Ranking: 4.5/5
Cast: Neil Mukesh, Dharmendra, Rimi Sen, Vinay Pathak, Zakir Hussain, Govind Namdeo
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Music: Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
This movie is a must watch. I wonder why it did not get enough publicity in spite of being one of the better movies released in 2007. Classic crime novel with perfect twist and turns and an awesome ending to the brilliantly directed and executed movie.
Five people who are partners in running a shady dance bars and obviously involved in shady business get a deal where they invest a small sum of money to make a very big sum that will be split five ways. The head honcho of the gang is Dharmendra and the youngest in the group is Neil Mukesh who has an affair with the wife (Rimi) of one the group members.
Everybody makes a plan to move the money over to Bangalore for the deal while Neil makes his own plan to rob the money. In order to do so he kills one of the gang members and hide the identity of the traitor he commits one crime after an another...does he get caught in the end? There is no fun if I reveal the entire story here especially in a crime story...
Definitely a must watch as well the songs are a must hear. Total party mix and cool music. A couple of songs are available in Tamil and Telugu too. The screenplay is awesome and the story is brilliant...I cannot repeat it more...just watch it.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Water (2005) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Sarala Karyawasam
Director: Meera Nair
This is definitely a brilliant movie showcasing India's religious and social practices around the time of Independence along the banks of Ganges. The story is about young and old widows alike who are banned from their regular life and sent to a hostel for widows where they have to spend the rest of their lives away from family, friends and fun.
Little girl Chuyia (Sarala) a widow gets sent to a widow hostel in Varanasi where she is expected to spend the rest of her life. Shakuntala (Seema) takes Sarala under her wing and keeps the young blood from making too many mistakes and offending people. Sarala who does not even understand clearly why she has been sent away from home finds it difficult to conform to the norms of the hostel and keeps getting in the way of the warden more than once.
Kalyani (Lisa) is a beautiful widow who also lives in the same hostel but does a few things differently as she is a breadwinner for the hostel while she sleeps with many powerful men across the ghat. Kalyani is taken by a eunuch pimp who is in liaison with the warden for taking Kalyani across the bank of Ganga. Kalyani is frustrated with the hypocrisy of the system and wants to escape from it.
Chuyia on one of her escapades with Kalyani meets Narayan, a young graduate who has come home for the vacation. Narayan falls in love with Kalyani and wants to marry her. Kalyani with the help of Shakuntala leaves the hostel to marry Narayan. Only half way through to Narayan's house does she realize that Narayan's dad was one of her night time client. Dejected and heart broken Kalyani commits suicide.
What happens to Shakuntala and Chuyia forms the rest of the story...
Very heartrending but I am sure most of it is still in practice in parts of our country. We cannot completely get rid of our social evils but we can always hope for reforms...
Brilliant performance by young Sarala and the rest of the cast too. Wonder why this movie did not make a cut for Oscar...
Cast: Lisa Ray, John Abraham, Seema Biswas, Sarala Karyawasam
Director: Meera Nair
This is definitely a brilliant movie showcasing India's religious and social practices around the time of Independence along the banks of Ganges. The story is about young and old widows alike who are banned from their regular life and sent to a hostel for widows where they have to spend the rest of their lives away from family, friends and fun.
Little girl Chuyia (Sarala) a widow gets sent to a widow hostel in Varanasi where she is expected to spend the rest of her life. Shakuntala (Seema) takes Sarala under her wing and keeps the young blood from making too many mistakes and offending people. Sarala who does not even understand clearly why she has been sent away from home finds it difficult to conform to the norms of the hostel and keeps getting in the way of the warden more than once.
Kalyani (Lisa) is a beautiful widow who also lives in the same hostel but does a few things differently as she is a breadwinner for the hostel while she sleeps with many powerful men across the ghat. Kalyani is taken by a eunuch pimp who is in liaison with the warden for taking Kalyani across the bank of Ganga. Kalyani is frustrated with the hypocrisy of the system and wants to escape from it.
Chuyia on one of her escapades with Kalyani meets Narayan, a young graduate who has come home for the vacation. Narayan falls in love with Kalyani and wants to marry her. Kalyani with the help of Shakuntala leaves the hostel to marry Narayan. Only half way through to Narayan's house does she realize that Narayan's dad was one of her night time client. Dejected and heart broken Kalyani commits suicide.
What happens to Shakuntala and Chuyia forms the rest of the story...
Very heartrending but I am sure most of it is still in practice in parts of our country. We cannot completely get rid of our social evils but we can always hope for reforms...
Brilliant performance by young Sarala and the rest of the cast too. Wonder why this movie did not make a cut for Oscar...
Gandhi My Father (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 2.5/5
Cast: Dharshan Jariwala, Akshaye Khanna, Bhumika Chawla, Shefali Shah
Director: Feroz Abbas Khan
The story is about the neglected son Harilal Gandhi (Akshaye) of M. K. Gandhi (Dharshan) better known as Bapu or the father of India. Harilal left with his family in India to fend for himself while his father and mother (Shefali) work in South Africa fighting inequality. Harilal gets married even before graduating from school or getting a job. Gandhi does not approve of it. Harilal later leaves his wife Gulab (Bhumika) to join his father in SA only to find that his father does not show any nepotism and at the same time does not encourage his son either. Harilal fights alongside his father but in the end tries to come back to India disowning his father.
His life goes through many downs and few ups...and the few ups also brought upon due to his getting influenced by wrong people. Every time he strays he comes back home to his
mothers comforting shoulder and a father who wants to help but is not sure how to. A father of the nation could not take care of his own son...such was the irony.
The reason I have given such low ranking for this critically acclaimed film is because of the fact that it is a little too slow and feels like forever. I was totally impressed with the acting aspect as well as the story but the movie could have had a better pace. There were a lot of things about Gandhi's life that was revealed here that I never knew before and it surely shows a different perspective on his life than what we have always been exposed to.
Movie can definitely be seen once though it does not boast of any entertainment value...a documentary of Harilal Gandhi's life at best.
Cast: Dharshan Jariwala, Akshaye Khanna, Bhumika Chawla, Shefali Shah
Director: Feroz Abbas Khan
The story is about the neglected son Harilal Gandhi (Akshaye) of M. K. Gandhi (Dharshan) better known as Bapu or the father of India. Harilal left with his family in India to fend for himself while his father and mother (Shefali) work in South Africa fighting inequality. Harilal gets married even before graduating from school or getting a job. Gandhi does not approve of it. Harilal later leaves his wife Gulab (Bhumika) to join his father in SA only to find that his father does not show any nepotism and at the same time does not encourage his son either. Harilal fights alongside his father but in the end tries to come back to India disowning his father.
His life goes through many downs and few ups...and the few ups also brought upon due to his getting influenced by wrong people. Every time he strays he comes back home to his
mothers comforting shoulder and a father who wants to help but is not sure how to. A father of the nation could not take care of his own son...such was the irony.
The reason I have given such low ranking for this critically acclaimed film is because of the fact that it is a little too slow and feels like forever. I was totally impressed with the acting aspect as well as the story but the movie could have had a better pace. There were a lot of things about Gandhi's life that was revealed here that I never knew before and it surely shows a different perspective on his life than what we have always been exposed to.
Movie can definitely be seen once though it does not boast of any entertainment value...a documentary of Harilal Gandhi's life at best.
Parzania (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Parzan, Sarika, Naseerudin Shah, Corin Nemec
Director:Rahul Dholakia
Music: Zakir Hussain
Millions of movies are made on riots. And then they dedicate it to the people who have suffered in them. Do the people who suffer in these riots really care to see their life made into a money making machine? Is a movie on how they suffered really going to help them in any way? I hate to see such movies and the ranking I have given is my personal opinion. As much as I love watching movies I don't like to see or hear people suffer however much it is a part of our generation. Plundering and rioting have always been happening and chronicling it over the past thousands of years has not changed the basic inhumanity in our human nature at times of instability then why make a movie out of it and generate income out of it? Somehow this seems like blood money to me.
The story focuses on Godhra riots in Gujrat and how people inside a Muslim community are affected from it. It narrows into the life of a Parsi family of four. The son is lost during the riots and the parents agony of searching for him.
The actors have done a good job and the movie is good too...but I did not want to hear graphic details and get scared. Certainly not one to watch with children.
Cast: Parzan, Sarika, Naseerudin Shah, Corin Nemec
Director:Rahul Dholakia
Music: Zakir Hussain
Millions of movies are made on riots. And then they dedicate it to the people who have suffered in them. Do the people who suffer in these riots really care to see their life made into a money making machine? Is a movie on how they suffered really going to help them in any way? I hate to see such movies and the ranking I have given is my personal opinion. As much as I love watching movies I don't like to see or hear people suffer however much it is a part of our generation. Plundering and rioting have always been happening and chronicling it over the past thousands of years has not changed the basic inhumanity in our human nature at times of instability then why make a movie out of it and generate income out of it? Somehow this seems like blood money to me.
The story focuses on Godhra riots in Gujrat and how people inside a Muslim community are affected from it. It narrows into the life of a Parsi family of four. The son is lost during the riots and the parents agony of searching for him.
The actors have done a good job and the movie is good too...but I did not want to hear graphic details and get scared. Certainly not one to watch with children.
Vivah (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Shahid Kapur, Amrita Rao, Aloknath, Seema Biswas, Anupam Kher
Director: Sooraj Barjathiya
Music: Ravindra Jain
So this movie is one of those safe movies that do not deter from the norm set by HAHK and DDLJ kind of movies. They are long, melodramatic, and no villain kind of movie...even if there are villains they become good soon...in all a sucky movie if you are not the Hindi soap opera kind of a person.
Amrita Rao is the neice of Aloknath (master of tears) who raises her alongside her daughter and feels more close to her which triggers jealousy in the mind of Seema Biswas who is concerned about the well being of their own daughter.
Aloknath's friend brings in an alliance from Anupam Kher for Amrita's hand in marriage to Shahid. It is love at first sight for both of them. The engagement is done and date for a wedding set.
The entire household of Aloknath and Anupam Kher decide to meet for a vacation at Somsarovar and they sing and dance together until they have to cut the vacation short and head back to town for a business deal. Shahid leaves abroad to score something magnificent in business and life is all great...
The night before wedding, Aloknath's house catches on fire and in an attempt to save her cousin Amrita is engulfed by fire. Thanks to something...god knows what, her face remains untouched. Shahid the gentleman that he is marries her in the hospital bed as promised on the day of the wedding...See I told you na...these people are suckers for sentimental stuff...
Anyway all's well that ends well in this movie that is a family entertainer, if your family is into boring movies...this can definitely take a miss if you have better things to do.
Cast: Shahid Kapur, Amrita Rao, Aloknath, Seema Biswas, Anupam Kher
Director: Sooraj Barjathiya
Music: Ravindra Jain
So this movie is one of those safe movies that do not deter from the norm set by HAHK and DDLJ kind of movies. They are long, melodramatic, and no villain kind of movie...even if there are villains they become good soon...in all a sucky movie if you are not the Hindi soap opera kind of a person.
Amrita Rao is the neice of Aloknath (master of tears) who raises her alongside her daughter and feels more close to her which triggers jealousy in the mind of Seema Biswas who is concerned about the well being of their own daughter.
Aloknath's friend brings in an alliance from Anupam Kher for Amrita's hand in marriage to Shahid. It is love at first sight for both of them. The engagement is done and date for a wedding set.
The entire household of Aloknath and Anupam Kher decide to meet for a vacation at Somsarovar and they sing and dance together until they have to cut the vacation short and head back to town for a business deal. Shahid leaves abroad to score something magnificent in business and life is all great...
The night before wedding, Aloknath's house catches on fire and in an attempt to save her cousin Amrita is engulfed by fire. Thanks to something...god knows what, her face remains untouched. Shahid the gentleman that he is marries her in the hospital bed as promised on the day of the wedding...See I told you na...these people are suckers for sentimental stuff...
Anyway all's well that ends well in this movie that is a family entertainer, if your family is into boring movies...this can definitely take a miss if you have better things to do.
Dus Kahaniyan (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Now wondering why I have ranked the movie above average in spite of it bombing at the BO? Well there are some stories that are really interesting whereas a couple that are blah and a couple that are cliche. So reviewing all 10 stories in short form...
Matrimony
Cast: Arbaaz Khan, Mandira Bedi
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Interesting
Arbaaz and Madira have been married for quite a while with neither happy in the relationship. Mandira is cheating with her boyfriend who is in the army and is leaving back to his post. So he gifts her a diamond necklace that she is not sure how she would wear in front of her husband. So she plots with a jeweler to make a coupon out of it so that her husband can pick it up and thus make black into white. Her husband sure enough picks it up but Mandira is in for a shock when she heads out to pick it up from him!
High on the Highway
Cast: Masumeh, Jimmy Shergill
Director: Hansal Mehta
Verdict: Blah!
Two college graduates who are in love with each other have a habit of getting high and taking a walk along the highway. One such night after their graduation when they are walking down the road a bunch of goons try to kidnap Masumeh and succeed in spite of Jimmy putting up a fight...Masumeh gets helped by the cops but what happens to Jimmy???
Pooranmasi
Cast: Amrita Singh, Parmeet Sethi, Minisha Lambha
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Verdict: Good
Amrita's daughter Minisha has just been engaged and her father is out on business once again leaving the ladies alone. Amrita has led life without love mostly and on this particular day her daughter dons her mother with a colorful dupatta and comments on how pretty she looks. Amrita realizes that it is the night of full moon and that as her lover had promised would be waiting outside the door. For once she decides to open it and let her desire take over her. After spending the night with him in the fields she returns home while many villagers notice the colorful dupatta on her head and mistake her for her daughter...
Strangers in the night
Cast: Mahesh Manjrekar, Neha Dupia
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Good
Both Mahesh and Neha have the habit of discussing past distractions in their relationship on their anniversaries. Mahesh's forces Neha to tell about her experience and she does so with passion about the guy's whose hands she kissed and by whom she was so taken in a railway station's waiting room alone in the night and with whom she would have done anything...As we see Mahesh getting jealous Neha unravels the twist in the story!
Zahir
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Diya Mirza
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Cliche
Manoj moves into the same apartment as Diya Mirza and they become good friends. Zahir wants to take the relationship to another level but Diya shuns him away. He is ashamed. One night while spending a night with his friends visiting many bars in the town Manoj sees Diya who is a dancer in a dance bar. Angry Manoj rapes her without hearing her protests when she comes back home from work...
Lovedale
Cast: Neha Oberoi, Aftab, Anupam Kher
Director: Jasmeet Dhodi
Verdict: Bore
Neha meets a lady on the train on her way home where she was getting engaged. The lady gives her a earring and vanishes at the next station which happens to be Lovedale. Neha wanting to return the earring alights and follows the road to a house where Aftab is painting. They become acquainted. Aftab attends Neha's engagement and feels hurt. Neha is also unhappy and her father questions her doubt...Neha tells about Aftab and her father tells her his flashback about how he met a lady on the train to whom he had gifted one earring before the train left the station. Neha and her father compare the earrings and decide that her meeting Aftab was no coincidence and she breaks the engagement to join Aftab...
Sex on the Beach
Cast: Dino Morea, Tarina Patel
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Verdict: Extreme Bore
Dino picks up a book on the beach with the title Death and writes his name and date of birth as instructed and starts to read the book. A seductress steps out of a jet ski and sits down next to him and she invites him over to her house for dinner. Dino goes over well prepared with wine and condoms only to see the girl also very eager...but when Dino falls into a short sleep he wakes up to see her dead when he goes close to examine her she is actually alive and chases him to the beach...
Rice Plate
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Naseerudin Shah
Director: Rohit Roy
Verdict: Cliche
Shabana plays a staunch brahmin widow on her way to visit her grandchildren by train. In a hurry she forgets her wallet in her house and heads to the station. She orders a plate of rice in the station with the change she has and leaves her table to wash her hand. When she comes back she sees Shah eating it...Angry that Shah was stealing her plate Shabana forgets that Shah is a Muslim starts eating out the plate...
Gubbare
Cast: Nana Patekar, Anita Hassanandani, Rohit Roy
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Cliche
Anita and Rohit are newly wed on a bus who start a small quarrel and Anita moves away from Rohit to sit adjacent to Nana who is carrying 11 smiley baloons with him. On questioning he tells her how he has to present his wife with the balloons everytime he has angered her and how she bakes a cake if she angers him. He explains to her how life is too short to spent fighting...When getting down at the stop he forgets to take with him the sorry card that he had written for his wife. Anita follows him to give it to him...
Rise and Fall
Cast: Suniel Shetty, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Okay
Sanjay has been called by Suniel at a lonely place to have a last meeting. Suniel advices Sanjay to leave town and settle down while he can take care of business here. Sanjay realizes that his friend has invited him to murder him and challenges him...realizing his fall Suniel tries to call off the mission...in the background we see young Sanjay and Suniel trying to make it in the big bad world....
Now wondering why I have ranked the movie above average in spite of it bombing at the BO? Well there are some stories that are really interesting whereas a couple that are blah and a couple that are cliche. So reviewing all 10 stories in short form...
