final part of the movie.

The whole time I was seeing the movie I was praying that nothing should befall Surya. Siddarth with his childlike face and good acting convinces you that he can be naive yet shrewd. I think this guy can act but his only problem is that he is cute in a very childish/boyish way.

Definitely I would watch the film during Grown-up time because kids can ask a lot of embarrassing questions.

Athithi Tum Kab Jaoge (2010) - Hindi Movie Review

2010-03-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

Rating: 3/5

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal

Director: Ashwani Dheer

Music: Pritam

This one is a hilarious family entertainer. The movie has a feel good touch to it and is sadly also super predictable but nevertheless entertaining.

Puneet (Ajay) and Munmun (Konkona) live in a nuclear family in Mumbai with their only son and surprisingly they never have a stay-over guest visit them. Their son longs for a guest to come and bingo! To their surprise an old man arrives at their door step in the name of Lambodhar Chacha (Paresh).

Now Paresh is a very demanding guest, he is demanding and imposing is constantly keeping both M and P on their feet. He is very nosy, interfering and embarrassing but brings out the entertaining parts of the movie. He affects both Puneet's as well as Munmun's work and personal life as well...

Numerous attempts to get rid of him only lands P and M in more trouble and eventually how they get him booted makes the end of the story.

The songs are funny (most of them remake of popular Hindi songs adapted for the situations in question), the story is smooth and fast paced, and it is light, and non-taxing to the brain. It is not one of those must-watch movies but again you wont feel like you wasted an afternoon if you saw it...

Slumdog Millionaire (2008) - English Movie Review

2008-11-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

Rating: 4.8/5

Cast: Dev Patel, Anil Kapoor, Frida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Irfan Khan, Saurabh Shukla
Director: Danny Boyle
Music: A R Rahman
Story: Based on Vikas Swarup's Q & A

Plot: A street dweller makes it to the hot seat on "Who wants to be a Millionaire," in India. The cops take him to interrogate and find out if he is cheating on the show. From him they hear a tale of loss, jealousy, love, hatred, murder and much more that can make you cringe and which helped him answer all the questions. The boy does not want the money, all he wants to do is find his lost childhood love.

Review: The first fifteen minutes of the movie makes you cringe, at the pain that is inflicted on Jamal (Dev) as well as the pain and misery that Jamal has been through in his childhood. The movie does not dwell too much on any sorrow, it has a pace to maintain, so it keeps moving on in a fast pace. Which also helps us not get tied up to one event and sink in its sorrow. Until after the movie is over you are not wasting time pondering on every single detail but when you walk out of the theater everything hits you. That is the beauty of the movie, you actually remember everything.

In some way, most of the Indian viewers will find most of the story predictable, not in terms of how the kid answered the questions but the plot. We have seen many Indian movies with similar background storyline, but the amazing part is the narration, the screenplay that makes the movie powerful and unique.

Sitting in the big theater you wonder, is this what the world thinks of India? big slums and kids being sold off to be made into beggars? Is this what the world is going to see? But then you also feel that the director has caught the essence of India that only we know and no one else, at least until now.

Synopsis: Jamal Mallik (Dev) is on the hot seat and Anil Kapoor is asking him a question and he seems to know it all. The chaiwala knows everything and is one question away from winning the grand prize. Jamal is watching himself on TV as the cop (Irfan) is questioning him on how he figured the answers for the questions out, considering Jamal has had no formal education. Irfan is confused how a slumdog is able to answer the questions while doctors and MBA's have failed.

Jamal is hoping that his childhood live is watching the show and he is hoping to reunite with her through the show. If I by chance reveal any more than this, then you would not enjoy the movie much, so go and watch the movie and enjoy it. It is one of a kind.

Ramchand Pakistani (2008) - Hindi Cinema Review

2008-11-20T11:26:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Nandita Das,
Director: Mehreen Jabbar, Syed Fazel Hussain, Maria Wasti, Noman Ijaz
Music: Debatyoti Mishra

From the time the movie began and almost until more than half of the movie I kept expecting to see something very bad happen. Thankfully that was avoided and

it made the film watchable. If you are looking for pace and twist and turns then this is not the movie for you, but on the other hand if you are looking for

a one line story with simple narration and decent acting which at times can start becoming a drag then you might probably enjoy this movie. I have to

definitely commend the acting by all the cast members including the little boy playing Ramchand. The background score is simple and the locales where the

movie has been shot is rustic.

The story is about a Dalit family that lives on the border of India and Pakistan. The village is so small that even the luxury of watching TV or radio on a

daily basis is not available to everyone. Most of the villagers are living blissfully ignorant about a war ranging between the two countries. During these

troubled moments, a little kid after having a childish tiff with his mom accidently crosses the border from Pakistan and enters India. Promptly he is

abducted by the sepoys who are guarding the border. The child's father also wanders into the border to bring his son back also only to be abducted by the

Indian sepoys too.

Dad and son are in the Indian jail and the son sees the dad getting beaten and tortured to prove that he is not a spy. Both of them share a large room with

other criminals and those who are also falsely accused of being spies or such. The kids goes through a transformation and you can see the father trying his

best to keep his child innocent and far from the corruption that jail cells see. The child finds a caretaker in a lady cop who tries to give him the basics

whil keep him at a bay because of his caste.

My worst fear was that they might show some gruesome scenes (like what you saw in Chandini Bar) with the kid and I kept trying to look away but thank god the

director sheilded us from all those kind of information. Do the kid, his dad and mom get united? For that you will have to watch the movie.

The acting in the movie is impeccable, it is truly an art movie and not for the ones who crave commercial masala. The story like I said earlier is slow and you need a lot of motivation to watch it. I even stopped to wonder what the purpose of the movie is, considering there is nothing dramatic or drastic in the movie after the first 10 minutes. It is like a movie that was shot on a webcam placed on the boy and then edited to consolidate four years into 2.5 hours. I am not impressed with it but it can definitely be seen once when you have absolutely nothing better to do.

Dostana (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-11-20T07:13:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Abhishek Bacchan, John Abraham, Priyanka Chopra, Bobby Deol
Director: Tarun Mansukhani
Music: Vishal-Shekar

First off, for those who think this is a rip off a "I pronounce you Chuck..." I am sorry but it is not. The concept is similar but the story is not. The movie is funny, right from the word go. Definitely seems to be the fantasy movie the K.Jo would enjoy making considering there are more scenes that expose John A's rear than we see Piggy Chops. Even though actually have Piggy wearing only the shortest of short skirts and shorts, the camera always seems to land on John's well toned chest or his butt...and of course there is a scene where John gets wet in the rain wearing a white shirt...If this K.Jo had a choice probably he would have made this movie with just John A in it.

Anyways, enough of that and moving to the story...Neha (Piggy) owns a posh apartment in Miami and is looking to lease two rooms to girls only. Sam (Abhi) and Kunal (John) are two bachelors who are trying to find an apartment in a short time and they keep bumping into each other all the time. Realizing that they both have a common need for an apartment and after falling in love with Neha's apartment they decide that the only way to move in would be to fake gay.

Right from the time Sam and Kunal meet, the movie starts rolling and you are always at the edge of your chair laughing. The love story of how Sam met Kunal, or when they are introduced to meet M, Neha's boss M (Bomman), or when Sam's mother (Kiron Kher) lands in Miami to see if her son is really gay, and her departure back to London is so well entwined into the film that it is brilliant.

Usually a K.Jo movie formula is like this, the first half you roll on the floor and laugh, the second half right after the interval you are crying your heart out waiting for the movie to end...but thank god since this movie was only produced by K.Jo I am glad that the first 3/4 of the movie is hillarious and the typical cheesy, corny, annoying parts of the movie are short and crisp and shoved to the end.

So continuing the review, Sam and Kunal being straight fall in love with the obviously hot Neha who is oblivious to it and instead falls in love with her new boss Abhimanyu (a stone faced Bobby). Abhi seems to suffer from facial paralysis and you cannot see any emotions from his stone face. Happiness, anger, sadness, excitement all looks the same. He is the only annoying factor in the entire movie and we could have probably had Akshay or someone else in that role.

This comes as a shock to Sam and Kunal who are already fighting each other over Neha. The rest of the movie is goes about how Sam and Kunal try and foil the love budding between Neha and Abhi. What happens? Watch the movie.

This is definitely a fun watch. The movie is very cool, and set in uber modern times, but certainly not one you will watch with mom and dad. It caters to both gay as well as straight community as you get to see loads of John A stripping down to undies at the blink of an eye and you rarely see Neha fully clothed. I absolutely loved all the dresses she wore though I am pretty sure they will look good only on girls with good figures but I am sure that I can carry a saree off better than her. The only saree she wore in the movie was vulgar and annoying and she herself did not look comfy in it.

Did I talk about the music yet? No...so here it is, even the music and its choreography is hillarious. All the songs are catchy and funny and they do not slow down the pace of the movie. I love the "munda satta dol chadgaya..."

Anyways, enjoy the movie and if you don't let me know why.

Maan Gaye Mughal E Azam (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-09-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

Rating: 4/5 on humor scale

Cast: Rahul Bose, Mallika Sherawat, Paresh Rawal, Kay Kay Menon
Director: Sanjay Chel

The most random movie ever...you ask me what the story is? and I ask you the question back...because there is no story. The best thing about the movie is that it does not pretend to be a movie with a purpose or a good movie or a great movie or anything like it...it is a funny movie and does not disappoint you at all...wonder why Indian media was so mean to this one...but I have to agree that this is best watched on a DVD in your home with family (esp. ones that understand Hindo to translate stuff to you incase you are like me in Hindi department). Also it is one of those movies that you can watch over and over again and also repeat a few dialogues in real life situations...

Mallika is married to Paresh and both of them are stage actors...while Paresh thinks he is the greatest actor ever, Mallika is vying to move to Bollywood when she starts having an affair with Rahul who is an undecover detective trying to stop Dawood from planting bombs in India...Of course there is a ghazal singer Kay Kay who works hand in hand with the bhai...and of course he also falls for the charm of Mallika as does anothe rlocal goodn Kayuum Cable (dont know his real name...sorry)...anyways in the end all's well that end's well with roaring laughter...

I know that MS has been reduced to the role of a pin-up girl but she is not bad in the acting department okay...I really thought that she carried her comic timing very well in this movie...she is funny and the role suited her perfectly...Rahul was a little out of place but funny...it was just funny to see both Rahul and Kay Kay, two serious actors doing a randomly hillarious role...

Must watch...can make a dreary day fun!

Rock on (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-09-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

Rating: 3.75/5

Cast: Farhan Akthar, Prachi Desai, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kolhi, Luke Kenny, Koel Puri, Nicolette Bird, Shabana Goswami
Director: Abhishek Kapoor
Music: Shankar Ehsaan Loy

I liked seeing this movie as cliched as it was...There was nothing new about the movie or the story...it was just the screenplay and the acting that gave it the freshness...Right from the very start you can predict the movie and act as a pseudo director knowing exactly what the next shot was going to be...but the point it the movie was not slacking or nagging at any point...it just flowed from one scene into the other and from past to present in one continuous motion...

Aditya (Farhan) is an investment banker married to Sakshi (Prachi). They lead a rich but loveless life with Adi using his work as an excuse to shy away from family life...Sakshi bumps into KD (Purab) during one of her trips to a jewellery store which his dad owns. From then on Sakshi discovers a new side to her husband which she never knew existed. She requests KD to get all of Adi's friends for a surprise birthday party that she had planned for him.

KD gets back in touch with Rob (Luke) and also with Joe (Arjun) to join him for the party. Everyone but Joe make it to the party. Adi is also reluctant to mingle with his decade old friends. That very night after the part Adi and Sakshi get into an argument and she leaves the house asking him to rethink the life he has been leading.

From the flashback we know that KD (Killer drummer), Rob (Keyboard player), Joe (Lead Guitarist), and Adi (singer, composer, and guitarist) used to be in a band called magik...which of course disbanded due to difference of opinion and when they split Adi and Joe did not see things eye to eye...

Will Sakshi's digging into past help reunite the band? Guesses?

So ya the movie is a definite family viewer and it is an entertainer too...I am not fond of very dark movies but this one is kinda sorta an exception for me...I still wish the director had used a bit more light...I have to go and kick Santosh Sivan's ass for starting that trend and Mani Ratnam's too!

Not many actors can become good directors but on the contrary most good directors can act well...not just in the role of hero...it can be anything...because they know what they want to see on the screen and what they have to do to get the correct effect...Farhan Akthar falls into this category...He is definitely a good actor and in the movie he has done a great job...

The rest of the cast is also very impressive...From Arjun to Shabana...it is all work done amazingle well...the casting director needs kudos! I loved watching this movie and hope you do too :)

Amu (2007) - Hindi/English Movie Review

2008-09-03T13:02:00.000-07:00

Rating: 3/5 if you like riot movies...if you are like me then 0/5

Cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Ankur Sharma
Director: Shonali Bose

I hate it...absolutely...when people make movies on riots and then dedicate it to people who died in it or people who suffered through it...don't make a dedication of movies that the victim's relatives and friends have to live through once again...dedicate something fun instead...or how about build a school in the money you spend making a movie on the subject? However and noble the motive is, it affects people who were affected by the riots and trust me not in a positive way...by bringing awareness to the riots you are going to make the government change its stance or do anything for the victims...so let sleeping dogs sleep and do something more productive...thanks...

I am writing this post after seeing an Indian movie with English dialogues (also available with Hindi dubbing) called Amu. When G picked it up at the Punjabi store I saw that the Singh behind the counter was very happy at his choice...I wondered why...when we got home it was already 10 in the night so G decided that we can watch the other DVD's later and see this one now as it is should be a short one and we could go to bed at a decent time.

The movie started out pretty fine...the casting is also good...the story seems tight...Kokona as Kaju visits India from LA. She is an Indian born but American raised girl and she visits her hometown to figure out her roots...she befriends Ankur Khanna as Kabir and he helps take her around the city of Delhi. Slowly she starts unravelling the truth behind her identity, which is not very pleasant...

The movie revolves around the 1984 riots in Delhi which followed the assasination of Indira Gandhi during which as many as (apparently) 5,000 Sikhs were hunted down and killed mercilessly because the people who killed Indira were Sikhs...the movie has done a decent job in terms of not showing too many visuals regarding how rape/murder/torture happen in such circumstances...but the fact is we can feel the fear...it is imminent...

I should say the movie is well shot and everything is good...but I personally hate such movies...the same reason why I was not in favor of watching movies like Bombay, Parzania, and Hey Ram among others...I get scared and being a girl the very fact that we are more vulnerable under such situations scare me a lot and render many a unpleasant dreams...and now that I have a daughter I only get more and more protective of her everytime I see such movies...

I am sorry I just cannot understand what drives people to watch such movies and also claim that it was shot so realistically...when you should not be enjoying reality of this nature...the tears that roll down my cheeks after seeing these movies cannot describe the feeling of hatred that arises inside me for these directors...they are torturing people who are seeking movies as a medium of entertainment by calling their movie a work of art...I would rather watch boring Sawariya ten times over than watching Amu, Parzania, etc...

IMHO...the movie was good...but I regretted watching it...bad after taste!

De Taali (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-07-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Ritesh Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani, Rimii Sen, Ayesha Takia
Director: E. Niwas
Music: Vishal-Shekar

Some movies are funny only if you are in the mood for them, else they are boring and annoying. This movie certainly falls into that category. It can crack you up if you are in a silly mood...

All said and done, Ritesh has good comic timing. His facial expressions and body language just work well with his sense of humor. This movie once again showcases it...Aftab is also not bad in the movie but does come out as someone who has bulked up too much and hence looking a little too chubby. Ayesha on the other hand has always been chubby and is known for her nun-like dress sense...and to create the oomph and sex that is otherwise missing in the movie we have Ms. Sen who is more than ready to compensate for what Ayesha is hiding under he three layered tops and high jeans pants...

This is a very simple story...Amu (Ayesha), Paglu (Ritesh) and Abhi (Aftab) are best friends and spend most of their time together. Abhi keeps falling in and out of love while Paglu and Amu stick around him. Abhi is the rich kids son and he makes sure that his best friends are well kept for. Abhi falls in love with Kartika and starts ignoring his friends thereby ticking both Amu and Paglu off...

Amu has another problem, she is in love with Abhi and only Paglu knows this...so they plan to overthrow Kartika in order to get Amu and Abhi married...They realize during the course of their many plans that Kartika is a gold digger and have to save Abhi from her...The struggle starts...

Do they hold Kartika back? What happens to Abhi? Does he marry Amu? What happens to Paglu?

There are many funny scenes and the movie is a tad too long...like I said before...it is funny if you are up for it...else take an aspirin and go to bed...

Brahm (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-07-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Dino Morea, Milind Soman, and many unforgettable cast
Director:
Music:

The story is about two loving brothers, Milind and Dino. Milind is the serious type who is a successful industrialist while Dino is his flirty younger brother who spends more time and energy chasing girls, mostly models, one after the other. One day Dino falls in love with an evasive drunk and into-drugs model. From then on he chases her and finally convinces her to fall in love with him. He is also sure that she is the one for him.

He takes the girl with him to introduce her to her brother and his wife. But the minute the girls sees his brother she calls him a murderer and runs away from there. Shocked at this accusation Dino sets out to find the truth while Milind's wife does not stand by his side.

What does a brother have to do convince his brother and wife otherwise? What does Dino find? Who is the girl he is dating? For all this and more boring information please watch this movie...or maybe not!

The movie, I am sure started with some good intentions...but somewhere in the middle it looses the plot. For some odd reason it comes across as a dark movie...I do not mean a movie with dark humor but otherwise. The acting also is a little ordinary and the story line looses strength as the plot thickens...I will not say that this movie is a complete waste...it is definitely better than watching Sawariya anyday but what I am saying is that this movie could have been done much better than what it is.

Aamir (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-07-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Rajeev Khandelwal
Director: Rajkumar Gupta

I have to say...what a difference...one day you watch a very average movie like Woodstock Villa and the next day you are taken aback by the wonderful direction, story, tight screenplay, and not to forget brilliant acting in Aamir. This movie surely made a mark...a point...and a very bold statement at that...

Aamir returns to India from UK...a doctor returning to his family of mom, bro, and sister. From the very minute he lands the trip is not going his way...and the minute he steps out of the airport his bag is stolen, a cell phone is handed to him and he has to follow orders as said in the cellphone if he wants to see his family alive. He goes through a lot of trouble and visits places he has never been to blindly following orders...What is the ultimate goal? If I tell that then there wont be a point in you watching the movie now will there? So definitely go and catch it!!!

Like I said in the beginning...a brilliant must watch movie. Rajeev Khandelwal is awesome in portraying Aamir and the director is so brilliant too...and kudos for casting a newcomer and not any usual Bollywood hero...whoever the scriptwriter is...ek dham brilliant!!!!

Woodstock Villa (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-07-01T08:41:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Sikhander Kher, Arbaaz Khan, Neha Uberoi
Director: Hansal Mehta
Music: Annu Mallik

First off, the music is so insignificant in this movie that I am not even going to make any mention of it other than this line...there! Done...

I should probably say the same about the direction too...and the acting...hummm...probably a few lines...what the hell!

Sikander Kher better be good in acting like his dad or his overacting mom else he is gonna see the way out soon with god having bestowed him with not-so-favorable-in-bollywood looks...On the other hand Ms. Uberois need to do something about her acne...oodles of make up did not help hide them...poor girl...but what about her acting skills? Haven't you noticed? I am trying to spare her the humiliation...

A rich man's wife (Uberoi) gets kidnapped...the players are the wife and a man the wife befriends (Kher) at a bar...the police think that the rich man (Khan) is the suspect and keep giving cheap dialogues to him...anyways Kher sees that Khan has a couple of cops with him and calls and lets him know that his wife is gone from this world forever...Kher goes back to inform Uberoi that her husband had the cops with him only to see that she is dead herself...

Now Kher is in trouble for murder and kidnap...fear grips him while he realizes that he has been conned. A phone call tells him to dispose the body in half hour or he will be in trouble...

What happens to Kher's future? What happens to Khan and his dead or not wife forms the rest of the movie. The story is actually half decent...reminds you of movies like Jhonny Gaddar...but the direction fails miserably...probably the cast might have done better at acting...after all the director is the puppet master...but well...too bad for these guys...

It is a definite one time watch...but nothing more than that...dont pine too much hopes...it is an average movie...in fact a wannabe cool movie!

U Me Aur Hum (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-04-30T13:00:00.002-07:00

Ranking: 1.5/5

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Kajol
Director: Ajay Devgan
Music: Vishal Baradwaj

So everyone claimed that this movie is an adaptation of Notebook...Just in traces it is...otherwise it is in a very specific genre of Indian movies called "CRAPPY MOVIE." Ya Ajay Devgan trying to carry off as a stud, Kajol with her funny English accent, the cruise liner, and the Alzheimer all drive you more than just crazy...Notebook albeit being a very average story was well directed and more importantly well acted in...but this one can claim neither. Ajay trying to give the movie an Indie touch lost the plot totally and the movie ends up being a drag filled with boring dialogues and no suspense whatsoever.

Ajay is old and so is Kajol. He goes up to her while in a cruise liner and starts in a flirtatious way a story about two lovers who had met in a cruise liner too...25 years ago. Neither look young as they are supposed to be in the movie...anyways...Ajay a doctor falls in love with Kajol and they both get off the ship with Kajol having Ajay's contact information. One fine day Kajol shows up at his door step...they get married and also have a son...but as fate would have it Kajol gets (?? or develops...don't know what to say exactly) Alzheimer's and Ajay puts her away at a special care home...feeling all guilty and all that he brings her back home and raises both her as well as their son...

This is the story...in Notebook...you don't know till the very end who the old couple are and how they are related to the story...but here it is obvious from the very first scene giving away the crucial plot of the film...if you are going to remake an English movie which was highly successful then why are you wasting time trying to give it your own touch? From now on don't do that...it should be fairly obvious to you now that creativity is certainly not your strong point...

The movie has more sob-side to it than fun-side and the fun-side is actually very gay (not that there is anything wrong with it...) I for one surely regret seeing this movie...if you think otherwise do hit back...
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Krazzy 4 (2008) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-04-30T12:59:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Irfan Khan, Suresh Menon, Rajpal Yadav, Rajat Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Dia Mirza
Director: Jaideep Sen
Music: Rajesh Roshan

The story is about four socially challenged people who home in an institution under the hands of a nice doctor Juhi. Each of these patients have a past...Arshad has a raging temper and cannot hold back his anger, Irfan is a clean freak and keeps yelling at people about keep things in order and neat, while Suresh Menon has not spoken a word in years and Rajpal Lives in the past around the Indepence era.

Juhi speaks with the management and implores them to let her take the four of them out to watch a cricket match. On their way to the stadium she stops to pick up some papers from her office leaving the four alone in her car...but she does not return to the car. Four of them get out start exploring the city and set some things in their lives in the right direction...

Juhi is kidnapped and the four of them are out to get her back and they also try contacting her husband who tries to keep them away...how do four people branded as mentally challenged help Juhi out forms the rest of the movie.

The movie is half decent. There are boring parts, a few laughable parts, a few WTH parts, and a few whatever parts...so not bad...surely can be viewed with family and the song "o re lakad" is certainly a catchy tune that even kids will like...save it for a rainy day when you have nothing better to do and would rather watch a half baked desi flick.

Manorama 6 Feet Under (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-03-10T10:52:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-10T10:51:00.001-07:00

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

2008-03-10T10:50:00.000-07:00

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...

Taare Zameen Par (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2008-01-22T12:09:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Aamir Khan, Darsheel Safary
Director: Aamir
Music: Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy

The minute you see this movie you will remember all those years that we went through school in India with the teachers wielding a stick and making our lives miserable...Most people walk out of school with fond memories of hanging out and spending time with friends but many walk out hating teachers in general...

Ya because in our country and our society artistic aspirations are considered useless as they will not help us in our future to make the moolah...I am not arguing with this at all...such practices arise out of necessity and I am not the one to tell that this is wrong...but what is wrong and should change in our country is the mentality of our teachers...they are easily prejudiced and also make judgments as if they are paid to do just that. Half our teachers are not even qualified or reasonably strong in the subject they are trying to teach...they learn by heart what is in the book and come and vomit it in front of student...ok enough of me getting my frustration on teachers in India...

