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.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Dor (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
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!
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!
Monday, October 23, 2006
Elavattam (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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!
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!
Friday, October 06, 2006
Godavari (2006) - Telugu Movie Review
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!
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!
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Nuvve Nuvve (2003) - Telugu Movie Review
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...
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
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!
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!
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Aran (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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!
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
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.
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
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...
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...
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Lage Raho Munnabhai (2006) - Hindi Movies
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!
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!
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Uyir (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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!
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!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Omkara (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
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!
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!
Monday, July 31, 2006
Manmadhudu (2002) - Telugu Movie Review
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!
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
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!
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!
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Golmal (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
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!
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!
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Pudupettai (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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.
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.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Pokkiri Raja (1982) - Tamil Movie Review
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!
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!
Friday, June 30, 2006
Superman Returns (2006) - English Movie Review
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!
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!
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Paarijatham (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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!
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!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Style (2006) - Telugu Movie Review
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.
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.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Jerry (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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!
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!
Monday, June 19, 2006
Wedding Crashers (2005) - English Movie Review
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...
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
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.
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.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Achuvinthe Amma (2005) - Malyalam Movie Review
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.
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.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Iruvar (1999) - Tamil Movie Review
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...
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...
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Madhu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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...
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...
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Thirupathi (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
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.
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
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...
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...
Monday, May 22, 2006
Gangster (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
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...
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...
Monday, May 15, 2006
Thiruttu Payale (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Jeevan, Malavika, Sonia Agarwal, Abbas, Manoj K. Jayan
Director: Susi Ganesan
Music: Baradwaj
Manickam's (Jeevan) parents are afraid of him because of his temper tantrums and unruly behavior. Afraid to handle him they send him from a small village in Madurai to his uncle's house in Chennai. Manickam's uncle, a police inspector dotes on him from his childhood and welcomes him with open arms.
Manickam, spends a lot of time on the terrace that overlooks a golf course and with the help of one of his neighbors gets hold of a pair of binoculars. He uses it to spy on people when his eye catches Roopini (Malavika) and Santosh (Abbas) having sex after dark. He observes them many times over few weeks and also learns that they are having an extra-marital affair. And with a little research learns that both Roopini and Santosh are rich. So he decides to video tape them having sex and bilk them to live rich the rest of his life.
Manickam invites his friends from the village over and they start partying and spending Roopini's money like water and also force her to send them on a vacation to Australia. Roopini at every stage of the bilking process tries to outsmart Manickam. The battle of wits is on...Until Manickam falls in love with Rosy (Sonia), a girl planted by Roopini to lure Manickam.
Manickam turns into a good leaf because of Rosy's intervention and everything between Roopini and Manickam are things of past. But Rosy's greedy mother poses a threat to their relationship and Manickam is forced to revert to his old habits once more.
In the meantime Roopini's husband Selvaraj (Manoj) hires a private detective to make sure that his wife is not in trouble...The detective's findings brings in an amazing ending to the movie. The way the director leaves many of the scenes without completion and goes back to complete them giving us a clearer picture is very interesting. Kudos to the director for maintaining the interest and pace of the movie from start to finish.
Jeevan is a good actor, he has done very few movies but a couple of memorable ones. He is very effective on communicating the negativeness in his role. Maybe he should only play negative roles...Sonia Agarwal should learn to emote. She has a deadpan face and she is not attractive either. Malavika is very good in her characterization of Roopini and Abbas still looks gay but was good for his role in the movie. Manoj K. Jayan as the husband of Malavika plays his role to perfection. In other words the casting of the movie (but for Sonia) and the direction is just splendid...
If you have time and are thinking about watching MI3 or Azhagai Irukirai...STOP...Go and see this entertaining thriller...It is GOOD...Worth the time and money.
Cast: Jeevan, Malavika, Sonia Agarwal, Abbas, Manoj K. Jayan
Director: Susi Ganesan
Music: Baradwaj
Manickam's (Jeevan) parents are afraid of him because of his temper tantrums and unruly behavior. Afraid to handle him they send him from a small village in Madurai to his uncle's house in Chennai. Manickam's uncle, a police inspector dotes on him from his childhood and welcomes him with open arms.
Manickam, spends a lot of time on the terrace that overlooks a golf course and with the help of one of his neighbors gets hold of a pair of binoculars. He uses it to spy on people when his eye catches Roopini (Malavika) and Santosh (Abbas) having sex after dark. He observes them many times over few weeks and also learns that they are having an extra-marital affair. And with a little research learns that both Roopini and Santosh are rich. So he decides to video tape them having sex and bilk them to live rich the rest of his life.