Matrimony
Cast: Arbaaz Khan, Mandira Bedi
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Interesting
Arbaaz and Madira have been married for quite a while with neither happy in the relationship. Mandira is cheating with her boyfriend who is in the army and is leaving back to his post. So he gifts her a diamond necklace that she is not sure how she would wear in front of her husband. So she plots with a jeweler to make a coupon out of it so that her husband can pick it up and thus make black into white. Her husband sure enough picks it up but Mandira is in for a shock when she heads out to pick it up from him!
High on the Highway
Cast: Masumeh, Jimmy Shergill
Director: Hansal Mehta
Verdict: Blah!
Two college graduates who are in love with each other have a habit of getting high and taking a walk along the highway. One such night after their graduation when they are walking down the road a bunch of goons try to kidnap Masumeh and succeed in spite of Jimmy putting up a fight...Masumeh gets helped by the cops but what happens to Jimmy???
Pooranmasi
Cast: Amrita Singh, Parmeet Sethi, Minisha Lambha
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Verdict: Good
Amrita's daughter Minisha has just been engaged and her father is out on business once again leaving the ladies alone. Amrita has led life without love mostly and on this particular day her daughter dons her mother with a colorful dupatta and comments on how pretty she looks. Amrita realizes that it is the night of full moon and that as her lover had promised would be waiting outside the door. For once she decides to open it and let her desire take over her. After spending the night with him in the fields she returns home while many villagers notice the colorful dupatta on her head and mistake her for her daughter...
Strangers in the night
Cast: Mahesh Manjrekar, Neha Dupia
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Good
Both Mahesh and Neha have the habit of discussing past distractions in their relationship on their anniversaries. Mahesh's forces Neha to tell about her experience and she does so with passion about the guy's whose hands she kissed and by whom she was so taken in a railway station's waiting room alone in the night and with whom she would have done anything...As we see Mahesh getting jealous Neha unravels the twist in the story!
Zahir
Cast: Manoj Bajpai, Diya Mirza
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Cliche
Manoj moves into the same apartment as Diya Mirza and they become good friends. Zahir wants to take the relationship to another level but Diya shuns him away. He is ashamed. One night while spending a night with his friends visiting many bars in the town Manoj sees Diya who is a dancer in a dance bar. Angry Manoj rapes her without hearing her protests when she comes back home from work...
Lovedale
Cast: Neha Oberoi, Aftab, Anupam Kher
Director: Jasmeet Dhodi
Verdict: Bore
Neha meets a lady on the train on her way home where she was getting engaged. The lady gives her a earring and vanishes at the next station which happens to be Lovedale. Neha wanting to return the earring alights and follows the road to a house where Aftab is painting. They become acquainted. Aftab attends Neha's engagement and feels hurt. Neha is also unhappy and her father questions her doubt...Neha tells about Aftab and her father tells her his flashback about how he met a lady on the train to whom he had gifted one earring before the train left the station. Neha and her father compare the earrings and decide that her meeting Aftab was no coincidence and she breaks the engagement to join Aftab...
Sex on the Beach
Cast: Dino Morea, Tarina Patel
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Verdict: Extreme Bore
Dino picks up a book on the beach with the title Death and writes his name and date of birth as instructed and starts to read the book. A seductress steps out of a jet ski and sits down next to him and she invites him over to her house for dinner. Dino goes over well prepared with wine and condoms only to see the girl also very eager...but when Dino falls into a short sleep he wakes up to see her dead when he goes close to examine her she is actually alive and chases him to the beach...
Rice Plate
Cast: Shabana Azmi, Naseerudin Shah
Director: Rohit Roy
Verdict: Cliche
Shabana plays a staunch brahmin widow on her way to visit her grandchildren by train. In a hurry she forgets her wallet in her house and heads to the station. She orders a plate of rice in the station with the change she has and leaves her table to wash her hand. When she comes back she sees Shah eating it...Angry that Shah was stealing her plate Shabana forgets that Shah is a Muslim starts eating out the plate...
Gubbare
Cast: Nana Patekar, Anita Hassanandani, Rohit Roy
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Cliche
Anita and Rohit are newly wed on a bus who start a small quarrel and Anita moves away from Rohit to sit adjacent to Nana who is carrying 11 smiley baloons with him. On questioning he tells her how he has to present his wife with the balloons everytime he has angered her and how she bakes a cake if she angers him. He explains to her how life is too short to spent fighting...When getting down at the stop he forgets to take with him the sorry card that he had written for his wife. Anita follows him to give it to him...
Rise and Fall
Cast: Suniel Shetty, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Sanjay Gupta
Verdict: Okay
Sanjay has been called by Suniel at a lonely place to have a last meeting. Suniel advices Sanjay to leave town and settle down while he can take care of business here. Sanjay realizes that his friend has invited him to murder him and challenges him...realizing his fall Suniel tries to call off the mission...in the background we see young Sanjay and Suniel trying to make it in the big bad world....
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Satham Podadhey (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Prithviraj, Padmapriya, Nithin Sathya
Director: Vasanth
Music: Y.S. Raja
Vasanth has directed many brilliant movies and one of which I remember is Aasai and then Rhythm. His direction style is very different but captivating. Aasai was a sort of thriller and so is Satham Podadhey.
Bhanu (Padmapriya) is married to Rathnavel (Nithin) through arranged marriage. They lead a happily married life. Bhanu is eager to become a mother but to her dismay both she and her husband do not share any physical relationship. Rathnavel hides from his wife that he belongs to Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) and due to severe drinking problems has lost his potency as well as having been jailed for murdering a child. When Bhanu discovers the truth about his impotency she confronts him and agrees to continue living with him if he would choose to adopt a child.
Rathnavel high on ego fights with Bhanu and attempts a fake suicide and sends the child back to the orphanage. Bhanu later hears from Rathnavel's AA leader about his other problems and tries to escape from him but she gets physically abused. On escaping to her parents she files for divorce and moves in with her brother (Raghav) to experience a change of place.
There she meets Ravichandran a friend of Raghav who does many things to impress her and finally convinces her to marry him. They live very happily until Ravi meets Rathnavel in the train on their way to Cochin. Rathnavel now lives in Cochin working as a hockey coach in a school. On knowing Ravi's relationship to Bhanu, Rathnavel befriends Ravi and slowly tries to create trouble...
He then kidnaps Bhanu and locks her up in his house making her his prisoner. How Bhanu gets help and gets freed forms the rest of the movie.
The movie is well directed, gripping, with amazing performance from each of the character. A real pleasure to watch a movie with no gore and fights. Not a perfect watch on a romantic evening but any other time it will be a good entertainer.
Cast: Prithviraj, Padmapriya, Nithin Sathya
Director: Vasanth
Music: Y.S. Raja
Vasanth has directed many brilliant movies and one of which I remember is Aasai and then Rhythm. His direction style is very different but captivating. Aasai was a sort of thriller and so is Satham Podadhey.
Bhanu (Padmapriya) is married to Rathnavel (Nithin) through arranged marriage. They lead a happily married life. Bhanu is eager to become a mother but to her dismay both she and her husband do not share any physical relationship. Rathnavel hides from his wife that he belongs to Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) and due to severe drinking problems has lost his potency as well as having been jailed for murdering a child. When Bhanu discovers the truth about his impotency she confronts him and agrees to continue living with him if he would choose to adopt a child.
Rathnavel high on ego fights with Bhanu and attempts a fake suicide and sends the child back to the orphanage. Bhanu later hears from Rathnavel's AA leader about his other problems and tries to escape from him but she gets physically abused. On escaping to her parents she files for divorce and moves in with her brother (Raghav) to experience a change of place.
There she meets Ravichandran a friend of Raghav who does many things to impress her and finally convinces her to marry him. They live very happily until Ravi meets Rathnavel in the train on their way to Cochin. Rathnavel now lives in Cochin working as a hockey coach in a school. On knowing Ravi's relationship to Bhanu, Rathnavel befriends Ravi and slowly tries to create trouble...
He then kidnaps Bhanu and locks her up in his house making her his prisoner. How Bhanu gets help and gets freed forms the rest of the movie.
The movie is well directed, gripping, with amazing performance from each of the character. A real pleasure to watch a movie with no gore and fights. Not a perfect watch on a romantic evening but any other time it will be a good entertainer.
Sawariyaa (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 1/5
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Salman K, Rani M
Director: SL Bhansali
Music: Monty Sharma
What a bore? A blue set with fake trains, fake water, bridges and two dimensional buildings calling itself a combination of Victorian as well as Saracen Architecture is absolutely a farce in the name of art.
I did not know how depressing the color blue can actually be made to look...Can you imagine a city filled with prostitutes but no clients? It is a deserted city with just a few inhabitants who go to the club. If they are not the club-goers then they are prostitutes. Yes that is how desolate the city is...
Anyhoo, Raj (Ranbir) is a lead singer in the local club called RK. He befriends a prostitute Gulabji (Rani) and lives in a house rented to him by an old lady. One day he sees a lone girl standing on a bridge and chooses to follow her and later befriend her. She is Sakina (Sonam) who lives with her blind mother with eternal supposed sadness in her eye with a hint of a smile on her lips (so the director and the actress themselves claimed in their interviews).
Raj falls in love with Sakina but when he professes his love for him she tells him about Imaan (Sallu) for whom she has been waiting for a year. And for whom she was waiting on the bridge and will continue to do so till he returns. Raj being adamant convinces her to fall in love with him...just when she is about to accept it...fate plays a cruel game...
The cruel game was fate making me watch this movie! Dang! I will never again commit such stupidity! This movie is slow, boring, presumptuous, dull, etc. etc. etc. I would not suggest even my worst enemy (not that I have any) to watch this movie!
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, Salman K, Rani M
Director: SL Bhansali
Music: Monty Sharma
What a bore? A blue set with fake trains, fake water, bridges and two dimensional buildings calling itself a combination of Victorian as well as Saracen Architecture is absolutely a farce in the name of art.
I did not know how depressing the color blue can actually be made to look...Can you imagine a city filled with prostitutes but no clients? It is a deserted city with just a few inhabitants who go to the club. If they are not the club-goers then they are prostitutes. Yes that is how desolate the city is...
Anyhoo, Raj (Ranbir) is a lead singer in the local club called RK. He befriends a prostitute Gulabji (Rani) and lives in a house rented to him by an old lady. One day he sees a lone girl standing on a bridge and chooses to follow her and later befriend her. She is Sakina (Sonam) who lives with her blind mother with eternal supposed sadness in her eye with a hint of a smile on her lips (so the director and the actress themselves claimed in their interviews).
Raj falls in love with Sakina but when he professes his love for him she tells him about Imaan (Sallu) for whom she has been waiting for a year. And for whom she was waiting on the bridge and will continue to do so till he returns. Raj being adamant convinces her to fall in love with him...just when she is about to accept it...fate plays a cruel game...
The cruel game was fate making me watch this movie! Dang! I will never again commit such stupidity! This movie is slow, boring, presumptuous, dull, etc. etc. etc. I would not suggest even my worst enemy (not that I have any) to watch this movie!
Om Shanti Om (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal
Director: Farah KhanMusic: Vishal Shekar
Om (Shahrukh 1) is a small time extra trying to make it to the big league. His best friend Pappu Master (Shreyas) keeps encouraging Om and they both keep dreaming big all the time. Om's mother is an yester year extra who is also hoping for her son to make it big soon...But Om is in love with Shanti (Deepika) and hopes to one day marry her.
Om and Shanti work in the same movie and Om happens to save her from fire while the set catches on fire and no one dares to enter it to help her out. Shanti develops a soft corner for Om and they become friends. One day Om decides to talk to Shanti and follows her while she goes to get her make up done and finds out that Shanti is actually having an affair with Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal), a big name producer. He also over hears that she is pregnant and that Mukesh is not willing to take responsibility for it yet. Om is devastated.
Mukesh has other plans for Shanti who is pestering for commitment or exposure. He lures her for a fun evening and at the end of which he murders her. Om who also happens to be around is half-dead trying to save her life. In the end though Om meets a tragic death in a car accident. One Om dies in the hospital while another cries his way into the earth...A new child also named Om Kapur is born into the household of a wealthy well established actor...and here begins the story of deja vu and revenge...
The movie starts of as being a spoof, and then it slowly tries to get serious. It is as if the director wanted to do a spoof and half way through she wanted to be taken seriously and then ends abruptly with a very cliched ending which I am not sure is a spoof or not. The spoof parts of the movie are definitely funny. While the serious parts are a definite nag! The songs are good and well choreographed but the one with 31 actors is a bit too long and after sometime lost its lusture...at least for me. It is certainly a family entertainer and everyone will have a good laugh but it can get boring, especially if you are not a die hard Shahrukh fan.
Jab We Met (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapur
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Music: Pritam
Aditya Kashyap aka Adi (Shahid) is a rich kid from a broken family on whose shoulder the family business now rests on since his father passed away. Adi is frustrated with his life as his girlfriend dumps him and his mother is filing a law suit against the company that he decides to commit suicide and starts wandering aimlessly. No idea of where is going or what he wants to do he gets onto a train bound to Batinda. As luck would have it he bumps into the talkative and over friendly Geet (Kareena) who bails him out from the ticket collector and chats him up.
Adi alights the train in the middle of nowhere and Geet follows him to get him back on...in the event both of them miss the train and now Geet tells Adi that it is his responsibility to drop her off at her parents house and Adi takes up the journey. He is also captivated by her open kindheartedness, friendliness, talkative nature. Adi on taking Geet to her house agrees to spend a few days with her family and learns that Geet is getting engaged to her family friend's son. But Geet has other plans and wants to elope and marry her boyfriend who lives in Kulu. Adi agrees to take her to Kulu before heading back to Mumbai to take care of his family business.
On returning back to Mumbai and becoming successful at his business with Geet's inspiration Adi meets Geet's parents who are at his doorstep wondering where Geet is. It is then that Adi realizes that something is wrong with Geet and decides to go back to Kulu to check and see if everything is okay...and the story continues to end blissfully...
It is definitely a family entertainer and is funny in most parts. Both Shahid as well as Kareena have done an amazing job portraying their characters in the movie. It is really fun to watch Kareena jibber jabber throughout the movie...and Shahid's composed reponse to her. Good watch and certainly not boring though you know from the very beginning how this movie is going to end!
Cast: Kareena Kapoor, Shahid Kapur
Director: Imtiaz Ali
Music: Pritam
Aditya Kashyap aka Adi (Shahid) is a rich kid from a broken family on whose shoulder the family business now rests on since his father passed away. Adi is frustrated with his life as his girlfriend dumps him and his mother is filing a law suit against the company that he decides to commit suicide and starts wandering aimlessly. No idea of where is going or what he wants to do he gets onto a train bound to Batinda. As luck would have it he bumps into the talkative and over friendly Geet (Kareena) who bails him out from the ticket collector and chats him up.
Adi alights the train in the middle of nowhere and Geet follows him to get him back on...in the event both of them miss the train and now Geet tells Adi that it is his responsibility to drop her off at her parents house and Adi takes up the journey. He is also captivated by her open kindheartedness, friendliness, talkative nature. Adi on taking Geet to her house agrees to spend a few days with her family and learns that Geet is getting engaged to her family friend's son. But Geet has other plans and wants to elope and marry her boyfriend who lives in Kulu. Adi agrees to take her to Kulu before heading back to Mumbai to take care of his family business.
On returning back to Mumbai and becoming successful at his business with Geet's inspiration Adi meets Geet's parents who are at his doorstep wondering where Geet is. It is then that Adi realizes that something is wrong with Geet and decides to go back to Kulu to check and see if everything is okay...and the story continues to end blissfully...
It is definitely a family entertainer and is funny in most parts. Both Shahid as well as Kareena have done an amazing job portraying their characters in the movie. It is really fun to watch Kareena jibber jabber throughout the movie...and Shahid's composed reponse to her. Good watch and certainly not boring though you know from the very beginning how this movie is going to end!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Chain Kuli Ki Main Kuli (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Rahul Bose, Zain Khan
Director: Kittu Salooja
It is a fairy tale...one of those dream come true plots and certainly leaves you with a very good after taste. The story revolves around Karan (Zain) who is an orphan living in an orphanage run by a very mean and shrewd man. Karan is an ardent Kapil Dev fan and gets all his information from one of the supervisors in his orphanage. Karan himself has never met Kapil or even played much cricket himself.
One day when the orphanage receives a donation package in which Karan finds a cricket bat with the inscription KD1986 which he assumes belonged to Kapil Dev and was used in the 1986 world cup that India had won...He believes that it is his magic bat...but just as all good things need to have a bad counterpart, there is another boy in the orphanage who hates Karan and is hell bent upon stealing his bat and hurting Karan.
On the Indian cricket front the team is not performing well at all and is on a loosing streak. The team coach on his way home gets his car glass smashed by a ball hit by Karan with his magic bat. Surprised that Karan actually hit such a high shot the coach investigates and to his joy finds that Karan can take on any bowler with his magic bat. Karan is added to the Indian team and finds himself rooming with the captain of the team Varun (Rahul Bose).
Now Varun looks at Karan as a pest and tries to keep himself away from Karan as much as possible...but as days go by Varun and Karan solidify a bond...and the rest of the movie is about Karan loosing his bat to his nemesis and the bond formed between Varun and Karan, and how Karan helps Varun overcome his family problems...