At the crux of the story is a little kid who has dyslexia and as usual our teachers ignore the fact that he is unable to study and get good grades not because he not trying but simply because his brain is not programmed to do that...he is an artist...and he cannot read words...if he was taught verbally he will understand but ask him to take up a book and it will make no sense...The kid goes through a lot of heartache and confusions and gets sent away to a boarding school. Thanks to his lucky stars he meets a teacher who understands his problems and helps him overcome educational issues...

The movie is good and tightly scripted. It is paced smoothly and actually makes the viewer empathize with the life of Ishaan because everyone of us has seen a classmate who has suffered similar to this...

All i can say is this movie is a must watch...holla back if you don't like it.

Kanamootchi Enada (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2008-01-22T12:02:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Sandhya, Prithviraj, Sathyaraj, Radhika
Director: Priya

I have seen the earlier movie of this director called Kanda Naal Mudhal...a very sweet romantic story starring Prasanna and Laila and it was a real nice feel good movie. The director I am assuming wanted to recreate a similar magic but failing terribly in the process. This movie is very similar to Meet The Parents-Desi version...

Sandhya is a college student in Singapore where she bumps (literally) into Prithviraj and it is love at first sight for him. He lands up convincing her to give him a chance before rejecting him and they start hanging out together till the day she plans to head back to India to celebrate her parents wedding anniversary or something. They both decide that they like each other and want to get married.

Prithviraj, an orphan raised by his uncle Radha Ravi seeks their blessings but is rejected and asked to marry someone else. Prithviraj tries to polietly convince them but things dont go his way. So he leaves to India anyway with Sandhya to meet her parents and convince them and with the confidence of finding a new job in India only.

Sandhya's parents are played by Sathyaraj and Radhika, a loving Police commissioner-housewife couple who keep doing cute things. Sathyaraj is not able to accept his daughter marrying Prithviraj a Brahmin. He waits for him angrily...

The director now tries to make the plot funny while it is obviously cliched and gets a little boring towards the end and draggy too...how Prithviraj wins the heart of his father-in-law forms the rest of the movie.

The movie lacks in pace and interest and also chemistry. The age difference between Prithviraj and Sandhya is obvious and I wish the director could have chosen an older heroine but I dont think that would have solved this movie's inherent problem-bad direction and screenplay...

No doubt this movie is aimed at being a family entertainer and hence can be seen by people from all age groups but ultimately a bore...so your choice to spend your time watching a bore or see Sivaji-the Boss again ;)

Evano Oruvan (2008) - Tamil Movie Review

2008-01-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Madhavan, Sangeetha
Director: Nishikanth Kamat
Music: G.V. Prakash Kumar

I wonder why Madhavan decided to do this movie in Tamil, especially since such movies already exist in thousands thanks to Shankar alone...but anyway it is a very similar plot to many of Shankar's movies other than Boys that work towards a single man taking law into his hands and trying to set the society right.

Frustration leads Sridhar Vasudevan (Madhavan) is an honest and upright citizen who works in a bank. He refuses to take or give bribe. He stands for his principles and is the same even in his house. He refuses to send his son to a pricey school because they are demanding donation over talent. At work his clients nag him to take bribe and at home his wife nags him to give bribe and also a better lifestyle. Day in and day out Sridhar goes through the same frustration. He craves for stability and a better system but things do not go in his way.

One day over a small argument with a retail store owner Sridhar beats the owner with a cricket bat. After which he roams the city beating everyone with the cricket bat who in his eye are doing injustice. In a few hours he has already attacked cops and then starts making national news. He is wanted and the city police are hunting him down trying to make a point. He keeps evading them and stays away from home and with lack of sleep for almost three days.

During one such beating episode an old couple asks him to reflect on what he is doing which changes his perspective and he takes the same train he took everyday from home to work one last time...

The story is definitely not novel but Madhavan has proved himself as an actor other than just being a pretty face with a cute smile (yes...he was this in AP, Run, Minnale...). I only wish that the plot had something new to offer. It is surely a family story and a story that many family can relate to India...not the bribe giving part...but the wife nagging part atleast! The songs are not very memorable but definitely can be seen once...but do not set time apart from doing important things to watch this movie.

Jhonny Gaddar (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-12-26T10:46:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 4.5/5

Cast: Neil Mukesh, Dharmendra, Rimi Sen, Vinay Pathak, Zakir Hussain, Govind Namdeo
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy

This movie is a must watch. I wonder why it did not get enough publicity in spite of being one of the better movies released in 2007. Classic crime novel with perfect twist and turns and an awesome ending to the brilliantly directed and executed movie.

Five people who are partners in running a shady dance bars and obviously involved in shady business get a deal where they invest a small sum of money to make a very big sum that will be split five ways. The head honcho of the gang is Dharmendra and the youngest in the group is Neil Mukesh who has an affair with the wife (Rimi) of one the group members.

Everybody makes a plan to move the money over to Bangalore for the deal while Neil makes his own plan to rob the money. In order to do so he kills one of the gang members and hide the identity of the traitor he commits one crime after an another...does he get caught in the end? There is no fun if I reveal the entire story here especially in a crime story...

Definitely a must watch as well the songs are a must hear. Total party mix and cool music. A couple of songs are available in Tamil and Telugu too. The screenplay is awesome and the story is brilliant...I cannot repeat it more...just watch it.

Water (2005) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-12-26T10:45:00.006-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Sarala Karyawasam
Director: Meera Nair

This is definitely a brilliant movie showcasing India's religious and social practices around the time of Independence along the banks of Ganges. The story is about young and old widows alike who are banned from their regular life and sent to a hostel for widows where they have to spend the rest of their lives away from family, friends and fun.

Little girl Chuyia (Sarala) a widow gets sent to a widow hostel in Varanasi where she is expected to spend the rest of her life. Shakuntala (Seema) takes Sarala under her wing and keeps the young blood from making too many mistakes and offending people. Sarala who does not even understand clearly why she has been sent away from home finds it difficult to conform to the norms of the hostel and keeps getting in the way of the warden more than once.

Kalyani (Lisa) is a beautiful widow who also lives in the same hostel but does a few things differently as she is a breadwinner for the hostel while she sleeps with many powerful men across the ghat. Kalyani is taken by a eunuch pimp who is in liaison with the warden for taking Kalyani across the bank of Ganga. Kalyani is frustrated with the hypocrisy of the system and wants to escape from it.

Chuyia on one of her escapades with Kalyani meets Narayan, a young graduate who has come home for the vacation. Narayan falls in love with Kalyani and wants to marry her. Kalyani with the help of Shakuntala leaves the hostel to marry Narayan. Only half way through to Narayan's house does she realize that Narayan's dad was one of her night time client. Dejected and heart broken Kalyani commits suicide.

What happens to Shakuntala and Chuyia forms the rest of the story...

Very heartrending but I am sure most of it is still in practice in parts of our country. We cannot completely get rid of our social evils but we can always hope for reforms...

Brilliant performance by young Sarala and the rest of the cast too. Wonder why this movie did not make a cut for Oscar...

Gandhi My Father (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-12-26T10:45:00.005-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Dharshan Jariwala, Akshaye Khanna, Bhumika Chawla, Shefali Shah
Director: Feroz Abbas Khan

The story is about the neglected son Harilal Gandhi (Akshaye) of M. K. Gandhi (Dharshan) better known as Bapu or the father of India. Harilal left with his family in India to fend for himself while his father and mother (Shefali) work in South Africa fighting inequality. Harilal gets married even before graduating from school or getting a job. Gandhi does not approve of it. Harilal later leaves his wife Gulab (Bhumika) to join his father in SA only to find that his father does not show any nepotism and at the same time does not encourage his son either. Harilal fights alongside his father but in the end tries to come back to India disowning his father.

His life goes through many downs and few ups...and the few ups also brought upon due to his getting influenced by wrong people. Every time he strays he comes back home to his
mothers comforting shoulder and a father who wants to help but is not sure how to. A father of the nation could not take care of his own son...such was the irony.

The reason I have given such low ranking for this critically acclaimed film is because of the fact that it is a little too slow and feels like forever. I was totally impressed with the acting aspect as well as the story but the movie could have had a better pace. There were a lot of things about Gandhi's life that was revealed here that I never knew before and it surely shows a different perspective on his life than what we have always been exposed to.

Movie can definitely be seen once though it does not boast of any entertainment value...a documentary of Harilal Gandhi's life at best.

Parzania (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-12-26T10:45:00.003-08:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Parzan, Sarika, Naseerudin Shah, Corin Nemec
Director:Rahul Dholakia
Music: Zakir Hussain

Millions of movies are made on riots. And then they dedicate it to the people who have suffered in them. Do the people who suffer in these riots really care to see their life made into a money making machine? Is a movie on how they suffered really going to help them in any way? I hate to see such movies and the ranking I have given is my personal opinion. As much as I love watching movies I don't like to see or hear people suffer however much it is a part of our generation. Plundering and rioting have always been happening and chronicling it over the past thousands of years has not changed the basic inhumanity in our human nature at times of instability then why make a movie out of it and generate income out of it? Somehow this seems like blood money to me.

The story focuses on Godhra riots in Gujrat and how people inside a Muslim community are affected from it. It narrows into the life of a Parsi family of four. The son is lost during the riots and the parents agony of searching for him.

The actors have done a good job and the movie is good too...but I did not want to hear graphic details and get scared. Certainly not one to watch with children.

Vivah (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-12-26T10:45:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Shahid Kapur, Amrita Rao, Aloknath, Seema Biswas, Anupam Kher
Director: Sooraj Barjathiya
Music: Ravindra Jain

So this movie is one of those safe movies that do not deter from the norm set by HAHK and DDLJ kind of movies. They are long, melodramatic, and no villain kind of movie...even if there are villains they become good soon...in all a sucky movie if you are not the Hindi soap opera kind of a person.

Amrita Rao is the neice of Aloknath (master of tears) who raises her alongside her daughter and feels more close to her which triggers jealousy in the mind of Seema Biswas who is concerned about the well being of their own daughter.

Aloknath's friend brings in an alliance from Anupam Kher for Amrita's hand in marriage to Shahid. It is love at first sight for both of them. The engagement is done and date for a wedding set.

The entire household of Aloknath and Anupam Kher decide to meet for a vacation at Somsarovar and they sing and dance together until they have to cut the vacation short and head back to town for a business deal. Shahid leaves abroad to score something magnificent in business and life is all great...

The night before wedding, Aloknath's house catches on fire and in an attempt to save her cousin Amrita is engulfed by fire. Thanks to something...god knows what, her face remains untouched. Shahid the gentleman that he is marries her in the hospital bed as promised on the day of the wedding...See I told you na...these people are suckers for sentimental stuff...

Anyway all's well that ends well in this movie that is a family entertainer, if your family is into boring movies...this can definitely take a miss if you have better things to do.

Dus Kahaniyan (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-12-26T10:44:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3/5

Now wondering why I have ranked the movie above average in spite of it bombing at the BO? Well there are some stories that are really interesting whereas a couple that are blah and a couple that are cliche. So reviewing all 10 stories in short form...

Matrimony
Cast: Arbaaz Khan, Mandira Bedi
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Interesting
Arbaaz and Madira have been married for quite a while with neither happy in the relationship. Mandira is cheating with her boyfriend who is in the army and is leaving back to his post. So he gifts her a diamond necklace that she is not sure how she would wear in front of her husband. So she plots with a jeweler to make a coupon out of it so that her husband can pick it up and thus make black into white. Her husband sure enough picks it up but Mandira is in for a shock when she heads out to pick it up from him!

High on the Highway
Cast: Masumeh, Jimmy Shergill
Director: Hansal Mehta
Verdict: Blah!
Two college graduates who are in love with each other have a habit of getting high and taking a walk along the highway. One such night after their graduation when they are walking down the road a bunch of goons try to kidnap Masumeh and succeed in spite of Jimmy putting up a fight...Masumeh gets helped by the cops but what happens to Jimmy???

Pooranmasi
Cast: Amrita Singh, Parmeet Sethi, Minisha Lambha
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Verdict: Good
Amrita's daughter Minisha has just been engaged and her father is out on business once again leaving the ladies alone. Amrita has led life without love mostly and on this particular day her daughter dons her mother with a colorful dupatta and comments on how pretty she looks. Amrita realizes that it is the night of full moon and that as her lover had promised would be waiting outside the door. For once she decides to open it and let her desire take over her. After spending the night with him in the fields she returns home while many villagers notice the colorful dupatta on her head and mistake her for her daughter...

Strangers in the night
Cast: Mahesh Manjrekar, Neha Dupia
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Good
Both Mahesh and Neha have the habit of discussing past distractions in their relationship on their anniversaries. Mahesh's forces Neha to tell about her experience and she does so with passion about the guy's whose hands she kissed and by whom she was so taken in a railway station's waiting room alone in the night and with whom she would have done anything...As we see Mahesh getting jealous Neha unravels the twist in the story!

Zahir
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Diya Mirza
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Cliche
Manoj moves into the same apartment as Diya Mirza and they become good friends. Zahir wants to take the relationship to another level but Diya shuns him away. He is ashamed. One night while spending a night with his friends visiting many bars in the town Manoj sees Diya who is a dancer in a dance bar. Angry Manoj rapes her without hearing her protests when she comes back home from work...

Lovedale
Cast: Neha Oberoi, Aftab, Anupam Kher
Director: Jasmeet Dhodi
Verdict: Bore
Neha meets a lady on the train on her way home where she was getting engaged. The lady gives her a earring and vanishes at the next station which happens to be Lovedale. Neha wanting to return the earring alights and follows the road to a house where Aftab is painting. They become acquainted. Aftab attends Neha's engagement and feels hurt. Neha is also unhappy and her father questions her doubt...Neha tells about Aftab and her father tells her his flashback about how he met a lady on the train to whom he had gifted one earring before the train left the station. Neha and her father compare the earrings and decide that her meeting Aftab was no coincidence and she breaks the engagement to join Aftab...

Sex on the Beach
Cast: Dino Morea, Tarina Patel
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Verdict: Extreme Bore
Dino picks up a book on the beach with the title Death and writes his name and date of birth as instructed and starts to read the book. A seductress steps out of a jet ski and sits down next to him and she invites him over to her house for dinner. Dino goes over well prepared with wine and condoms only to see the girl also very eager...but when Dino falls into a short sleep he wakes up to see her dead when he goes close to examine her she is actually alive and chases him to the beach...

Rice Plate
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Naseerudin Shah
Director: Rohit Roy
Verdict: Cliche
Shabana plays a staunch brahmin widow on her way to visit her grandchildren by train. In a hurry she forgets her wallet in her house and heads to the station. She orders a plate of rice in the station with the change she has and leaves her table to wash her hand. When she comes back she sees Shah eating it...Angry that Shah was stealing her plate Shabana forgets that Shah is a Muslim starts eating out the plate...

Gubbare
Cast: Nana Patekar, Anita Hassanandani, Rohit Roy
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Cliche
Anita and Rohit are newly wed on a bus who start a small quarrel and Anita moves away from Rohit to sit adjacent to Nana who is carrying 11 smiley baloons with him. On questioning he tells her how he has to present his wife with the balloons everytime he has angered her and how she bakes a cake if she angers him. He explains to her how life is too short to spent fighting...When getting down at the stop he forgets to take with him the sorry card that he had written for his wife. Anita follows him to give it to him...

Rise and Fall
Cast: Suniel Shetty, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Okay
Sanjay has been called by Suniel at a lonely place to have a last meeting. Suniel advices Sanjay to leave town and settle down while he can take care of business here. Sanjay realizes that his friend has invited him to murder him and challenges him...realizing his fall Suniel tries to call off the mission...in the background we see young Sanjay and Suniel trying to make it in the big bad world....

Satham Podadhey (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-11-27T16:14:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Prithviraj, Padmapriya, Nithin Sathya
Director: Vasanth
Music: Y.S. Raja

Vasanth has directed many brilliant movies and one of which I remember is Aasai and then Rhythm. His direction style is very different but captivating. Aasai was a sort of thriller and so is Satham Podadhey.

Bhanu (Padmapriya) is married to Rathnavel (Nithin) through arranged marriage. They lead a happily married life. Bhanu is eager to become a mother but to her dismay both she and her husband do not share any physical relationship. Rathnavel hides from his wife that he belongs to Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) and due to severe drinking problems has lost his potency as well as having been jailed for murdering a child. When Bhanu discovers the truth about his impotency she confronts him and agrees to continue living with him if he would choose to adopt a child.

Rathnavel high on ego fights with Bhanu and attempts a fake suicide and sends the child back to the orphanage. Bhanu later hears from Rathnavel's AA leader about his other problems and tries to escape from him but she gets physically abused. On escaping to her parents she files for divorce and moves in with her brother (Raghav) to experience a change of place.

There she meets Ravichandran a friend of Raghav who does many things to impress her and finally convinces her to marry him. They live very happily until Ravi meets Rathnavel in the train on their way to Cochin. Rathnavel now lives in Cochin working as a hockey coach in a school. On knowing Ravi's relationship to Bhanu, Rathnavel befriends Ravi and slowly tries to create trouble...

He then kidnaps Bhanu and locks her up in his house making her his prisoner. How Bhanu gets help and gets freed forms the rest of the movie.

The movie is well directed, gripping, with amazing performance from each of the character. A real pleasure to watch a movie with no gore and fights. Not a perfect watch on a romantic evening but any other time it will be a good entertainer.

Sawariyaa (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-11-27T16:13:00.002-08:00

Ranking: 1/5

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Salman K, Rani M
Director: SL Bhansali
Music: Monty Sharma

What a bore? A blue set with fake trains, fake water, bridges and two dimensional buildings calling itself a combination of Victorian as well as Saracen Architecture is absolutely a farce in the name of art.

I did not know how depressing the color blue can actually be made to look...Can you imagine a city filled with prostitutes but no clients? It is a deserted city with just a few inhabitants who go to the club. If they are not the club-goers then they are prostitutes. Yes that is how desolate the city is...

Anyhoo, Raj (Ranbir) is a lead singer in the local club called RK. He befriends a prostitute Gulabji (Rani) and lives in a house rented to him by an old lady. One day he sees a lone girl standing on a bridge and chooses to follow her and later befriend her. She is Sakina (Sonam) who lives with her blind mother with eternal supposed sadness in her eye with a hint of a smile on her lips (so the director and the actress themselves claimed in their interviews).

Raj falls in love with Sakina but when he professes his love for him she tells him about Imaan (Sallu) for whom she has been waiting for a year. And for whom she was waiting on the bridge and will continue to do so till he returns. Raj being adamant convinces her to fall in love with him...just when she is about to accept it...fate plays a cruel game...

The cruel game was fate making me watch this movie! Dang! I will never again commit such stupidity! This movie is slow, boring, presumptuous, dull, etc. etc. etc. I would not suggest even my worst enemy (not that I have any) to watch this movie!

Om Shanti Om (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-11-27T16:13:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal

Director: Farah Khan
Music: Vishal Shekar

Om (Shahrukh 1) is a small time extra trying to make it to the big league. His best friend Pappu Master (Shreyas) keeps encouraging Om and they both keep dreaming big all the time. Om's mother is an yester year extra who is also hoping for her son to make it big soon...But Om is in love with Shanti (Deepika) and hopes to one day marry her.

Om and Shanti work in the same movie and Om happens to save her from fire while the set catches on fire and no one dares to enter it to help her out. Shanti develops a soft corner for Om and they become friends. One day Om decides to talk to Shanti and follows her while she goes to get her make up done and finds out that Shanti is actually having an affair with Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal), a big name producer. He also over hears that she is pregnant and that Mukesh is not willing to take responsibility for it yet. Om is devastated.

Mukesh has other plans for Shanti who is pestering for commitment or exposure. He lures her for a fun evening and at the end of which he murders her. Om who also happens to be around is half-dead trying to save her life. In the end though Om meets a tragic death in a car accident. One Om dies in the hospital while another cries his way into the earth...A new child also named Om Kapur is born into the household of a wealthy well established actor...and here begins the story of deja vu and revenge...

The movie starts of as being a spoof, and then it slowly tries to get serious. It is as if the director wanted to do a spoof and half way through she wanted to be taken seriously and then ends abruptly with a very cliched ending which I am not sure is a spoof or not. The spoof parts of the movie are definitely funny. While the serious parts are a definite nag! The songs are good and well choreographed but the one with 31 actors is a bit too long and after sometime lost its lusture...at least for me. It is certainly a family entertainer and everyone will have a good laugh but it can get boring, especially if you are not a die hard Shahrukh fan.

Jab We Met (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-11-27T16:12:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapur
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Music: Pritam

Aditya Kashyap aka Adi (Shahid) is a rich kid from a broken family on whose shoulder the family business now rests on since his father passed away. Adi is frustrated with his life as his girlfriend dumps him and his mother is filing a law suit against the company that he decides to commit suicide and starts wandering aimlessly. No idea of where is going or what he wants to do he gets onto a train bound to Batinda. As luck would have it he bumps into the talkative and over friendly Geet (Kareena) who bails him out from the ticket collector and chats him up.

Adi alights the train in the middle of nowhere and Geet follows him to get him back on...in the event both of them miss the train and now Geet tells Adi that it is his responsibility to drop her off at her parents house and Adi takes up the journey. He is also captivated by her open kindheartedness, friendliness, talkative nature. Adi on taking Geet to her house agrees to spend a few days with her family and learns that Geet is getting engaged to her family friend's son. But Geet has other plans and wants to elope and marry her boyfriend who lives in Kulu. Adi agrees to take her to Kulu before heading back to Mumbai to take care of his family business.

On returning back to Mumbai and becoming successful at his business with Geet's inspiration Adi meets Geet's parents who are at his doorstep wondering where Geet is. It is then that Adi realizes that something is wrong with Geet and decides to go back to Kulu to check and see if everything is okay...and the story continues to end blissfully...

It is definitely a family entertainer and is funny in most parts. Both Shahid as well as Kareena have done an amazing job portraying their characters in the movie. It is really fun to watch Kareena jibber jabber throughout the movie...and Shahid's composed reponse to her. Good watch and certainly not boring though you know from the very beginning how this movie is going to end!

Chain Kuli Ki Main Kuli (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-08-28T10:56:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Rahul Bose, Zain Khan
Director: Kittu Salooja

It is a fairy tale...one of those dream come true plots and certainly leaves you with a very good after taste. The story revolves around Karan (Zain) who is an orphan living in an orphanage run by a very mean and shrewd man. Karan is an ardent Kapil Dev fan and gets all his information from one of the supervisors in his orphanage. Karan himself has never met Kapil or even played much cricket himself.

One day when the orphanage receives a donation package in which Karan finds a cricket bat with the inscription KD1986 which he assumes belonged to Kapil Dev and was used in the 1986 world cup that India had won...He believes that it is his magic bat...but just as all good things need to have a bad counterpart, there is another boy in the orphanage who hates Karan and is hell bent upon stealing his bat and hurting Karan.

On the Indian cricket front the team is not performing well at all and is on a loosing streak. The team coach on his way home gets his car glass smashed by a ball hit by Karan with his magic bat. Surprised that Karan actually hit such a high shot the coach investigates and to his joy finds that Karan can take on any bowler with his magic bat. Karan is added to the Indian team and finds himself rooming with the captain of the team Varun (Rahul Bose).

Now Varun looks at Karan as a pest and tries to keep himself away from Karan as much as possible...but as days go by Varun and Karan solidify a bond...and the rest of the movie is about Karan loosing his bat to his nemesis and the bond formed between Varun and Karan, and how Karan helps Varun overcome his family problems...

A very simple story with beautiful narration where the magic behind the bat is just a metaphor. Amazing performances by all the central characters and there is not an overdose of drama. This movie is totally worth watching at least once. Wonder why the Indian audience do not give off beat films like these a chance!

Partner (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-08-17T14:29:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Salman, Govinda, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta
Director: David Dhawan
Music: Sajid-Wajid

This movie is a scene-by-scene copy of the English movie Hitch! If you have seen Hitch then there is a good chance that you might not enjoy it. Also I guess you need to be in the silly mood to like this movie or laugh at any of the jokes in the movie...because me, and all my friends who were at the theater found the movie nothing but annoying while a there were a whole bunch of people who got good laughs from it...I enjoy good jokes but somehow felt that this movie was trying really hard to get laughs out of you and Govinda was a tad too loud and somethings were just annoying!

