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!
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
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.
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