A very simple story with beautiful narration where the magic behind the bat is just a metaphor. Amazing performances by all the central characters and there is not an overdose of drama. This movie is totally worth watching at least once. Wonder why the Indian audience do not give off beat films like these a chance!
Cast: Rahul Bose, Zain Khan
Director: Kittu Salooja
It is a fairy tale...one of those dream come true plots and certainly leaves you with a very good after taste. The story revolves around Karan (Zain) who is an orphan living in an orphanage run by a very mean and shrewd man. Karan is an ardent Kapil Dev fan and gets all his information from one of the supervisors in his orphanage. Karan himself has never met Kapil or even played much cricket himself.
One day when the orphanage receives a donation package in which Karan finds a cricket bat with the inscription KD1986 which he assumes belonged to Kapil Dev and was used in the 1986 world cup that India had won...He believes that it is his magic bat...but just as all good things need to have a bad counterpart, there is another boy in the orphanage who hates Karan and is hell bent upon stealing his bat and hurting Karan.
On the Indian cricket front the team is not performing well at all and is on a loosing streak. The team coach on his way home gets his car glass smashed by a ball hit by Karan with his magic bat. Surprised that Karan actually hit such a high shot the coach investigates and to his joy finds that Karan can take on any bowler with his magic bat. Karan is added to the Indian team and finds himself rooming with the captain of the team Varun (Rahul Bose).
Now Varun looks at Karan as a pest and tries to keep himself away from Karan as much as possible...but as days go by Varun and Karan solidify a bond...and the rest of the movie is about Karan loosing his bat to his nemesis and the bond formed between Varun and Karan, and how Karan helps Varun overcome his family problems...
A very simple story with beautiful narration where the magic behind the bat is just a metaphor. Amazing performances by all the central characters and there is not an overdose of drama. This movie is totally worth watching at least once. Wonder why the Indian audience do not give off beat films like these a chance!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Partner (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Salman, Govinda, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta
Director: David Dhawan
Music: Sajid-Wajid
This movie is a scene-by-scene copy of the English movie Hitch! If you have seen Hitch then there is a good chance that you might not enjoy it. Also I guess you need to be in the silly mood to like this movie or laugh at any of the jokes in the movie...because me, and all my friends who were at the theater found the movie nothing but annoying while a there were a whole bunch of people who got good laughs from it...I enjoy good jokes but somehow felt that this movie was trying really hard to get laughs out of you and Govinda was a tad too loud and somethings were just annoying!
Prem (Sallu) is a love consultant...if you like someone and you are not sure how to approach the person then Prem will be the one to help you...Bhasker (Govinda) hears about Prem and approaches him to get help in his relationship department as he wants to score points with Priya (Katrina) who owns the company he works in.
Prem decides that Bhasker is aiming too high and starts to avoid him but Bhasker becomes a pest and literally starts living in with Prem. Prem under compulsion starts helping out Bhasker and also finds a love for himself in Naina (Lara).
The movie ends abruptly after meandering through boring dialogues and sentiments once Prem and Naina are united and Bhasker and Priya are also united in matrimony...
Seriously you need to either be drunk, or have tremendous patience, or be in plain silly mood to enjoy this flick...but the music is really foot tapping and the songs are good in parties...I will definitely recommend you to watch this movie if you have absolutely nothing better to do...
Cast: Salman, Govinda, Katrina Kaif, Lara Dutta
Director: David Dhawan
Music: Sajid-Wajid
This movie is a scene-by-scene copy of the English movie Hitch! If you have seen Hitch then there is a good chance that you might not enjoy it. Also I guess you need to be in the silly mood to like this movie or laugh at any of the jokes in the movie...because me, and all my friends who were at the theater found the movie nothing but annoying while a there were a whole bunch of people who got good laughs from it...I enjoy good jokes but somehow felt that this movie was trying really hard to get laughs out of you and Govinda was a tad too loud and somethings were just annoying!
Prem (Sallu) is a love consultant...if you like someone and you are not sure how to approach the person then Prem will be the one to help you...Bhasker (Govinda) hears about Prem and approaches him to get help in his relationship department as he wants to score points with Priya (Katrina) who owns the company he works in.
Prem decides that Bhasker is aiming too high and starts to avoid him but Bhasker becomes a pest and literally starts living in with Prem. Prem under compulsion starts helping out Bhasker and also finds a love for himself in Naina (Lara).
The movie ends abruptly after meandering through boring dialogues and sentiments once Prem and Naina are united and Bhasker and Priya are also united in matrimony...
Seriously you need to either be drunk, or have tremendous patience, or be in plain silly mood to enjoy this flick...but the music is really foot tapping and the songs are good in parties...I will definitely recommend you to watch this movie if you have absolutely nothing better to do...
Desamuduru (2007) - Telugu Movie Review
Ranking: 2.75/5
Cast: Allu Arjun, Hansika Motwani
Director: Puri Jagannath
Music: Chakri
First all the good things...beautiful camera work! This film is shot in some of the most beautiful parts of our country...Allu Arjun's toned up physique has to be complimented...he looks really good and has done a good job in the acting arena as well. The music is also good and does not force you to forward the film...
With that said, things I felt could have been done better...the sets...the cave sets looked plastic...
the art director could have worked a bit to make it look more natural. Hansika Motwani looks so much like Bhoomika Chawla and her acting skills are not even worth mentioning. The supposedly Tamil goons Tamil accent is so bad that I am sure Tamilians will take offense for killing their mother tongue. Allu Arjun could do with some voice modulation lessons as he sounds like a girl in many scenes...with a body like that his voice seems like a misfit.
The story is about a young pampered media reporter who gets tugged into a fight with a local warlord. Bala Govinda (Allu Arjun) beats up the son of local goon in public while shooting a undercover video. The goon's son is hurt very badly and the goon is looking for Bala Govinda for revenge. To ensure the safety of Govinda his dad (who is also his boss at work) sends his son of to work on a travel documentary project in the hills of himalaya's.
Govinda playful as he is bumps into a group of sanyasin's and falls in love with Vaishali (Hansika). Unable to get her off his mind he follows her until she professes her love for him and gets released from the Ashram to return to Hyderabad with Govinda...but on his way out he realizes that the same gang of goons who are behind him are also behind Vaishali and Vaishali gets kidnapped by them...
Govinda discovers the truth behind Vaishali's past and also fights to get her back from the goons which forms the later part of the story.
Would I strongly recommend this movie? Nope...but can certainly tell you that you can see it once as an entertainer.
Cast: Allu Arjun, Hansika Motwani
Director: Puri Jagannath
Music: Chakri
First all the good things...beautiful camera work! This film is shot in some of the most beautiful parts of our country...Allu Arjun's toned up physique has to be complimented...he looks really good and has done a good job in the acting arena as well. The music is also good and does not force you to forward the film...
With that said, things I felt could have been done better...the sets...the cave sets looked plastic...
the art director could have worked a bit to make it look more natural. Hansika Motwani looks so much like Bhoomika Chawla and her acting skills are not even worth mentioning. The supposedly Tamil goons Tamil accent is so bad that I am sure Tamilians will take offense for killing their mother tongue. Allu Arjun could do with some voice modulation lessons as he sounds like a girl in many scenes...with a body like that his voice seems like a misfit.
The story is about a young pampered media reporter who gets tugged into a fight with a local warlord. Bala Govinda (Allu Arjun) beats up the son of local goon in public while shooting a undercover video. The goon's son is hurt very badly and the goon is looking for Bala Govinda for revenge. To ensure the safety of Govinda his dad (who is also his boss at work) sends his son of to work on a travel documentary project in the hills of himalaya's.
Govinda playful as he is bumps into a group of sanyasin's and falls in love with Vaishali (Hansika). Unable to get her off his mind he follows her until she professes her love for him and gets released from the Ashram to return to Hyderabad with Govinda...but on his way out he realizes that the same gang of goons who are behind him are also behind Vaishali and Vaishali gets kidnapped by them...
Govinda discovers the truth behind Vaishali's past and also fights to get her back from the goons which forms the later part of the story.
Would I strongly recommend this movie? Nope...but can certainly tell you that you can see it once as an entertainer.
Chak De! India (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3.75/5
Cast: SRK
Director: Shimit Amin
Music: Salim and Sulaiman Merchant
There are so many western movies that have made it big in America. There is a movie like this for every sport and every competitive event...typically the team or person will not be good enough to do anything but then with adequate training and motivational dialogues they will surprise the world with their achievement. Chak De India! also follows the same route without digressing one bit.
The story is about Kabir Khan (SRK) a dethroned captain of erstwhile Indian Hockey team that lost to Pakistan during world cup finals. Kabir not only gets shunned for his decision to take the penalty goal himself but is also alleged to have let Pakistan take the cup home thus giving him the title of a traitor.
Shying away from his life Kabir moves out of his home and hometown only to come back to Delhi wanting to coach the miserably failing Indian women's hockey team. He is confident that he can absolve himself from the past in which he was wrongly accused. With lot of reluctance the selection committee accepts his employment and Kabir is on the ground waiting for the team to come in.
The taskmaster that he is Kabir starts out by trying to nationally integrate the team and train them day and night for the World Cup in Australia. He makes a lot of enemies inside the team and also within the selection committee...but the story ends showing us how he overcomes all the hurdles and difficulties that he is posed with.
It is certainly a run of the mill story but not one bit boring. SRK's histrionics in the movie without him spreading his hands and falling to the ground singing romantic songs can be well appreciated. He keeps you convinced about his conviction and all the hockey match sequences are really well charted out and interesting. Not as gripping as Lagaan but definitely worth watching it once. The sketches of various team members are also portrayed very efficiently without taking too much time off the main plot.
I saw the movie on a "buy one ticket and get one free day" and saved $5...and if you can do that then the movie is totally worth it...it really does not require a wide screen...but a must watch...
Cast: SRK
Director: Shimit Amin
Music: Salim and Sulaiman Merchant
There are so many western movies that have made it big in America. There is a movie like this for every sport and every competitive event...typically the team or person will not be good enough to do anything but then with adequate training and motivational dialogues they will surprise the world with their achievement. Chak De India! also follows the same route without digressing one bit.
The story is about Kabir Khan (SRK) a dethroned captain of erstwhile Indian Hockey team that lost to Pakistan during world cup finals. Kabir not only gets shunned for his decision to take the penalty goal himself but is also alleged to have let Pakistan take the cup home thus giving him the title of a traitor.
Shying away from his life Kabir moves out of his home and hometown only to come back to Delhi wanting to coach the miserably failing Indian women's hockey team. He is confident that he can absolve himself from the past in which he was wrongly accused. With lot of reluctance the selection committee accepts his employment and Kabir is on the ground waiting for the team to come in.
The taskmaster that he is Kabir starts out by trying to nationally integrate the team and train them day and night for the World Cup in Australia. He makes a lot of enemies inside the team and also within the selection committee...but the story ends showing us how he overcomes all the hurdles and difficulties that he is posed with.
It is certainly a run of the mill story but not one bit boring. SRK's histrionics in the movie without him spreading his hands and falling to the ground singing romantic songs can be well appreciated. He keeps you convinced about his conviction and all the hockey match sequences are really well charted out and interesting. Not as gripping as Lagaan but definitely worth watching it once. The sketches of various team members are also portrayed very efficiently without taking too much time off the main plot.
I saw the movie on a "buy one ticket and get one free day" and saved $5...and if you can do that then the movie is totally worth it...it really does not require a wide screen...but a must watch...
Kireedom (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Ajith Kumar, Trisha, Raj Kiran, Vivek
Director: A L Vijay
Music: G V Prakash
I remember seeing a movie like this one a few years ago...I don't remember the name of the movie...but it was similar at least in theory. I guess the only thing it did not have was a "star" in the leading role. This movie would probably not have seen the daylight had Ajith not acted in it.
The story is about Shakthivel (Ajith), a carefree but respectful youth who's aim is to become an SI. He is the son of Rajarajan (Raj Kiran), an honest police head constable who is waiting for redemption the day his son becomes a part of the Indian police force. Shakthi and his family live in Trichy and he spends most of his time with friends and having fun in the city. During one such escapade he meets Divya (Trisha) with whom he eventually falls in love.
As things always go smoothly in the first half, Shakthi gets called for an interview and gets selected to go for a personal interview in Chennai for the same. Both Divya's and Shakthi's parents are also excited about their alliance and everything is moving smoothly until Rajarajan messes things up. His diligence gets him in trouble with some local politicians who get him transferred to a very crime filled city.
The entire family moves down and once again Rajarajan's uprightness lands him trouble. He tries to fight singlehandedly with some local goonda's who get angry with him and are ready to kill him until Shakthi sees it and jumps in to save his father's life while hurting the rowdy group real bad. Now it is revenge time but Shakthi has the support from Rajarajan's boss who has been trying to get the rowdy's behind bars or at least punished...
Shakthi's fight with the rowdies make him very famous in the city and his brother in law (Vivek) starts taking advantage of it without Shakthi's knowledge. Shakthi also gets involved in many small fights owing to his friends and other circumstances. The police inspector helping Shakthi misunderstands him and reprimand's Shakthi...Shakthi's job as a cop is under scrutiny and the future of his life is also in a limbo...What happens next? watch the movie!
The movie is very simple...Trisha comes promptly for some songs and dances and nothing else. Vivek's comedy was hardly even funny. Raj Kiran has done the father role well once again after Thavamai Thavamirundhu...I am sure father roles (as that is the only thing he can play at this age and with that face) is something he can get a doctorate for. Saranya as Ajith's mother is so stereotypical...from her days in Nayagan till date her acting prowess has not improved nor has it changed. She is so blah and can cry so easily...B O R I N G...
Ajith looks good...and young and for a change he actually looks fresh. He can still act and he really does not do too much of his "star" stuff other than a few occasional mention of "Thalai" here and there...wonder why he has to do it.
I cannot write much about the music as I forwarded most of it and the direction has nothing special to mention about at all. If you are free and want to watch a movie filled with fights/cries/and melodrama this will be a good choice.
Cast: Ajith Kumar, Trisha, Raj Kiran, Vivek
Director: A L Vijay
Music: G V Prakash
I remember seeing a movie like this one a few years ago...I don't remember the name of the movie...but it was similar at least in theory. I guess the only thing it did not have was a "star" in the leading role. This movie would probably not have seen the daylight had Ajith not acted in it.
The story is about Shakthivel (Ajith), a carefree but respectful youth who's aim is to become an SI. He is the son of Rajarajan (Raj Kiran), an honest police head constable who is waiting for redemption the day his son becomes a part of the Indian police force. Shakthi and his family live in Trichy and he spends most of his time with friends and having fun in the city. During one such escapade he meets Divya (Trisha) with whom he eventually falls in love.
As things always go smoothly in the first half, Shakthi gets called for an interview and gets selected to go for a personal interview in Chennai for the same. Both Divya's and Shakthi's parents are also excited about their alliance and everything is moving smoothly until Rajarajan messes things up. His diligence gets him in trouble with some local politicians who get him transferred to a very crime filled city.
The entire family moves down and once again Rajarajan's uprightness lands him trouble. He tries to fight singlehandedly with some local goonda's who get angry with him and are ready to kill him until Shakthi sees it and jumps in to save his father's life while hurting the rowdy group real bad. Now it is revenge time but Shakthi has the support from Rajarajan's boss who has been trying to get the rowdy's behind bars or at least punished...
Shakthi's fight with the rowdies make him very famous in the city and his brother in law (Vivek) starts taking advantage of it without Shakthi's knowledge. Shakthi also gets involved in many small fights owing to his friends and other circumstances. The police inspector helping Shakthi misunderstands him and reprimand's Shakthi...Shakthi's job as a cop is under scrutiny and the future of his life is also in a limbo...What happens next? watch the movie!
The movie is very simple...Trisha comes promptly for some songs and dances and nothing else. Vivek's comedy was hardly even funny. Raj Kiran has done the father role well once again after Thavamai Thavamirundhu...I am sure father roles (as that is the only thing he can play at this age and with that face) is something he can get a doctorate for. Saranya as Ajith's mother is so stereotypical...from her days in Nayagan till date her acting prowess has not improved nor has it changed. She is so blah and can cry so easily...B O R I N G...
Ajith looks good...and young and for a change he actually looks fresh. He can still act and he really does not do too much of his "star" stuff other than a few occasional mention of "Thalai" here and there...wonder why he has to do it.
I cannot write much about the music as I forwarded most of it and the direction has nothing special to mention about at all. If you are free and want to watch a movie filled with fights/cries/and melodrama this will be a good choice.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Adavari Mataluke Arthale Verule (2007) - Telugu Movie Review
Ranking: 3.5/5
Cast: Venkatesh, Trisha, Kota, Srikanth, K Vishwanath
Director: Selvaraghavan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
This is a typical Telugu family movie in which you know how the movie is going to end right from the start. It can definitely be viewed with family and is a mild entertainer. The clean nature of the movie and very minimal violence clubbed with some decent comedy and loaded with sentiment makes this movie a complete Indian movie.