Prem (Sallu) is a love consultant...if you like someone and you are not sure how to approach the person then Prem will be the one to help you...Bhasker (Govinda) hears about Prem and approaches him to get help in his relationship department as he wants to score points with Priya (Katrina) who owns the company he works in.

Prem decides that Bhasker is aiming too high and starts to avoid him but Bhasker becomes a pest and literally starts living in with Prem. Prem under compulsion starts helping out Bhasker and also finds a love for himself in Naina (Lara).

The movie ends abruptly after meandering through boring dialogues and sentiments once Prem and Naina are united and Bhasker and Priya are also united in matrimony...

Seriously you need to either be drunk, or have tremendous patience, or be in plain silly mood to enjoy this flick...but the music is really foot tapping and the songs are good in parties...I will definitely recommend you to watch this movie if you have absolutely nothing better to do...

Desamuduru (2007) - Telugu Movie Review

2007-08-17T14:27:00.002-07:00

Ranking: 2.75/5

Cast: Allu Arjun, Hansika Motwani
Director: Puri Jagannath
Music: Chakri

First all the good things...beautiful camera work! This film is shot in some of the most beautiful parts of our country...Allu Arjun's toned up physique has to be complimented...he looks really good and has done a good job in the acting arena as well. The music is also good and does not force you to forward the film...

With that said, things I felt could have been done better...the sets...the cave sets looked plastic...
the art director could have worked a bit to make it look more natural. Hansika Motwani looks so much like Bhoomika Chawla and her acting skills are not even worth mentioning. The supposedly Tamil goons Tamil accent is so bad that I am sure Tamilians will take offense for killing their mother tongue. Allu Arjun could do with some voice modulation lessons as he sounds like a girl in many scenes...with a body like that his voice seems like a misfit.

The story is about a young pampered media reporter who gets tugged into a fight with a local warlord. Bala Govinda (Allu Arjun) beats up the son of local goon in public while shooting a undercover video. The goon's son is hurt very badly and the goon is looking for Bala Govinda for revenge. To ensure the safety of Govinda his dad (who is also his boss at work) sends his son of to work on a travel documentary project in the hills of himalaya's.

Govinda playful as he is bumps into a group of sanyasin's and falls in love with Vaishali (Hansika). Unable to get her off his mind he follows her until she professes her love for him and gets released from the Ashram to return to Hyderabad with Govinda...but on his way out he realizes that the same gang of goons who are behind him are also behind Vaishali and Vaishali gets kidnapped by them...

Govinda discovers the truth behind Vaishali's past and also fights to get her back from the goons which forms the later part of the story.

Would I strongly recommend this movie? Nope...but can certainly tell you that you can see it once as an entertainer.

Chak De! India (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-08-17T14:27:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 3.75/5

Cast: SRK
Director: Shimit Amin
Music: Salim and Sulaiman Merchant

There are so many western movies that have made it big in America. There is a movie like this for every sport and every competitive event...typically the team or person will not be good enough to do anything but then with adequate training and motivational dialogues they will surprise the world with their achievement. Chak De India! also follows the same route without digressing one bit.

The story is about Kabir Khan (SRK) a dethroned captain of erstwhile Indian Hockey team that lost to Pakistan during world cup finals. Kabir not only gets shunned for his decision to take the penalty goal himself but is also alleged to have let Pakistan take the cup home thus giving him the title of a traitor.

Shying away from his life Kabir moves out of his home and hometown only to come back to Delhi wanting to coach the miserably failing Indian women's hockey team. He is confident that he can absolve himself from the past in which he was wrongly accused. With lot of reluctance the selection committee accepts his employment and Kabir is on the ground waiting for the team to come in.

The taskmaster that he is Kabir starts out by trying to nationally integrate the team and train them day and night for the World Cup in Australia. He makes a lot of enemies inside the team and also within the selection committee...but the story ends showing us how he overcomes all the hurdles and difficulties that he is posed with.

It is certainly a run of the mill story but not one bit boring. SRK's histrionics in the movie without him spreading his hands and falling to the ground singing romantic songs can be well appreciated. He keeps you convinced about his conviction and all the hockey match sequences are really well charted out and interesting. Not as gripping as Lagaan but definitely worth watching it once. The sketches of various team members are also portrayed very efficiently without taking too much time off the main plot.

I saw the movie on a "buy one ticket and get one free day" and saved $5...and if you can do that then the movie is totally worth it...it really does not require a wide screen...but a must watch...

Kireedom (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-08-17T10:36:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Ajith Kumar, Trisha, Raj Kiran, Vivek
Director: A L Vijay
Music: G V Prakash

I remember seeing a movie like this one a few years ago...I don't remember the name of the movie...but it was similar at least in theory. I guess the only thing it did not have was a "star" in the leading role. This movie would probably not have seen the daylight had Ajith not acted in it.

The story is about Shakthivel (Ajith), a carefree but respectful youth who's aim is to become an SI. He is the son of Rajarajan (Raj Kiran), an honest police head constable who is waiting for redemption the day his son becomes a part of the Indian police force. Shakthi and his family live in Trichy and he spends most of his time with friends and having fun in the city. During one such escapade he meets Divya (Trisha) with whom he eventually falls in love.

As things always go smoothly in the first half, Shakthi gets called for an interview and gets selected to go for a personal interview in Chennai for the same. Both Divya's and Shakthi's parents are also excited about their alliance and everything is moving smoothly until Rajarajan messes things up. His diligence gets him in trouble with some local politicians who get him transferred to a very crime filled city.

The entire family moves down and once again Rajarajan's uprightness lands him trouble. He tries to fight singlehandedly with some local goonda's who get angry with him and are ready to kill him until Shakthi sees it and jumps in to save his father's life while hurting the rowdy group real bad. Now it is revenge time but Shakthi has the support from Rajarajan's boss who has been trying to get the rowdy's behind bars or at least punished...

Shakthi's fight with the rowdies make him very famous in the city and his brother in law (Vivek) starts taking advantage of it without Shakthi's knowledge. Shakthi also gets involved in many small fights owing to his friends and other circumstances. The police inspector helping Shakthi misunderstands him and reprimand's Shakthi...Shakthi's job as a cop is under scrutiny and the future of his life is also in a limbo...What happens next? watch the movie!

The movie is very simple...Trisha comes promptly for some songs and dances and nothing else. Vivek's comedy was hardly even funny. Raj Kiran has done the father role well once again after Thavamai Thavamirundhu...I am sure father roles (as that is the only thing he can play at this age and with that face) is something he can get a doctorate for. Saranya as Ajith's mother is so stereotypical...from her days in Nayagan till date her acting prowess has not improved nor has it changed. She is so blah and can cry so easily...B O R I N G...

Ajith looks good...and young and for a change he actually looks fresh. He can still act and he really does not do too much of his "star" stuff other than a few occasional mention of "Thalai" here and there...wonder why he has to do it.

I cannot write much about the music as I forwarded most of it and the direction has nothing special to mention about at all. If you are free and want to watch a movie filled with fights/cries/and melodrama this will be a good choice.

Adavari Mataluke Arthale Verule (2007) - Telugu Movie Review

2007-07-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Venkatesh, Trisha, Kota, Srikanth, K Vishwanath
Director: Selvaraghavan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

This is a typical Telugu family movie in which you know how the movie is going to end right from the start. It can definitely be viewed with family and is a mild entertainer. The clean nature of the movie and very minimal violence clubbed with some decent comedy and loaded with sentiment makes this movie a complete Indian movie.

Ganesh (Venkatesh), is a programmer by profession but is unable to secure a job for a very long time. He has no luck with interviews or exams as he has fear of taking exams and keeps failing one after another. His father (Kota) has decided that his son is useless and has resigned to taking care of him till he breathes his last...while Ganesh roams the city with his friends (Sunil and Srikanth)

But things change when Ganesh sees Kirthi (Trisha) for the first time. It so happens that she is also the exam invigilator and she motivates him to perform better and also speak in Group Discussions. But after securing employment Ganesh notices that Kirthi is not friendly towards him at all. So he tries his best to befriend her. They both travel to Australia together on a project and there he also proposes to her. Which she quickly rejects and they both come back to India with Ganesh carrying with him a broken heart.

Ganesh vents to his father who in turn decides to go and talk to Kirthi himself gets insulted by Kirthi in public. Next day Ganesh finds that his father had died of a broken heart. Ganesh decides to forget Kirthi and go with his friend Srikanth to his village for a short vacation to give himself a change of place. Srikanth is going back with his fiance, whom Ganesh has never met to get married with his entire family's blessing.

Ganesh, to his surprise and shocks finds out that Srikanth's fiance is none other than Kirthi and he has to spend the next few days in her presence. Kirthi also goes through similar emotions. Srikanth has a huge doting family and soon Ganesh blends into it. He manages to win the love of everyone but the grandfather and towards the end he does that too...

But Kirthi soon realizes that she is in love with Ganesh and wants to marry him. Will they go against her family? Will Ganesh hurt his friend and the new found family? What happens? Have you seen DDLJ? Well, then you know how such movies usually end!

To Venkatesh acting in such roles are a piece of cake. He has been there and done that several times. Trisha seems to have done better than before this time though I always feel that she is a bit of an overactor. Srikanth, once upon a time, a hero in South is now doing supporting roles but he has performed well in this movie. The rest of the huge family is just a load of emotions and overacting. Did annoy me a couple of times but overall such movies always get only so much out of actors.

Sivaji - The Boss (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-06-17T10:53:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Rajinikanth, Shriya, Vivek, Manivanan, Vadivukarasi, Suman
Director: Shankar
Music: A.R. Rehman
Produced by: AVM - 60 years of Entertainment

After a long wait Rajini's lastest released on 15th of June giving hope to all Rajini fans that another might also come along. After the disaster of Baba Rajini picked himself and got back on the top circuit once again with a Super Duper Hit - Chandramukhi and then followed it by pairing with Shankar for the very first time to create Sivaji-The Boss. And if you have any doubts about this movie becoming another block buster then rest your fears as it might even surpass Chandramukhi's raking.

Shankar as a director has definitely ran out of steam. His story is stale and the dialogues in the movie also sound like you have heard them before and indeed you have. If he tries and does anything different his movie flops so I guess he is sticking to his original formula and it is getting a little too boring. The only credit I will give Shankar is his creativity in comedy situations and the Rajini look that has been revived and the various style opportunities he created in the movie for us to cheer the thalaivar.

The real show stealer in the movie though undoubtedly is Vivek. His punch lines, one liners, comic timing are all one of the major features in the movie that keep it moving at a fast pace. Vivek deserves the applause and Rajini deserves more for letting Vivek share so much of the screen with absolutely no ego whatsoever.

Rajini movies are always a pleasure to be seen in a theater with the right atmosphere. A typical Rajini movie atmosphere starts with screeming, yodelling, whistling, throwing paper confetti and cash around in the theater. Too bad for the theater people but that is fine considering we get charged twice to watch a Rajini movie than any other film.

The minute the doors were opened to let us in the screaming and celebrations began. As we sat down and waited for the movie to start, catcalls and all the screaming continued from all corners of the theater. The trailer for Sulthan started and the theater was messy once again filled with paper flying around everywhere in the theater. And need I say how the first half hour of the movie progressed? I missed out on most of the dialogues and literally just watched the movie and hardly heard anything...

Anyway, the story starts with Rajini being led to jail in a hood and then he continues to tell his flashback story to a fellow jail inmante...Sivaji (Rajini) an NRI with a software background returns to Chennai to do something for the poor and underpriviledged. His aim for quite sometime in his life has been to start a free university, a hospital, and other such institutions to help reduce poverty in the country. He is ready to spend all his life savings to do so. In his first few days he learns that it is not going to be easy to deal with the politicians and the government officials and money was the only thing that got work done. Gritting his teeth he spends money to get his project on the ground and he does so making enemies with Adi (Suman). Adi himself is a goon turned owner of various colleges and hospitals in Chennai and fears a free competition from Sivaji might ruin his future and tries to hurdle all progress for Sivaji.

In the meanwhile Sivaji meets his love in Thamizhselvi (Shriya) and proceeds to convince her and her family to accept him as their bridegroom. Many comical situations arise through this alliance and it is a funny courtship for sure. Thanks to Vivek's presence too.

Does Rajini over come his difficulties and how does he tackle with Adi forms the second half of the movie. The first half of the movie is funny, witty, and fast paced while the second half of the movies shows the making of Rajini becoming the Boss to wreak vengence over Adi and his group of goons. This is where the movie gets a little Shankar stereotypical although Rajini has done his fair share to revive it a little bit.

The different get ups and make up one watches Rajini in this movie revives memories from past when Rajini played Billa, Ranga and such roles till date. There is a fair Rajini, a dark Rajini, a bald Rajini, to a Rajini looking like Sivaji, MGR and even Kamal Hassan in the movie.

Now lets talk about the music, my favorite song was Sahana, Balleilaka, and Vaji Vaji. Other than these three the rest of them were okay. Since I had heard that Shankar had spent some obscene amount of money to shoot these songs I thought that they might be something different but Balleilaka reminded me of Andankaka from Anniyan and both Vaji Vaji and Sahana reminded me of Anbe Anbe from Jeans. Like I mentioned before Shankar is running out of ideas and he is spending money on expensive but cheap looking sets. I am glad that he did not spend a lot of money on cheap graphics like he did in Anniyan.

The movie is a treat for Rajini fans but if you try to get some logic out of it or some reasoning I would really leave that part of your brain back home before leaving to the threater. A sure family entertainment and is bound to keep kids entertained too. But a few scenes towards the end of the movie during the fight scenes are a little too lound and unnecesarily long.

Enjoy Sivaji as it might be one of the last few movies that Rajini will be making. Sivaji-The Boss is a thorough entertainer...and for all all Rajini fans it is a must watch.

Parattai Engira Azhagusundaram (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-06-12T19:56:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Dhanush, Meera Jasmine, Archana, Nazar
Director: Suresh Krishna
Music: Gurukiran

This is a real miserable, boring and sad story. What was the purpose or idea behind making this movie? Entertainment? I don't think so. Education? No way...Then what is the real purpose of this movie? To give everyone watching it a head ache. Ya that's it. I don't see any other point in making this violent movie. Sometimes filmmakers get carried away trying to make realistic movies.

The story is about Azhagusundaram (Dhanush), a village lad who moves to Chennai to earn some money without informing his recently widowed mother (Archana). Azhagusundaram and his parents are really close and loosing his father suddenly comes as a blow to him and his mother.

His mother also soon followes Azhagu to Chennai but with no information regarding his whereabouts. She comes in contact with Shwetha (Meera Jasmine) a journalism student. Shwetha takes care of Azhagu's mother and tries to help locate Azhagu in the big city of Chennai.

In the meanwhile Azhagu has been rechristened as Paratai and has secured a job with Khader Bhai (Nazar), a small tea shop owner. After Paratai saves enough money he plans to return to his village to meet his mother but on that fateful day he lands up murdering a local goon after being provoked to do so. Paratai gets arrested and comes out on bail. He tries to resume his normal life but goons from all over the city are either trying to hunt him down or try and make him a part of their gang.

Paratai also hears from the village postman that his mother is in Chennai looking for him. So Paratai begins his hunt for her too...Do the loving mom and son meet? What happens of Paratai forms the rest of the story.

Like I said in the beginning, if you don't have to then taking a miss on this one might not be a bad idea unless you are a die hard fan of Dhanush.

Mayabazaar (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

2007-06-12T19:53:00.004-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Raja, Bhoomika Chawla, SPB
Director: Mohanakrishna Indraganti
Music: KM Radhakrishna

Raja, a do-gooder to the society is challenged with poverty from his very childhood days. He vows to become rich to help the poor and under privileged in the society. Raja grows up to become a car driver for a rich man with a kind heart. But Raja gets nothing for free. While at work dropping off his boss at the airport Raja meets a little girl who has been abandoned by her father. He adopts her as his own and together with his friend and roommate, Raja raises the girl. As fate would have it, the girl is inflicted with a deadly disease which if not treated on time may become terminal. For this he needs money and he tries his best to secure it.

Upon insistence from the girl Raja takes a trip to Tirupathi where he has a divine encounter with none other than Kubera, the lord of wealth. As the myth goes, Kubera after having given a lot of money to Venkatachalapathi to help in his wedding is still collecting the interest from the lord and travels back and forth from heaven every week carrying the load of the money on his shoulders. To get rid of this burden Kubera has to help a mortal with daily work till the demise of the person he chooses. He should also be careful to choose the best of the best mortal to help for. Obviously our hero Raja fit the bill in all the categories and he gets a visit from Kubera while he is standing complaining to God about not getting any help for the little girl.

Loaded with cash Raja gets the girl’s health taken care of first and then starts a small business which becomes a big hit and in turn he starts raking money that he spends for all the right reasons. At first Kubera is ok with the turn of events but later he gets bored doing the daily chores for Raja’s household. The only way he can end the misery would to be to ask Raja for his life in return for the favor he received from Kubera and Kubera does just that…what happens next? See the movie for an ending filled with more mythological characters.

Ofcourse there is a heroine in this movie…Bhoomika Chawla, she plays Raja’s love interest that follows him around videotaping all his good deeds and eventually joins Raja’s company as his personal secretary only to eventually fall in love with him and create the extra bit of drama.

The story is simple, it is actually not even a great movie but its clean and clear presentation makes it watchable. Of course, I like Raja which might bias my opinion, nevertheless it is good to watch when you are craving for a feel good movie. Everyone has done their role well though the directing techniques seem a bit archaic and the music is certainly forgetful. Let me know if you have seen this movie and think otherwise.

Periyar (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-06-12T19:53:00.003-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Sathyaraj, Kusboo, Jyothirmayi
Director: Gnanarajasekaran
Music: Vidyasagar

The movie is a biography on the life of Dravida Kazhagam's founder and leader E V Ramaswamy (Naicker) aka Periyar and his impact on India we have today.

Sathyaraj has acted as a villain, a hero, a comedian, and a few serious roles but this one surely stands apart as he dons the role of Periyar. When you look at him you think you are looking at the real Periyar. The makeup, body language and his acting skills convince you so.

Periyar fought to banish caste system in India. He worked hard and joined politics hoping it will help eradicate the main problem that dominated (and continues to dominate) India. But all his hopes were turned down when he realized that most politicians enjoyed the privileges that caste system provided them with.

Disheartened he started his own political party in South called DK and began his own political propaganda against caste system. He was the first to fight for reservation for the lower caste people. He disowned his religion and got rid of his caste name which was a part of his name and had many others do so too.

On the whole he was a very powerful and moving person with a independent reasoning that thought for the benefit of others in the society. A selfless person who lived and died never holding or competing for any political power...

A brilliant chronicle of his life and a must watch. It will surely make you learn a few things about your country that you did not know before. The music is suited to the era and has powerful messages in them.

Notes: Caste has always been an issue in India. By fighting and providing reservation did we really eradicate the caste issues?

Cheeni Kum (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-06-12T19:53:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Amitabh, Tabu, Paresh Rawal
Director: Balkrishnan
Music: Illayaraja

The trailer pretty much gives the entire premise of this movie. It is about a 64 year old man falling in love with a 34 year old lady and the opposition the lady receives from her dad who is only 60.

Amitabh plays Buddadeb Gupta a Chef and owner of a popular Indian restaurant in London. He prides himself on the culinary excellence his restaurant has maintained over the years and gets offended when one of his customers returns a plate of food as it did not taste authentic. Budha storms out and unforgivingly yells at Nina (Tabu) who promptly leaves the premises. Later on when Buddha checks with his chefs he realizes that a mistake has been made. His ego does not allow him to directly apologize to her but instead they become friends on his insistence. Nina is on vacation to London to visit her friend and she happens to live close to Budha's restaurant.

With loads of corny and cheesy dialogues written to evoke laughter their romance carries on without a name for a long time till they both realize what they have for each other. At the same time Nina gets a call that her father in India is sick and she has to get back immediately. Nina leaves and of course Budha follows her to India.

In India Budha faces his biggest hurdle of convincing Nina's dad Omprakash (Paresh Rawal). Om does not imagine Budha to be the boyfriend of her daughter and talks to him like someone of his same age until one day it is revealed. Of course you know what happens next...

The music by Illayaraja though rehashed from his previous hits in South is still refreshing to hear in the movie. The direction is smooth and simple but could have been done without the character of Sexy, Budha neighbor's daughter who is suffering from a terminal illness. Such kids maybe cute but they DO NOT act as a catalyst in the movie.

The first half of the movie is fast paced and quick witted too but the minute Paresh Rawal's character is introduced the pace of the movie slows down to a drag. The age jokes get a little boring after the first few are thrown at you and the Gandhian principles are not very well used in this movie either.

You can definitely watch the movie once if you are a sucker for romance/romantic movie else you can safely take a miss on this one.

Bheja Fry (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-05-29T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sarika, Ranvir Shorey, Milind Soman
Director: Sagar Ballary

A brilliant movie, tight script, flowing screenplay, interesting story, and brilliant acting makes Bheja Fry a must watch movie this summer. All the actors in this movie are not mainline actors but their performance can put the best of best to shame. And so moving on with the story...

Ranjeet Thadani (Rajat) is a music producer married to Sheetal (Sarika) a singer. Ranjeet and his friends get together every Friday for a party. This is a different kind of party where they invite a talent who is not so talented and ridicule them behind the scenes. They enjoying doing it so much that they even don't mind missing out on family appointments.

One of Ranjeet's friend meets Bharat Bhushan (Vinay) on a trip to Pune and decides that he could probably be a source of entertainment for Ranjeet. Ranjeet promptly calls Bharat and invites him for dinner.

Bharat is a talkative self promoting singer who carries with him a scrap book showcasing his musical life. He is excited at the prospect of meeting a music producer which might help advance his career as a singer. Bharat has heart that wants to help everyone but also has the ability to mess things up for people around him. He can be annoying for the person who is sitting next to him but make it a funny experience for the rest watching him.

Friday arrives but Ranjeet's back is sprained badly and is restricted from moving around. Ranjeet knows that he will not be able to make it to the party but still decides to meet with Bharat to see how good or rather bad he is.

The minute Bharat steps into Ranjeet's house, Ranjeet's life cascades into a series of confusion and tension which forms the crux of the story.

Chennai 600028 (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-05-22T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.75/5

Director: Venkat Prabhu

Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Cast and Corresponding Character in the Movie

Prassanna - Shanmugham - Software Engineer

Ranjith - Imran, a Gym body

Vijay - Gopi - Mechanic (Guy with the Bat)

Premji Amaran - Seenu,owner of the department store(Family Business)

Aravindh Aakash - Aravindh - He works at a coffee shop

Shiva (Radio Mirchi RJ) - Karthick - Team captain & brother of local head

Jai - Raghu - Moves from Rockers to Sharks.

Nithin Sathya - Pazhani - Captain in the final - (brother of Selvi)

Ajay Raj - Ezhumazhai - Ambulance driver,owns 2 ambulances

Arun - Uday - Gets into fights for nothing at all

Karthick - Arivu - A College going student

Christine - Shwetha - Aravindh's Girl Friend

Vijayalakshmi - Selvi - Pazhani's sister and Karthik's girl friend

Ilavarasu - Manohar - Sharks team's manager,owns a saloon

Sampath - Guna - Karthik's brother,the area's head

Story

The movie is about two small local cricket leagues that comepete against each other in local matches and consider each other as sworn enemies. Royapuram Rockers are on top of the chain and keep bashing Sharks year after year. The heroes of the movie are the Sharks team. This movie has cricket as the central theme but that is not all the movie has to offer. It is a story of love, betrayal, friendship, and victory.

The story begins when Raghu's parents move from Royapuram to Chennai 600 028. Raghu, a college student living with his parents has no choice but to move with them although he detests the choice. He is not very excited at the prospect of living in the same area as his sworn enemies. Raghu is faithful to his old team Rockers but his team mates ignore him because of the distance. Angered at being replaced by a new guy in the team Raghu estranges himself from cricket and Rockers. As days go by he makes friends with a few Sharks team players and eventually gets induced into the team. Raghu practices with Sharks to play against Rockers in the upcoming Radio Mirchi trophy.