Manickam invites his friends from the village over and they start partying and spending Roopini's money like water and also force her to send them on a vacation to Australia. Roopini at every stage of the bilking process tries to outsmart Manickam. The battle of wits is on...Until Manickam falls in love with Rosy (Sonia), a girl planted by Roopini to lure Manickam.
Manickam turns into a good leaf because of Rosy's intervention and everything between Roopini and Manickam are things of past. But Rosy's greedy mother poses a threat to their relationship and Manickam is forced to revert to his old habits once more.
In the meantime Roopini's husband Selvaraj (Manoj) hires a private detective to make sure that his wife is not in trouble...The detective's findings brings in an amazing ending to the movie. The way the director leaves many of the scenes without completion and goes back to complete them giving us a clearer picture is very interesting. Kudos to the director for maintaining the interest and pace of the movie from start to finish.
Jeevan is a good actor, he has done very few movies but a couple of memorable ones. He is very effective on communicating the negativeness in his role. Maybe he should only play negative roles...Sonia Agarwal should learn to emote. She has a deadpan face and she is not attractive either. Malavika is very good in her characterization of Roopini and Abbas still looks gay but was good for his role in the movie. Manoj K. Jayan as the husband of Malavika plays his role to perfection. In other words the casting of the movie (but for Sonia) and the direction is just splendid...
If you have time and are thinking about watching MI3 or Azhagai Irukirai...STOP...Go and see this entertaining thriller...It is GOOD...Worth the time and money.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Mission Impossible - 3 (2006) English Movie Review with Spoilers
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Tom Cruise, Billy Crudup, Lawrence Fishburne, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Director: J.J. Abrams
It is the same old story...Spy stuck in a web cast by the villain and the spy's own boss. Very obvious, the story is simple and stupid...Like a friend of mine would say..."Stupid and irritating."
Ethan Hunt (TC) a spy who is now settled to teaching as he is getting married and wants to miss out on action is called on to work on one last job...To bring back another fellow spy from the hands of a terrorist (Philip) who has her captive in Germany. TC leaves his engagement party to pursue work...They get the captive spy but she dies on her way to America... TC is now upset but he is in the midst of something he cannot get out of...
Ethan and John M (Billy) are being questioned by John B (Lawrence) for negligence and Ethan wants to protect his boss and set things right. So he takes on a project without anyone's knowledge but just his team mates (3 of them) and goes over to Italy where the bad guy is supposed to be arriving at. They succefully capture the bad guy and bring him to America...On their way to meet John M and John B Ethan hears a clip sent by the dead spy that John B works hand in hand with the bad guy.
Just as he realizes that a big accident happens...No one know how or what exactly happened...But at the end of it there are few cars and a big truck and a hole on the bridge with Ethan running to get the bad guy...Who obviously escapes to take revenge on Ethan...
Ethan's wife is captured. Now Ethan is being asked to work on a project that is supposedly very daring for the return of his wife while his fellow spies capture him and take him back to the head quarters. His boss John M tells him to leave for China where he can complete the mission and come back with his wife...Ethan escapes and is in China where his team mates meet him to help him with the project...
During the course Ethan realizes that the actual villain is not John B but John M...How crappy if he had asked me this I would have told him at the very beginning...Like a Tamil movie only worse...Anyhoo, Ethan returns, John M is dead and John B recommends Ethan to work for CIA...E'S (End of Story)...
Now...Ethan goes to china to bring back something called the Rabbit's foot that is in a canister with the hazardous sign on it...Do we get to know what the hell is in that canister at the end of the movie?? NO...Seriously...After watching a crappy movie for two hours you do not get to know what Ethan was behind all this time after all...Maybe the director himself had no idea...
Few of the stunts are amazing, some of them stupid, and some funny...It is like the Azhagai Irukirai movie where Bharath's mom will jump from the terrace of a three story building holding helium balloons in her hands...Some of the stunts are confusing, in that you do not understand what really is happening...The movie is corny at times and cheesy at others...
If I were you and had extra time, I would still not watch this movie...Till this minute I am regretting spending my hard earned money on this imperfect piece of crap...So verdict...DO NOT WATCH.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Billy Crudup, Lawrence Fishburne, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Director: J.J. Abrams
It is the same old story...Spy stuck in a web cast by the villain and the spy's own boss. Very obvious, the story is simple and stupid...Like a friend of mine would say..."Stupid and irritating."