Ganesh (Venkatesh), is a programmer by profession but is unable to secure a job for a very long time. He has no luck with interviews or exams as he has fear of taking exams and keeps failing one after another. His father (Kota) has decided that his son is useless and has resigned to taking care of him till he breathes his last...while Ganesh roams the city with his friends (Sunil and Srikanth)
But things change when Ganesh sees Kirthi (Trisha) for the first time. It so happens that she is also the exam invigilator and she motivates him to perform better and also speak in Group Discussions. But after securing employment Ganesh notices that Kirthi is not friendly towards him at all. So he tries his best to befriend her. They both travel to Australia together on a project and there he also proposes to her. Which she quickly rejects and they both come back to India with Ganesh carrying with him a broken heart.
Ganesh vents to his father who in turn decides to go and talk to Kirthi himself gets insulted by Kirthi in public. Next day Ganesh finds that his father had died of a broken heart. Ganesh decides to forget Kirthi and go with his friend Srikanth to his village for a short vacation to give himself a change of place. Srikanth is going back with his fiance, whom Ganesh has never met to get married with his entire family's blessing.
Ganesh, to his surprise and shocks finds out that Srikanth's fiance is none other than Kirthi and he has to spend the next few days in her presence. Kirthi also goes through similar emotions. Srikanth has a huge doting family and soon Ganesh blends into it. He manages to win the love of everyone but the grandfather and towards the end he does that too...
But Kirthi soon realizes that she is in love with Ganesh and wants to marry him. Will they go against her family? Will Ganesh hurt his friend and the new found family? What happens? Have you seen DDLJ? Well, then you know how such movies usually end!
To Venkatesh acting in such roles are a piece of cake. He has been there and done that several times. Trisha seems to have done better than before this time though I always feel that she is a bit of an overactor. Srikanth, once upon a time, a hero in South is now doing supporting roles but he has performed well in this movie. The rest of the huge family is just a load of emotions and overacting. Did annoy me a couple of times but overall such movies always get only so much out of actors.
Cast: Venkatesh, Trisha, Kota, Srikanth, K Vishwanath
Director: Selvaraghavan
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
This is a typical Telugu family movie in which you know how the movie is going to end right from the start. It can definitely be viewed with family and is a mild entertainer. The clean nature of the movie and very minimal violence clubbed with some decent comedy and loaded with sentiment makes this movie a complete Indian movie.
Ganesh (Venkatesh), is a programmer by profession but is unable to secure a job for a very long time. He has no luck with interviews or exams as he has fear of taking exams and keeps failing one after another. His father (Kota) has decided that his son is useless and has resigned to taking care of him till he breathes his last...while Ganesh roams the city with his friends (Sunil and Srikanth)
But things change when Ganesh sees Kirthi (Trisha) for the first time. It so happens that she is also the exam invigilator and she motivates him to perform better and also speak in Group Discussions. But after securing employment Ganesh notices that Kirthi is not friendly towards him at all. So he tries his best to befriend her. They both travel to Australia together on a project and there he also proposes to her. Which she quickly rejects and they both come back to India with Ganesh carrying with him a broken heart.
Ganesh vents to his father who in turn decides to go and talk to Kirthi himself gets insulted by Kirthi in public. Next day Ganesh finds that his father had died of a broken heart. Ganesh decides to forget Kirthi and go with his friend Srikanth to his village for a short vacation to give himself a change of place. Srikanth is going back with his fiance, whom Ganesh has never met to get married with his entire family's blessing.
Ganesh, to his surprise and shocks finds out that Srikanth's fiance is none other than Kirthi and he has to spend the next few days in her presence. Kirthi also goes through similar emotions. Srikanth has a huge doting family and soon Ganesh blends into it. He manages to win the love of everyone but the grandfather and towards the end he does that too...
But Kirthi soon realizes that she is in love with Ganesh and wants to marry him. Will they go against her family? Will Ganesh hurt his friend and the new found family? What happens? Have you seen DDLJ? Well, then you know how such movies usually end!
To Venkatesh acting in such roles are a piece of cake. He has been there and done that several times. Trisha seems to have done better than before this time though I always feel that she is a bit of an overactor. Srikanth, once upon a time, a hero in South is now doing supporting roles but he has performed well in this movie. The rest of the huge family is just a load of emotions and overacting. Did annoy me a couple of times but overall such movies always get only so much out of actors.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sivaji - The Boss (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Rajinikanth, Shriya, Vivek, Manivanan, Vadivukarasi, Suman
Director: Shankar
Music: A.R. Rehman
Produced by: AVM - 60 years of Entertainment
After a long wait Rajini's lastest released on 15th of June giving hope to all Rajini fans that another might also come along. After the disaster of Baba Rajini picked himself and got back on the top circuit once again with a Super Duper Hit - Chandramukhi and then followed it by pairing with Shankar for the very first time to create Sivaji-The Boss. And if you have any doubts about this movie becoming another block buster then rest your fears as it might even surpass Chandramukhi's raking.
Shankar as a director has definitely ran out of steam. His story is stale and the dialogues in the movie also sound like you have heard them before and indeed you have. If he tries and does anything different his movie flops so I guess he is sticking to his original formula and it is getting a little too boring. The only credit I will give Shankar is his creativity in comedy situations and the Rajini look that has been revived and the various style opportunities he created in the movie for us to cheer the thalaivar.
The real show stealer in the movie though undoubtedly is Vivek. His punch lines, one liners, comic timing are all one of the major features in the movie that keep it moving at a fast pace. Vivek deserves the applause and Rajini deserves more for letting Vivek share so much of the screen with absolutely no ego whatsoever.
Rajini movies are always a pleasure to be seen in a theater with the right atmosphere. A typical Rajini movie atmosphere starts with screeming, yodelling, whistling, throwing paper confetti and cash around in the theater. Too bad for the theater people but that is fine considering we get charged twice to watch a Rajini movie than any other film.
The minute the doors were opened to let us in the screaming and celebrations began. As we sat down and waited for the movie to start, catcalls and all the screaming continued from all corners of the theater. The trailer for Sulthan started and the theater was messy once again filled with paper flying around everywhere in the theater. And need I say how the first half hour of the movie progressed? I missed out on most of the dialogues and literally just watched the movie and hardly heard anything...
Anyway, the story starts with Rajini being led to jail in a hood and then he continues to tell his flashback story to a fellow jail inmante...Sivaji (Rajini) an NRI with a software background returns to Chennai to do something for the poor and underpriviledged. His aim for quite sometime in his life has been to start a free university, a hospital, and other such institutions to help reduce poverty in the country. He is ready to spend all his life savings to do so. In his first few days he learns that it is not going to be easy to deal with the politicians and the government officials and money was the only thing that got work done. Gritting his teeth he spends money to get his project on the ground and he does so making enemies with Adi (Suman). Adi himself is a goon turned owner of various colleges and hospitals in Chennai and fears a free competition from Sivaji might ruin his future and tries to hurdle all progress for Sivaji.
In the meanwhile Sivaji meets his love in Thamizhselvi (Shriya) and proceeds to convince her and her family to accept him as their bridegroom. Many comical situations arise through this alliance and it is a funny courtship for sure. Thanks to Vivek's presence too.
Does Rajini over come his difficulties and how does he tackle with Adi forms the second half of the movie. The first half of the movie is funny, witty, and fast paced while the second half of the movies shows the making of Rajini becoming the Boss to wreak vengence over Adi and his group of goons. This is where the movie gets a little Shankar stereotypical although Rajini has done his fair share to revive it a little bit.
The different get ups and make up one watches Rajini in this movie revives memories from past when Rajini played Billa, Ranga and such roles till date. There is a fair Rajini, a dark Rajini, a bald Rajini, to a Rajini looking like Sivaji, MGR and even Kamal Hassan in the movie.
Now lets talk about the music, my favorite song was Sahana, Balleilaka, and Vaji Vaji. Other than these three the rest of them were okay. Since I had heard that Shankar had spent some obscene amount of money to shoot these songs I thought that they might be something different but Balleilaka reminded me of Andankaka from Anniyan and both Vaji Vaji and Sahana reminded me of Anbe Anbe from Jeans. Like I mentioned before Shankar is running out of ideas and he is spending money on expensive but cheap looking sets. I am glad that he did not spend a lot of money on cheap graphics like he did in Anniyan.
The movie is a treat for Rajini fans but if you try to get some logic out of it or some reasoning I would really leave that part of your brain back home before leaving to the threater. A sure family entertainment and is bound to keep kids entertained too. But a few scenes towards the end of the movie during the fight scenes are a little too lound and unnecesarily long.
Enjoy Sivaji as it might be one of the last few movies that Rajini will be making. Sivaji-The Boss is a thorough entertainer...and for all all Rajini fans it is a must watch.
Cast: Rajinikanth, Shriya, Vivek, Manivanan, Vadivukarasi, Suman
Director: Shankar
Music: A.R. Rehman
Produced by: AVM - 60 years of Entertainment
After a long wait Rajini's lastest released on 15th of June giving hope to all Rajini fans that another might also come along. After the disaster of Baba Rajini picked himself and got back on the top circuit once again with a Super Duper Hit - Chandramukhi and then followed it by pairing with Shankar for the very first time to create Sivaji-The Boss. And if you have any doubts about this movie becoming another block buster then rest your fears as it might even surpass Chandramukhi's raking.
Shankar as a director has definitely ran out of steam. His story is stale and the dialogues in the movie also sound like you have heard them before and indeed you have. If he tries and does anything different his movie flops so I guess he is sticking to his original formula and it is getting a little too boring. The only credit I will give Shankar is his creativity in comedy situations and the Rajini look that has been revived and the various style opportunities he created in the movie for us to cheer the thalaivar.
The real show stealer in the movie though undoubtedly is Vivek. His punch lines, one liners, comic timing are all one of the major features in the movie that keep it moving at a fast pace. Vivek deserves the applause and Rajini deserves more for letting Vivek share so much of the screen with absolutely no ego whatsoever.
Rajini movies are always a pleasure to be seen in a theater with the right atmosphere. A typical Rajini movie atmosphere starts with screeming, yodelling, whistling, throwing paper confetti and cash around in the theater. Too bad for the theater people but that is fine considering we get charged twice to watch a Rajini movie than any other film.
The minute the doors were opened to let us in the screaming and celebrations began. As we sat down and waited for the movie to start, catcalls and all the screaming continued from all corners of the theater. The trailer for Sulthan started and the theater was messy once again filled with paper flying around everywhere in the theater. And need I say how the first half hour of the movie progressed? I missed out on most of the dialogues and literally just watched the movie and hardly heard anything...
Anyway, the story starts with Rajini being led to jail in a hood and then he continues to tell his flashback story to a fellow jail inmante...Sivaji (Rajini) an NRI with a software background returns to Chennai to do something for the poor and underpriviledged. His aim for quite sometime in his life has been to start a free university, a hospital, and other such institutions to help reduce poverty in the country. He is ready to spend all his life savings to do so. In his first few days he learns that it is not going to be easy to deal with the politicians and the government officials and money was the only thing that got work done. Gritting his teeth he spends money to get his project on the ground and he does so making enemies with Adi (Suman). Adi himself is a goon turned owner of various colleges and hospitals in Chennai and fears a free competition from Sivaji might ruin his future and tries to hurdle all progress for Sivaji.
In the meanwhile Sivaji meets his love in Thamizhselvi (Shriya) and proceeds to convince her and her family to accept him as their bridegroom. Many comical situations arise through this alliance and it is a funny courtship for sure. Thanks to Vivek's presence too.
Does Rajini over come his difficulties and how does he tackle with Adi forms the second half of the movie. The first half of the movie is funny, witty, and fast paced while the second half of the movies shows the making of Rajini becoming the Boss to wreak vengence over Adi and his group of goons. This is where the movie gets a little Shankar stereotypical although Rajini has done his fair share to revive it a little bit.
The different get ups and make up one watches Rajini in this movie revives memories from past when Rajini played Billa, Ranga and such roles till date. There is a fair Rajini, a dark Rajini, a bald Rajini, to a Rajini looking like Sivaji, MGR and even Kamal Hassan in the movie.
Now lets talk about the music, my favorite song was Sahana, Balleilaka, and Vaji Vaji. Other than these three the rest of them were okay. Since I had heard that Shankar had spent some obscene amount of money to shoot these songs I thought that they might be something different but Balleilaka reminded me of Andankaka from Anniyan and both Vaji Vaji and Sahana reminded me of Anbe Anbe from Jeans. Like I mentioned before Shankar is running out of ideas and he is spending money on expensive but cheap looking sets. I am glad that he did not spend a lot of money on cheap graphics like he did in Anniyan.
The movie is a treat for Rajini fans but if you try to get some logic out of it or some reasoning I would really leave that part of your brain back home before leaving to the threater. A sure family entertainment and is bound to keep kids entertained too. But a few scenes towards the end of the movie during the fight scenes are a little too lound and unnecesarily long.
Enjoy Sivaji as it might be one of the last few movies that Rajini will be making. Sivaji-The Boss is a thorough entertainer...and for all all Rajini fans it is a must watch.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Parattai Engira Azhagusundaram (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Dhanush, Meera Jasmine, Archana, Nazar
Director: Suresh Krishna
Music: Gurukiran
This is a real miserable, boring and sad story. What was the purpose or idea behind making this movie? Entertainment? I don't think so. Education? No way...Then what is the real purpose of this movie? To give everyone watching it a head ache. Ya that's it. I don't see any other point in making this violent movie. Sometimes filmmakers get carried away trying to make realistic movies.
The story is about Azhagusundaram (Dhanush), a village lad who moves to Chennai to earn some money without informing his recently widowed mother (Archana). Azhagusundaram and his parents are really close and loosing his father suddenly comes as a blow to him and his mother.
His mother also soon followes Azhagu to Chennai but with no information regarding his whereabouts. She comes in contact with Shwetha (Meera Jasmine) a journalism student. Shwetha takes care of Azhagu's mother and tries to help locate Azhagu in the big city of Chennai.
In the meanwhile Azhagu has been rechristened as Paratai and has secured a job with Khader Bhai (Nazar), a small tea shop owner. After Paratai saves enough money he plans to return to his village to meet his mother but on that fateful day he lands up murdering a local goon after being provoked to do so. Paratai gets arrested and comes out on bail. He tries to resume his normal life but goons from all over the city are either trying to hunt him down or try and make him a part of their gang.
Paratai also hears from the village postman that his mother is in Chennai looking for him. So Paratai begins his hunt for her too...Do the loving mom and son meet? What happens of Paratai forms the rest of the story.
Like I said in the beginning, if you don't have to then taking a miss on this one might not be a bad idea unless you are a die hard fan of Dhanush.
Cast: Dhanush, Meera Jasmine, Archana, Nazar
Director: Suresh Krishna
Music: Gurukiran
This is a real miserable, boring and sad story. What was the purpose or idea behind making this movie? Entertainment? I don't think so. Education? No way...Then what is the real purpose of this movie? To give everyone watching it a head ache. Ya that's it. I don't see any other point in making this violent movie. Sometimes filmmakers get carried away trying to make realistic movies.
The story is about Azhagusundaram (Dhanush), a village lad who moves to Chennai to earn some money without informing his recently widowed mother (Archana). Azhagusundaram and his parents are really close and loosing his father suddenly comes as a blow to him and his mother.
His mother also soon followes Azhagu to Chennai but with no information regarding his whereabouts. She comes in contact with Shwetha (Meera Jasmine) a journalism student. Shwetha takes care of Azhagu's mother and tries to help locate Azhagu in the big city of Chennai.
In the meanwhile Azhagu has been rechristened as Paratai and has secured a job with Khader Bhai (Nazar), a small tea shop owner. After Paratai saves enough money he plans to return to his village to meet his mother but on that fateful day he lands up murdering a local goon after being provoked to do so. Paratai gets arrested and comes out on bail. He tries to resume his normal life but goons from all over the city are either trying to hunt him down or try and make him a part of their gang.
Paratai also hears from the village postman that his mother is in Chennai looking for him. So Paratai begins his hunt for her too...Do the loving mom and son meet? What happens of Paratai forms the rest of the story.
Like I said in the beginning, if you don't have to then taking a miss on this one might not be a bad idea unless you are a die hard fan of Dhanush.
Mayabazaar (2006) - Telugu Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Raja, Bhoomika Chawla, SPB
Director: Mohanakrishna Indraganti
Music: KM Radhakrishna
Cast: Raja, Bhoomika Chawla, SPB
Director: Mohanakrishna Indraganti
Music: KM Radhakrishna
Raja, a do-gooder to the society is challenged with poverty from his very childhood days. He vows to become rich to help the poor and under privileged in the society. Raja grows up to become a car driver for a rich man with a kind heart. But Raja gets nothing for free. While at work dropping off his boss at the airport Raja meets a little girl who has been abandoned by her father. He adopts her as his own and together with his friend and roommate, Raja raises the girl. As fate would have it, the girl is inflicted with a deadly disease which if not treated on time may become terminal. For this he needs money and he tries his best to secure it.
Upon insistence from the girl Raja takes a trip to Tirupathi where he has a divine encounter with none other than Kubera, the lord of wealth. As the myth goes, Kubera after having given a lot of money to Venkatachalapathi to help in his wedding is still collecting the interest from the lord and travels back and forth from heaven every week carrying the load of the money on his shoulders. To get rid of this burden Kubera has to help a mortal with daily work till the demise of the person he chooses. He should also be careful to choose the best of the best mortal to help for. Obviously our hero Raja fit the bill in all the categories and he gets a visit from Kubera while he is standing complaining to God about not getting any help for the little girl.