Raghu is the reason for Pazhani's sister Selvi and Karthick falling in love. Pazhani is disappointed that his friend would fall in love with his sister and that Raghu was the middle man for the union. The team splits up for a while. But Karthick apologises to Pazhani and they make up. The team is united again and they start practicing for the trophy once again. Unfortunately, Karthick gets stabbed by his brother's enemies and is rendered unfit to play the match. Pazhani replaces Karthick as the captain and the team heads for the match.

Under tight pressure and with a nail biting finish Sharks finally defeat Rockers in the semi-finals of the tournament. Every bit of the cricket tournament portrayed here is done so in a very light and entertaining manner. It is far from boring.

In the finals they meet their nemesis, a bunch of school kids who practice by cutting school classes to play cricket in the beach. The kids are really good and the Sharks know it because they have lost to them once before and that too very badly...the movie ends with the team really struggling to keep it up in the game.

All loose ends are tied up and the end is also funny and has a positive note.

It is a humorous representation of life in an average girl or boy's life in Chennai. Although no one in this movie is an established actor the performance of the all the fresh faces are commendable. It is a fresh story and a clean story that is enjoyable from start to finish.

SPB Charan has done a great job in Chennai 600028 compared to Mazhai. Venkat Prabhu has become a famous director in the film industry because of this galli-cricket movie.Premji Amaran has also done a good job in both comedy and the bacground score. Yuvan's foot-tapping music has a great craze on the youngsters. The lyrics by Gangai Amaran and Vali have also got some fame.

Songs

Jalsa: Ranjith,Tippu,Premji Amaran,Haricharan,Karthik

Ulla Vaa :DJ Saathiya,Silverstar,Yuvan Shankar Raja

Oh Oh Ennanamo:Anushkaa

Natpukkalae:Yuvan Shankar Raja

Saroja Saman Nikalo :Shankar Mahadevan,Premji Amaren

Un Parvai:Vijay Yesudas

Yaaro:SPB,K.S.Chitra

Yaaro:SPB Charan,Venkat Prabhu

Jalsa (Remix):Sabesh,Gana Ulaganathan,Gana Pazhani,Karunaas,Premji Amaren

Life In A Metro (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-05-17T10:47:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Shilpa Shetty, Kay Kay Menon, Kangana Ranaut, Sharmaan Joshi, Shiney Ahuja, Konkona Sen Sharma, Irfan Khan, Nafisa Ali, Dharmendar
Director: Anurag Basu
Music: Pritam

The story depicts how our lives in metro cities are changing with the advent of Call center jobs and busy lifestyles. It is a brilliant depiction of busy life mingled with adultery, friendship, love, lust, and so on...a really well directed venture with a tight screenplay that keeps the pace of movie fast throughout.

Shikha (Shilpa) and Ranjith (Kay Kay) have been married for nine years with a daughter and they have lost of the love they once shared because of their busy lifestyles. They are always at loggerheads with each other and rarely agree on anything.

Rahul (Sharmaan) works in a call center during night and lives in his uncle's well furnished apartment. To climb the corporate ladder quickly he lets out his apartment to his bosses to carry on with their illicit affairs. Rahul has his eye set for Neha (Kangana) who works in the same office and he is crazily in love with her.

Neha on the other hand has an affair with her already married boss Ranjith. Ranjith promotes Rahul to become a Junior Manager while he uses the apartment to spend time with Neha. Rahul has no idea that his boss is sleeping with the girl of his dreams.

Neha and Shruthi (Konkona) are roomates. Shruthi is Shikha's sister. Shruthi goes through the arranged marriage system of meeting men and rejecting them. She meets Monty and rejects him instantly because she catches him checking out her bossom. Shruthi who works for Radio Mirchi likes Vishey K, the host of one of her shows. Her boss sets her up with Vishey and she also meets his parents and things are going well between them...until one day she finds Vishey and her boss in bed together.

Shikha visits her dance teacher Amma (Nafisa) every Saturday at the old age home. Shikha meets Aakash (Shiney) there and they both bond and share a good relationship which borders on love.

Amma also has her story...Anmol (Dharmendar), Amma's love from past comes back to live with her because his days are numbered and he wants to spend it with his true love. This is the only corny part in the story.

Now that I have given a brief introduction to everyone's life story...the rest of the movie develops into how all of them come close into affecting each other's life and how they solve their problems or work around it.

Must watch this one...all I can say is that this movie handled the subject of adultery, sex, lust, love, etc, much better than any of Karan Johar's movie ever did.

Mozhi (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-05-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4.5/5

Cast: Prithviraj, Jyothika, Prakash Raj, Swarnamalya, Brahmanandam
Director: Radha Mohan
Music: Vidyasagar

A brilliant story. Must watch! Great casting, music, acting, directing, screenplay, etc. A fresh movie after a long time in Tamil. I am glad that it might be made in Hindi too...

Karthik (Prithviraj) and Viji (Prakash Raj) are good friends working in the music industry as keyboard players. Both of them are single. Karthik believes in love at first sight when the lights will go on, the bells will ring, so on and so forth...and true to it he falls in love with Jyothika the very first time he sees her. And to his luck she lives in the same apartment complex where Karthik just moved into.

When he finally gets to talk to her he realizes that she is deaf and mute. Karthik does not see it and he knows that he will be in love with her regardless of her disabilities. With the help of her friend Sheela, Karthik learns sign language and does everything guys do to impress girls. Finally he expresses his love for her which gets rejected...

The rest of the story narrates how he wins her back...Prakash Raj and Swarnamalya also play a very important role in the movie. Actually, there is no character in the movie that is useless. Everyone is there for a reason and the comic narrative style of the movie is a highlight. Even the sad moments are not totally sad but have a degree of humor in them.

If you have not seen this one yet...then you are loosing out on one of Tamil industry's gems.

Shaka Laka Boom Boom (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-04-27T08:14:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 1.5/5

Cast: Bobby Deol, Upen Patel, Kangana Ranaut, Celina Jaitley
Director: Suneel Darshan
Music: Himesh Reshamiyya

Bobby Deol is a music director who lives in New York and has established himself with five consecutive hits all over the world. His music guru lives with him and he has a mentor in his music producer. The wife of the producer has an eye on Bobby and keeps throwing lustful hints around him all the time. While Bobby himself is in love with Kangana, a dancer. Celina is Bobby's friend and has a boy friend (Upen) in India who is a small time singer, composer and dancer trying to make it big.

Upen with the help of Celina makes it to NY and also makes it into the studio of Bobby whom he insults with no holds barred. Bobby knows that Upen is talented and is not very excited about his company thinking about signing a deal with him. He does everything in his power to break it off. To further irritate Bobby, Upen also steals Bobby's dream girl Kangana leaving both Bobby and Celina thirsting for revenge.

Is revenge really as sweet? Do you really want to know? I personally don't want anyone to go through the trouble of sitting through this boring venture...but if you choose to...do not blame me. The movie is not worth watching for so many reasons:

1) Bobby's acting. He should considering retiring from doing lead roles.
2) Upen is annoying and cannot act to save his life.
3) Himesh's music is repetitive and has nothing new to offer...B.O.R.I.N.G. Everytime a song pops up we are searching for the remote.
4) Story? What story? Where is it?
5) Screenplay sucks.

And if you find more...do feel free to add it on...

Stalin (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

2007-04-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Chiranjeevi, Trisha, Kushboo, Prakash Raj, Sharadha Urvasi
Director: A. R. Murugadoss
Music: Mani Sharma

Stalin, a role played by Chiru brings nothing in the form of story/direction/screenplay or action. It is the same old story of good vs. evil where the hero is invincible. Well what do you expect? It is a Chiru movie...

Stalin lives with his widowed mom and a couple of friends who hang around his house all the time. His sister Kushboo lives with her Punjabi husband and son in the same building as the heroine Trisha. Stalin's mom and sister are not in talking terms as she married out of religion and region, but Stalin keeps the family glued together.

Stalin apart from beating goos up also does a lot of social service. In the same line he starts a plan where he would ask everyone he helps not to thank him but to help three other people like he did. This way the goodness and helpful nature of people will spread. But to his dismay he notices that none of the people he helped are following his request.

Enter villain (Riaz Khan)...trying to be mean to some one in the street and Stalin bashes him up. Riaz being the son of a powerful minister Prakash Raj goes and whines to his daddy. His dad then takes it up as an insult and the tug-of-war starts between Stalin and Prakash's family where Riaz looses his life...and so many more drama situations take place...in the end the hero winning...of course all the people he helped also help three other people to show that the system worked...ya right!

All in all, a very average movie. Could have been done better by making it simple instead of making Chiru the larger than life image...uprooting trees and all that...What BS?!! I wish we could stop showing such nonsense in Indian movies all together...be it a Chiru movie or a Rajni movie.

There was a heroine in this movie...and somehow my review does not talk about her...hmm...well that shows what impression Trisha's role will have on you. Imagine a 21 year old girl dancing with a visibly old Chiru...I mean I cannot see any chemistry between them...and it just looks sick...like child molesting or something...I wish we would stop doing this too...why can't Chiru act with a heroine his age? Why does he need the hottest girl in town to be his heroine? Damn it!

Anyhoo...final verdict...Don't waste your time if you haven't seen it yet.

Bomarillu (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

2007-04-10T08:18:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Siddarth, Genelia, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Kota Srinivasa Rao
Director: Bhaskar
Music: Devi Sri Prasad

This is a superhit movie but I have only ranked it 3/5 because I could not digest many of the things in the movie. I have a couple of questions:

1) Would any sane guy fall in love with a girl like Hasini whose mental development equals that of a 5 year old? I am sure the director wanted to make her look cute but did he have to make her look retarded to get that effect?

I have known friends who have been raised by single parent and none of them behave even remotely like this.

2) Does Siddhu fall in love with Hasini only to rebel against his father and for no other good reason?

Anyways getting to the story. Siddhu (Siddarth) is the son of a wealthy businessman (Prakash Raj) who is very interfering in his children's life not knowingly. He keeps his family on a tight leash but at the same time showers love and affection on them which keeps his family from rebelling on him outright. But Siddhu is different and he understands the difference between father love with freedom and fatherly love without freedom. Siddhu cannot even cut his hair or wear a shirt to his preference. His father interferes with everything.

To the extent of interfering with his son's marriage too. Siddhu at first likes the girl when he sees her but then realizes that the girl is also raised like him, dominated by her father which makes him run far away from her. His life is full of conflicts, on one side he wants to rebel his father and on the other he wants to do what is right. He keeps fighting his emotions everyday until he meets Hasini (Genelia) at a temple one day. He befriends her and they start falling in love with each other. Siddhu likes her childlike quality and her innocence along with her independence.

Trouble erupts when Siddhu's father finds out about their love. Siddhu requests his father to let Hasini stay with them for a week and if his father has a good reason for not liking her than he would marry the girl of his father's choice. His father accepts the deal and Hasini moves in after lying to her father about her whereabouts.

Does Hasini impress Siddhu's parents? Do Hasini and Siddhu get along well after living under the same roof for seven days? Ya ya ya...watch the movie...

The story is pretty simple. Through the movie I had the deja vu feeling. Siddarth is young and handsome and acts really well in most scenes. Though some of the scenes seem like a little overdone. Genelia, I guess did what the director asked her to do. Not much of a choice for her but pretty face indeed. She can still pass off more as a school kid than a college student. Prakash Raj does his usual stuff. It feels like he is the Amitabh Bachan of South. You can see him in pretty much every Tamil and Telugu movie.

The movie is worth one watch for sure. It carries the freshness element and the feel good factor which is always welcome when we are trying to get away from reality. Anyways enjoy write to me if you felt anything different from my view.

Namastey London (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-04-04T10:18:00.004-07:00

Ranking: 1/5

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Shashi Kapoor
Director: Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Music: Himesh Reshmaiyya

I will not spend writing a long review for this movie as there is nothing much to write anyways. In simple words, a really sorry story, bad acting, boring dialogues, too much mush, stereotypical, and so on and on.

Katrina is a second generation Desi Brit born and raised to believe that she was anything but Indian. Her father cons her into visiting India only to get married to Akshay Kumar by surprise (or shock). Katrina plays along in India and upon returning to London tells Akshay that she does not care too much for the wedding as she is making preparations to get married to her British rich boss.

Akki now tries all the tried and tested corny things to woo her back... Does he? If he did not then I would be surprised. Really really really...I mean seriously really...boring movie. If you can avoid it that will be better for your life as you would have saved 3 hours of monotony.

Just Married (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-04-04T10:18:00.003-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Esha Deol, Mukul Dev, Fardin Khan, and so many more of them...
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Music: Pritam

The movie is about five couples who are on their honeymoon at Ooty and share the same hotel. All of them are pretty newly wed except for one who are celebrating their wedding anniversary. Together the couples take many tours and visit sites together in Ooty and get to know each other on a personable level. Slowly and steadily host of stories open up about each of them.

Abhay Sachdeva (Fardin) and Ritika Khanna (Esha): A two people bought together by the system of arranged marriage. Fardin is ready to work things out and open himself out to Esha but Esha is holding back causing a few tensions and confusions in their life.

Bikram Saluja and Perizaad Zorabian: Here with the love of his life and they seem to be totally head over heels in love with each other and are the envy of most other couples.

Kirron Kher and Satish Shah: Are here to celebrate their anniversary and always seem to be fighting each other in public. The fact is that they love each other a lot but their expression of it is just different.

Raj Zutshi and co: He has been out of the country for a long time and is living with his girlfriend of another nationality. He had proposed to her in the past but the offer was rejected...

Mukul Dev and Tarina Patel: Tarina is Mukul's sister's best friend and had an eternal crush on him eventually convinced him to marry her. But Mukul is unable to think of Tarina as anything but his sister's friend. They are working on trying to resolve their differences.

Of course towards the end of the movie everything ends well. Everyone is happy and so are you.

I saw this movie after I saw Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. They both have similar stories and I could compare and contrast them and finally decided that this was a better story. It is a slow entertainer so be in the mood to spend time wondering why the clock is not ticking faster.

Honeymoon Travels (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-04-04T10:18:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 1.5/5

This movie is very similar to Just Married but only worse. There is no story...like they say in my language...the story has no head or tail. Bad acting, bad direction, bad story, bad casting make Honeymoon Travels a perfectly avoidable movie.

You just want to see one crappy movie...and not both of them...Just married is a better version of this genre for sure. So watch it if you want to but stay away from this one.

Poi (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-04-04T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Uday Kiran, Prakash Raj, Vimala, Avinash
Director: K. Balachander
Music: Vidyasagar

The story is about how lies can have a domino effect and how a simple harmless lie may cascade into something really dangerous and life threatening. K.B. does really brilliant mega serials and as a veteran he is trying to adapt and compete with the younger generation of directors. He does fit in in some places but then there are others where he is grossly lacking. To his credit he is one of the best directors that Tamil movie ever had for the longest time with his active era extending from 1965 through early1990's. And this movie not to be outdone by his previous hits surely has the element that makes K.B's style of direction unique but it also sadly acts as the movies flaw and downfall.

Kamban (Uday Kiran) is the son of Valluvan (Avinash) a straightforward politician who will not bend laws even if it is to get his son out of jail when arrested for no fault of his. The opposition party take advantage of this and bail Kamban out and also publicly announce Kamban joining his father's opposition party. Kamban did not know any of this would happen and he did not want to hurt his father. To escape from the embarrassment Kamban escapes to Srilanka till everything cools down a bit.

In Lanka he meets Ganguly a Bengali immigrant whom he befriends and shares a room with. During a stroll on the beach his eye catches a diary with Tamil poems and starts liking the poet. the imaginary father he had created in his mind instigates him to fall in love with the author of the poems and Kamban takes it upon himself as a challenge to make Shilpa (Vimala) fall in love with him. But Vimala who is vacationing with her brother is a achiever and does not believe in wasting time in love.

What happens? Do things work out? Does the imaginary father or the imaginary fate (Prakash Raj) that Kamban creates in his brain win? What happens to Vimala? All to be seen in the later part of the movie.

The story is no doubt a family subject. It has elements of mother sentiment, love, husband-wife doubts, imaginary father and fate, father sentiment, annoying third wheel from Bombay who claims that he was in love with the heroine since she was in 5th or 6th standard, etc. It could have been a commercial movie hadn't there been too many slowing factors. As far as acting goes everyone seems to be on the good page but then the story itself lacked the speed and interest which was lost due to introduction of many unwanted characters. It is okay for one time watch although you might be asking yourself again and again why you are doing this to yourself. Uday Kiran was a promising young Telugu actor who landed himself into trouble after breaking the engagement with Chiru's daughter and now his break into the Tamil industry seems nothing but bleak.

Try it out and let me know if you feel otherwise.

Namesake (2007) - English Movie Review

2007-03-27T10:19:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Tabu, Irfan Khan, Kal Pen
Director: Mira Nair
Story: Jhumpa Lahiri

Namesake is a well written story turned into a brilliant movie. The screenplay, script, direction, acting, casting, finer details are all in the right place and have been pushed to the right amount. It is a must watch and surely a family watch too. I wish a couple of love making scenes could have been avoided so that it could be viewed by children too. I saw the preview for the movie and unfortunately had to sit in the second row and few love making scenes surely did not look good that close. My friend and I were giggling sitting there bringing back memories from childhood.

Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli are first generations Indians in America who establish a simple life for themselves and their two American born children Gogol and Sonia. The story is about Ashoke, Ashima and their relationship essentially with their son. Gogol hates his name and gets it changed to Nikhil, he dates an American girl and starts ignoring his parents but he changes. A flashback from his father's life and loosing his father bring about a change in Gogol. He still prefers to be called Nikhil but the name surely has impacted and it changes his life forever.

This is certainly a brilliant story to show the metamorphic life of immigrants in any different country. I have read hte book and seen the movie and both of them are brilliant. Don't miss a chance to catch it in the talkies.

Patchaikili Muthucharam (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-03-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Sharath Kumar, Jo, Andrea, Milind Soman
Director: Gautham Menon
Music: Harris Jeyaraj

I have to congratulate Gautham Menon on a job well done with a tight script and a brilliant screenplay. The music by Harris somehow did not feel fresh and had glimpses of his previous hits. Although the re-recording for the movie was pretty impressive. The casting in the movie also has to be appreciated because each of the character played their role beautifully.

Venkat (Sarath), a medical representative is a happily married person with a son. His wife Kalyani (Andrea) is very loving and both of them along with their son have a perfect life. That is, until their son falls sick and things between the husband and wife cool down a bit. Kalyani begins to spend more time with their son and starts to ignore her husband involuntarily. Venkat feeling a bit lonely and neglected walks in and out of his monotonous life without complaining much. He tries to understand his wife's feelings.

One morning while riding the train to work, Venkat notices Priya (Jo) and spends a few extra seconds admiring her. The following day again he happens to stand next to her. And Priya opens up the conversation with Venkat. Both married with kids, they feel they have a lot of common things between them and start a friendship together. At first it is platonic and they meet only in the train but slowly they start meeting at restaurants and coffee shops.

Priya begins to get a little physically close to Venkat and she suggests that they both spend a day together watching movies or something alone. Venkat agrees and they take a taxi and drive to MayaJal on East Coast Road. But at the last minute Priya changes her mind and directs the taxi driver to go to a resort along the same road. The couple book a room and move in...

A knock on the door which prompts Venkat to open only to find himself facing a goon with a gun who is beating Venkat to pulp. He robs the couple and also ties Venkat up before raping Priya. Venkat is grief stricken and they both part ways.

The goon who calls himself Lawrence (Milind) starts calling Venkat and Priya to harass them for money. Venkat takes the full financial responsibility and starts paying off the money that him and Kalyani have been saving for their sons health until he runs dry. With no other choice left Venkat confesses to Kalyani.

What happens next will be a wonderful twist in the story. I will not make this a spoiler review and hence I am going to stop here with the story. Sarath Kumar is brilliant as Venkat and so is Jo as Priya. Wonder why Milind is doing Tamil movies but he is surprisingly not bad either. Andrea, the new girl, is also awesome. She has good presence and her portrayal of Kalyani is wonderful. It is a movie worth watching even with family. There are no awkward scenes.

Nishabd (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-03-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Amitabh, Jiah Khan, Revathi, Nazar, Shradha Arya
Director: RGV
Music: Vishal Bharadwaj

The story tries to prove that love can happen at any age...at 18 or at 60 or between and 18 year old person and a 60 year old person. Ya! Sounds like you have seen it before? Yes, Lollita. I have not seen the original one but I know for sure that the plot is brilliant and the story kind of sensitive and needs to be handled well. Unfortunately the director is lost and the screenplay is lacking. The story moves at snails pace. Where there is nothing to stop for there are long pauses and repetitive music again and again. If the story had some momentum then the movie may have been fun.

I cannot understand the character of Jiah (Jiah) in the movie. It is one thing that she is bold and brave but another thing to behave badly when you are guest. Her behavior is beyond my comprehension because she is not the only person from a broken family and she has no special reasons to behave the way she does because she is from a different country. People outside of India are also courteous and polite.

I also cannot understand the character of Revathy, how could she put up with a brat like Jiah? I would have either disciplined her or politely asked her to shut up and stay in her room and dress properly in front of her husband and not sit like a skank. Ya, seriously what kind of a lady will see a girl spread her legs in front of her husband?

The story tries to cash in on Jiah's sex appeal and no story at all. Wonder how Amitabh signed to act in this movie? Maybe the narration was too good and the direction not half as good? Anyway like I said in my previous review of Salaam-E-Ishq...this movie is certainly not one on which you will enjoy to waste your time on.

Salaam-E-Ishq (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-03-12T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 1/5

Cast: Everyone who is someone in Bollywood
Director: Nikhil Advani
Music: Shankar-Ehsan-Loy

I am not going to be elaborate in writing this one. The movie is a total bore. 6 individual and unrelated stories intertwined make up this movie. The stories are neither interesting nor funny. So if you have better things to do with your time then do not waste it on this one please. I sat through almost 3.5 hours of the story and lost interest in the plot after the first 15 minutes.

Ekalavya (2007) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-02-22T10:18:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Amitabh Bacchan, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Bomman Irani, Jimmy Shergil, Jackie Shroff, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Music: Shantanu Moitra

The movie opens with the queen (Sharmila) bed ridden listening to her husband, the king (Bomman) reading to her her famous Shakespearian sonnet. But all she keeps repeating is the name Ekalavya again and again. Their daughter (Raima) who is slightly mentally challenged keeps telling her father repeatedly, "Mom wants us to call Ekalavya daddy." But the king keeps ignoring it until he finally understands the meaning behind the word coming out of his wife's mouth. He strangles the queen to death.

Prince Harsh is asked to come back to the palace to perform the last rites for his mother where he meets Ekalavya (Amitabh) the royal guard again. Rajjo (Vidya) the daughter of the royal driver gives Harsh a letter that his mom had written for him. The letter reveals the truth that his actual father is Ekalavya and not the king. Harsh is confused and concerned and promises to his mother's burning pyre that he will protect his father Ekalavya.

Knowing that the king along with his cousin Jyotivardhan (Jackie) and his son (Jimmy) are scheming to dispose Ekalavya, Harsh works out a plan... The plan unfolds and anything more I write now might spoil the climax...

Go and watch this movie and enjoy the beauty of tight screenplay, well drafted story and acting at its best. The story has an uncanny Shakespeare like feel to it and all the settings and locations make it feel like one too. Amitabh and Saif steal the show while Bomman is simply brilliant. Vidya Balan does not have much to do in the movie although what little of her seen is awesome. Raima Sen as a mentally challenged girl has also done a good job and so have Jackie and Jimmy. Hey I almost missed out the role of Sanjay Dutt as the police inspector! He surely brings in the lighter moments of a mostly serious movie.

A must watch and in big screen too.

Guru (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-01-24T10:18:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Abhishek Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun, Madhavan, Vidya Balan
Director: Mani Ratnam
Music: A.R. Rahman

Where do I start? Okay let me first sequentialise my thought process...Way too many things that I feel like putting down in this space but at the same time I want to keep it simple and clear...