Ethan Hunt (TC) a spy who is now settled to teaching as he is getting married and wants to miss out on action is called on to work on one last job...To bring back another fellow spy from the hands of a terrorist (Philip) who has her captive in Germany. TC leaves his engagement party to pursue work...They get the captive spy but she dies on her way to America... TC is now upset but he is in the midst of something he cannot get out of...
Ethan and John M (Billy) are being questioned by John B (Lawrence) for negligence and Ethan wants to protect his boss and set things right. So he takes on a project without anyone's knowledge but just his team mates (3 of them) and goes over to Italy where the bad guy is supposed to be arriving at. They succefully capture the bad guy and bring him to America...On their way to meet John M and John B Ethan hears a clip sent by the dead spy that John B works hand in hand with the bad guy.
Just as he realizes that a big accident happens...No one know how or what exactly happened...But at the end of it there are few cars and a big truck and a hole on the bridge with Ethan running to get the bad guy...Who obviously escapes to take revenge on Ethan...
Ethan's wife is captured. Now Ethan is being asked to work on a project that is supposedly very daring for the return of his wife while his fellow spies capture him and take him back to the head quarters. His boss John M tells him to leave for China where he can complete the mission and come back with his wife...Ethan escapes and is in China where his team mates meet him to help him with the project...
During the course Ethan realizes that the actual villain is not John B but John M...How crappy if he had asked me this I would have told him at the very beginning...Like a Tamil movie only worse...Anyhoo, Ethan returns, John M is dead and John B recommends Ethan to work for CIA...E'S (End of Story)...
Now...Ethan goes to china to bring back something called the Rabbit's foot that is in a canister with the hazardous sign on it...Do we get to know what the hell is in that canister at the end of the movie?? NO...Seriously...After watching a crappy movie for two hours you do not get to know what Ethan was behind all this time after all...Maybe the director himself had no idea...
Few of the stunts are amazing, some of them stupid, and some funny...It is like the Azhagai Irukirai movie where Bharath's mom will jump from the terrace of a three story building holding helium balloons in her hands...Some of the stunts are confusing, in that you do not understand what really is happening...The movie is corny at times and cheesy at others...
If I were you and had extra time, I would still not watch this movie...Till this minute I am regretting spending my hard earned money on this imperfect piece of crap...So verdict...DO NOT WATCH.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Taxi 9211 (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: John Abraham, Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni,
Director: Milan Lutharia
Music: Vishal & Shekar
Raghav Shashtri (Nana) a Mumbai taxi driver with love for no one but his wife and kid drives around the city picking petty fights with everyone he meets. To the world he is a cabbie but to his wife he is an insurance agent. He needs money to fix his family with everything they need...
Jai Mittal (John Abraham), son of a late industrialist who has been stripped off property in the last will written by his father before his death. He is contesting in the court and needs to be there on time to produce the documents that prove him to be the lawful inheritor of the property. Jai meets with a small accident the previous night in his car and is now forced to take a cab to the court...
Fate brings Raghav and Jai together. It is hate-at-first-sight. Nothing works in their favor. Their big ego's clash bringing in bouts of laughter and emotions into the film. The rest of the movie takes us through a series of events created by Jai and Raghav to satisfy their anger, ego, and hatred for each other. Do they realize who their real friends are? What they both are angry about? Do they make friends? Watch the movie! You will not regret it!
Nana, perfectly suited his role as Raghav Shashtri, the easy-to-anger cab driver and John was great as Jai Mittal. Raghav's emotions, anger, feelings, and annoyance at the world are very well portrayed by Nana. His love for his wife and kid is also humorously portrayed and Nana does a great job being Raghav.
John, handsome face, perfect physique, and together with all this he is a good actor too...Unlike many of his contemporaries who failed to create a ripple, John is here to stay with his class, style and charisma. He has the kind of a face that can either be handsome or like that of a twisted man... Great going John.
I should applaud the director for a great movie...In one week I saw three movies, Darna, Azhagai, Taxi, and MI3 and this is the only movie that is getting a complete positive review from me...The movie is clean but for a few dialogues and is perfect for family viewing if these dialogues could be censored.
The only negative part in the story is that one cannot believe that all the things shown in the movie can happen in twenty-four hours, that too in a city as big as Mumbai...Maybe the director did it to keep the pace of the movie...Which for its own good does not slow down till the end.
If you did not agree with the movie let me know why...