Loaded with cash Raja gets the girl’s health taken care of first and then starts a small business which becomes a big hit and in turn he starts raking money that he spends for all the right reasons. At first Kubera is ok with the turn of events but later he gets bored doing the daily chores for Raja’s household. The only way he can end the misery would to be to ask Raja for his life in return for the favor he received from Kubera and Kubera does just that…what happens next? See the movie for an ending filled with more mythological characters.
Ofcourse there is a heroine in this movie…Bhoomika Chawla, she plays Raja’s love interest that follows him around videotaping all his good deeds and eventually joins Raja’s company as his personal secretary only to eventually fall in love with him and create the extra bit of drama.
The story is simple, it is actually not even a great movie but its clean and clear presentation makes it watchable. Of course, I like Raja which might bias my opinion, nevertheless it is good to watch when you are craving for a feel good movie. Everyone has done their role well though the directing techniques seem a bit archaic and the music is certainly forgetful. Let me know if you have seen this movie and think otherwise.
Periyar (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Sathyaraj, Kusboo, Jyothirmayi
Director: Gnanarajasekaran
Music: Vidyasagar
The movie is a biography on the life of Dravida Kazhagam's founder and leader E V Ramaswamy (Naicker) aka Periyar and his impact on India we have today.
Sathyaraj has acted as a villain, a hero, a comedian, and a few serious roles but this one surely stands apart as he dons the role of Periyar. When you look at him you think you are looking at the real Periyar. The makeup, body language and his acting skills convince you so.
Periyar fought to banish caste system in India. He worked hard and joined politics hoping it will help eradicate the main problem that dominated (and continues to dominate) India. But all his hopes were turned down when he realized that most politicians enjoyed the privileges that caste system provided them with.
Disheartened he started his own political party in South called DK and began his own political propaganda against caste system. He was the first to fight for reservation for the lower caste people. He disowned his religion and got rid of his caste name which was a part of his name and had many others do so too.
On the whole he was a very powerful and moving person with a independent reasoning that thought for the benefit of others in the society. A selfless person who lived and died never holding or competing for any political power...
A brilliant chronicle of his life and a must watch. It will surely make you learn a few things about your country that you did not know before. The music is suited to the era and has powerful messages in them.
Notes: Caste has always been an issue in India. By fighting and providing reservation did we really eradicate the caste issues?
Cast: Sathyaraj, Kusboo, Jyothirmayi
Director: Gnanarajasekaran
Music: Vidyasagar
The movie is a biography on the life of Dravida Kazhagam's founder and leader E V Ramaswamy (Naicker) aka Periyar and his impact on India we have today.
Sathyaraj has acted as a villain, a hero, a comedian, and a few serious roles but this one surely stands apart as he dons the role of Periyar. When you look at him you think you are looking at the real Periyar. The makeup, body language and his acting skills convince you so.
Periyar fought to banish caste system in India. He worked hard and joined politics hoping it will help eradicate the main problem that dominated (and continues to dominate) India. But all his hopes were turned down when he realized that most politicians enjoyed the privileges that caste system provided them with.
Disheartened he started his own political party in South called DK and began his own political propaganda against caste system. He was the first to fight for reservation for the lower caste people. He disowned his religion and got rid of his caste name which was a part of his name and had many others do so too.
On the whole he was a very powerful and moving person with a independent reasoning that thought for the benefit of others in the society. A selfless person who lived and died never holding or competing for any political power...
A brilliant chronicle of his life and a must watch. It will surely make you learn a few things about your country that you did not know before. The music is suited to the era and has powerful messages in them.
Notes: Caste has always been an issue in India. By fighting and providing reservation did we really eradicate the caste issues?
Cheeni Kum (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Amitabh, Tabu, Paresh Rawal
Director: Balkrishnan
Music: Illayaraja
The trailer pretty much gives the entire premise of this movie. It is about a 64 year old man falling in love with a 34 year old lady and the opposition the lady receives from her dad who is only 60.
Amitabh plays Buddadeb Gupta a Chef and owner of a popular Indian restaurant in London. He prides himself on the culinary excellence his restaurant has maintained over the years and gets offended when one of his customers returns a plate of food as it did not taste authentic. Budha storms out and unforgivingly yells at Nina (Tabu) who promptly leaves the premises. Later on when Buddha checks with his chefs he realizes that a mistake has been made. His ego does not allow him to directly apologize to her but instead they become friends on his insistence. Nina is on vacation to London to visit her friend and she happens to live close to Budha's restaurant.
With loads of corny and cheesy dialogues written to evoke laughter their romance carries on without a name for a long time till they both realize what they have for each other. At the same time Nina gets a call that her father in India is sick and she has to get back immediately. Nina leaves and of course Budha follows her to India.
In India Budha faces his biggest hurdle of convincing Nina's dad Omprakash (Paresh Rawal). Om does not imagine Budha to be the boyfriend of her daughter and talks to him like someone of his same age until one day it is revealed. Of course you know what happens next...
The music by Illayaraja though rehashed from his previous hits in South is still refreshing to hear in the movie. The direction is smooth and simple but could have been done without the character of Sexy, Budha neighbor's daughter who is suffering from a terminal illness. Such kids maybe cute but they DO NOT act as a catalyst in the movie.
The first half of the movie is fast paced and quick witted too but the minute Paresh Rawal's character is introduced the pace of the movie slows down to a drag. The age jokes get a little boring after the first few are thrown at you and the Gandhian principles are not very well used in this movie either.
You can definitely watch the movie once if you are a sucker for romance/romantic movie else you can safely take a miss on this one.
Cast: Amitabh, Tabu, Paresh Rawal
Director: Balkrishnan
Music: Illayaraja
The trailer pretty much gives the entire premise of this movie. It is about a 64 year old man falling in love with a 34 year old lady and the opposition the lady receives from her dad who is only 60.
Amitabh plays Buddadeb Gupta a Chef and owner of a popular Indian restaurant in London. He prides himself on the culinary excellence his restaurant has maintained over the years and gets offended when one of his customers returns a plate of food as it did not taste authentic. Budha storms out and unforgivingly yells at Nina (Tabu) who promptly leaves the premises. Later on when Buddha checks with his chefs he realizes that a mistake has been made. His ego does not allow him to directly apologize to her but instead they become friends on his insistence. Nina is on vacation to London to visit her friend and she happens to live close to Budha's restaurant.
With loads of corny and cheesy dialogues written to evoke laughter their romance carries on without a name for a long time till they both realize what they have for each other. At the same time Nina gets a call that her father in India is sick and she has to get back immediately. Nina leaves and of course Budha follows her to India.
In India Budha faces his biggest hurdle of convincing Nina's dad Omprakash (Paresh Rawal). Om does not imagine Budha to be the boyfriend of her daughter and talks to him like someone of his same age until one day it is revealed. Of course you know what happens next...
The music by Illayaraja though rehashed from his previous hits in South is still refreshing to hear in the movie. The direction is smooth and simple but could have been done without the character of Sexy, Budha neighbor's daughter who is suffering from a terminal illness. Such kids maybe cute but they DO NOT act as a catalyst in the movie.
The first half of the movie is fast paced and quick witted too but the minute Paresh Rawal's character is introduced the pace of the movie slows down to a drag. The age jokes get a little boring after the first few are thrown at you and the Gandhian principles are not very well used in this movie either.
You can definitely watch the movie once if you are a sucker for romance/romantic movie else you can safely take a miss on this one.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Bheja Fry (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sarika, Ranvir Shorey, Milind Soman
Director: Sagar Ballary
Cast: Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Sarika, Ranvir Shorey, Milind Soman
Director: Sagar Ballary
A brilliant movie, tight script, flowing screenplay, interesting story, and brilliant acting makes Bheja Fry a must watch movie this summer. All the actors in this movie are not mainline actors but their performance can put the best of best to shame. And so moving on with the story...
Ranjeet Thadani (Rajat) is a music producer married to Sheetal (Sarika) a singer. Ranjeet and his friends get together every Friday for a party. This is a different kind of party where they invite a talent who is not so talented and ridicule them behind the scenes. They enjoying doing it so much that they even don't mind missing out on family appointments.
One of Ranjeet's friend meets Bharat Bhushan (Vinay) on a trip to Pune and decides that he could probably be a source of entertainment for Ranjeet. Ranjeet promptly calls Bharat and invites him for dinner.
Bharat is a talkative self promoting singer who carries with him a scrap book showcasing his musical life. He is excited at the prospect of meeting a music producer which might help advance his career as a singer. Bharat has heart that wants to help everyone but also has the ability to mess things up for people around him. He can be annoying for the person who is sitting next to him but make it a funny experience for the rest watching him.
Friday arrives but Ranjeet's back is sprained badly and is restricted from moving around. Ranjeet knows that he will not be able to make it to the party but still decides to meet with Bharat to see how good or rather bad he is.
The minute Bharat steps into Ranjeet's house, Ranjeet's life cascades into a series of confusion and tension which forms the crux of the story.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Chennai 600028 (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 3.75/5
Director: Venkat Prabhu
Music: Yuvan Shankar Raja
Cast and Corresponding Character in the Movie
Prassanna - Shanmugham - Software Engineer
Ranjith - Imran, a Gym body
Vijay - Gopi - Mechanic (Guy with the Bat)
Premji Amaran - Seenu,owner of the department store(Family Business)
Aravindh Aakash - Aravindh - He works at a coffee shop
Shiva (Radio Mirchi RJ) - Karthick - Team captain & brother of local head
Jai - Raghu - Moves from Rockers to Sharks.
Nithin Sathya - Pazhani - Captain in the final - (brother of Selvi)
Ajay Raj - Ezhumazhai - Ambulance driver,owns 2 ambulances
Arun - Uday - Gets into fights for nothing at all
Karthick - Arivu - A College going student
Christine - Shwetha - Aravindh's Girl Friend
Vijayalakshmi - Selvi - Pazhani's sister and Karthik's girl friend
Ilavarasu - Manohar - Sharks team's manager,owns a saloon
Sampath - Guna - Karthik's brother,the area's head
Story
The movie is about two small local cricket leagues that comepete against each other in local matches and consider each other as sworn enemies. Royapuram Rockers are on top of the chain and keep bashing Sharks year after year. The heroes of the movie are the Sharks team. This movie has cricket as the central theme but that is not all the movie has to offer. It is a story of love, betrayal, friendship, and victory.
The story begins when Raghu's parents move from Royapuram to Chennai 600 028. Raghu, a college student living with his parents has no choice but to move with them although he detests the choice. He is not very excited at the prospect of living in the same area as his sworn enemies. Raghu is faithful to his old team Rockers but his team mates ignore him because of the distance. Angered at being replaced by a new guy in the team Raghu estranges himself from cricket and Rockers. As days go by he makes friends with a few Sharks team players and eventually gets induced into the team. Raghu practices with Sharks to play against Rockers in the upcoming Radio Mirchi trophy.
Raghu is the reason for Pazhani's sister Selvi and Karthick falling in love. Pazhani is disappointed that his friend would fall in love with his sister and that Raghu was the middle man for the union. The team splits up for a while. But Karthick apologises to Pazhani and they make up. The team is united again and they start practicing for the trophy once again. Unfortunately, Karthick gets stabbed by his brother's enemies and is rendered unfit to play the match. Pazhani replaces Karthick as the captain and the team heads for the match.
Under tight pressure and with a nail biting finish Sharks finally defeat Rockers in the semi-finals of the tournament. Every bit of the cricket tournament portrayed here is done so in a very light and entertaining manner. It is far from boring.
In the finals they meet their nemesis, a bunch of school kids who practice by cutting school classes to play cricket in the beach. The kids are really good and the Sharks know it because they have lost to them once before and that too very badly...the movie ends with the team really struggling to keep it up in the game.
All loose ends are tied up and the end is also funny and has a positive note.
It is a humorous representation of life in an average girl or boy's life in Chennai. Although no one in this movie is an established actor the performance of the all the fresh faces are commendable. It is a fresh story and a clean story that is enjoyable from start to finish.
SPB Charan has done a great job in Chennai 600028 compared to Mazhai. Venkat Prabhu has become a famous director in the film industry because of this galli-cricket movie.Premji Amaran has also done a good job in both comedy and the bacground score. Yuvan's foot-tapping music has a great craze on the youngsters. The lyrics by Gangai Amaran and Vali have also got some fame.
Songs
Jalsa: Ranjith,Tippu,Premji Amaran,Haricharan,Karthik
Ulla Vaa :DJ Saathiya,Silverstar,Yuvan Shankar Raja
Oh Oh Ennanamo:Anushkaa
Natpukkalae:Yuvan Shankar Raja
Saroja Saman Nikalo :Shankar Mahadevan,Premji Amaren
Un Parvai:Vijay Yesudas
Yaaro:SPB,K.S.Chitra
Yaaro:SPB Charan,Venkat Prabhu
Jalsa (Remix):Sabesh,Gana Ulaganathan,Gana Pazhani,Karunaas,Premji Amaren
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Life In A Metro (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Shilpa Shetty, Kay Kay Menon, Kangana Ranaut, Sharmaan Joshi, Shiney Ahuja, Konkona Sen Sharma, Irfan Khan, Nafisa Ali, Dharmendar
Director: Anurag Basu
Music: Pritam
The story depicts how our lives in metro cities are changing with the advent of Call center jobs and busy lifestyles. It is a brilliant depiction of busy life mingled with adultery, friendship, love, lust, and so on...a really well directed venture with a tight screenplay that keeps the pace of movie fast throughout.
Shikha (Shilpa) and Ranjith (Kay Kay) have been married for nine years with a daughter and they have lost of the love they once shared because of their busy lifestyles. They are always at loggerheads with each other and rarely agree on anything.
Rahul (Sharmaan) works in a call center during night and lives in his uncle's well furnished apartment. To climb the corporate ladder quickly he lets out his apartment to his bosses to carry on with their illicit affairs. Rahul has his eye set for Neha (Kangana) who works in the same office and he is crazily in love with her.
Neha on the other hand has an affair with her already married boss Ranjith. Ranjith promotes Rahul to become a Junior Manager while he uses the apartment to spend time with Neha. Rahul has no idea that his boss is sleeping with the girl of his dreams.
Neha and Shruthi (Konkona) are roomates. Shruthi is Shikha's sister. Shruthi goes through the arranged marriage system of meeting men and rejecting them. She meets Monty and rejects him instantly because she catches him checking out her bossom. Shruthi who works for Radio Mirchi likes Vishey K, the host of one of her shows. Her boss sets her up with Vishey and she also meets his parents and things are going well between them...until one day she finds Vishey and her boss in bed together.
Shikha visits her dance teacher Amma (Nafisa) every Saturday at the old age home. Shikha meets Aakash (Shiney) there and they both bond and share a good relationship which borders on love.
Amma also has her story...Anmol (Dharmendar), Amma's love from past comes back to live with her because his days are numbered and he wants to spend it with his true love. This is the only corny part in the story.
Now that I have given a brief introduction to everyone's life story...the rest of the movie develops into how all of them come close into affecting each other's life and how they solve their problems or work around it.
Must watch this one...all I can say is that this movie handled the subject of adultery, sex, lust, love, etc, much better than any of Karan Johar's movie ever did.
Cast: Shilpa Shetty, Kay Kay Menon, Kangana Ranaut, Sharmaan Joshi, Shiney Ahuja, Konkona Sen Sharma, Irfan Khan, Nafisa Ali, Dharmendar
Director: Anurag Basu
Music: Pritam
The story depicts how our lives in metro cities are changing with the advent of Call center jobs and busy lifestyles. It is a brilliant depiction of busy life mingled with adultery, friendship, love, lust, and so on...a really well directed venture with a tight screenplay that keeps the pace of movie fast throughout.
Shikha (Shilpa) and Ranjith (Kay Kay) have been married for nine years with a daughter and they have lost of the love they once shared because of their busy lifestyles. They are always at loggerheads with each other and rarely agree on anything.
Rahul (Sharmaan) works in a call center during night and lives in his uncle's well furnished apartment. To climb the corporate ladder quickly he lets out his apartment to his bosses to carry on with their illicit affairs. Rahul has his eye set for Neha (Kangana) who works in the same office and he is crazily in love with her.
Neha on the other hand has an affair with her already married boss Ranjith. Ranjith promotes Rahul to become a Junior Manager while he uses the apartment to spend time with Neha. Rahul has no idea that his boss is sleeping with the girl of his dreams.
Neha and Shruthi (Konkona) are roomates. Shruthi is Shikha's sister. Shruthi goes through the arranged marriage system of meeting men and rejecting them. She meets Monty and rejects him instantly because she catches him checking out her bossom. Shruthi who works for Radio Mirchi likes Vishey K, the host of one of her shows. Her boss sets her up with Vishey and she also meets his parents and things are going well between them...until one day she finds Vishey and her boss in bed together.
Shikha visits her dance teacher Amma (Nafisa) every Saturday at the old age home. Shikha meets Aakash (Shiney) there and they both bond and share a good relationship which borders on love.