1) Mani Ratnam
2) The story
3) Acting
4) Direction

There I have it now...So let me start with my first topic...

Mani Ratnam: I have grown up enjoying Mani movies right from Pagal Nilavu to Bombay. Suddenly after he became this International director his story lines shifted from simple family stories narrated with beautiful scripts became lavish movies directed in more than one language. This movie Guru also falls in the category of Mani trying to keep pushing his bloated ego where he thinks people will watch whatever he directs. It did not work with Dil Se and Kannathil Muthamittal and neither did it with Guru.

The Story: There is a huge disclaimer at the very beginning of the story that redeems the movie of any relation to anyone living or dead...so believing that it has nothing to do with Mr. Ambani or Mr. Goenka...it is just a story that Mani himself came up with...So lets see how brilliant and convincing Mani is...

Gurukant Desai (Abhi) is a young lad who goes to Turkey to make some money from a small village called Idhar in Gujrat much against his father's wishes. After a few years of making money working for Shell gas company Guru comes back to India to make it out on his own. Of course his father is against it and Guru does not have enough capital. To solve this problem he decides to marry his best friend's sister who is unwed due to her "tried-to-elope" status. She came with a Rs. 25,000 dowry which would adequately meet Guru's business needs. Guru along with Sujatha (Aish) and her brother Jignesh (??) move to Bombay to start business.

After fighting many hardships and with the help of Nanaji (Mithun Da) Guru makes it big. Guru is the textile barron now and he has many textile mills running helping thousands people. He also makes his company public and people revel in the success of his industry. Everyone knows that Guru is not stepping up the ladder in the fast pace using honest means and when his mentor Nanaji hears about it he does not want to cut his protege any slack. He grooms Shyam Saxena as the heir to his media empire and also tells him to bring down Guru by exposing his misdeeds. Shyam hot on the tracks of Guru manages to do just the same using the newsprint media as his help.

Guru looses the trust of his investors. People blame him for loss of money and life and Guru gravely upset succumbs to a heart attack. With the love and care of his wife Sujatha, Guru slowly fights back only to realize that he has been summoned in front of a special panel of judges to decide what punishment Guru will be meted with. Guru gives a supposedly five minute speech and walks out of the room free...

Acting: Abhishek seems to be the director's actor. Has done a decent job and no complaints about it at all. Mithun though is brilliant in the movie. You can see the years of experience that is not visible in most of the movies cast. Aishwarya should stop acting. She has lost so much weight that she looks gaunt and has lost the charisma. Also, I always never thought she could act and she has not improved for sure. Madhavan surely looks handsome having lost some weight and he is also the director's boy and no complaints about him either. Vidya Balan is wasted in the movie and one wonders how her character affects the story at all.

Direction: Mani has always used the old locomotive train in all his period flick, its like he has some discount to use it.

He is not at all creative when it comes to directing videos. He needs to learn from Shankar. The video for Barso Re reminds you of Chinna Chinna Aasai from Roja and some of the videos are not even worth mentioning. Also what is the deal with the song Ek Lo Ek Muft by Bappi Lahiri? First it is inserted at a time when the movie has already lost its pace and then it is also badly choreographed and sung as well.

The promise in the first half of the movie that the story makes is not fulfilled in the second half. A lot of dialogues are redundant and incomplete. Also the final supposedly five minute punch line of the movie runs into more than six minute and is not at all convincing about why Guru should go free. He should have made the dialogue writers work harder.

The movie in terms of direction is an utter disaster. Mani should stop making formula movies and do something sensible like "Mouna Ragam" or "Agni Natchathiram."

Final Verdict: This movie is an attempt to deliver something old in a new platter. The serving is not only cold but also tasteless. There are many scenes which are incoherent or irrelevant. I hope that we can expect something better than this from Mani. God knows if even Dhirubhai is happy with his life portrayed through Guru!

Veyil (2007) - Tamil Movie Review

2007-01-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Bharath, Bhavna, Shreya Reddy, Pasupathi
Director: Vasantha Balan
Music: G.V. Prakash

The story is set in a small town in a family of two young boys raised by their butcher dad and home maker mom. The father keeps a tight rein on the growth of his children and the children keep finding loop holes to get out the grips of their father. The younger son Kathir (Bharath) is the naughtier of the two and constantly keeps escaping from his father's lashes owing to his smartness. While the elder brother Murugesan (Pasupathy) is the silent but naughty guy always keeps getting into trouble.

On one such occasion the angry father catches the sun bunking classes to watch MGR movies in a local theater while smoking with his friends. Murugesan is stripped naked and made to lie on the bare road throughout the day while his friends who walk back from school make fun of him. Angry with his father, Murugesan steals his mother's jewelery and elopes from the house.

His love for MGR movies leaves him penniless and destitute. He gets a small job and a place to stay at a local movie talkies and he grows up to be the theater operator. He also falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant right across the theater. And both of them are caught by many people alone locked up in the operating room. Ashamed the girl commits suicide and Murugesan is devastated. And his bad luck follows as the theater owner decides to close the business and now Murugesan is again in the street. On his friend suggestion Murugesan decides to head back to his village...

In the meantime Kathir has also grown up into a young man taking care of his parent and sisters. Along with a few friends Kathir has also started a small publicity business competing with the local company that has the monopoly. Due to his diligence and PR skills he keeps winning most of his competitors regular customers thus earning bad will from them.

Murugesan comes home to find that his father still hates him and he gets kicked out of the house even before he has a chance to speak with his mother. In the bus stand a lost Murugesan meets with his brother Kathir who takes him back home and makes him live with them.

How does living back in his family suit him? Does his family trust him? Like him? What happens to Murugesan? All to be seen when you watch the movie.

It is a beautiful movie showing how small things we do in our childhood can change our entire life. It also shows the great love and respect Kathir has for Murugesan in spite of being estranged for so many years. The movies brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion and I would certainly recommend everyone to watch it.

Acting/Directing/Screenplay/Story are simply brilliant. I don't have to single anyone out. Even Bhavna has done a great job as Kathir's girlfriend. Their love story is not a separate storyline but somehow feels like it is intertwined in the main story. The girl that Pasupathy falls in love with first (Priyanka) and his childhood sweetheart (Shriya Reddy) are also brilliant.

A definite watch. Loved it!

Woh Lamhe (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-01-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Shiney Ahuja, Kangana Ranaut, Shaad Randhawa
Director: Mohit Suri
Music: Pritam

The story is supposedly a "real-life story" like so many of other Mahesh Butt's movie are...He did write the story...The real-life story is supposed to reflect his times with Parvin Babi...Is it all true...well it is for you to decide...

Aditya Garewal (Shiney) is a promising young director who wants to make it big in the film industry. He has his eyes set on roping in Sana (Kangana) who is a star for his next venture. But Sana is under a contract with a big name producer and is a puppet in the hands of her boyfriend Nikhil (Shaad) who controls her every movement in life...

Sana is attracted to Aditya but she is unable to commit until one day she sees her boyfriend cheat. Then she is out on her own and starts to work with Aditya on his new venture. In due course of time the two of them fall in love. But Aditya is not able to commit to the relationship and they keep dragging along...Until Aditya realizes that Sana Schizophrenic issues and then he starts helping her...The movie drags on...really...we all know how this is really supposed to end if it was Parvin Babi's story but thats not how it ends...

Anyhoo, Mahesh Butt really thinks too much of his looks casting Shiney as himself! Shiney is a good actor and I wonder why he wasted his time acting in this movie as it is a very mediocre fare with cliched dialogues and badly edited script as well as screenplay. Kangana also has displayed brilliance in acting in Gangster has done a good job but somehow the story does not do justice to her talents. The director seriously needs to get some schooling before he sets out making loosely written biographies. The movie has shades of gray in it and is certainly not a fun movie. It is a little dragging and a little boring in many occasions but it is a skin fest for sure!

My final word for this movie is don't waste time if you have better things to do...

Fanaa (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2007-01-04T10:21:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Aamir, Kajol, Rishi Kapoor, annoying kid
Director: Kunal Kohli
Music: A.R. Rehman

Zooni (Kajol) a visually handicapped girl joins a singing and dancing troupe from Kashmir to perform in a Presidential festival in Delhi. Zooni runs into Rehan (Aamir) a flirtatious tourist guide who falls in love with Zooni. After a few romantic scenes the two of them are madly in love and Zooni requests her parents come to Delhi for their wedding.

Before her parents come Rehan arranges for Zooni's eyes to get fixed. When Zooni wakes up she hears from her parents that Rehan is no more. The viewer knows that Rehan is part of a Pakistani terrorist group trying to blow up Delhi...and that he has faked death and escaped...

A few years after we see Rehan in Indian army uniform playing football with officers in the mountains...and we get to know that he is a mole planted in the army...Rehan smartly kills a whole group of officers on flight with him before jumping off in a parachute. As luck would have it he lands near Zooni's house in a terrible blizzard.

Zooni can see now but she does not know Rehan's face...so Rehan stays with her and their son and father-in-law (Shashi Kapoor)...What happens to Zooni, Rehan, the father-in-law...

The story is not well thought off...there are very many loop holes...How does Zooni forget the voice of Rehan and the feel of Rehan...Aren't blind people supposed to be more sensitive to such things? How come the parents of Zooni were not even half interested to take care of their daughter's blindness as Rehan was? Why was the little Rehan made to be so annoying with crappy third-person dialogues??

The songs are of course really a pleasure to listen to...especially the Chaand Sifarish song...but then the story is very ordinary and it is sad to see Aamir choosing such a loose script to work with following RDB...Anyways it is a surely a decent watch but do not expect too much and don't look for logic for sure...

Kabul Express (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2006-12-26T19:06:00.004-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Arshad Warsi, John Abraham, a no-name-American, Hanif Hum Ghum, Salman Shahid
Director: Kabir Khan
Music:

So Jai (Arshad) a cameraman and Suhel (John) a reporter, are on their way to Kabul to get a documentary on Taliban. They are on a hunt to find a Talib in flesh and blood and are being assisted by Khyber (Hanif) who drives Kabul Express, a car. Khyber sets up a meeting with a Talib with the help of Pakistani soldiers but the Talib escapes from them and he sees Jai and Suhel.

He tracks them down and tries to use them to help his getaway into Pakistan which he claims is his homeland. Jai, Suhel, and Khyber are being terrorized by the talib who calls himself Imran Khan Afridi (Salman Shahid). Some funny moments arise when Jai and Imran discuss about cricket.

Enroute to Pakistan they are overcome by many hurdles. They are stopped by the Hazaras during which Imran escapes and laters rescues Jai, Suhel, and Khyber from them. There they also meet and save the American journalist (the no-name actress) and her driver who have been on Jai's and Suhel's tracks and were now imprisoned by the Hazaras.

They continue the journey together. They visit Imran's daughter's village, and go through many struggling moments before finally reaching Pakistani border but also being hunt down by the army...Does Imran make it to the other side of the border or not?...It is not a big surprise you will guess this part much before the director even brings the story to the end....

Anyways, the review...the movie is not worth wasting time on. John and Arshad are good but the movie is not convincing. The plot is not clear...the director tries to stay away from white and black areas and lingers around in gray areas. He is not clear if the Pakistani army is bad, or if he is trying to justify the Talib's feelings/life/existence, or if Americans are bad...What is the point? Is the point to let us know what Afghanistan has been reduced to by the Russians, Americans, Taliban, NA, and everyone else then this movie just came like a year or two too late. Because honestly, if you are the kind that reads, then you would know more than what the movie tells even before watching the movie. But I should not forget to appreciate the attempt because it is worth watching for the visuals. The story itself is reject quality.

I understand that Mr. Kabir Khan is a war journalist, maybe he should have stuck to it than moving into commercials. A documentary on this topic might be more interesting than the movie posing as a pseudo-documentary. Therefore, my advice is, if you have nothing better to do then you can waste your time on this fare.

Dhoom 2 (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2006-12-26T19:06:00.003-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Hrithik, Ash, Bips, Abhi, Uday Chopra
Director: Sanjay Gadhvi
Music: Pritam

What the hell does the director think of movie goers? That we will take any trash that is dished out at us? That we are stupid people who cannot think and will watch with awe when he has made a fashion show and music videos and is selling it to us as a movie?! Seriously this trend has to stop, using multi-starer themes with absolutely no story in the movie whatsoever is not only ridiculous but also mocking the viewers sense! This is what I seriously think of this movie...Total bull crap.

Anyways now coming to the story. We all know that Jay (Abhi) is a serious cop who has Ali (Uday) as his right hand man who is a total fool. We wonder how a sensible cop can have an idiot for help. Anyhow, they are now trying to bust a new International thief that has been creating a sensation with his unique style of leaving an A behind at the crime scene. Of course, hot girl Shonali (Bipasha) has to be the strict gal officer who assists Jay and Ali to get Mr. A (Hrithik) behind bars!

Well they fail miserably in their first task and after that we are rid of Shonali because in comes Ms. Sunehri (Ash) who is hot on the tracks of Mr. A as she is enamored by his robbing tactics. We all get to know that she is Jay's informer. We don't know what crime she has committed that she is doing favors to Jay to get rid of prison sentence. Anyways, Sunehri has Mr. A well in her tracks. Hot dances and skin feast galore! Sunehri offers to become Mr. A's partner and Mr. A agrees and lets her know that his next destination is Brazil and so Jay and Ali pack their bags too.

The next thing we see is Ms. Monali (Bips again) in bikini posing around in Rio. Of course, you must have guessed that she is Shonali's twin sister who eventually falls in love with Ali! The climax will answer the following questions: Will Ash''s cover be exposed? What does Mr. A do about it? Does Jay get his guy? What happens to Ali or do we even care about him?

Like I said at the very beginning of the review. I am not very excited about this movie though I should agree that Hrithik is hot and even hotter than Ash and Bips. Seriously this is one instance when even guys felt that Hrithik was better than the girls in the movie! He really steals the show and we only catch glimpses of Abhi. Uday is extremely irritation and in spite of his good physique he still carries the annoying chipmunk face...So Uday choose another profession please!

Aishwarya should not be allowed to talk. She sounds stupid...you think she is hot in her entry scene and the minute she opens her mouth the bubble breaks! Also she should not attempt to do any type of dance other than desi folk and desi movie dance! Because she make western dance look like Barathanatyam! Gosh it is annoying! But in the case of Bipasha at least she is hot in spite of having only a bimbo's role in the movie!

Now it is your decision to watch or not to watch!

E! (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-12-26T19:06:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Jeeva, Karunas, Nayanthara, Ashish Vidyarthi, Pasupathy
Director: SP Jananathan
Music: Srikanth Deva

E (Jeeva) and Tony (Karunas) are partners in crime in a slum area. They are known as con men and people avoid them at all costs. Jothy (Nayanthara) a bar dancer moves into the locality with her step family and is conned by E. In spite of E conning Jothy, she falls in love with him. She learns about him and tries her best to change his ways.

Dr. Ramakrishnan (Ashish) is the local doctor to whom all the poor people run to in case of emergencies. Up front he is a decent doctor trying to save the poor but behind curtains he is an evil doctor experimenting drugs on his unsuspecting patients. He tests some foriegn drugs on Indian patients to make a lot of money. On one such drug tests he enrolls E's adopted grandmother and Jothy's step sister neither of whom have any idea that they are being taken as guinea pigs.

E uses Jothy to make money while he is not even sure if he loves her or not. He is very practical and everything in life refers only to making money. He contracts with the doctor to kill Nellai Mani (Pasupathy) who is trying to kill the doctor. In one murder attempt by Nellai Mani, E rescues the doctor's life and hence the deal is struck.

E decides that if he kidnaps Nellai Mani and keeps him in his custody then he can milk the doctor for a lot of money. But his attempts to kidnap Nellai Mani fail until one day Nellai Mani hurt and wounded by cops falls into E's hands.

Does E kill Nellai Mani, what is Nellai Mani's motivation to kill the doctor? What does Jothy do to help or dissuade E from committing further crimes? You should watch the movie!!!!

First off, kudos to the director for delivering a current subject with so much effectiveness that it surely raises awareness among people. The casting is simply brilliant. Jeeva as E has amazing make up, perfect gait, mannerisms, and dialect that one cannot picture him removed from the slum. Even his teeth are yellowed with rotting marks on them. Karunas as Tony is brilliant as E's best friend.

Nayanthara can act! Yes! And she is pretty too. There is no two thoughts about that. She shines in the movie with her histrionic skills. She really needs some more slimming to do item numbers as she still reminds me of thunder-thighs-Anuradha from the 80's but she is better than what she was in Gajini.

Ashish Vidyarthi desperately needs to update his acting skills as it is getting pretty stale and repetitive. Pasupathy is as good as he has been in other movies but unfortunately for him he does not have much to do in this movie.

To conclude I would certainly say that this is a very good movie to watch but beware of many gory scenes, dead bodies in different state that you really don't want your eyes to look at and a few not so parliamentary dialogues. Certainly not for children but adults should be able to handle and digest the content of the movie. Interest theme and very decent music too. Thank God the director does not bore us with loads of unnecessary songs at wrong times. It is a movie with dark shades so be prepared!

Perarasu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-11-21T12:49:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Vijaykanth
Director:
Music:

I swear to god I saw this movie a day or two after Manathodu Mazhaikalam and Casino Royale and I am a little late (one month) in writing the reviews and I don't remember what Perarasu is all about. I am raking my head and I kinda sorta remember that it has something to do with double acting Vijaykanth.

I used to like this actor...once upon a time, when he did decent movies...but now...I am not even sure why I watch his movies. Here is what I remember from it:

1) The heroine was just a doll who would sing and dance. She had no role at all. Wonder why they even need a heroine...we know that Vijaykanth is not gay so they can spare the torture of making us watch him in songs!

2) The movie is all about him. His being a cop or something and how he is so righteous and smart and intelligent and cannot make mistakes and how he loves his people and so on and so forth...

3) Vijaykanth has a twin brother who actually kills all the bad guys and the blame falls on the othe rbrother who is the cop dude.

4) The murderous V.Kanth is killing because bad guys who are now popular politicians were responsibile for their honest father's death and for orphaning them.

5) End of Story!

Is it worth watching? NO!

Manathodu Mazhaikalam (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-11-21T12:48:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Shaam, Nitya Das, Samiksha
Director: Arpudan
Music: Karthik Raja

The quality of the movie print, music, camera, etc are all just average. Nothing great shakes there. But the story is nice and so are the casting and acting. It is the story that defines that true friendship is beyond physical attraction and that a girl and a boy can share a platonic relationship.

Siva (Shaam), a very naughty college student makes friends with Sathya (Nithya), a level headed student. Siva and Sathya spend a lot of time together and hang out in college and outside all the time. This leads to a lot of people suspecting their platonic relationship as love. At the same time Shruthi (Samiksha), a fellow collegemate falls in love with Siva and openly expresses her love for him throughout the movie.

Farewell day comes and everyone moves on with their life and so does Shruthi. Siva and Sathya are in touch with each other and their parents assume that the two of them are ready to marry each other. When they propose the alliance hell breaks loose...What happens next is very predictable but nevertheless handled very beautifully.

Shaam as an old guy is not very convincing. He does not play it well and seems to be put on. But him as a college student is perfect and so is Nitya. I wish Samiksha could underplay her characters a little bit, over acting is not acting...

The movie can be described as a simple story narrated with ease. There are no high priced sets or extravagantly shot songs. In fact I can't even remember what the songs sounded like but the story still lingers in my mind. It is worth a watch with the entire family and certainly an eye opener for kids who think that a girl and boy cannot be friends.

Varalaru (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-11-21T12:47:00.001-08:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Ajith, Ajith, Older Ajith, Asin, Kanika, Sujatha
Director: K.S. Ravikumar
Music: A.R. Rehman

Young Vishnu (Ajith) is a very pampered child of ShivaShankar (old Ajith). He is very careless and irresponsible. To teach him a lesson Shiva sends his son to Thothapuram to do some social service. He does no social service but falls in love with Divya (Asin). The circumstances he falls in love with her are unbelievable, but hey it is a Tamil movie so anything can happen!

Shiva has his son engaged to Divya easily but the events that follow has everyone confused. Vishnu seems to have a multiple personality. He does few things that he would not do usually. Like, for example, get drunk and go to Divya's house to abuse and beat up her parents, try to kill his father, etc. Under suspicious circumstances Vishnu is admitted in the hospital and is made to undergo shock treatment.

The second half of the story is interesting, if I tell more than what I have said above I might give away the suspense. The Old Ajith has a flashback and a few new characters are introduced in the story. The movie is very gripping right from the start. Ajith is very convincing as father and son. The father's character which is that of a Bharatanatyam dancer seems a little over done but nevertheless convincing. Since I have been learning Bharatanatyam myself I dont understand what category the dance Ajith does falls under. Seems like a fusion version.

The movie is a wholesome entertainment. It has mother sentiment, father sentiment, brother sentiment, girlfriend-boyfriend sentiment, angry, murder, love, romance, sadness, tears, etc. Very good for family viewing and the background score as well as the music is certainly very nicely chosen!

Casino Royale (2006) - English Movie Review

2006-11-21T12:46:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3/5

We all expect a typical Bond movie to have loads of action...at least Mr. B should be smart and see beyond the girl he is in love with...After seeing so many Bond movies we seem to be more smarter than Mr. B himself. More than once in the movie I was able to solve the plot and I am sure most people around the world would have had the same feeling like me...Is the BOND a dumb blond?

So the story starts with some good action scenes that bought me to the edge of the chair because I knew more would follow as the movie proceeded, but to my luck as soon as the handsome hunk took the train to Casino Royale the action scenes ended and the dialog accompanied with a game of card that I did not understand started. Of course you know how that would end...Bond wins!

Bond was of course chasing the bad guy who was using the Queeny's stolen money to make more money by throwing out the big gambling challenge at the Casino Royale. Bond did have an American accomplice without which he might loose a few of his viewers. So he wins the money and survives getting poisoned by the villain due to the help of his beautiful accountant who of course is appointed by the British Empire to keep track of Bond's spendings in the gambling.

Of course he falls in love with the very ordinary looking heroine and becomes totally enamored by her after she saves his life. He tells her all his secrets and guess what...Surprise!!! She robs him naked...ya! now like you did not guess that to happen...

Well there are smaller plots in the story but the entire movie was just above average. Bond is pouting handsome and does his stare throughout the movie. The heroine is very ordinary. Despite the clothes she did not manage to catch my attention. No wonder Bond looked beyond her looks and fell in love with her heart!!!!

The movie was decent but it could have done with a lot more fun stuff like cigarettes that were bombs or watches with cameras!!! But there were no cheap thrills. It was more of a WYSIWYG kind of a movie. If you have a dull day then this will be a perfect movie to watch...a hot cup of tea on a rainy day!

The Protector (2006) - English Movie Review

2006-11-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Tony Jaa
Director: Prachya Pinkaew

I saw this movie quite some while ago and hence don't remember the character's of all the cast in the movie. So please bear with me. It is so much like a desi movie. I really liked it and enjoyed watching a Thai movie dubbed in English. It was a pleasure to see Tony Jaa's stunts which are done using no ropes or stunt doubles. He uses a Thai fighting technique called Muy Thai.

The story is about Kham (Jaa), a young boy growing up in Thailand under the influence of his grandfather's wisdom. Kham and his grandfather rear elephants and take great care of them (mom and son elephant). Kham also learns Muy Thai (Thai martial arts) from his grandfather. He enjoys nature and lives as one among it with his elephants.

Kham and his grandfather take their big elephant to display it to the King but they get duped and instead their big elephant is stolen from them for the tusks. When his grandfather questions the authority he gets shot and in the confusion Kham looses the baby elephant too to the bad people. Kham has lost everything he held close to himself in one single moment, his grandfather and two elephants.

Kham traces the bad guys to Australia where there is a whole group of people that eat elephant and other exotic meat and also trade women among many other bad things. Kham gets in the thick of the racket and with the help of a Thai policeman in Australia helps uncover the truth.

The ending is sad and disheartening and Jaa does a great job of showing emotion when he sees that his big elephant is no more and the stunt scene that follows it is simple breathtakingly bone breaking.