Cast: John Abraham, Nana Patekar, Sonali Kulkarni,
Director: Milan Lutharia
Music: Vishal & Shekar
Raghav Shashtri (Nana) a Mumbai taxi driver with love for no one but his wife and kid drives around the city picking petty fights with everyone he meets. To the world he is a cabbie but to his wife he is an insurance agent. He needs money to fix his family with everything they need...
Jai Mittal (John Abraham), son of a late industrialist who has been stripped off property in the last will written by his father before his death. He is contesting in the court and needs to be there on time to produce the documents that prove him to be the lawful inheritor of the property. Jai meets with a small accident the previous night in his car and is now forced to take a cab to the court...
Fate brings Raghav and Jai together. It is hate-at-first-sight. Nothing works in their favor. Their big ego's clash bringing in bouts of laughter and emotions into the film. The rest of the movie takes us through a series of events created by Jai and Raghav to satisfy their anger, ego, and hatred for each other. Do they realize who their real friends are? What they both are angry about? Do they make friends? Watch the movie! You will not regret it!
Nana, perfectly suited his role as Raghav Shashtri, the easy-to-anger cab driver and John was great as Jai Mittal. Raghav's emotions, anger, feelings, and annoyance at the world are very well portrayed by Nana. His love for his wife and kid is also humorously portrayed and Nana does a great job being Raghav.
John, handsome face, perfect physique, and together with all this he is a good actor too...Unlike many of his contemporaries who failed to create a ripple, John is here to stay with his class, style and charisma. He has the kind of a face that can either be handsome or like that of a twisted man... Great going John.
I should applaud the director for a great movie...In one week I saw three movies, Darna, Azhagai, Taxi, and MI3 and this is the only movie that is getting a complete positive review from me...The movie is clean but for a few dialogues and is perfect for family viewing if these dialogues could be censored.
The only negative part in the story is that one cannot believe that all the things shown in the movie can happen in twenty-four hours, that too in a city as big as Mumbai...Maybe the director did it to keep the pace of the movie...Which for its own good does not slow down till the end.
If you did not agree with the movie let me know why...
Monday, May 08, 2006
Azhaga Irukirai Bhayama Irukiradhu (2006) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 2.5/5.0
Cast: Bharath, Arun, Mallika Kapoor, Deepu, M S Bhasker, Renuka, Supergood Lakshmanan
Director: Vijay Milton
Music: Yuva Shankar Raja
Manu (Bharath) comes to Chennai to win over his love and meets Jo during one of his attempts at separating Prem (Arun Kumar) and Nandini (Deepu). Manu explains to Jo that he has been in love with Nandini, a TV News Anchor for over three years since the time she lived in his village
and would love to get back with her. While Jo explains that she has been in love with Prem an aspiring cricket player waiting to make it to the Indian team for more than five years and would love to get married to him. So together they start Operation Tuskon and start plotting to separate the lovers.
Finally when the lovers are separated the truth behind Manu's motives are explained to us which is the Twist in the tale...This is a good part in the movie... After this the movie gets boring...and for the director to really walk around telling everyone that "his story is a different one," he really ended it differently...But is the end justified? Who knows...When the whole story is corny why shouldn't the ending be any different?
Mallika Kapoor, is very annoying, I do not know if it is because of the dubbing artist or if it is just her...Very annoying, acts like a three year old and has the biggest squint...Worse than both Bipasha and Ramba...
Bharath, we have come to accept you as an actor, you are decent, much better than many of our contemporaries but that does not mean that you should cry at every given opportunity...It gets annoying and kind of a drag.
Arun Kumar, you are just too old now for us to watch you as the guy bagging the girl. Sorry you did not get better opportunities five years ago...Shedding those extra pounds might help.
The music is okay and the direction could have been better. All these directors who make crappy movies should have a neutral sensible person who can give productive advises to make the film better. This might help reduce crappy movies and directions...
Cast: Bharath, Arun, Mallika Kapoor, Deepu, M S Bhasker, Renuka, Supergood Lakshmanan
Director: Vijay Milton
Music: Yuva Shankar Raja
Manu (Bharath) comes to Chennai to win over his love and meets Jo during one of his attempts at separating Prem (Arun Kumar) and Nandini (Deepu). Manu explains to Jo that he has been in love with Nandini, a TV News Anchor for over three years since the time she lived in his village
and would love to get back with her. While Jo explains that she has been in love with Prem an aspiring cricket player waiting to make it to the Indian team for more than five years and would love to get married to him. So together they start Operation Tuskon and start plotting to separate the lovers.