Amma also has her story...Anmol (Dharmendar), Amma's love from past comes back to live with her because his days are numbered and he wants to spend it with his true love. This is the only corny part in the story.
Now that I have given a brief introduction to everyone's life story...the rest of the movie develops into how all of them come close into affecting each other's life and how they solve their problems or work around it.
Must watch this one...all I can say is that this movie handled the subject of adultery, sex, lust, love, etc, much better than any of Karan Johar's movie ever did.
Mozhi (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4.5/5
Cast: Prithviraj, Jyothika, Prakash Raj, Swarnamalya, Brahmanandam
Director: Radha Mohan
Music: Vidyasagar
A brilliant story. Must watch! Great casting, music, acting, directing, screenplay, etc. A fresh movie after a long time in Tamil. I am glad that it might be made in Hindi too...
Karthik (Prithviraj) and Viji (Prakash Raj) are good friends working in the music industry as keyboard players. Both of them are single. Karthik believes in love at first sight when the lights will go on, the bells will ring, so on and so forth...and true to it he falls in love with Jyothika the very first time he sees her. And to his luck she lives in the same apartment complex where Karthik just moved into.
When he finally gets to talk to her he realizes that she is deaf and mute. Karthik does not see it and he knows that he will be in love with her regardless of her disabilities. With the help of her friend Sheela, Karthik learns sign language and does everything guys do to impress girls. Finally he expresses his love for her which gets rejected...
The rest of the story narrates how he wins her back...Prakash Raj and Swarnamalya also play a very important role in the movie. Actually, there is no character in the movie that is useless. Everyone is there for a reason and the comic narrative style of the movie is a highlight. Even the sad moments are not totally sad but have a degree of humor in them.
If you have not seen this one yet...then you are loosing out on one of Tamil industry's gems.
Cast: Prithviraj, Jyothika, Prakash Raj, Swarnamalya, Brahmanandam
Director: Radha Mohan
Music: Vidyasagar
A brilliant story. Must watch! Great casting, music, acting, directing, screenplay, etc. A fresh movie after a long time in Tamil. I am glad that it might be made in Hindi too...
Karthik (Prithviraj) and Viji (Prakash Raj) are good friends working in the music industry as keyboard players. Both of them are single. Karthik believes in love at first sight when the lights will go on, the bells will ring, so on and so forth...and true to it he falls in love with Jyothika the very first time he sees her. And to his luck she lives in the same apartment complex where Karthik just moved into.
When he finally gets to talk to her he realizes that she is deaf and mute. Karthik does not see it and he knows that he will be in love with her regardless of her disabilities. With the help of her friend Sheela, Karthik learns sign language and does everything guys do to impress girls. Finally he expresses his love for her which gets rejected...
The rest of the story narrates how he wins her back...Prakash Raj and Swarnamalya also play a very important role in the movie. Actually, there is no character in the movie that is useless. Everyone is there for a reason and the comic narrative style of the movie is a highlight. Even the sad moments are not totally sad but have a degree of humor in them.
If you have not seen this one yet...then you are loosing out on one of Tamil industry's gems.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Shaka Laka Boom Boom (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 1.5/5
Cast: Bobby Deol, Upen Patel, Kangana Ranaut, Celina Jaitley
Director: Suneel Darshan
Music: Himesh Reshamiyya
Bobby Deol is a music director who lives in New York and has established himself with five consecutive hits all over the world. His music guru lives with him and he has a mentor in his music producer. The wife of the producer has an eye on Bobby and keeps throwing lustful hints around him all the time. While Bobby himself is in love with Kangana, a dancer. Celina is Bobby's friend and has a boy friend (Upen) in India who is a small time singer, composer and dancer trying to make it big.
Upen with the help of Celina makes it to NY and also makes it into the studio of Bobby whom he insults with no holds barred. Bobby knows that Upen is talented and is not very excited about his company thinking about signing a deal with him. He does everything in his power to break it off. To further irritate Bobby, Upen also steals Bobby's dream girl Kangana leaving both Bobby and Celina thirsting for revenge.
Is revenge really as sweet? Do you really want to know? I personally don't want anyone to go through the trouble of sitting through this boring venture...but if you choose to...do not blame me. The movie is not worth watching for so many reasons:
1) Bobby's acting. He should considering retiring from doing lead roles.
2) Upen is annoying and cannot act to save his life.
3) Himesh's music is repetitive and has nothing new to offer...B.O.R.I.N.G. Everytime a song pops up we are searching for the remote.
4) Story? What story? Where is it?
5) Screenplay sucks.
And if you find more...do feel free to add it on...
Cast: Bobby Deol, Upen Patel, Kangana Ranaut, Celina Jaitley
Director: Suneel Darshan
Music: Himesh Reshamiyya
Bobby Deol is a music director who lives in New York and has established himself with five consecutive hits all over the world. His music guru lives with him and he has a mentor in his music producer. The wife of the producer has an eye on Bobby and keeps throwing lustful hints around him all the time. While Bobby himself is in love with Kangana, a dancer. Celina is Bobby's friend and has a boy friend (Upen) in India who is a small time singer, composer and dancer trying to make it big.
Upen with the help of Celina makes it to NY and also makes it into the studio of Bobby whom he insults with no holds barred. Bobby knows that Upen is talented and is not very excited about his company thinking about signing a deal with him. He does everything in his power to break it off. To further irritate Bobby, Upen also steals Bobby's dream girl Kangana leaving both Bobby and Celina thirsting for revenge.
Is revenge really as sweet? Do you really want to know? I personally don't want anyone to go through the trouble of sitting through this boring venture...but if you choose to...do not blame me. The movie is not worth watching for so many reasons:
1) Bobby's acting. He should considering retiring from doing lead roles.
2) Upen is annoying and cannot act to save his life.
3) Himesh's music is repetitive and has nothing new to offer...B.O.R.I.N.G. Everytime a song pops up we are searching for the remote.
4) Story? What story? Where is it?
5) Screenplay sucks.
And if you find more...do feel free to add it on...
Stalin (2006) - Telugu Movie Review
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Trisha, Kushboo, Prakash Raj, Sharadha Urvasi
Director: A. R. Murugadoss
Music: Mani Sharma
Stalin, a role played by Chiru brings nothing in the form of story/direction/screenplay or action. It is the same old story of good vs. evil where the hero is invincible. Well what do you expect? It is a Chiru movie...
Stalin lives with his widowed mom and a couple of friends who hang around his house all the time. His sister Kushboo lives with her Punjabi husband and son in the same building as the heroine Trisha. Stalin's mom and sister are not in talking terms as she married out of religion and region, but Stalin keeps the family glued together.
Stalin apart from beating goos up also does a lot of social service. In the same line he starts a plan where he would ask everyone he helps not to thank him but to help three other people like he did. This way the goodness and helpful nature of people will spread. But to his dismay he notices that none of the people he helped are following his request.
Enter villain (Riaz Khan)...trying to be mean to some one in the street and Stalin bashes him up. Riaz being the son of a powerful minister Prakash Raj goes and whines to his daddy. His dad then takes it up as an insult and the tug-of-war starts between Stalin and Prakash's family where Riaz looses his life...and so many more drama situations take place...in the end the hero winning...of course all the people he helped also help three other people to show that the system worked...ya right!
All in all, a very average movie. Could have been done better by making it simple instead of making Chiru the larger than life image...uprooting trees and all that...What BS?!! I wish we could stop showing such nonsense in Indian movies all together...be it a Chiru movie or a Rajni movie.
There was a heroine in this movie...and somehow my review does not talk about her...hmm...well that shows what impression Trisha's role will have on you. Imagine a 21 year old girl dancing with a visibly old Chiru...I mean I cannot see any chemistry between them...and it just looks sick...like child molesting or something...I wish we would stop doing this too...why can't Chiru act with a heroine his age? Why does he need the hottest girl in town to be his heroine? Damn it!
Anyhoo...final verdict...Don't waste your time if you haven't seen it yet.
Cast: Chiranjeevi, Trisha, Kushboo, Prakash Raj, Sharadha Urvasi
Director: A. R. Murugadoss
Music: Mani Sharma
Stalin, a role played by Chiru brings nothing in the form of story/direction/screenplay or action. It is the same old story of good vs. evil where the hero is invincible. Well what do you expect? It is a Chiru movie...
Stalin lives with his widowed mom and a couple of friends who hang around his house all the time. His sister Kushboo lives with her Punjabi husband and son in the same building as the heroine Trisha. Stalin's mom and sister are not in talking terms as she married out of religion and region, but Stalin keeps the family glued together.
Stalin apart from beating goos up also does a lot of social service. In the same line he starts a plan where he would ask everyone he helps not to thank him but to help three other people like he did. This way the goodness and helpful nature of people will spread. But to his dismay he notices that none of the people he helped are following his request.
Enter villain (Riaz Khan)...trying to be mean to some one in the street and Stalin bashes him up. Riaz being the son of a powerful minister Prakash Raj goes and whines to his daddy. His dad then takes it up as an insult and the tug-of-war starts between Stalin and Prakash's family where Riaz looses his life...and so many more drama situations take place...in the end the hero winning...of course all the people he helped also help three other people to show that the system worked...ya right!
All in all, a very average movie. Could have been done better by making it simple instead of making Chiru the larger than life image...uprooting trees and all that...What BS?!! I wish we could stop showing such nonsense in Indian movies all together...be it a Chiru movie or a Rajni movie.
There was a heroine in this movie...and somehow my review does not talk about her...hmm...well that shows what impression Trisha's role will have on you. Imagine a 21 year old girl dancing with a visibly old Chiru...I mean I cannot see any chemistry between them...and it just looks sick...like child molesting or something...I wish we would stop doing this too...why can't Chiru act with a heroine his age? Why does he need the hottest girl in town to be his heroine? Damn it!
Anyhoo...final verdict...Don't waste your time if you haven't seen it yet.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Bomarillu (2006) - Telugu Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Siddarth, Genelia, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Kota Srinivasa Rao
Director: Bhaskar
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
This is a superhit movie but I have only ranked it 3/5 because I could not digest many of the things in the movie. I have a couple of questions:
1) Would any sane guy fall in love with a girl like Hasini whose mental development equals that of a 5 year old? I am sure the director wanted to make her look cute but did he have to make her look retarded to get that effect?
I have known friends who have been raised by single parent and none of them behave even remotely like this.
2) Does Siddhu fall in love with Hasini only to rebel against his father and for no other good reason?
Anyways getting to the story. Siddhu (Siddarth) is the son of a wealthy businessman (Prakash Raj) who is very interfering in his children's life not knowingly. He keeps his family on a tight leash but at the same time showers love and affection on them which keeps his family from rebelling on him outright. But Siddhu is different and he understands the difference between father love with freedom and fatherly love without freedom. Siddhu cannot even cut his hair or wear a shirt to his preference. His father interferes with everything.
To the extent of interfering with his son's marriage too. Siddhu at first likes the girl when he sees her but then realizes that the girl is also raised like him, dominated by her father which makes him run far away from her. His life is full of conflicts, on one side he wants to rebel his father and on the other he wants to do what is right. He keeps fighting his emotions everyday until he meets Hasini (Genelia) at a temple one day. He befriends her and they start falling in love with each other. Siddhu likes her childlike quality and her innocence along with her independence.
Trouble erupts when Siddhu's father finds out about their love. Siddhu requests his father to let Hasini stay with them for a week and if his father has a good reason for not liking her than he would marry the girl of his father's choice. His father accepts the deal and Hasini moves in after lying to her father about her whereabouts.
Does Hasini impress Siddhu's parents? Do Hasini and Siddhu get along well after living under the same roof for seven days? Ya ya ya...watch the movie...
The story is pretty simple. Through the movie I had the deja vu feeling. Siddarth is young and handsome and acts really well in most scenes. Though some of the scenes seem like a little overdone. Genelia, I guess did what the director asked her to do. Not much of a choice for her but pretty face indeed. She can still pass off more as a school kid than a college student. Prakash Raj does his usual stuff. It feels like he is the Amitabh Bachan of South. You can see him in pretty much every Tamil and Telugu movie.
The movie is worth one watch for sure. It carries the freshness element and the feel good factor which is always welcome when we are trying to get away from reality. Anyways enjoy write to me if you felt anything different from my view.
Cast: Siddarth, Genelia, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Kota Srinivasa Rao
Director: Bhaskar
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
This is a superhit movie but I have only ranked it 3/5 because I could not digest many of the things in the movie. I have a couple of questions:
1) Would any sane guy fall in love with a girl like Hasini whose mental development equals that of a 5 year old? I am sure the director wanted to make her look cute but did he have to make her look retarded to get that effect?
I have known friends who have been raised by single parent and none of them behave even remotely like this.
2) Does Siddhu fall in love with Hasini only to rebel against his father and for no other good reason?
Anyways getting to the story. Siddhu (Siddarth) is the son of a wealthy businessman (Prakash Raj) who is very interfering in his children's life not knowingly. He keeps his family on a tight leash but at the same time showers love and affection on them which keeps his family from rebelling on him outright. But Siddhu is different and he understands the difference between father love with freedom and fatherly love without freedom. Siddhu cannot even cut his hair or wear a shirt to his preference. His father interferes with everything.
To the extent of interfering with his son's marriage too. Siddhu at first likes the girl when he sees her but then realizes that the girl is also raised like him, dominated by her father which makes him run far away from her. His life is full of conflicts, on one side he wants to rebel his father and on the other he wants to do what is right. He keeps fighting his emotions everyday until he meets Hasini (Genelia) at a temple one day. He befriends her and they start falling in love with each other. Siddhu likes her childlike quality and her innocence along with her independence.
Trouble erupts when Siddhu's father finds out about their love. Siddhu requests his father to let Hasini stay with them for a week and if his father has a good reason for not liking her than he would marry the girl of his father's choice. His father accepts the deal and Hasini moves in after lying to her father about her whereabouts.
Does Hasini impress Siddhu's parents? Do Hasini and Siddhu get along well after living under the same roof for seven days? Ya ya ya...watch the movie...
The story is pretty simple. Through the movie I had the deja vu feeling. Siddarth is young and handsome and acts really well in most scenes. Though some of the scenes seem like a little overdone. Genelia, I guess did what the director asked her to do. Not much of a choice for her but pretty face indeed. She can still pass off more as a school kid than a college student. Prakash Raj does his usual stuff. It feels like he is the Amitabh Bachan of South. You can see him in pretty much every Tamil and Telugu movie.
The movie is worth one watch for sure. It carries the freshness element and the feel good factor which is always welcome when we are trying to get away from reality. Anyways enjoy write to me if you felt anything different from my view.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Namastey London (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 1/5
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Shashi Kapoor
Director: Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Music: Himesh Reshmaiyya
I will not spend writing a long review for this movie as there is nothing much to write anyways. In simple words, a really sorry story, bad acting, boring dialogues, too much mush, stereotypical, and so on and on.
Katrina is a second generation Desi Brit born and raised to believe that she was anything but Indian. Her father cons her into visiting India only to get married to Akshay Kumar by surprise (or shock). Katrina plays along in India and upon returning to London tells Akshay that she does not care too much for the wedding as she is making preparations to get married to her British rich boss.
Akki now tries all the tried and tested corny things to woo her back... Does he? If he did not then I would be surprised. Really really really...I mean seriously really...boring movie. If you can avoid it that will be better for your life as you would have saved 3 hours of monotony.
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Shashi Kapoor
Director: Vipul Amrutlal Shah
Music: Himesh Reshmaiyya
I will not spend writing a long review for this movie as there is nothing much to write anyways. In simple words, a really sorry story, bad acting, boring dialogues, too much mush, stereotypical, and so on and on.
Katrina is a second generation Desi Brit born and raised to believe that she was anything but Indian. Her father cons her into visiting India only to get married to Akshay Kumar by surprise (or shock). Katrina plays along in India and upon returning to London tells Akshay that she does not care too much for the wedding as she is making preparations to get married to her British rich boss.
Akki now tries all the tried and tested corny things to woo her back... Does he? If he did not then I would be surprised. Really really really...I mean seriously really...boring movie. If you can avoid it that will be better for your life as you would have saved 3 hours of monotony.
Just Married (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Esha Deol, Mukul Dev, Fardin Khan, and so many more of them...
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Music: Pritam
The movie is about five couples who are on their honeymoon at Ooty and share the same hotel. All of them are pretty newly wed except for one who are celebrating their wedding anniversary. Together the couples take many tours and visit sites together in Ooty and get to know each other on a personable level. Slowly and steadily host of stories open up about each of them.
Abhay Sachdeva (Fardin) and Ritika Khanna (Esha): A two people bought together by the system of arranged marriage. Fardin is ready to work things out and open himself out to Esha but Esha is holding back causing a few tensions and confusions in their life.
Bikram Saluja and Perizaad Zorabian: Here with the love of his life and they seem to be totally head over heels in love with each other and are the envy of most other couples.
Kirron Kher and Satish Shah: Are here to celebrate their anniversary and always seem to be fighting each other in public. The fact is that they love each other a lot but their expression of it is just different.
Raj Zutshi and co: He has been out of the country for a long time and is living with his girlfriend of another nationality. He had proposed to her in the past but the offer was rejected...