There is a lot of violence in this movie. It is like a typical Rajanikanth or Vijaykanth movie. The hero is uneducated but is in a different country trying to save his only known family. How many desi movies we have seen like this one! But the beauty of the movie lies in the fact that Jaa like J.Chan does his stunts himself...and with no rope or cinema tricks. So this movie is a fun watch for everyone who love great stunt scenes.

Pokiri (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

2006-11-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Mahesh Babu, Illeana, Nazar, Prakash Rai, Sayaji Shinde, Ashish Vidyarthi
Director: Puri Jaganath
Music: Mani Sharma

There are four parts to the movie that come together towards the end. One with Mahesh Babu as Pandu, one with Sayaji Shinde as the Commissioner, one with Ashish Vidyarthi as the Sub-Inspector, and one with Prakash Rai as the villain. So let me explain the movie in parts!

Part Pandu: Pandu is a mercenary who is ready to kill for bills! He is a free agent and the whole movie he is killing hoards of people everywhere in Cyberabad! Pandu falls in love with Shruthi who is an aerobic instructor in his friends father's (Nazar's) school. Pandu and Shruthi lands up becoming friends because he keeps helping her out from all her male fans. Shruthi eventually falls in love with Pandu but she is not sure of his origins. So when she confronts him about it she is privy to a bloody battle between Pandu and his enemies where Pandu single handedly kills many people! Shruthi still goes ahead with her love for Pandu...

Part Ashish Vidyarthi: So AV is a bad cop. He goes around harassing all his constables and has ties with all underground war lords. He is a wheeler dealer and works with all the dons and hence has too much power in the society. His eyes fall on the beautiful Shruthi and he starts to harass her and her family. He wants to make her his keep and also sets up a fake rape scene near her house so that no one from around will marry her...Get the point? He is a BAD MAN!

Part Sayaji Shinde: A good cop. He is singlehandedly trying to fight the underworld dons in Cyberabad. Ever since he has taken charge the crime rate has completely reduced. But he has a weakness and that is his daughter who is in love with the son of a MLA.

Part Ali Bhai (Prakash Rai): Ali bhai is the all feared Don who lives around the globe and runs his operation from Hyderabad. He has about 100 goons who work under him and now he wants to employ Pandu in his team having heard about his killer instincts! This is where all the characters in the movie come together.

Ali bhai gets arrested by Sayaji and is kept in the lock up deprived of sleep. To get Ali bhai released the goons use Sayaji's daughter's boyfriend to make a porn video with Sayaji's daughter and get it published all over the internet. Sayaji releases Ali bhai but is dying to take revenge.

When Ali Bhai talks to Sayaji's daughter she tells him that there is a cop among Ali bhai's goons...in search of the goon Ali Bhai kills Nazar. What does Pandu do? What is Pandu's role in solving the crime? Does he punish the bad criminals? And if so what does he do? What happens to Shruthi? Wow so many questions! To get answers to them please watch the movie!

Mahesh Babu as Pandu shows two emotions, anger and not so angry! He poses most of the movie and keeps running in most scenes. Well, I guess this movie does not demand any more from him for the role I guess. He looks really good and he carries himself very cool in the movie.

Illeana as Shruthi looks pretty and acts well for what her role demands. She looks very young and one can wonder how her mother is staying home allowing her daughter to work while she herself is not all that old and can at least get the job of a receptionist or a secretary. Had they shown a mother who is disabled or sick or old the plot might have been more convincing.

Brahmanandam as the nosy software-engineer neighbor brings in the lighter moments of the film and surely is funny! He does get loud at some points but it is a welcome change from rowdies and gundas!

Prakash Rai is now a staple part of every Tamil and Telugu movies. He, I believe is getting repetitive. I can close my eyes and see how he would do a certain role, be it a brother, a father, an uncle, a villain, a doctor, or whatever he plays. It is now getting a little stereotypical plus he is getting over exposed. And as for Ashish Vidyarthi, he is a good villain and he does the same villain act in every movie...so again I would start searching for new villains.

The rest of the cast come and go and don't create so much of a stir to grab your attention. But on the whole the movie is a good effort at entertainment and is fun to watch. It feels like you are watching a remix of one of those popular late 80's and early 90's movie with Rajnikanth, Kamal movies. But it is fun nevertheless. The dialogues are funny, effective, and smartly written. A good movie to watch with friends and family alike.

Em Magan (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-11-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Bharath, Nazar, Vadivelu, Gopika, Saranya, Gajjala
Director: Thirumurugan
Music: Vidyasagar

Krishnan (Bharath) is a college student who also works for his father's provision store. His father is nick named Emdan (Nazar) due to his ill-tempered nature. Krishnan's mom Kalyani (Saranya) is also afraid of her brother and so is her entire family. Every night Emdan finds a new reason to beat Krishnan up. The whole family is under constant terror from Emdan. Kalyani's younger brother Ayya Kannu (Vadivelu) who stays with Emdan and works with him keeps the humor in the film going at a constant pace as he gets beaten or verbally abused by Emdan.

Krishnan on the other hand is a soft natured boy who loves his family immensely and is putting up with all the torture by hearing the sweet words spoken by his childhood sweetheart in his mind every night before he sleeps.

Krishnan's grandfather (Kalyani's father) passes away and the entire family visits his maternal home for the funeral. There Krishnan gets to meet his childhood sweetheart Janani (Gopika) and their relationship blossoms into love. But this is not to be because their families do not get along and they are caught kissing by the entire family.

Emdan is mad at Krishna and his family drives back home only to find Janani in the trunk of the car. Emdan kicks both Janani and Krishna out of their house. Krishna goes to refuge at their family auditor's house who had previously offered help to Krishna to get a job as a poultry manager. The auditor's daughter Divya (Gajjala) had a soft corner for Krishna until he explained to her about Janani. Now both father and daughter along with Ayya Kannu help Krishna and Janani start a new life.

Does Krishna and Emdan ever patch up? What happens to Divya? What happens to the rest of Emdan's family? You know it! Just think it is an Indian movie after all!

The reason I have given this movie 4/5 is because of some brilliant performances from Bharath and Nazar. Saranya too has acted her role very well. The story is tight and the screenplay and script and good. The movie has a satirical comic sense and at the same time is packed with super pace. Can be seen with family and is surely a feel good movie.

I have to give a special mention to Vadivelu for bringing in the lighter moments in the movie as Ayya Kannu, Saranya's brother and Bharath's uncle. I am not a great fan of Vadivelu due to his loud voice and obnoxious humor but in this movie he is simply brilliant.

I strongly suggest everyone who love Tamil movies to watch this movie. It not only has great direction but also great performances and a very entertaining story.

Vallavan (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-11-01T20:16:00.000-08:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Simbhu, Nayanthara, Reema Sen, Sandhya
Director: Simbhu
Music: Yuvan Shankar

Vallavan (Simbhu), Suchi (Sandhya) and a group of other friends go to the same college. Vallavan falls in love with Swapna (Nayanthara) at first sight later to learn that she is a lecturer in the same college where he is a student. To win her love Valla dresses up as Palla in an ugly get up (like Kalyana Raman Kamal) and woos her with songs and his love. Swapna eventually sucumbs and falls in love with the Palla. She is extremely surprised to see that her Palla is actually a handsome Valla. They are both happily in love until Swapna realizes that Valla is three years younger than her. She immediately kicks him out of her house and her life.

Valla is very upset and remembers his past affair with his school girlfriend Geeta (Reema Sen). Valla falls in love with her after bumping into her during school culturals and later she joins the same school as Valla and his friends. Valla realizes in time about her obsessive behavior and after a fight dumps her. Now she is back to take revenge on Valla for dumping her after giving some powerful punch lines!

Valla is now struggling to keep Geeta from spoiling his life and also trying to win back Swapna. What wrath does Geeta vent on Valla and Swapna? Does Swapna look beyond age? Yup...you need to watch the movie!

I feel that Simbu has controlled his performance to a very good level in this movie. As a director he has done a decent job although his story is not a complete success. He tends to loose the audience in more than one occasion. I have to say that I love the video for the song Loosu Penne and also the Aracha Maavu song. Simbu should stop idolising himself so much. He should first establish himself as a good actor before posing as a powerful person. He might be the self-proclaimed little Super Star but he by no means is an equal to Rajni and should stop giving the power-punch dialogues. Honestly look at him, his frame, he is so thin that Nayanthara can kick the daylight out of him. But in this movie he looks more decent than any of his previous movies and also he has restrained himself to a few scenes where he calls a girl "di."

Nayanthara on the other hand surprisingly looks gorgeous and not like a road roller at all. In every scene of the movie she is beautiful. She exposes but not using skimpy clothes but in the great sexy sari. Her histrionics can also be much appreciated in this movie.

Reema Sen cannot convince me as a school girl. She looks old, tired, and annoying. There is too much of over action and her whole character seems to be a add on to the story. It almost leads us astray from the main plot. Simbu could have made the movie shorter, simpler using just the age difference factor as the main plot instead of using the Reema Sen sub plot that only throws the viewer off the story.

The music by Yuvan Shankar Raja is surely very enjoyable and the videos do absolute justice to them. Also the camera man needs to be complimented on his wonderful camera work especially the Loosu Penne song.

This is a through and through entertainer. It has a few sexy scenes that might embarrass you should you watch it with family but other wise the first half of the movie is comedy packed and moves very swiftly. If you are not interested in logic and is sitting in a theater for pure entertainment then this is a good choice.

Dor (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2006-10-24T13:14:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4.9/5

Cast: Gul Panag, Ayesha Takia, Shreyas Talpade
Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

In simple words it is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen in my life. Tight script, a story that has no loose ends, immaculate direction, beautiful locales, simple dialogues, and to top it all off brilliant performances by the entire cast makes Dor a must watch. I have seen this movie once and will see it many more times in the future just to digest the small details that I might have missed during the first time around.

It is the story of love, loss, friendship, trust and above all honesty. It is the story about how two unrelated lives come together. Zeenat an independent girl lives in the hills of the beautiful Himalayas married to Amir and waiting his return from Saudi where he works as a truck driver. While Meera a naive village girl lives in a joint family married to Shankar also waiting for her husband to come back from Saudi where he is working to settle the family debt. But what they both receive is the twist in the story that brings them both together.

Shankar dies in an accident and Amir is facing death sentence being accused of Shankar's murder in Saudi. Zeenat has a mercy petition document in her hand that needs Meera's signature to relieve Amir from the death sentence, but she has no idea where or who Meera is. Boldly with just one photo of Shankar Zeenat leaves her hill country to the desserts of Rajasthan looking for Shankar's wife Meera. Meera on the other hand has lost all her rights and freedom that was hers once since her husband death. She is now living the life of a widow at a very young age banished from fun and frolic.

Zeenat with the help of a young impostor (Shreyas) hunts Meera's house down. On approaching Shankar's parents she gets spat on and kicked out of the house. Not giving up hope Zeenat befriends Meera by meeting her in the temple everyday...While Meera's father in law is trying to sell her to an out-of-town contractor for money...

Does Meera sign the papers when the truth is revealed? What happens to Meera's future? Please watch the movie and you will not be disappointed.

The casting for the movie is brilliant. Ayesha as the young widow with a big heart is portrayed so well by this young actress. Her acting prowess is exposed to the highest degree in this movie. I have seen her movies in Telugu and Hindi and this is her best till date. The innocence in her eyes, the sadness, the need, the love, everything is expressed in a very convincing way. Gul playing the role of Zeenat has provided us with some brilliant performance showing determination and poise while trying to give life to her husband who is sitting on death row.

Shreyas is a brilliant actor, nothing new about that but his role as the impostor brings in the lighter moments of the movie. He is spontaneous and very funny. Nagesh Kukunoor as the out-of-town contractor is very convincing as the bad guy as I was really mad at him for a long time after the movie. Girish Karnad as the father-in-law mad at his daughter-in-law is also portrayed very impressively.

In all this movie is a brilliant package with great acting, direction, stills, location, and above all an impressive story and this would most certainly be my pick for Oscar next year!

Elavattam (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-10-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Navdeep, Sheela, Suhasini, Vijaykumar, Shubalekha Sudhakar
Director: Raja Raajha
Music: Mani Sharma

The story is a rehash of what has been done in the past many times. This is my idea of what the director must have thought...To make a movie with lots of sex to sell the movie but then to get the attention of decent audience use the sex to teach a lesson to youngsters. Nice idea but the execution went sourly wrong. The story is banal and so is the screenplay and dialogues. The songs are also not so lingering and on the whole an average fare.

A college that had never had any gold medallist finally gets one in the form of Navdeep. Everyone wonders why Navdeep always received police security to college and he goes on to explain his flashback...

Navdeep and Sheela are in the same school and they are at loggerheads with each other. One rainy night Navdeep is exposed to the concept of sex and then he gets physically attracted to Sheela. Which of course turns into love in due time!

Sheela's is the daughter of a rich landlord (Vijaykumar). She has a sister who is married to Babloo (this is what he used to be called when he used to act in Tamil serials). Babloo is a rogue in the disguise of a nice guy. He is secretly planning to marry Sheela so that all the property owned by Vijaykumar comes under his control. When Vijaykumar discovers his plot Babloo kills Vijaykumar and dons the role of the head of the household.

On discovering Sheela and Navdeep on the bed in their house he gets mad and tries to kill Navdeep. The district collector Suhasini with whom Navdeep is already acquainted helps get Babloo arrested and thrown into Jail. She also gets a promise from both Navdeep and Sheela that they will both study and pursue a career before giving in to physical attraction which may also be infactuation at such a young age.

Honestly I don't see why Navdeep receives police protection every single day of his college life when the bad guy Babloo is behind bars! The whole story is under a wrong premise. I am not sure I even remotely enjoyed the movie. It is very sensual in parts and certainly not for family viewing...trust me when I say this as I saw it with my mother and it was thoroughly uncomfortable! Even if the story is not new a lot of movies have something different that makes the movie interesting (for example the movie Run) but this is plain boring! So avoid it if you have anything better to do. But I must give credit to both Navdeep and Sheela for very decent acting. I honestly believe it was not their fault for choosing to act in a below average movie!

Godavari (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

2006-10-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Ranking : 4/5

Cast: Kamalinee Mukherjee as Sita Mahalakshmi, Sumanth as Sriram and Neetu Chandra as Raji
Director: Shekar Kammula
Music: K. M. Radha Krishnan

Cinema can be two things. It can either be a fantasy portrayed on screen or can be reality bought to light. A director should be clear about what he wants. If he is confused then the final outcome is also not great. But if the director knows that he wants to direct a fantasy movie and goes about doing it with great screenplay, setting, story, camera, music, etc then the movie is beautiful. Godavari is a fantastic fantasy. Beautiful scenery, some great acting, and a very simple story backed with a good screenplay and dialogues. The music is also soothing but the background score reminds you sometimes of AR Rehman's Thiruda Thiruda or his older movies. In other words I liked this movie and would strongly recommend others to watch it. Family viewing should bring no embarrassment to anyone.

Sita is a very pampered and spoilt child who wants to achieve something on her own in her lifetime. She is a free spirited independent girl raised to live her life in her own way. Due to pressure she agrees to marry a guy her parents had chosen for her but gets frustrated to realize that the guy had rejected her. So in anger she packs her bags and leave to see Sita-Ram marriage in Badrachalam on a house boat called Godavari on the river Godavari.

Sriram is an US-return software guy who wants to do something for the people of India and hence comes back to India to join politics. He wants to marry his cousin Raji who is also his best friend but her father thinks otherwise and gets her engaged to an IPS officer and the marriage is scheduled to take place in Badrachalam. The entire wedding party is booked to travel on the house Boat too.

Sita and Ram meet in the boat. Sparks fly but nothing is uttered. Before it is uttered there are small confusions and tensions and the story takes a small twist and eventually ends in a happy note. Sorry for giving away the ending. Like you anticipated anything different. It is a Golti movie for the love of GOD! and that too a romantic one!

So in conclusion, a simple predictable love story that is done very nicely. Kamalinee Mukherjee to me seemed to have matured as a Telugu actress in this movie from her performance in Anand. She is cute and adorable and portrays her character to perfection. Sushanth on the other hand seems to lack energy but maybe that is his role in this movie. He can try and do better in his next movie. Neetu as the confused cousin of Sushanth has done a great job too. Her confusion is portrayed very aptly. And last but not the least, the animated talking dog Kotigadu is simply the BEST! He is cute, adorable and funny and not overdone one bit also.

Go and watch the movie if you have not done so yet!

Nuvve Nuvve (2003) - Telugu Movie Review

2006-09-13T11:11:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Tarun, Shriya Saran, Prakash Rai
Director: Trivikram Srinivas
Music: Koti

It is most common story one would have ever seen...Middle class hero, a very rich heroine, a doting father who opposes their love. Nothing new and the movie is not even refreshing. The music is a rehash of many popular English songs and Tarun is just not fresh any more. Shriya is beautiful and can surely act but she needs to get to be more lively and less somber. If you are looking for a mindless run-of-the mill story then this is one of them...

Hero Tarun is a loafer who attends college and takes advantage of his parents and spends their money. While Prakash Rai a self made millionaire dotes on his daughter and makes sure all her wishes comes true even at the cost of belittling his own son. Shriya goes to the same college of Tarun and eventually they both fall in love.

On hearing about this Prakash Rai tries to curb their love in many ways for which Tarun puts up a fight valiantly until Prakash Rai obviously gives up in the end...

Like I said...it is a very simple, rehashed, formula-based, Telugu movie...do not expect anything new or any sudden twists either...

Jillendru Oru Kadhal (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-09-13T11:11:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Surya, Jyothika, Bhoomika Chawla
Director: Krishna
Music: AR Rehman

My husband and some friends went to watch Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna in the theater's this week but when I saw that they were also screening Jillendru... I changed my mind and went alone to watch this film. Since my husband does not understand or appreciate Tamil movies much I usually land up watching most of them alone... Almost 60 movies in close to 9 months...Not bad right? So I will give you the review of JOK and then continue to talk briefly of the 40 mins of KANK I saw...

Gautham (Surya) and Kundavi (J0) go through the many year old tradition of arranged marriage and move to Bombay. Initially both of them do not seem happy but when the frame changes and they are six years into their wedding they are a small happy family with a little daughter Aishwarya. As busy as they are being working parents, they also spend a good lot of time together being a family. In short they are a model happy nuclear family living in a big city.

Gautham gets a chance to go to USA for a presentation. Everyone is happy and all of Kundavi's family comes from the village to send him off. While doing some work around the house for Aishwarya Kundavi chances upon Gautham's old diary and she sits down to read a past that she had never known in the last six years.

The diary is written by Gautham who tells about a marriage to a girl named Aishwarya (Bhoomika) whom he had loved a lot but right after their marriage Aishwarya's father separates them. It was also written in the diary how Gautham would have been happy had he at least spent a day with Aishwarya...

Kundavi is very unhappy but does not show it out to Gautham explicitly. She spends time to find out the whereabouts of Aishwarya and then one day when Gautham opens the door it is Aishwarya standing...He is shocked and confused and watches silently as Kundavi leaves the house with their daughter telling him that he can have his one day with his first wife...

What happens next is pretty predictable, if anything happened otherwise then the public will either be confused or not accept it...This is a simple story. What I did not like is the little girl of Gautham and Kundavi who talks beyond her age...At most she would be five and five year old kids should not talk so much. The movie is directed like a Malayalam movie. Very simple and very few add on matters...And what is sad is that the songs are not very catchy and so irritated me and kept me looking for the "forward" button in the theater...

So when I walked out of the theater I felt that it was a decent movie that one can certainly watch with kids and entire family...Simple story and decent direction and screenplay compared to movies like Aran...Also sorry Gautham Menon, your assistant seemed to have learnt a thing or two from you unlike you who seems to have lost it! I could not believe the music is ARR's...maybe I should listen to them a few more times before I like them...

Now that my movie was over I had to wait for my husband's to get over...So I joined him and his friends in the theater screening KANK...another 40 mins was remaining...the final scenes where all 's well that ends well part was coming on...and by god I swear that it was the most boring ending. I started reflecting on JOK and I realized that that movie was way better than KANK and the director knew how to handle the climax without too much drama. I wish Hindi movie directors soon realize that making a movie with all super stars does not essentially mean that the movie has any masala! Also the 40 minutes I saw was enough to give me an idea of what the whole story might have been like...it felt like a MEGA SERIAL! Please watch KANK only if you have absolutely nothing to do or you have 3.25 hours to while away...Else just watch Jillendru Oru Kadhal...it is Cool ma!

Aran (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-09-12T10:39:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 1.5/5

Cast: Mohan Lal, Jeeva
Director: Major Ravi
Music:

I liked Jeeva in Ram. I really felt that he had matured as an actor...But choosing to do a movie like Aran just did not work in his favor. I cannot imagine Mohan Lal agreeing to do a film that is so poorly written, directed, dubbed, acted, scripted, etc...It is probably one of the worst movies I have seen. The director was surely trying to bank on the fact that he was in the Kargil War and on the over exposed Indo-Pak hatred. Sorry nothing worked in your favor Major Ravi.

The story is about Major Mahadevan (Mohan Lal) and Hawaldar Ravi (Jeeva) fighting against terrorist activities in Kashmir. We know who the villain is, we know that Ravi is dead, and we also know that India is going to come out shining at the very beginning of the movie. The story is simple, a terrorist cell in Pakistan that has infiltrated into India is going to bomb the Hazratbal mosque. The major gets a tip off and he along with his strong commando's go and stop the operation.

I am not going to elaborate any more...But here is a list of things I did not like in the movie:
1) There is no continuity between scenes.
2) Poorly written dialogues. Cliched and corny.
3) Badly written English dialogues and bad pronunciations.
4) The person who dubbed for the villain calling "jihad" as "jigad" is very annoying.
5) The gang rape scene which is shown very crudely could have been avoided. People get the picture if you just show a sketchy idea of rape...
6) Fight scenes are not even entertaining.
7) Romance between Jeeva and Gopika is boring.
8) Director should have taken some lessons before trying his hand out!

On the whole...I just would not waste time on this movie because even the music is not memorable!

Vettaiyadu Vilayadu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-09-12T06:59:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Kamal Hassan, Jyothika, Kamilini Mukherjee, Daniel Balaji, Prakash Raj, etc.
Director: Gautham Menon
Music: Harris Jeyaraj

Major expectations, a Gautham Menon movie featuring Kamal Hassan...That is an awesome combination. But this movie did not keep up to it...I was being reminded of Khaka Khaka (KK) at every nook and corner of this movie. There were literally no twists, climax so predictable, and so was the story. Surya should be proud, everything Kamal tried to do reminded me of Surya in KK. I somehow feel that he fitted the bill of a Cop better than Kamal did in VV.

Kamal rushes to the side of Prakash Raj whose daughter was kidnapped and her finger was severed and tied on a rope on his doorstep. Kamal who used to report to Prakash Raj helps uncover the body of his daughter and promises that he will find the culprit/culprits. Prakash Raj and his wife who leave India to US to stay with a relative to forget their loss are also murdered. Kamal is asked to go and do the final rites for Prakash and his wife and also help the American police in the investigation. So Kamal boards his flight to the US of A.

On his way to NY Kamal thinks about his wife Kamalinee Mukherjee who was no more...Very predictable part and felt like watching KK ending. Kamalinee appears exactly for two minutes in the whole movie...Now that Kamal is in NY and has checked into Renaissance he meets his next door neighbor, Jo, also a Tamilian (of course) trying to commit suicide over a failed marriage. Now you know where this story is going...

Kamal meets up with NYPD and officer Anderson drives him around until Kamal solves the crime and narrows it down to two medical college students in NY from Tamilnadu. They were the two students who would have been beaten by Prakash Raj for eveteasing his daughter. They are psychopath killers on loose. Kamal is beaten up when these kids escape from right under his nose and also from Indian Police when they re-enter India.

Kamal comes back to Chennai, and so does Jo. They are now in love and the villains get to know about this...How else can this movie proceed? If you have already seen KK...Then this mystery must be a piece of cake to solve....