Finally when the lovers are separated the truth behind Manu's motives are explained to us which is the Twist in the tale...This is a good part in the movie... After this the movie gets boring...and for the director to really walk around telling everyone that "his story is a different one," he really ended it differently...But is the end justified? Who knows...When the whole story is corny why shouldn't the ending be any different?
Mallika Kapoor, is very annoying, I do not know if it is because of the dubbing artist or if it is just her...Very annoying, acts like a three year old and has the biggest squint...Worse than both Bipasha and Ramba...
Bharath, we have come to accept you as an actor, you are decent, much better than many of our contemporaries but that does not mean that you should cry at every given opportunity...It gets annoying and kind of a drag.
Arun Kumar, you are just too old now for us to watch you as the guy bagging the girl. Sorry you did not get better opportunities five years ago...Shedding those extra pounds might help.
The music is okay and the direction could have been better. All these directors who make crappy movies should have a neutral sensible person who can give productive advises to make the film better. This might help reduce crappy movies and directions...
Friday, May 05, 2006
Darna Zaroori Hai (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 2.5/5
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Anil Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Randeep Hooda, Zakir Hussain, Manoj Pahwa, Sunil Shetty, Sonali Kulkarni, Rajpal Yadav, Arjun Rampal, Bipasha Basu, Makrand Deshpande, Rasika Joshi, Isha Koppikar, Shweta Prasad
Directors: Jijy Philips, Prawaal Raman, RGV, J.D. Chakravarthy
Music: Taabhish Romani & Nitin Raikwar
Ok, Seven short supposedly scary stories, directed by four different directors make this movie...Do you really get scared? Sorry...You will be disappointed in the fact that there is nothing remotely scary about this movie...And this is coming from someone who gets scared real easy. But you will not be disappointed if you did not expect much from Indian horror flicks anyway...
I am not going to sit here and write a summary of all the not-so-interesting stories...Just going to tell you this:
1) Acting is okay.
2) Music does give you a jolt more than a few times.
3) Story extremely predictable...We could guess the story of the movie scene by scene as we watched the movie.
4) There are only four real ghost stories the rest are supposed to be thrilling stories...But the stories told to me by my friends when I was a kid seemed more scary than these.
5) Never trust Rediff.com reviews. They are all paid for...So they lie.
6) The scary scenes are hilarious.
7) No Gory scenes...Which is good for me...I hate to see blood or other things oozing...
This movie is okay if you have not seen master pieces like Omen, Evil Dead, Exorcist, etc...Otherwise you begin to wonder Why RGV does not give up his attempts at making Ghost Stories...Maybe he is trying hard so that out of the 15 movies he tortures us with at least one might become a hit...Nice try...Sorry but This is not the one...So keep trying...And when will I learn not to watch them??!!!
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ritesh Deshmukh, Anil Kapoor, Mallika Sherawat, Randeep Hooda, Zakir Hussain, Manoj Pahwa, Sunil Shetty, Sonali Kulkarni, Rajpal Yadav, Arjun Rampal, Bipasha Basu, Makrand Deshpande, Rasika Joshi, Isha Koppikar, Shweta Prasad
Directors: Jijy Philips, Prawaal Raman, RGV, J.D. Chakravarthy
Music: Taabhish Romani & Nitin Raikwar
Ok, Seven short supposedly scary stories, directed by four different directors make this movie...Do you really get scared? Sorry...You will be disappointed in the fact that there is nothing remotely scary about this movie...And this is coming from someone who gets scared real easy. But you will not be disappointed if you did not expect much from Indian horror flicks anyway...
I am not going to sit here and write a summary of all the not-so-interesting stories...Just going to tell you this:
1) Acting is okay.
2) Music does give you a jolt more than a few times.
3) Story extremely predictable...We could guess the story of the movie scene by scene as we watched the movie.
4) There are only four real ghost stories the rest are supposed to be thrilling stories...But the stories told to me by my friends when I was a kid seemed more scary than these.
5) Never trust Rediff.com reviews. They are all paid for...So they lie.
6) The scary scenes are hilarious.
7) No Gory scenes...Which is good for me...I hate to see blood or other things oozing...
This movie is okay if you have not seen master pieces like Omen, Evil Dead, Exorcist, etc...Otherwise you begin to wonder Why RGV does not give up his attempts at making Ghost Stories...Maybe he is trying hard so that out of the 15 movies he tortures us with at least one might become a hit...Nice try...Sorry but This is not the one...So keep trying...And when will I learn not to watch them??!!!
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