Mukul Dev and Tarina Patel: Tarina is Mukul's sister's best friend and had an eternal crush on him eventually convinced him to marry her. But Mukul is unable to think of Tarina as anything but his sister's friend. They are working on trying to resolve their differences.
Of course towards the end of the movie everything ends well. Everyone is happy and so are you.
I saw this movie after I saw Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. They both have similar stories and I could compare and contrast them and finally decided that this was a better story. It is a slow entertainer so be in the mood to spend time wondering why the clock is not ticking faster.
Cast: Esha Deol, Mukul Dev, Fardin Khan, and so many more of them...
Director: Meghna Gulzar
Music: Pritam
The movie is about five couples who are on their honeymoon at Ooty and share the same hotel. All of them are pretty newly wed except for one who are celebrating their wedding anniversary. Together the couples take many tours and visit sites together in Ooty and get to know each other on a personable level. Slowly and steadily host of stories open up about each of them.
Abhay Sachdeva (Fardin) and Ritika Khanna (Esha): A two people bought together by the system of arranged marriage. Fardin is ready to work things out and open himself out to Esha but Esha is holding back causing a few tensions and confusions in their life.
Bikram Saluja and Perizaad Zorabian: Here with the love of his life and they seem to be totally head over heels in love with each other and are the envy of most other couples.
Kirron Kher and Satish Shah: Are here to celebrate their anniversary and always seem to be fighting each other in public. The fact is that they love each other a lot but their expression of it is just different.
Raj Zutshi and co: He has been out of the country for a long time and is living with his girlfriend of another nationality. He had proposed to her in the past but the offer was rejected...
Mukul Dev and Tarina Patel: Tarina is Mukul's sister's best friend and had an eternal crush on him eventually convinced him to marry her. But Mukul is unable to think of Tarina as anything but his sister's friend. They are working on trying to resolve their differences.
Of course towards the end of the movie everything ends well. Everyone is happy and so are you.
I saw this movie after I saw Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. They both have similar stories and I could compare and contrast them and finally decided that this was a better story. It is a slow entertainer so be in the mood to spend time wondering why the clock is not ticking faster.
Honeymoon Travels (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 1.5/5
This movie is very similar to Just Married but only worse. There is no story...like they say in my language...the story has no head or tail. Bad acting, bad direction, bad story, bad casting make Honeymoon Travels a perfectly avoidable movie.
You just want to see one crappy movie...and not both of them...Just married is a better version of this genre for sure. So watch it if you want to but stay away from this one.
This movie is very similar to Just Married but only worse. There is no story...like they say in my language...the story has no head or tail. Bad acting, bad direction, bad story, bad casting make Honeymoon Travels a perfectly avoidable movie.
You just want to see one crappy movie...and not both of them...Just married is a better version of this genre for sure. So watch it if you want to but stay away from this one.
Poi (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 2.5/5
Cast: Uday Kiran, Prakash Raj, Vimala, Avinash
Director: K. Balachander
Music: Vidyasagar
The story is about how lies can have a domino effect and how a simple harmless lie may cascade into something really dangerous and life threatening. K.B. does really brilliant mega serials and as a veteran he is trying to adapt and compete with the younger generation of directors. He does fit in in some places but then there are others where he is grossly lacking. To his credit he is one of the best directors that Tamil movie ever had for the longest time with his active era extending from 1965 through early1990's. And this movie not to be outdone by his previous hits surely has the element that makes K.B's style of direction unique but it also sadly acts as the movies flaw and downfall.
Kamban (Uday Kiran) is the son of Valluvan (Avinash) a straightforward politician who will not bend laws even if it is to get his son out of jail when arrested for no fault of his. The opposition party take advantage of this and bail Kamban out and also publicly announce Kamban joining his father's opposition party. Kamban did not know any of this would happen and he did not want to hurt his father. To escape from the embarrassment Kamban escapes to Srilanka till everything cools down a bit.
In Lanka he meets Ganguly a Bengali immigrant whom he befriends and shares a room with. During a stroll on the beach his eye catches a diary with Tamil poems and starts liking the poet. the imaginary father he had created in his mind instigates him to fall in love with the author of the poems and Kamban takes it upon himself as a challenge to make Shilpa (Vimala) fall in love with him. But Vimala who is vacationing with her brother is a achiever and does not believe in wasting time in love.
What happens? Do things work out? Does the imaginary father or the imaginary fate (Prakash Raj) that Kamban creates in his brain win? What happens to Vimala? All to be seen in the later part of the movie.
The story is no doubt a family subject. It has elements of mother sentiment, love, husband-wife doubts, imaginary father and fate, father sentiment, annoying third wheel from Bombay who claims that he was in love with the heroine since she was in 5th or 6th standard, etc. It could have been a commercial movie hadn't there been too many slowing factors. As far as acting goes everyone seems to be on the good page but then the story itself lacked the speed and interest which was lost due to introduction of many unwanted characters. It is okay for one time watch although you might be asking yourself again and again why you are doing this to yourself. Uday Kiran was a promising young Telugu actor who landed himself into trouble after breaking the engagement with Chiru's daughter and now his break into the Tamil industry seems nothing but bleak.
Try it out and let me know if you feel otherwise.
Cast: Uday Kiran, Prakash Raj, Vimala, Avinash
Director: K. Balachander
Music: Vidyasagar
The story is about how lies can have a domino effect and how a simple harmless lie may cascade into something really dangerous and life threatening. K.B. does really brilliant mega serials and as a veteran he is trying to adapt and compete with the younger generation of directors. He does fit in in some places but then there are others where he is grossly lacking. To his credit he is one of the best directors that Tamil movie ever had for the longest time with his active era extending from 1965 through early1990's. And this movie not to be outdone by his previous hits surely has the element that makes K.B's style of direction unique but it also sadly acts as the movies flaw and downfall.
Kamban (Uday Kiran) is the son of Valluvan (Avinash) a straightforward politician who will not bend laws even if it is to get his son out of jail when arrested for no fault of his. The opposition party take advantage of this and bail Kamban out and also publicly announce Kamban joining his father's opposition party. Kamban did not know any of this would happen and he did not want to hurt his father. To escape from the embarrassment Kamban escapes to Srilanka till everything cools down a bit.
In Lanka he meets Ganguly a Bengali immigrant whom he befriends and shares a room with. During a stroll on the beach his eye catches a diary with Tamil poems and starts liking the poet. the imaginary father he had created in his mind instigates him to fall in love with the author of the poems and Kamban takes it upon himself as a challenge to make Shilpa (Vimala) fall in love with him. But Vimala who is vacationing with her brother is a achiever and does not believe in wasting time in love.
What happens? Do things work out? Does the imaginary father or the imaginary fate (Prakash Raj) that Kamban creates in his brain win? What happens to Vimala? All to be seen in the later part of the movie.
The story is no doubt a family subject. It has elements of mother sentiment, love, husband-wife doubts, imaginary father and fate, father sentiment, annoying third wheel from Bombay who claims that he was in love with the heroine since she was in 5th or 6th standard, etc. It could have been a commercial movie hadn't there been too many slowing factors. As far as acting goes everyone seems to be on the good page but then the story itself lacked the speed and interest which was lost due to introduction of many unwanted characters. It is okay for one time watch although you might be asking yourself again and again why you are doing this to yourself. Uday Kiran was a promising young Telugu actor who landed himself into trouble after breaking the engagement with Chiru's daughter and now his break into the Tamil industry seems nothing but bleak.
Try it out and let me know if you feel otherwise.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Namesake (2007) - English Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Tabu, Irfan Khan, Kal Pen
Director: Mira Nair
Story: Jhumpa Lahiri
Namesake is a well written story turned into a brilliant movie. The screenplay, script, direction, acting, casting, finer details are all in the right place and have been pushed to the right amount. It is a must watch and surely a family watch too. I wish a couple of love making scenes could have been avoided so that it could be viewed by children too. I saw the preview for the movie and unfortunately had to sit in the second row and few love making scenes surely did not look good that close. My friend and I were giggling sitting there bringing back memories from childhood.
Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli are first generations Indians in America who establish a simple life for themselves and their two American born children Gogol and Sonia. The story is about Ashoke, Ashima and their relationship essentially with their son. Gogol hates his name and gets it changed to Nikhil, he dates an American girl and starts ignoring his parents but he changes. A flashback from his father's life and loosing his father bring about a change in Gogol. He still prefers to be called Nikhil but the name surely has impacted and it changes his life forever.
This is certainly a brilliant story to show the metamorphic life of immigrants in any different country. I have read hte book and seen the movie and both of them are brilliant. Don't miss a chance to catch it in the talkies.
Cast: Tabu, Irfan Khan, Kal Pen
Director: Mira Nair
Story: Jhumpa Lahiri
Namesake is a well written story turned into a brilliant movie. The screenplay, script, direction, acting, casting, finer details are all in the right place and have been pushed to the right amount. It is a must watch and surely a family watch too. I wish a couple of love making scenes could have been avoided so that it could be viewed by children too. I saw the preview for the movie and unfortunately had to sit in the second row and few love making scenes surely did not look good that close. My friend and I were giggling sitting there bringing back memories from childhood.
Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli are first generations Indians in America who establish a simple life for themselves and their two American born children Gogol and Sonia. The story is about Ashoke, Ashima and their relationship essentially with their son. Gogol hates his name and gets it changed to Nikhil, he dates an American girl and starts ignoring his parents but he changes. A flashback from his father's life and loosing his father bring about a change in Gogol. He still prefers to be called Nikhil but the name surely has impacted and it changes his life forever.
This is certainly a brilliant story to show the metamorphic life of immigrants in any different country. I have read hte book and seen the movie and both of them are brilliant. Don't miss a chance to catch it in the talkies.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Patchaikili Muthucharam (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 3.5/5
Cast: Sharath Kumar, Jo, Andrea, Milind Soman
Director: Gautham Menon
Music: Harris Jeyaraj
I have to congratulate Gautham Menon on a job well done with a tight script and a brilliant screenplay. The music by Harris somehow did not feel fresh and had glimpses of his previous hits. Although the re-recording for the movie was pretty impressive. The casting in the movie also has to be appreciated because each of the character played their role beautifully.
Venkat (Sarath), a medical representative is a happily married person with a son. His wife Kalyani (Andrea) is very loving and both of them along with their son have a perfect life. That is, until their son falls sick and things between the husband and wife cool down a bit. Kalyani begins to spend more time with their son and starts to ignore her husband involuntarily. Venkat feeling a bit lonely and neglected walks in and out of his monotonous life without complaining much. He tries to understand his wife's feelings.
One morning while riding the train to work, Venkat notices Priya (Jo) and spends a few extra seconds admiring her. The following day again he happens to stand next to her. And Priya opens up the conversation with Venkat. Both married with kids, they feel they have a lot of common things between them and start a friendship together. At first it is platonic and they meet only in the train but slowly they start meeting at restaurants and coffee shops.
Priya begins to get a little physically close to Venkat and she suggests that they both spend a day together watching movies or something alone. Venkat agrees and they take a taxi and drive to MayaJal on East Coast Road. But at the last minute Priya changes her mind and directs the taxi driver to go to a resort along the same road. The couple book a room and move in...
A knock on the door which prompts Venkat to open only to find himself facing a goon with a gun who is beating Venkat to pulp. He robs the couple and also ties Venkat up before raping Priya. Venkat is grief stricken and they both part ways.
The goon who calls himself Lawrence (Milind) starts calling Venkat and Priya to harass them for money. Venkat takes the full financial responsibility and starts paying off the money that him and Kalyani have been saving for their sons health until he runs dry. With no other choice left Venkat confesses to Kalyani.
What happens next will be a wonderful twist in the story. I will not make this a spoiler review and hence I am going to stop here with the story. Sarath Kumar is brilliant as Venkat and so is Jo as Priya. Wonder why Milind is doing Tamil movies but he is surprisingly not bad either. Andrea, the new girl, is also awesome. She has good presence and her portrayal of Kalyani is wonderful. It is a movie worth watching even with family. There are no awkward scenes.
Cast: Sharath Kumar, Jo, Andrea, Milind Soman
Director: Gautham Menon
Music: Harris Jeyaraj
I have to congratulate Gautham Menon on a job well done with a tight script and a brilliant screenplay. The music by Harris somehow did not feel fresh and had glimpses of his previous hits. Although the re-recording for the movie was pretty impressive. The casting in the movie also has to be appreciated because each of the character played their role beautifully.
Venkat (Sarath), a medical representative is a happily married person with a son. His wife Kalyani (Andrea) is very loving and both of them along with their son have a perfect life. That is, until their son falls sick and things between the husband and wife cool down a bit. Kalyani begins to spend more time with their son and starts to ignore her husband involuntarily. Venkat feeling a bit lonely and neglected walks in and out of his monotonous life without complaining much. He tries to understand his wife's feelings.
One morning while riding the train to work, Venkat notices Priya (Jo) and spends a few extra seconds admiring her. The following day again he happens to stand next to her. And Priya opens up the conversation with Venkat. Both married with kids, they feel they have a lot of common things between them and start a friendship together. At first it is platonic and they meet only in the train but slowly they start meeting at restaurants and coffee shops.
Priya begins to get a little physically close to Venkat and she suggests that they both spend a day together watching movies or something alone. Venkat agrees and they take a taxi and drive to MayaJal on East Coast Road. But at the last minute Priya changes her mind and directs the taxi driver to go to a resort along the same road. The couple book a room and move in...
A knock on the door which prompts Venkat to open only to find himself facing a goon with a gun who is beating Venkat to pulp. He robs the couple and also ties Venkat up before raping Priya. Venkat is grief stricken and they both part ways.
The goon who calls himself Lawrence (Milind) starts calling Venkat and Priya to harass them for money. Venkat takes the full financial responsibility and starts paying off the money that him and Kalyani have been saving for their sons health until he runs dry. With no other choice left Venkat confesses to Kalyani.
What happens next will be a wonderful twist in the story. I will not make this a spoiler review and hence I am going to stop here with the story. Sarath Kumar is brilliant as Venkat and so is Jo as Priya. Wonder why Milind is doing Tamil movies but he is surprisingly not bad either. Andrea, the new girl, is also awesome. She has good presence and her portrayal of Kalyani is wonderful. It is a movie worth watching even with family. There are no awkward scenes.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Nishabd (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 2/5
Cast: Amitabh, Jiah Khan, Revathi, Nazar, Shradha Arya
Director: RGV
Music: Vishal Bharadwaj
The story tries to prove that love can happen at any age...at 18 or at 60 or between and 18 year old person and a 60 year old person. Ya! Sounds like you have seen it before? Yes, Lollita. I have not seen the original one but I know for sure that the plot is brilliant and the story kind of sensitive and needs to be handled well. Unfortunately the director is lost and the screenplay is lacking. The story moves at snails pace. Where there is nothing to stop for there are long pauses and repetitive music again and again. If the story had some momentum then the movie may have been fun.
I cannot understand the character of Jiah (Jiah) in the movie. It is one thing that she is bold and brave but another thing to behave badly when you are guest. Her behavior is beyond my comprehension because she is not the only person from a broken family and she has no special reasons to behave the way she does because she is from a different country. People outside of India are also courteous and polite.
I also cannot understand the character of Revathy, how could she put up with a brat like Jiah? I would have either disciplined her or politely asked her to shut up and stay in her room and dress properly in front of her husband and not sit like a skank. Ya, seriously what kind of a lady will see a girl spread her legs in front of her husband?
The story tries to cash in on Jiah's sex appeal and no story at all. Wonder how Amitabh signed to act in this movie? Maybe the narration was too good and the direction not half as good? Anyway like I said in my previous review of Salaam-E-Ishq...this movie is certainly not one on which you will enjoy to waste your time on.
Cast: Amitabh, Jiah Khan, Revathi, Nazar, Shradha Arya
Director: RGV
Music: Vishal Bharadwaj
The story tries to prove that love can happen at any age...at 18 or at 60 or between and 18 year old person and a 60 year old person. Ya! Sounds like you have seen it before? Yes, Lollita. I have not seen the original one but I know for sure that the plot is brilliant and the story kind of sensitive and needs to be handled well. Unfortunately the director is lost and the screenplay is lacking. The story moves at snails pace. Where there is nothing to stop for there are long pauses and repetitive music again and again. If the story had some momentum then the movie may have been fun.
I cannot understand the character of Jiah (Jiah) in the movie. It is one thing that she is bold and brave but another thing to behave badly when you are guest. Her behavior is beyond my comprehension because she is not the only person from a broken family and she has no special reasons to behave the way she does because she is from a different country. People outside of India are also courteous and polite.
I also cannot understand the character of Revathy, how could she put up with a brat like Jiah? I would have either disciplined her or politely asked her to shut up and stay in her room and dress properly in front of her husband and not sit like a skank. Ya, seriously what kind of a lady will see a girl spread her legs in front of her husband?
The story tries to cash in on Jiah's sex appeal and no story at all. Wonder how Amitabh signed to act in this movie? Maybe the narration was too good and the direction not half as good? Anyway like I said in my previous review of Salaam-E-Ishq...this movie is certainly not one on which you will enjoy to waste your time on.