Why I did not like this movie:
1) Kamal overacting.
2) Feels like watching KK all over again with a semi-new cast.
3) I don't know they had to include Kamalinee Mukherjee in the script at all. Was it to show that Kamal was an avengeful cop? Or was it to show that he was bitter against gundas because of what had happened to his wife? Why? Waste of a song and take a ten minute detour in the movie.
4) Why are villains always stupid to confess to a cop? And how come they are always sure the cop will die and not check on him if he is dead or not?
5) How come the American cop is running around to Kamal's orders? Does he not have enough stuff to worry about considering the fact that he works with NYPD?
6) Kamal and his smart ass dialogues, "Gut feeling = Raghavan instinct."
7) Why and why and for the millionth time why can't a director make a movie that has minimal shades of his past successful movie?
8) Why does Kamal talk in a guttural voice? Very annoying.
9) Why does Kamal always include at least one scene in his movie where he speaks Madras Baashai? We all know he can do it...there is no need to do repeat it.
10) The first stunt/fight scene Kamal has with some no-name villain was a waste of time...my gut feeling is that Kamal forced the director to include it to present a macho image.

In simple words I think KK was a far more better fare than VV and Gautham has to really do something better than that and not similar to that to make me like his movies in the future...Do not watch this movie with children as it has graphic images...

About music...Harris Jeyaraj is brilliant...But why does VV songs give you the feel of "engayo ketta maadhiri irukku?" and also I like B. Jayashree's voice...But singing the same type of songs is just getting a little too tiring for me...

See the movie as most people who have reviewed it elsewhere on the net seem to have liked it but if you are anything like me then I am sure you would not enjoy it too...I hate too much on screen violence and graphic images! They don't give me a very good after taste of the film.

Kalyug (2005) - Hindi Movie Review

2006-09-12T06:58:00.001-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Kunal Khemu, Amrita Singh, Emraan Hashmi, Deepal Shah, Smilie, Ashutosh Rana
Director: Mohit Suri
Music: Annu Mallik

I just got to see this movie. Maybe because there are so many crappy movies being released I actually liked this movie. Would not recommend it for children and certainly not a family watch but a good movie nevertheless with great music too...

It is about Kunal (Kunal Khemu) a refugee in his own country moves from Kashmir to Mumbai as a kid with his father, a social worker. He sees struggle and violence all his life and one day hears the news that his father has passed away. An orphan now, he leads a quiet life until Smilie comes into his life. A girl from Kashmir whom his father had been supporting comes to Mumbai in search of a job. Kunal and Smilie fall in love with each other and soon get married.

One of their friends gifts them a few nights stay in a hotel for their honey moon. The young and unsuspecting couple take up the gift and drive down to this hotel where they are met with Ashutosh Rana (with an evil wicked smile) offers the couple a special honey moon suite. Still not sure what is happening the couple spend their time there and return home. Things are back to normal until one night when the cops come in and arrest both the husband and wife and keep them under lock up over night.

The next morning they come to hear that their lovemaking was caught on tape and now everywhere on the internet in a popular desi porn site. Both of them are beaten to confess the crime. Smilie confused if her husband framed her commits suicide. Kunal comes out on bail and then starts tracking the ring behind the death of his wife and the one behind putting them all over the internet.

He gets on to a fast lead on the whereabouts of Ashutosh Rana but realizes that he needs to travel to Europe to get to the heart of the issue. He does so and meets Emraan Hashmi, a local, who is working in a sex toy store and employs his services to help him out in finding people. This sort of a thing is not easy and of course Kunal goes through a lot of Hardship and does he close the porn shop? This forms the rest of the story.

Kunal Khemu, is a good actor, shows anger and his good physique in most of the movie. Smilie, plays dumb, Ashutosh Rana is scary and he really scares the crap out of me everytime I see him, even if he is doing a decent role. The music is really good, I love the Atif Aslam Sound track and the "Jiya dhadak dhadak..." number too...

Good movie, not for kids and will most certainly give you a sad feeling after the movie ends...

Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) - Hindi Movies

2006-09-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4.8/5

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Bomman Irani, Vidya Balan
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Music: Shantanu Moitra

Munnabhai has a new adventure this time around. A new girl to woo and a new don to tackle. Although the cast is pretty much the same but for Vidya Balan replacing Gracie Singh from Part I, the story has no relationship to Munnabhai MBBS! It is much more hilarious, original, and extremely entertaining with catchy music!

Jhanvi (Vidya Balan) hosts a radio show in Bombay and Prof. Murali Prasad Sharma aka Munnabhai is her biggest fan who never misses a single episode. He has not seen her yet but has fallen in love with her. Munna prepares very hard with the help of Circuit (Arshad Warsi) to win a quiz on Gandhi hosted by the radio station so he can meet her in flesh and blood. Munna of course wins it and now he is sitting in front of his dream girl who not only has a pretty voice but is also very beautiful. Tongue tied Munna tells her that he is a professor and specializes in Gandhian study! Jhanvi impressed with Munnabhai invites him home so that he can chat with her extended family about his extensive knowledge on Gandhian principles and Munna promptly agrees.

Not to sound ignorant Munna goes to the Gandhi library and starts reading about Bapu with no food or water and eventually Bapu appears in front of him. This just opens up the story for some fine hilarious moments between Munna/Circuit/and Bapu. Also the BGM for Bapu is real cool, "Bandhe me tha dhum, bandey mataram..." So now Munna has pataofied his girl with a lie and every time he tries to tell her the truth something comes up.

On the other hand Lucky Singh (Bomman), a developer wants to get his daughter married to the son of another rich developer in town who believes in astrology for everything he does. This developer's astrologer tells him that he needs to own a certain piece of land in Mumbai for prosperity. But he is unable to get his hands on it and Bomman promises to get him the same in dowry. He hires Munna and Circuit to get the tenants vacated from the house. But upon realizing that the house belongs to Jhanvi, Lucky manipulates Munna and sends him with Jhanvi and her extended adopted family for a vacation to Goa full fare paid.

Only after returning does Munna realize that Lucky had used him and had Circuit empty the house while Munna was having fun in Goa. Munna strikes back...But this time with Gandhian principles of ahimsa. On realizing who Munna really is Jhanvi leaves him and Munna is grief stricken but does not slack on his determination to get Jhanvi her house back...Does Munna get the house back? Does he win Jhanvi's heart back? Are there more funny moments and surprises waiting around the corner?

Can't tell you...gotta watch the movie for that eh? It is a family movie, fun, and fultu time pass! Circuit has a lot more coverage in this movie and to be honest and fair Munnabhai cannot exist without Circuit...They are fun together! I wonder why Circuit is still single and has never had any love interest yet! These guys make even sentimental scenes funny! Kudos to the director and the entire team for making a wholesome entertainer!

Uyir (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-08-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Srikanth, Sangeetha, Samvritha
Director: Samy
Music: Joshua Sridhar

Have you seen Aasai? Remember that Ajith (young and handsome) and Suvalakshmi movie that introduced Prakash Raj as an amazing villain? With beautiful music (lifted of course) by Deva? Remember all that? Then do not waste time watching this movie...Because this is nothing but an x-ray image of Aasai...

Sundar moves in with his brother's family that comprises of his brother, sister-in-law Arundathi (Sangeetha) and their little daughter. Sundar is very close to all three of them. Although Sundar reveres Arundathi a lot, Arundathi lusts for Sundar who is unaware of it.

Sundar drops his niece at school everyday and he meets his girlfriend Anandi (Samvritha) there. When his brother gets to know about their relationship he is very excited about the same. But his brother commits suicide soon afterward due to some problems at work. Now Sundar is tied to taking care of his brother's family as Arundathi and her daughter have nowhere to go.

Arundathi keeps Anandi at bay by doing everything possible from her side. She tries her best to break Sundar's relationship with Anandi while subtly hinting to Sundar about her love for him. Anandi warns Sundar about his conniving Sister-in-Law but nothing comes out of it.

What happens to Sundar and Anandi? Does Arundathi succeed in foiling their love? All the questions form the rest of the story.

I like Srikanth. I think he is a bundle of talent and energy although he does not get good roles to play. All the movies he has chosen in the last year have been just passable. This one is no exception. I sometimes wish he would not jump around too much...

Samvritha...She is not heroine material. All you can notice is that she is not pretty and has a huge squint! Which does not add to screen presence at all. She should seriously consider applying for other jobs.

Sangeetha...She made a point about her acting in Pithamagan...She is good. But some of the expressions she makes in the movie look funny...She needs to check on a mirror before getting them on the role. Also she needs to loose weight else she will be shelved for roles like anni or akka only.

On the whole the movie is watchable but Aasai was way more gripping and believable than this movie. Lot of things Arudathi tries to do are plain stupid. I am sure a smart person can come up with real workable ideas to break up a couple...But watch it once when you have run out of all your "fun" options!

Omkara (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2006-08-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Saif, Vivek Oberoi, Kareena Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Bipasha Basu
Director: Vishal Baradhwaj
Music: Vishal Baradhwaj

Yes it is an adaptation of Othello by Shakespeare. Did I enjoy the movie? I am not too sure...I cannot explain why but I surely had a bad after taste after I walked out of the theater. Let me explain the story and then let me see if I can try and explain why I did not enjoy the movie.

Omkara (Othello) - played by Ajay Devgan is a leader of a gang in a town in UP/Bihar. As much of a leader that he is he is also led easily by his gang members conniving plans easily. He can be a romantic lover and suspicious husband too. He lacks trust in anyone which leads to his own downfall.

Ajay D is always serious. Can he be a comedian? Not very convincingly. Having played so many serious roles the role of Omkara must have been a piece of cake! I did not think that his acting as Omkara was any better than what he did in his previous movies...But yes the casting was right and he was good at the job!

Tyagi (Iago) - On the other hand is an integral part of Omkara's gang. He is smart, intelligent, conniving, and can be cunning. He gets filled with contempt for Omkara after having been passed over the position of General in the gang to a younger unsuspecting Kesu. Tyagi slowly plots his revenge against Om and Kesu.

This role is beautifully portrayed by Saif. The transition from the suave chef in Salam Namaste to Langda Tyagi in Omkara is remarkable! I could never imagine Saif speaking the dialect and he did have me convinced because I always thought that Saif could only play "the rich kid" roles.

Kesu (Cassio) - Is a lad who can speak English, university educated but is also a part of the Omkara gang. He becomes the general of the gang but is at the receiving end of Tyagi's revenge. Kesu lands up becoming a pawn in the elaborate game that Tyagi plans! A loverboy at heart he has his eyes set on Billo, a dancer!

Vivek Oberoi as Kesu is not bad. I will not say he was great but he acted to the full capacity of what is required for the role. If he had done anything more it would have become gaudy. Yes he stood "there" most of the time, but that's what his role demanded. He cannot be written off (like he has been in Rediff.com) for that. In fact he did justice to Kesu.

Dolly (Desdemona) - Is the beautiful girl who elopes from her house to marry Omkara against the wishes of her parents. Dolly is in the center of the big revenge plotted by Tyagi. An innocent girl who is in total submission to Omkara realizes in the end that her lover did not trust her...

I like Kareena. She is a very beautiful actor and can surely dance to the beats but she is not the correct person for the role. She sticks out as a sore thumb in the landscape of UP/Bihar. For this I will not blame her because her acting was not the one in question here but I will blame the casting manager!

Billo - Bips plays this role of the girl who charms our young and handsome newly appointed General Kesu and also falls for his marriage promise. In the end also forms an integral part of Tyagi's plan!

Bips cannot look anything but stylish. Even though people in villages and small towns use cell phone now, they do not get their make up done like an actress in Bollywood. She seemed too conscious to do the item numbers and in spite of her dusky complexion seemed out of place as Billo! Again bad casting!

Indu (Emilia) - is the wife of Tyagi and the one who tells Omkara the truth. Konkona who acted this part was the only lead lady who did not look out of place in her surroundings, and what more can I say about her acting. She the fit the role like a glove on a hand!

The reasons I did enjoy the movie:
1) The pace of the movie was very slow. It might have been okay with Shakesphere wrote Othello but in 21st century we are used to speed and somehow could not enjoy it.
2) Even if the pace was slow had the screenplay been a little more interesting it would have been better.
3) I did not think they did a good job with the casting of Kareena and Bips!
4) The item numbers did not make a difference to the story.
5) Murder of Dolly was not visualized well. I really did not have to see her body jolt and shudder when she died.
6) What difference does adding a love scene to a movie make other than getting more front benchers in? It spoils the look of the movie if you put in a love-making scene just for the sake of it. I strongly believe that the love making scene of KK and AD was not necessary. Just showing his love for her is enough to convince me of the fact that he loves her deeply.
7) The movie gave me a headache. It is not that I do not like sad/slow/tragic movies because I have seen Pithamagan, Sethu, Thavamai Thavamirundhu, etc and I did not have this feeling about any of them. So there is something wrong in the movie only!

I usually ruminate over a movie I see for a couple of weeks before I finally come to a decision that I like it or not. And hopefully in the next couple of weeks I don't add a few more points to my above list of "Why I don't like this movie." Having written the stuff I did not like I must also write what I liked...So here goes:

1) A great adaptation of the original story. Conscious effort has also been made to keep the names of the lead protagonists similar to the original story.
2) The location where the movie has been shot is really impressive and shows a different part of India if you are not from around there.
3) Dialogues, although I did not understand most of them (Subtitles Zindabad!) was in local dialect and effort from each actor is noteworthy.
4) Costumes too are very impressive.

That's all I can think for now. Nevertheless the movie is worth watching once to form your own opinion. This movie certainly did not fall into my "please do not watch for your own safety" category but does fall into my "avoid watching with your family" category! Feedbacks and healthy discussions are always welcome!

Manmadhudu (2002) - Telugu Movie Review

2006-07-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Nagarjuna, Sonali Bendre, Anshu
Director: Vijaya Bhaskar
Music: Devi Sri Prasad

One Line Review: A very clean family entertainer

Abhi (Nag) a very rich kid owns an ad agency hates women. He goes to his colleagues/friends weddings and sings songs that say "don't marry." Harika (Sonali Bendre) joins the same ad agency and they both do not get along at all. They keep fighting and Abhi also goes to the extent of installing a mike under her desk. He steals her concepts and presents them as his own in meetings and her keeps picking on her. Enraged Harika hands her resignation letter to her boss who is also Abhi's uncle. Abhi's uncle explains Abhi's flashback to her...

Abhi a fun loving guy falls head over heels in love with the daughter of one of his grandfather's employees. Before Abhi and Mahi (Anshu) could talk about their love to Abhi's family Mahi's uncle takes her away to get her engaged to someone else. Abhi hearing of this takes Mahi away from her uncle and drives towards his house in a slightly inebriated state and they meet with an accident. When Abhi recovers he is told that Mahi has married the guy she was going to engaged to and she is living away from him. Which turns Abhi to hate all women and also makes him hate marriage.

Harika starts feeling a softness for Abhi. They become friends on their trip to Paris and their friendship blossoms into love towards the end of their trip when Abhi realizes that Harika is engaged to be married soon. He once again goes into a slump...Does he recover? Does he marry Harika? Watch the feel-good movie ;)

Yes, this movie is clean and decent, songs are just amazing and the movie is also funny with Brahmanandam and Sunil. If you have not seen it in the last four years then please watch it now!

Devil Wears Prada (2006) - English Movie Review

2006-07-31T10:33:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Meryl Streep, Anne Hathway, Stanley Tucci, Adrian Greenier
Director: David Frankel

This movie falls into the category of "Cheesy English Movie." It is neither super romantic nor makes an interesting watch. If at all it surely puts you to sleep in many occasions. The movie albeit it's boring story has made a lot of money and has awesome reviews in rottentomatoes.com and I wonder why? May be all those chic New York execs wearing Prada's and Gucci's write those reviews or pay to watch this movie.

My friend and I were intrigued by the preview we saw of this movie and decided we had to see it. After reading positive reviews we were only more convinced to watch it. So off we went to the theaters...

The story is about a girl, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathway) who is supposedly fat, ugly, and has no sense of dressing but is very smart and intelligent who starts working for Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) who is the Chief editor for a very popular fashion magazine called Runway. Miranda is a tyrant and pushes her employees to the very edge before accepting them. She is a workaholic and a perfectionist. Andy who has no idea of what Runway magazine does is challenged to take up this job and struggles everyday with her not-so-co-operating colleagues. Nigel (Stanley Tucci), a designer in the same office is her only friend.

On one hand she has her tyrannical boss who calls her and asks her to be on call 24 hours a day and on the other her boyfriend Nate (Adrian Greenier) who also demands attention. Andy is torn between the two and for sometime is convinced that she should follow her career. She travels with Meryl Streep to Paris, has a brief affair with another writer, and suddenly she realizes how bizarre her life actually is. She is not sure if this is what she wants and she quits her job to get back to New York and to continue her life with Nate.

I wonder if she ever told Nate about her one-night-stand! Anyway the story is boring. I felt so bored even writing the review. It is not like there is anything novel about this story at all! Seriously think how many English movies have released with similar themes? I am sorry, I tried to like this movie and just could not.

But the movie is certainly worth watching with friends and family. It is clean for most part and it can be a very cute movie for girly and women who wear Pink!

Golmal (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2006-07-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

One line review: Movie is total timepass!

Cast: Sharmaan Joshi, Ajay Devgan, Arshad Warsi, Tushar Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, etc.
Director: Rohit Shetty
Music: Vishal Dadlani and Shekar Ravjiani

This is a Malyalam movie remade into Tamil and Telugu before making its way into Bollywood. For most people Malyalam movies fall into the Serious Movie category but truly you will be surprised to see how many comedy movies they make every year. But one thing is for sure Malyalam comedy is subtle and not always as loud of Tamil, Telugu, or Hindi movies. And also most serious movie also has a touch of comedy entwined in them. And yes Golmal is a funny movie and can be enjoyed to full extent. I am not sure if it will be worth watching it again but it surely is a decent movie for one-time-viewing.

The story is about Sharmaan Joshi and college going lad and three of his friends who take advantage of his innocent character due to which he eventually gets kicked out of college. Nowhere to go and chased by debtors the four of them take refuge in the house of a blind couple. Of course the blind couple is expecting their grandson from America and one of the dudes becomes the imposter.

The twist in the story is that Sharmaan becomes the grandson and Ajay becomes the voice of the grandson. And another sub-plot is that of a gangster team who are trying to steal a box which presumably has money in it. Unfortunately for the gangster team they get beaten up by Sharmaan and his friends unintentionally. Of course there is a heroine which Sharmaan, Arshad, and Ajay are pining for and Tushar plays a mute guy.

The story is predictable but still brings a lot of laughter although like I mentioned earlier don't know if it will funny when I see it again. Tushar as the mute guy is very very hilarious. Sharmaan as the innocent college student is also very funny and he surely keeps us at the edge of the seat. Ajay as the serious but funny guy who lands everyone in trouble is also funny at times but otherwise is just okay. Arshad, needs to loose some weight. Being how tall he is, he just looks like a jadi (you know the one in which they store pickles) or stocky! But he is funny at times too. Most of the movie it is Sharmaan or Tushar who make you laugh the most.

I would surely recommend this movie to be seen if you can understand Hindi else a lot of things will be lost in translation. When you have nothing much to do and want to chillout without getting too tensed...Golmal will be your perfect companion!

Pudupettai (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-07-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

Ranking: It is either 2/5 or 4/5 depending on who is watching the movie

Cast: Dhanush, Sneha, Soniya Agarwal
Director: Selvaraghavan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Before the movie released it was commonly assumed that the story line will be similar to Pattiyal as the word was out on the street that both of them were gangster stories. Pattiyal released and went on to become a hit and Selvaraghavan smartly moved the release date of his movie to a later date. This not only helped people to get over the Pattiyal hangover but also helped give Pudupettai its due. It is now a huge hit and there is no denying it.

The story is set in the slums of Chennai where a high school kid Kokki Kumar sees his mom dead after he comes back from watching a movie. His father the murderer is also planning to kill his son Kumar also. Kumar sensing danger runs away from home. Homeless and with no food Kumar resorts to begging until he is wrongly arrested while standing by and watching a commotion on the street. In jail he befriends handymen of a local goon who take Kumar with them and give him petty jobs to do. In a confrontation with goons of another gang Kumar kills the brother of his enemy gang thus earning the respect of his gang and making enemies for himself.

Kumar falls in love with a prostitute Krishnaveni and she moves in with him. Kumar requests his boss who is also Krishnaveni's boss freedom from being a prostitute but he refuses. In a fit of rage Kumar kills his own boss thus becoming the gang leader himself. He helps a lot of politicians during election times and becomes popular in the underworld circle.

He also meets Soniya Agarwal on the eve of her wedding and falls in love with her and marries her forcibly during her wedding ceremony. Soniya is the sister of his favorite henchman who also becomes his enemy and joins the enemy gang. Slowly Kumar starts accumulating enemies and eventually everyone start targeting Kumar's head. Does Kumar survive the wrath of his enemies? forms the rest of the story.

What I did not like about the movie is the violence and bloody gore. I do not need to see so much graphic detail to understand the life of the goons. Really! This movie is more of a hit with predominantly front benchers because of the amount of violence. Had the director done some editing it might helped the movie some more.

The story is nothing we have not heard of before. But it feels very natural. The hero though exhibits superhero qualities in a few instances is not a superhero. He is vulnerable. There are no power dialogues. The hero's thought process suits his level of education and lifestyle. He is not shown wearing boot cut jeans and Nike shoes. His costumes are very apt. The dialogues are also well penned. Dialogue delivery, characterization, casting, music, direction, lighting are all very well done.

In all I would say watch the movie but not with parents or other elders. Also watch it on a DVD so you can forward scenes that might be too visually offensive.

Pokkiri Raja (1982) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-07-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Rajnikanth, Sridevi, Manorama, Muthuraman, Y.G. Mahendran, Radhika
Director: S.P. Muthuraman
Music: M.S. Vishwanathan

Stereotypical movie from the 80's. When you see them now you feel like you have seen it a hundred times before...But these were the movies that laid foundation to many modern stories on the silver screen.

The story is simple, Rajnikanth starts managing the office of an industrialist who strongly suspects his relatives to be looting him. Rajni finds the culprit and keeps a tight leash on everything happening in the office thereby earning the wrath of the bad relatives. Rajni and Sridevi (industrialist's daughter) who were at loggerheads initially also fall in love soon. The industrialist is happy about this development until he sees Rajni cheating on his daughter. He fires Rajni the very same day.

The industrialist is murdered and Sridevi also sees Rajni in her house that same night. Rajni is dragged to court and is shortly framed for murdering the industrialist. Sridevi is upset and the ill-intentioned relatives start closing their reign around her forcing her to marry Y.G. Mahendran (the son of Muthuraman and Manorama who are the industrialist's relatives).

In the meantime griefstricken Rajni in jail meets another person who looks exactly like him (Rajni 2). Together Rajni 1 and Rajni 2 plan to punish the culprits and set the records straight...A little confusion, fun, and a happy ending...I am sure everyone can guess how that might happen!

Very simple movie, slow at times but still entertaining. You can see all the components of acting that make the term "Rajni Style" and also Rajni at his peak. Sridevi acts really well as the daughter of the industrialist and so does Radhika as the girlfriend of the second Rajni. In other words a total time pass movie and worth watching with your whole family!

Superman Returns (2006) - English Movie Review

2006-06-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

I am not going to rank this movie, write the story or any of the conventional methods I have followed for other movies because this one is special - It is SUPERMAN!

The hero of all heroes, the man of steel, with a heart of gold, good looking and a great Krypton being, men want to be him and women would love to have him...In other words a fantasy icon of all realized through the media called cinema.

We went to the theater almost an hour before the show and we still got to sit at the second row only. It was sad but we were still excited that it was IMAX with 20 minutes of the movie in 3D! yay! And one thing is for sure that many of us will return to watch the movie in a decent seat next time. But inspite of the neck craning and moving head from corner to corner of the screen the movie was worth it. I still wonder if the 3D effects would have been better had we been slightly higher up.

It is kiddish, very similar to a Rajni or Vijaykanth movie...Hero protects all, is there at the nick of the moment, hears everyone's cry for help, loves his girlfriend immensely and better still CAN FLY...What more do you want other than to see a handsome hunk in blue and red fly over the skyline of Metropolis and into the universe...When he zooms close to you all you can think of is how handsome Brandon Routh really is...Clean shaven, blue eyes, perfect skin, tight clothes...Oops now I am making him sound gay (not that there is anything wrong with it) and that was not my intention...