Salaam-E-Ishq (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 1/5
Cast: Everyone who is someone in Bollywood
Director: Nikhil Advani
Music: Shankar-Ehsan-Loy
I am not going to be elaborate in writing this one. The movie is a total bore. 6 individual and unrelated stories intertwined make up this movie. The stories are neither interesting nor funny. So if you have better things to do with your time then do not waste it on this one please. I sat through almost 3.5 hours of the story and lost interest in the plot after the first 15 minutes.
Cast: Everyone who is someone in Bollywood
Director: Nikhil Advani
Music: Shankar-Ehsan-Loy
I am not going to be elaborate in writing this one. The movie is a total bore. 6 individual and unrelated stories intertwined make up this movie. The stories are neither interesting nor funny. So if you have better things to do with your time then do not waste it on this one please. I sat through almost 3.5 hours of the story and lost interest in the plot after the first 15 minutes.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Ekalavya (2007) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Amitabh Bacchan, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Bomman Irani, Jimmy Shergil, Jackie Shroff, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Music: Shantanu Moitra
The movie opens with the queen (Sharmila) bed ridden listening to her husband, the king (Bomman) reading to her her famous Shakespearian sonnet. But all she keeps repeating is the name Ekalavya again and again. Their daughter (Raima) who is slightly mentally challenged keeps telling her father repeatedly, "Mom wants us to call Ekalavya daddy." But the king keeps ignoring it until he finally understands the meaning behind the word coming out of his wife's mouth. He strangles the queen to death.
Prince Harsh is asked to come back to the palace to perform the last rites for his mother where he meets Ekalavya (Amitabh) the royal guard again. Rajjo (Vidya) the daughter of the royal driver gives Harsh a letter that his mom had written for him. The letter reveals the truth that his actual father is Ekalavya and not the king. Harsh is confused and concerned and promises to his mother's burning pyre that he will protect his father Ekalavya.
Knowing that the king along with his cousin Jyotivardhan (Jackie) and his son (Jimmy) are scheming to dispose Ekalavya, Harsh works out a plan... The plan unfolds and anything more I write now might spoil the climax...
Go and watch this movie and enjoy the beauty of tight screenplay, well drafted story and acting at its best. The story has an uncanny Shakespeare like feel to it and all the settings and locations make it feel like one too. Amitabh and Saif steal the show while Bomman is simply brilliant. Vidya Balan does not have much to do in the movie although what little of her seen is awesome. Raima Sen as a mentally challenged girl has also done a good job and so have Jackie and Jimmy. Hey I almost missed out the role of Sanjay Dutt as the police inspector! He surely brings in the lighter moments of a mostly serious movie.
A must watch and in big screen too.
Cast: Amitabh Bacchan, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Raima Sen, Bomman Irani, Jimmy Shergil, Jackie Shroff, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Music: Shantanu Moitra
The movie opens with the queen (Sharmila) bed ridden listening to her husband, the king (Bomman) reading to her her famous Shakespearian sonnet. But all she keeps repeating is the name Ekalavya again and again. Their daughter (Raima) who is slightly mentally challenged keeps telling her father repeatedly, "Mom wants us to call Ekalavya daddy." But the king keeps ignoring it until he finally understands the meaning behind the word coming out of his wife's mouth. He strangles the queen to death.
Prince Harsh is asked to come back to the palace to perform the last rites for his mother where he meets Ekalavya (Amitabh) the royal guard again. Rajjo (Vidya) the daughter of the royal driver gives Harsh a letter that his mom had written for him. The letter reveals the truth that his actual father is Ekalavya and not the king. Harsh is confused and concerned and promises to his mother's burning pyre that he will protect his father Ekalavya.
Knowing that the king along with his cousin Jyotivardhan (Jackie) and his son (Jimmy) are scheming to dispose Ekalavya, Harsh works out a plan... The plan unfolds and anything more I write now might spoil the climax...
Go and watch this movie and enjoy the beauty of tight screenplay, well drafted story and acting at its best. The story has an uncanny Shakespeare like feel to it and all the settings and locations make it feel like one too. Amitabh and Saif steal the show while Bomman is simply brilliant. Vidya Balan does not have much to do in the movie although what little of her seen is awesome. Raima Sen as a mentally challenged girl has also done a good job and so have Jackie and Jimmy. Hey I almost missed out the role of Sanjay Dutt as the police inspector! He surely brings in the lighter moments of a mostly serious movie.
A must watch and in big screen too.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Guru (2006) - Hindi Movie Review
Ranking: 3/5
Cast: Abhishek Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun, Madhavan, Vidya Balan
Director: Mani Ratnam
Music: A.R. Rahman
Where do I start? Okay let me first sequentialise my thought process...Way too many things that I feel like putting down in this space but at the same time I want to keep it simple and clear...
1) Mani Ratnam
2) The story
3) Acting
4) Direction
There I have it now...So let me start with my first topic...
Mani Ratnam: I have grown up enjoying Mani movies right from Pagal Nilavu to Bombay. Suddenly after he became this International director his story lines shifted from simple family stories narrated with beautiful scripts became lavish movies directed in more than one language. This movie Guru also falls in the category of Mani trying to keep pushing his bloated ego where he thinks people will watch whatever he directs. It did not work with Dil Se and Kannathil Muthamittal and neither did it with Guru.
The Story: There is a huge disclaimer at the very beginning of the story that redeems the movie of any relation to anyone living or dead...so believing that it has nothing to do with Mr. Ambani or Mr. Goenka...it is just a story that Mani himself came up with...So lets see how brilliant and convincing Mani is...
Gurukant Desai (Abhi) is a young lad who goes to Turkey to make some money from a small village called Idhar in Gujrat much against his father's wishes. After a few years of making money working for Shell gas company Guru comes back to India to make it out on his own. Of course his father is against it and Guru does not have enough capital. To solve this problem he decides to marry his best friend's sister who is unwed due to her "tried-to-elope" status. She came with a Rs. 25,000 dowry which would adequately meet Guru's business needs. Guru along with Sujatha (Aish) and her brother Jignesh (??) move to Bombay to start business.
After fighting many hardships and with the help of Nanaji (Mithun Da) Guru makes it big. Guru is the textile barron now and he has many textile mills running helping thousands people. He also makes his company public and people revel in the success of his industry. Everyone knows that Guru is not stepping up the ladder in the fast pace using honest means and when his mentor Nanaji hears about it he does not want to cut his protege any slack. He grooms Shyam Saxena as the heir to his media empire and also tells him to bring down Guru by exposing his misdeeds. Shyam hot on the tracks of Guru manages to do just the same using the newsprint media as his help.
Guru looses the trust of his investors. People blame him for loss of money and life and Guru gravely upset succumbs to a heart attack. With the love and care of his wife Sujatha, Guru slowly fights back only to realize that he has been summoned in front of a special panel of judges to decide what punishment Guru will be meted with. Guru gives a supposedly five minute speech and walks out of the room free...
Acting: Abhishek seems to be the director's actor. Has done a decent job and no complaints about it at all. Mithun though is brilliant in the movie. You can see the years of experience that is not visible in most of the movies cast. Aishwarya should stop acting. She has lost so much weight that she looks gaunt and has lost the charisma. Also, I always never thought she could act and she has not improved for sure. Madhavan surely looks handsome having lost some weight and he is also the director's boy and no complaints about him either. Vidya Balan is wasted in the movie and one wonders how her character affects the story at all.
Direction: Mani has always used the old locomotive train in all his period flick, its like he has some discount to use it.
He is not at all creative when it comes to directing videos. He needs to learn from Shankar. The video for Barso Re reminds you of Chinna Chinna Aasai from Roja and some of the videos are not even worth mentioning. Also what is the deal with the song Ek Lo Ek Muft by Bappi Lahiri? First it is inserted at a time when the movie has already lost its pace and then it is also badly choreographed and sung as well.
The promise in the first half of the movie that the story makes is not fulfilled in the second half. A lot of dialogues are redundant and incomplete. Also the final supposedly five minute punch line of the movie runs into more than six minute and is not at all convincing about why Guru should go free. He should have made the dialogue writers work harder.
The movie in terms of direction is an utter disaster. Mani should stop making formula movies and do something sensible like "Mouna Ragam" or "Agni Natchathiram."
Final Verdict: This movie is an attempt to deliver something old in a new platter. The serving is not only cold but also tasteless. There are many scenes which are incoherent or irrelevant. I hope that we can expect something better than this from Mani. God knows if even Dhirubhai is happy with his life portrayed through Guru!
Cast: Abhishek Bachan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun, Madhavan, Vidya Balan
Director: Mani Ratnam
Music: A.R. Rahman
Where do I start? Okay let me first sequentialise my thought process...Way too many things that I feel like putting down in this space but at the same time I want to keep it simple and clear...
1) Mani Ratnam
2) The story
3) Acting
4) Direction
There I have it now...So let me start with my first topic...
Mani Ratnam: I have grown up enjoying Mani movies right from Pagal Nilavu to Bombay. Suddenly after he became this International director his story lines shifted from simple family stories narrated with beautiful scripts became lavish movies directed in more than one language. This movie Guru also falls in the category of Mani trying to keep pushing his bloated ego where he thinks people will watch whatever he directs. It did not work with Dil Se and Kannathil Muthamittal and neither did it with Guru.
The Story: There is a huge disclaimer at the very beginning of the story that redeems the movie of any relation to anyone living or dead...so believing that it has nothing to do with Mr. Ambani or Mr. Goenka...it is just a story that Mani himself came up with...So lets see how brilliant and convincing Mani is...
Gurukant Desai (Abhi) is a young lad who goes to Turkey to make some money from a small village called Idhar in Gujrat much against his father's wishes. After a few years of making money working for Shell gas company Guru comes back to India to make it out on his own. Of course his father is against it and Guru does not have enough capital. To solve this problem he decides to marry his best friend's sister who is unwed due to her "tried-to-elope" status. She came with a Rs. 25,000 dowry which would adequately meet Guru's business needs. Guru along with Sujatha (Aish) and her brother Jignesh (??) move to Bombay to start business.
After fighting many hardships and with the help of Nanaji (Mithun Da) Guru makes it big. Guru is the textile barron now and he has many textile mills running helping thousands people. He also makes his company public and people revel in the success of his industry. Everyone knows that Guru is not stepping up the ladder in the fast pace using honest means and when his mentor Nanaji hears about it he does not want to cut his protege any slack. He grooms Shyam Saxena as the heir to his media empire and also tells him to bring down Guru by exposing his misdeeds. Shyam hot on the tracks of Guru manages to do just the same using the newsprint media as his help.
Guru looses the trust of his investors. People blame him for loss of money and life and Guru gravely upset succumbs to a heart attack. With the love and care of his wife Sujatha, Guru slowly fights back only to realize that he has been summoned in front of a special panel of judges to decide what punishment Guru will be meted with. Guru gives a supposedly five minute speech and walks out of the room free...
Acting: Abhishek seems to be the director's actor. Has done a decent job and no complaints about it at all. Mithun though is brilliant in the movie. You can see the years of experience that is not visible in most of the movies cast. Aishwarya should stop acting. She has lost so much weight that she looks gaunt and has lost the charisma. Also, I always never thought she could act and she has not improved for sure. Madhavan surely looks handsome having lost some weight and he is also the director's boy and no complaints about him either. Vidya Balan is wasted in the movie and one wonders how her character affects the story at all.
Direction: Mani has always used the old locomotive train in all his period flick, its like he has some discount to use it.
He is not at all creative when it comes to directing videos. He needs to learn from Shankar. The video for Barso Re reminds you of Chinna Chinna Aasai from Roja and some of the videos are not even worth mentioning. Also what is the deal with the song Ek Lo Ek Muft by Bappi Lahiri? First it is inserted at a time when the movie has already lost its pace and then it is also badly choreographed and sung as well.
The promise in the first half of the movie that the story makes is not fulfilled in the second half. A lot of dialogues are redundant and incomplete. Also the final supposedly five minute punch line of the movie runs into more than six minute and is not at all convincing about why Guru should go free. He should have made the dialogue writers work harder.
The movie in terms of direction is an utter disaster. Mani should stop making formula movies and do something sensible like "Mouna Ragam" or "Agni Natchathiram."
Final Verdict: This movie is an attempt to deliver something old in a new platter. The serving is not only cold but also tasteless. There are many scenes which are incoherent or irrelevant. I hope that we can expect something better than this from Mani. God knows if even Dhirubhai is happy with his life portrayed through Guru!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Veyil (2007) - Tamil Movie Review
Ranking: 4/5
Cast: Bharath, Bhavna, Shreya Reddy, Pasupathi
Director: Vasantha Balan
Music: G.V. Prakash
The story is set in a small town in a family of two young boys raised by their butcher dad and home maker mom. The father keeps a tight rein on the growth of his children and the children keep finding loop holes to get out the grips of their father. The younger son Kathir (Bharath) is the naughtier of the two and constantly keeps escaping from his father's lashes owing to his smartness. While the elder brother Murugesan (Pasupathy) is the silent but naughty guy always keeps getting into trouble.
On one such occasion the angry father catches the sun bunking classes to watch MGR movies in a local theater while smoking with his friends. Murugesan is stripped naked and made to lie on the bare road throughout the day while his friends who walk back from school make fun of him. Angry with his father, Murugesan steals his mother's jewelery and elopes from the house.
His love for MGR movies leaves him penniless and destitute. He gets a small job and a place to stay at a local movie talkies and he grows up to be the theater operator. He also falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant right across the theater. And both of them are caught by many people alone locked up in the operating room. Ashamed the girl commits suicide and Murugesan is devastated. And his bad luck follows as the theater owner decides to close the business and now Murugesan is again in the street. On his friend suggestion Murugesan decides to head back to his village...
In the meantime Kathir has also grown up into a young man taking care of his parent and sisters. Along with a few friends Kathir has also started a small publicity business competing with the local company that has the monopoly. Due to his diligence and PR skills he keeps winning most of his competitors regular customers thus earning bad will from them.
Murugesan comes home to find that his father still hates him and he gets kicked out of the house even before he has a chance to speak with his mother. In the bus stand a lost Murugesan meets with his brother Kathir who takes him back home and makes him live with them.
How does living back in his family suit him? Does his family trust him? Like him? What happens to Murugesan? All to be seen when you watch the movie.
It is a beautiful movie showing how small things we do in our childhood can change our entire life. It also shows the great love and respect Kathir has for Murugesan in spite of being estranged for so many years. The movies brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion and I would certainly recommend everyone to watch it.
Acting/Directing/Screenplay/Story are simply brilliant. I don't have to single anyone out. Even Bhavna has done a great job as Kathir's girlfriend. Their love story is not a separate storyline but somehow feels like it is intertwined in the main story. The girl that Pasupathy falls in love with first (Priyanka) and his childhood sweetheart (Shriya Reddy) are also brilliant.
A definite watch. Loved it!
Cast: Bharath, Bhavna, Shreya Reddy, Pasupathi
Director: Vasantha Balan
Music: G.V. Prakash
The story is set in a small town in a family of two young boys raised by their butcher dad and home maker mom. The father keeps a tight rein on the growth of his children and the children keep finding loop holes to get out the grips of their father. The younger son Kathir (Bharath) is the naughtier of the two and constantly keeps escaping from his father's lashes owing to his smartness. While the elder brother Murugesan (Pasupathy) is the silent but naughty guy always keeps getting into trouble.
On one such occasion the angry father catches the sun bunking classes to watch MGR movies in a local theater while smoking with his friends. Murugesan is stripped naked and made to lie on the bare road throughout the day while his friends who walk back from school make fun of him. Angry with his father, Murugesan steals his mother's jewelery and elopes from the house.
His love for MGR movies leaves him penniless and destitute. He gets a small job and a place to stay at a local movie talkies and he grows up to be the theater operator. He also falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant right across the theater. And both of them are caught by many people alone locked up in the operating room. Ashamed the girl commits suicide and Murugesan is devastated. And his bad luck follows as the theater owner decides to close the business and now Murugesan is again in the street. On his friend suggestion Murugesan decides to head back to his village...
In the meantime Kathir has also grown up into a young man taking care of his parent and sisters. Along with a few friends Kathir has also started a small publicity business competing with the local company that has the monopoly. Due to his diligence and PR skills he keeps winning most of his competitors regular customers thus earning bad will from them.
Murugesan comes home to find that his father still hates him and he gets kicked out of the house even before he has a chance to speak with his mother. In the bus stand a lost Murugesan meets with his brother Kathir who takes him back home and makes him live with them.
How does living back in his family suit him? Does his family trust him? Like him? What happens to Murugesan? All to be seen when you watch the movie.
It is a beautiful movie showing how small things we do in our childhood can change our entire life. It also shows the great love and respect Kathir has for Murugesan in spite of being estranged for so many years. The movies brought tears to my eyes on more than one occasion and I would certainly recommend everyone to watch it.
Acting/Directing/Screenplay/Story are simply brilliant. I don't have to single anyone out. Even Bhavna has done a great job as Kathir's girlfriend. Their love story is not a separate storyline but somehow feels like it is intertwined in the main story. The girl that Pasupathy falls in love with first (Priyanka) and his childhood sweetheart (Shriya Reddy) are also brilliant.
A definite watch. Loved it!
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