The heroine, Lois Lane, of course was okay...But surely the two did have some good chemistry in the movie. I loved James Marsden in Notebook and only liked him better in this movie. In fact Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar go to White Castle) also makes appearance as one of Lux Luthor (Kevin Spacey's) sidekicks who has no dialogues...And need I say anything about Mr. Spacey's acting talents...

The movie is a fantastic watch...For a few moments it transports you to another world...And makes you really hope that there is Superman waiting outside the theater...It was very touching when a little kid sitting behind us screamed "Yay, Superman!" when he appeared on the screen...It made us realize that we were also clapping and cheering just like the kid but trying to act slightly matured!!! If this was a Desi theater then I would have made my friends whistle (because I don't know how to) and scream! I loved the movie...

Everyone did make comparisons of Brandon to Chris Reeve...It was omnipresent and to an extent spooky but only difference is that Brandon I assume has real muscles and no padding. But both of them aroused the same excitement among the viewers. Watch Superman and feel like a kid all over again!

Paarijatham (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-06-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Prithviraj, Saranya, Seetha, Prakash Rai, Roja, Sarath Babu
Director: Bagyaraj
Music: Tharan

One Line Review: Worth watching it!

Fresh 80's touch. That does sound contradictory, but for a film industry which does has forgotten the beautiful language of film making this movie is fresh and yes it has the feel of the movies that were made in the 80's and early 90's. The cast could have been Suhasini and Mohan for all you cared...

Again a very simple story. Seetha moves to a big house across from the small house where Sarath Babu and his daughter Saranya lived. Saranya becomes Seetha's housekeeper while she waits for her husband and son to join her. During the brief period Seetha starts to like Saranya a lot and slowly develops the idea of marrying her son to Saranya.

Saranya narrates a story she was writing to get published to Seetha. It the story about how two people fall in love in the process of an arranged marriage but are unable to unite to the end...Seetha imagines this story in her mind with he images of Prithiviraj (Seetha's and Prakash Rai's son) and Saranya as the bride and groom of the story. Thus Seetha is now convinced that she was going to have Saranya marry her son and also tells her family about her decision. Although she does not give name or photo to her husband or son.

Seetha ofcourse dies in an unfortunate accident and her family is trying to locate the girl she had chosen for her son. A lot of people mislead them leading both father and son not to trust anyone. Finally Prakash Rai decides to marry his son to a friend's daughter and lie that she was the chosen girl...

Enter Bagyaraj...Confusion mounts and the rest of the movie discusses about the effort Bagyaraj puts into unite Saranya and Prithviraj.

The story is a simple but beautiful. The director should have cut short the last 30 minutes of the movie. It was crisp for three quarters of the movie...But still it was a welcome change from the violence and gore of the present day hits like Pattiyal and Pudupettai.

Saranya has performed really well for a debut. She is very natural and does not do any extra annoying histrionics. Her father has chosen a nice story for introducing his daughter...Albeit she might have to shed some baby fat. Prithviraj was handsome as a villain in the movie Kana Kanden...Clean shaven and well dressed. Somehow in this movie he comes across as being very sloppy with an unshaven face and bad dressing. He also does a little overaction in the part where he is a character in Saranya's story. Age and time have taken a toll on Bagyaraj...He looks old and his voice is all the more irritating. I guess he should stick to writing and directing henceforth.

On the whole the movie is worth watching with the whole family including grandparents. A healthy entertainer and is very fresh! So do watch it if you do not mind watching a slightly slow paced movie with loads of romance, emotions and sentiments!

Style (2006) - Telugu Movie Review

2006-06-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Raghava Lawrence, Prabhu Deva, Charmee, Raja, Kamilini Mukherjee
Director: Raghava Lawrence
Music: Mani Sharma

The story is simple...Prabhu Deva is a dancer who wins a very big competition. He gives strong competition to the brother of a big villain. The villain initiates an accident and Prabhu looses his legs. Prabhu has a sister, Kamilini who takes care of him.

In the meantime Lawrence is a dancer who works in a dance school as cleaner with his friends. He is very skilled but cannot afford formal dance education. His icon is Prabhu Deva and models his dancing in the same style.

Charmee and Raja are students in the same school where Lawrence works. This is really a useless and side story. Charmee and Raja are in love with each other but do not tell it out explicitly...So Charmee uses Lawrence as a bait to make Raja jealous. The ploy works and Raja proposes to Charmee. But poor Lawrence unaware of Charmee's plot falls in love with her and is heartbroken.

In the meantime using Kamilini's idea Prabhu trains Lawrence to fight against the villain's brother in the dance competition. Lawrence trains hard and also gets people to sponsor him. Seeing him dance makes his competitor unsure of himself so he complains to his villain brother again who promptly kidnaps them.

The dance competition is on its way but these dancers are in the custody of the villain...So yes...Our very own Nagarjuna comes in to help them out. How? I don't know...These bloodied dancers make their appearance at the very last minute and make it to the finals. They win the competition and of course Chiru comes to give away their awards and talks highly about them...Yup that is the story...

Wonder why our directors cannot get more creative than this? The acting is okay, story is boring, dance moves are repetitive, I really do not know why people invest and waste time and money on such crappy stories.

It is okay to watch if you have nothing better to do and it is certainly good for watching it with family.

Jerry (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-06-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2/5

Cast: Ramesh, Mumtaj, Meera Vasudevan, Shruthi, Balaji, Crazy Mohan
Director: S.P. Kandhan
Music: Ramesh Vinayagam

Some stories are best forgotten as you walk away from the from watching it and this certainly falls into that category. I will write what I barely remember but you do not have to read the review to avoid the movie. Don't waste time watching crappy movies like these.

Ramesh is a college student. He is a very determined person and will win any challenge he takes by hook or crook. So he challenges his friends that he will make three girls fall in love with him and his friends can choose the girls.

The first girl is Meera who is a cop. She is sad and upset that no one wants to marry her as she is a cop. Ramesh does a lot of romantic crap and makes her fall in love with him. Unless Ramesh was a PhD. Student the chances of Meera and him being the same age are slim...and the whole plot is not only corny but extremely cheesy.

Second girl is Mumtaz playing the role of a very popular actress. The whole plot is very annoying and Ramesh's looks very cheap in his acting skills...He has the most vulgar facial expressions and can irritate the crap out of you.

Third girl is Shruthi a goody-two-shoes from his college. She hates Ramesh and Ramesh follows her around to make her fall in love with him during which time he notices that Shruthi is the sweetest person he has met. So he proposes to her inside Foodworld locked in during the night. She is all angry and irritated with him until he burns a big candle over the cake and expresses his love for her. Immediately her demeanor changes and they are in love.

So the finale is with three of them coming to the wedding to marry the same guy...and Ramesh with his friends trying to confuse everyone of them...and towards the end some crappy justification and the stupid movie comes to an end.

Crazy Mohan repeats his usual annoying and redundant dialogues that we have heard before. There is nothing fresh about the story either. It defies logic from start to finish. Very bad casting, acting, music, directing, screenplay. Basically crappy movie. AVOID. I can pick out each and every stupid instance in the movie and dissect it but I want to spare time for you and me...So please do not see such movie and encourage such directors and actors.

Ramesh should be banned from acting in movies...Not only is he ugly but he looks vulgar and makes offensive facial expressions! Golly I must be really frustrated!

Wedding Crashers (2005) - English Movie Review

2006-06-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Isla Fischer, Christopher Walkin
Director: David Dobkin

Funny romantic movie. I am going to try and keep the review real short...Two well-to-do dudes crash weddings every year during the wedding season to pick up girls to sleep with. They change names, identities, and profession and have alibi's pre-prepared.

Yes, one of them (Owen) falls in love with Rachel and now wants to marry her. But the usual cliche about her being already engaged makes its presence and now Owen tries hard to pursue her in spite of it. He also makes Vince get through a lot of trouble because of his love for Rachel. Vince who would have slept with Rachel's sister is now being hounded by her because she is turns out to be a sex-maniac.

And of course Rachel's fiance is a bad guy and Owen tries to convince her that she deserves better. But the fiance exposes Owen's and Vince's real deal and they get kicked out of Rachel's summer house where they were her father's (the secretary of State) guests. Rachel gives up on Owen but Vince continues his affair with her sister. Owen is dejected and resorts to drinking and stops talking to his best friend Vince...and of course like all corny cheesy romantic movies this one also ends in a happy note. I particularly did not like the ending.

Watch it with friends, it is funny through most of the movie. Vince is hilarious and so is Owen in parts but the romantic parts of the story give you a sense of deja vu. Worth watching for fun and time pass...

Kokki (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-06-19T10:03:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

One line review: Do not waste your time.

Cast: Karan, Sanjana, Seema, Kota Sreenivasa Rao
Director: Prabhu Solomon
Music: Dheena

This dude kokki (Karan) comes to Chennai to get his visa to go and work abroad as a barber. He works temporarily with his uncle Subburaj (Malaysia Vasudevan). Subburaj also does shaving for the local gunda/don- Upili (Kota) and sends Kokki as a replacement when he falls sick.

The gunda is a very superstitious fellow and wants to open his eyes seeing the idol of his god placed outside his window every morning. This unfortunate morning when Kokki comes to shave him he stands between the idol and the gunda. The gunda is infuriated at first and then later looking at things happening to his advantage that day he wants Kokki to become his lucky charm.

Kokki is very stubborn and wants to proceed with his plans of going abroad and takes the bus to return to his village before flying out. But the rowdies do not let him do that and chase him during which he gets into the clutches of the cops who book him in under some false section. The gunda tears Kokki's passport and also gets him beaten up. Kokki manages to escape from the cops after beating them and hides in the ladies hostel in Raji's (Sanjana) room.

Raji decides to help Kokki out who spends a whole day with Raji without any inhibition and eventually they do fall in love. The climax of the story is how Kokki escapes from the clutches of Upili and what happens to all the bad guys.

Also there is a sub plot where the gunda has a sidekick who tells hims what to do and when to do based on astrology and he also has a sad past. The movie has two parallel stories that somehow never connect till the end. One of Kokki and one of this astrologer.

Pathetic movie...What could have been good script is killed by bad direction. The hero is so ugly, fat, and really cannot act for nuts. He is a villager, he has been to jail before, he is poor, etc. cannot make a person act mute. Did Karan think that he was acting the role of Vikram in Pithamagan? Or was he trying to win a national award for his acting? Sad. The story is okay, but all the lead characters are worse than miserable. Good story bad execution.

I must insist here...For being an actor, you need to look your role. But you can look and act your role by looking fit too. You do not need a twenty pound pot belly and a forty pound ass. That is not adding character to the role but simply disgusting. I wish Karan would restrict himself to doing small brother roles or uncle roles henceforth. As for the actress, please get ready to either becoming a sister or to leave.

What are these directors thinking? Seriously. Do not waste time on this film if you have better things to do. Not only is it boring but it is also sad.

Achuvinthe Amma (2005) - Malyalam Movie Review

2006-06-14T20:01:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4.5/5

Cast: Meera Jasmine, Urvashi, Sunil
Director: Sathyan Anthikad
Music: Ilayaraja

I have to tell you that I do not watch many Malayalam movies more because I do not find company to watch them with and they are not easily accesible to me...But this time a friend of mine and I decided to let the rest of the gang hang out and we saw this movie and I do not regret it one bit. It is a great movie with a simple story, amazing direction, acting, screenplay, music, etc. It seemed perfect and directors from other languages should learn from Malayalam movies what quality really is! But unfortunately at least for Tamil and Telugu movies movies of such genre will only run in B grade theaters and will not be considered a commercial movie. I wish both the taste of people as well as of the directors will change for the better.

The story: Achu aka Ashwathi (Meera) is Vanaja's (Urvashi) daughter and they both live together with the absence of a male in their life. Achu is a civil engineer and she gets employed in a very good firm close to her house. Vanaja has sustained her family of two working hard as an LIC agent. Achu does not want to question her mom about her father trying not to bother her mother. They are very happy and carry on more like friends than mom and daughter.

Fate makes Achu and Vanaja meet Emanuel John aka Ejo (Sunil), an advocate also running on odd jobs trying to make some money on the side. Vanaja warns Achu about falling in love with Ejo which inevitably happens. Vanaja is very unhappy to hear about this but on Achu's persistence goes with Ejo to meet his parents. Where Ejo introduces them to five tombstones in a grave yard. Ejo explains that his whole family commited mass suicide leaving him to be the only survivor.

Vanaja is very sad but on returning back home tells Ejo that she is not happy about Achu and Ejo marrying. She had always hoped that Achu might marry into a big family but since Ejo was alone she was afraid of who would take care of Achu should something happen to Ejo. Ejo understands this and walks out of Achu's life.

Achu is very unhappy with Vanaja's question and asks her mother who her father is and why she was imposing her whims on her when she has been so understanding of her feelings. Vanaja refuses to explain her stance further and Achu leaves the house and tries to survive staying with friends for a few days. Ejo is very stern at obeying the wishes of Vanaja and refuses to be anything more than a friend to Achu and constantly tries to convince her to go home. Angry, optionless, and homeless now, Achu tries to commit suicide which she survives and she is admitted in a hospital. Ejo brings Vanaja over to visit Achu and Achu refuses to talk to her. On her way out she explains her story to Ejo and leaves...amazing climax...watch the movie.

Like I said at the very beginning of this post...This is a great movie and a must watch. Viewable with family and friends and very enjoyable story.

Iruvar (1999) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-06-10T12:25:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3/5

Cast: Mohan Lal, Prakash Rai, Revathi, Aishwarya Rai, Gouthami, Tabu
Director: Mani Rathnam
Music: A.R. Rehman

One line Review: It is a very average movie and can be very boring and dragging at many instances.

Mohanlal comes from this little village in border city between Kerala and Tamilnadu to Chennai to make it in movies. He gets to play all sorts for small roles and waits patiently for a big break. In the meantime gets married to Ash-1. They are happily married and he gets to play the main protagonist in a movie. But the movie comes to a halt half-way through and Ash-1 also dies. Mohanlal is heart broken.

Mohanlal and Prakash Rai, the dialogue writer for the movie become very good friends. Prakash introduces Mohan to politics headed by Nazar. Mohan and Nazar also become good friends. By now somehow Mohan has gotten another chance in a movie and he is a star. People of T. Nadu stupidly start following Mohanlal and he becomes very popular. The party to which both Mohan and Prakash are affiliated use Mohan's popularity to pull themselves up.

In the meantime Prakash gets married to Revathy to whom he narrates heavy poetry in Tamil. To Revathy they make no sense...So he goes and does the same to Tabu who reciprocates and then he takes her in as a keep. Mohan also marries Gouthami, an actress who is distressed by her uncle who wants to rape her. Then under Gouthami's advice hires Ash-2 to act as a heroine in a movie. Obviously, Mohan starts sleeping with her because she is hot and tries to imitate Ash-1.

So now both Mohan and Prakash have their eyes set on becoming the party leader as Nazar is resigning. But eventually the party is split, one being led by Prakash and the other by Mohan who are now not in talking terms with each other. Prakash wins and leads T.Nadu trying to make it a dream state (does nothing but recites more annoying poetry) then Mohan wins the next elections leaving Prakash very upset...

Eventually the two friends (that's why the movie is called Iruvar) meet at a common friend's wedding and they smile at each other before Mohan grabs his heart in pain...

Yup, the story is supposedly imitating the lives of M. Karunanidhi (Prakash), M.G.R (Mohan), Janaki (Gouthami), Jayalalitha (Ash-2), M.Karunanidhi's first wife (Revathy), M. Karunanidhi's second wife ( Tabu), and M.G.R.'s first wife (Ash-1). The story is slow paced, the camera makes many 360 degree turns and you wonder why the cameraman is trying to give the audience a head grinding experience and the movie is very very very slow...

It is okay to watch if you have nothing better to do...But the movie is full of falsified details trying to make everyone look good in public eyes, we really do not know how much of it is true also, for all I care neither M.Karunanidhi nor M.G.R has done anything great for T.Nadu's sake, so why make them look like almost perfect people? I do not understand unless the idea of the director was to suck up to all politicians...

Can and may be ignored...But if you did watch it, let me know what you think...

Madhu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-06-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 1.5/5

Cast: Ramesh, Priyamani, Jhanvi
Director: Tennarasu
Music: Illayaraja

One line review: Crappy movie, don't watch.

So this dude Madhu (Ramesh) comes from somewhere (god only knows where) to Ooty to do something (again god only knows what). He does not explain anything about his existence. All we know is that he has a father to whom he speaks about two lines every other day over the phone.

Anyway that said, he is introduced in the movie pointing a gun to the head of a prostitute and saying, "for prostitutes like you, there is only three days off every month, but I am giving you an extra day off and that with no loss of pay." To which the prostitute says, "I like your character." And then Madhu turns around and tells ussomthing like, "I look like a villain, but I am not, you will understand when you watch the movie,"....sadly nothing is revealed about why Madhu is a lunatic throughout the movie. The director must have thought that the above concept was kick-ass...did not know how and where to use it, and used it randomly in this movie.
So anyway, he meets this random girl Esther (Jhanvi) on the streets trying to play a prank on dude and Madhu. Madhu gets and kisses Esther in public...lip to lip. So you think that something is going to happen between these two, right? Instead in the next few scenes he sees Mercy (Priyamani), who is a godfearing girl and starts following her randomly. He later notices that she is kind, sweet, and nice. Then he enters her hostel and tells her, "I love you and you must like me," with the worst English accent ever. This is nothing but harrassment to the girl who is obviously upset by this 9you w*ould be too if you were in her position), but Madhu does not understand why Mercy doesn't love him...

So he goes chasing her aound the town and finally follows her to her village and even converts to Christianity to get into her and her father's good books. The girl clearly explains to him that her only aim in life is to become a nun as promised by her father to her dying mother. But still Madhu is persistent and tries to convince her that becoming a nun is stupid when you are in love. Does he not get the message that she is not in love with him and only he is in love (if you could call that) with her?

So anyhow, harrassment continues till both of them jump over a cliff due to Madhu's stupidity and die. Really, only a guy high on dope or plain stupid can make a movie so stupid. Many times when I watch a movie I feel that the director had a good concept but somehow failed in execution and feel bad for him...but in this case, I should say that the movie is irritating and stupid, the actor Ramesh looks and acts pathetically, the only saving grace is the beautiful face of Priyamani which again fails miserably as an actor. Ashish Vidhyarthi with his miserable and annoying dubbing voice is very irritating, this is a case of misused talent . There is no comedy, Vivek is nothing but annoying.

On the whole, I am even frustrated living through the excruciating experience writing the review and I am going to stop right here recommending everyone to avoid this movie at all cost...

Thirupathi (2006) - Tamil Movie Review

2006-05-23T10:54:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 2.5/5

Cast: Ajith, Sada
Director: Perarasu
Music: Bharathwaj

Some movies do not need a review, they should just be avoided. But since I love writing reviews here goes...Ok this is funny, I mean the movie...It is so stupid that it gets hilarious...Why do directors want to portray that Chennai might become an ideal city through stupid movies? I loved the concept in Mudhalvan...It is a fantasy film and it was executed well...But Thirupathi? Jeez...Stupid.

We have exploited all forms of social reforms forever in Tamil cinemas...I do not know when it started but the first movie I remember is Naan Sigappu Manidhan...Then Shankar came in and exploited the same topic in four different movies (Gentleman, Indian, Mudhalvan, and Anniyan). Then Vijaykanth also followed the footsteps and so did Ajith himself. Vikram's Saami was a standout at all this attempt and it was a good movie...But isn't it high time we stop? I mean we know that such reforms are never going to happen, no one is going to raise hell in T.Nadu for injustices being met to people everyday, people just do not care...and people have realized that all this is a fantasy and it is quite boring indeed.

Anyway...The story is a combination of Annamalai and Padikathavan in the first half and Ramana in the last part. The minute they introduce Suri (Riaz Khan), the rich son of a minister in the first half as Thirupathi's (Ajith) best friend we know where the story is heading. We are waiting for Suri to commit the unpardonable sin that will bring the lion out of Thirupathi...Of course Thirupathi has a brother who lies to his parents for money to have fun with his friends. Thirupathi obviously has a sister who is pregnant and parents who are not awfully rich.

So I guess now you can see where the story is heading...Yes, exactly, the most predictable and boring story...Thirupathi's pregnant sister dies during childbirth as the doctor is asking for money to perform surgery to deliver the child. In the meantime Ajith is helping out his friend Suri on behalf of the same doctor who had killed his sister. This is the split between friends where he realizes that Suri was using him only to satisfy his political needs and the bad doctor was actually Suri's brother.

Now Thirupathi starts taking revenge on Suri, his brother (the bad doctor) and Suri's father...The end result? The new rule passed by the State Government that Pregnancy care shall be free of cost for all women in T.Nadu...Even if you go to Apollo or to GH...Does not matter...Doctors have to do the operation of delivery for free...This masala was aimed to reach the women sentiment...Cheap trick.

On the whole...Pathetic story, miserable songs, sorry screenplay, a sick looking Ajith, Sada is okay...But who is she in the movie? A role that did not make any impact in the movie, bad direction, boring comedy...and the list goes on...

Now, Ajith can complain that when he was fat we all said he was fat and now that he is thin we are complaining that he is so ugly-thin...I am sorry Ajith...You have lost your charm, thin or fat you do not look good anymore, the charisma is not there anymore.

So once again...Avoid it at all cost.

Da Vinci Code (2006) - English Movie Review

2006-05-23T10:07:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 4/5

Cast: Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany
Director: Ron Howard
Story: Based on the novel Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

The book is amazing. It is big, at first it might intimidate you but even the "I rarely read book" kinda people also will be caught up with this story. The book based on many conspiracy theories that have existed since the crucifixtion of Christ is another conspiracy theory in itself...

Now explaining the story would be trying to condense a 500 plus page book into one single page...Is that possible? Well I do not know but I guess the above paragraph gives a brief synopsis of what the book is about and I will stop with that...But I do want to write a few things about the movie itself.

It is always difficult to make a movie based on book so popular. It will surely raise the expectation of many viewers. This is not fair to the director as it results in many bad reviews. I strongly believe that the movie has justified the book the best it can. The story is complicated many small plots, many historical details but all of the 500+ pages have to be condensed into a two-and half-hour movie...It was well done. Too much expectation always results in disappointments as this movie cannot be embellished with graphics like LOTR or Harry Potter.

I also agree that reading the book before watching the movie might help a lot because it surely helps you understand many nuances that are left unexplained better...the small modifications done to the original story are okay and it just confuses the viewers less...

You should surely watch this movie before making a judgement. It is worth the money if you understand it or it will atleast motivate you to read the book...

Gangster (2006) - Hindi Movie Review

2006-05-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ranking: 3.5/5

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Shiney Ahuja, Kangna
Director: Anuraag Basu
Music: Pritam Chakravarthy

This movie is good...not great but good. The acting by all the main protagonists is very good. If I had been the director the one thing I would have changed about the movie is to dub the voice for Ms. Kangna as she has a very bad lisp. Now, do not think I am being mean...In a movie the voice is very essential to convey the emotions but if the voice has a lisp then it does not do a very good job. Many times when Kangna is talking portraying various emotions of anger, disappointment, etc...We laughed. It was really sad but we laughed because her words came out really funny...So just to be fair to her and the director he should have dubbed the voice for her...

The story is about the girlfriend (Simran played by Kangna)of a gangster (Daya played by Shiney) who is a drunkard trying to dissolve her sorrows through drinks. Aakash (Emraan) is a singer at a local bar who falls in love with Simran. Aakash and Kangna start having an affair that Daya discovers. He almost kills Aakash but Simran prevents him from doing so.

Simran is confused if she should stay with Daya or run away with Aakash who promises her a wonderful world if she could turn in Daya to the authorities and marry him. Kangna's confusions is well expressed in the movie. The rest of the movie is about Kangna's decision, betrayal, flash back and the end...

This is a very well directed movie. The acting as mentioned is good, the screenplay is perfect, and the editing is amazing. I enjoyed the movie very much in spite of its dark shades. Violence is present but in no form is glorified. I would strongly suggest watching this movie...