Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai

Critic's Rating: 4.0
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Kangna Ranaut, Prachi Desai, Randeep Hooda
Direction: Milan Luthria
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes


Movie Review: So, you've seen Satya and loved it. You've also seen Company and lapped it up too. Had a most satisfying encounter with Black Friday also. You've even read those page turners on Mumbai's underworld, Maximum City and Shantaram, and wondered if there's anything more left to be said about the shining city's sleazy underbelly. Hold your breath. For Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai might just take your breath away with its iridescence and engaging quality.

True, the film does re-open the familiar X-files of Mumbai's most well-known crime story -- the stormy relationship between Haji Mastan and his protegee Dawood Ibrahim, even though it does begin with the mandatory disclaimer of steering clear from real life. But it does it with an elegance and an intensity that keeps you glued to your seats, despite the fact that you know where the drama is headed for. And that's because director Milan Luthria chooses to anchor his film in the emotional heartland rather than dabble with guns and gore. Refreshingly, the film goes low on violence and focuses more on the emotional quotient, throwing light on how Sultan Mirza (an awesome Ajay Devgn) rose to his Shahenshah-esque status in the underworld and how he tried to tame the roguish new team member, Shoaib Khan (an edgy Emraan Hashmi). Alas, in vain!

And here-in lies the dramatic core of Rajat Arora's dynamic script which catapults the two lead characters as a study in contrast. While Sultan is showcased as the archetypal gentleman crook with a strong moral fibre, Shoaib is unprincipled and rotten to the core. Like that dada of all Dons, Vito Corleone, our desi Godfather too refuses to do drugs and insists he dabbles only with stuff banned by the law of the land not by his conscience. Shoaib, on the other hand, is game for any and everything -- treachery, infidelity, gang war, bloodshed -- in his unbridled bid for power. Of course, he begins as the trusted acolyte of the man he venerates as God himself (Maine toh bhagwan chun liya hai, ab aap insaan chuniye, he tells the iconic Sultan), but it doesn't take long before he sets his eyes on the wider horizon. Mumbai mere neeche aur main dhuey ki tarah upar (Mumbai below me while I scale above as smoke), he declares and roller-coasts his way on the road to pure crime and total immorality, ending up as the outlaw who managed to rule the city with remote control. Interestingly, despite presenting Sultan as a larger-than-life figure, the film does manage to keep its moral compass straight and has a seminal sequence which categorically brands all its seemingly heroic characters as criminals, charisma notwithstanding.

Interspersed between this titanic tale of a ganglord and his wannabe are the tender love stories of the two fugitives. Once again, done with a delicate finesse which creates memorable mush on screen as Sultan serenades the actress Rehana (Kangna Ranaut) and Shoaib tries a Bobby with his shy showroom girl Mumtaz (Prachi Desai).

After the innovative and experimental Love Sex aur Dhoka, producer Ektaa Kapoor once again scores with a complete entertainer which boasts of almost everything: a compelling story, crisp and absolutely state-of-the-art dialogues (Rajat Arora), an artistic period piece ambience (Aseem Mishra), a lilting music score (Pritam) and some riveting performances. Both Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi breathe fire and brimstone in to their portrayal of the two disparate gangsters and come up with two of the most mesmeric acts of the year, while Kangna Ranaut and Prachi Desai pitch in as perfect and picturesque molls. Add to this an in-rom ensemble cast which includes principled cop Randeep Hooda and loyal Sultan aide, Naved Ahmad (both are extremely watchable) and you have an entire catwalk of flesh and blood characters in a cinema that is generally peopled with cardboard cut-outs.

Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai offers you both substance and soul, even as it dabbles with a slice of reality. Don't miss it.

Khatta Meetha

Critic's Rating: 3.0
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Trisha, Rajpal Yadav, Urvashi Sharma
Direction: Priyadarshan
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 28 minutes


Movie Review: Priyadarshan sure must be one of the most prolific film makers in the industry, currently. More importantly, he has the uncanny knack of dabbling with different genres of cinema which include a rip-roaring comedy like Hera Pheri neatly juxtaposed against the artistic, award-winning Kancheevaram. With Khatta Meetha, he tries to multi-task, once again, slipping from social satire to comedy in order to create a light-hearted comment on India's bumbling, bribe-prone bureaucracy and unprincipled political class.


Does he succeed? Yes and no. First, the highpoints....The film boasts of three wild and whacky comedy sequences which almost bring the house down. First comes common-man contractor Akshay Kumar and goofy assistant Rajpal Yadav's attempts to clean up Asrani's house on the eve of a family function: total mayhem. Then follows mechanic Johnny Lever's attempts to repair a road roller: absolutely hilarious. And finally, a cross-conversation between Asrani, his assistant and Akshay: ekdum fundoo. Add to this, a few more snippets of fun and games, and you have an outrageous comedy track, that sadly comes in bits and pieces only.

And herein lies the tragedy of Khatta Meetha. The film is too long and has too much of high-pitched drama, leaving room for too little of the laughter circus. Now this does seem irksome, specially since the comedy bits crackle with such fun, they leave you desperately hungering for more. What's more, the drama is mostly repetitive, with the plot going on and on about small man Tichkule's futile attempts to grow big. All he wants to do is grab a big contract and make some big money so that he doesn't have to be the black sheep of his family anymore. Ironically, even the romance between the somewhat corrupt contractor and the straight-jacketed municipal commissioner comes more as an afterthought, with an awkward flashback to a hastily injected college affair that sticks out like a sore thumb. All that song dance business too seems totally unwarranted, though there is a verve in Pritam's tunes, once again.

But, there is an earnestness in Akshay Kumar's common man act, complete with umbrella and briefcase, which carries the film forward, despite its middle-of-the film lethargy and high-pitched hysteria, where most of the family members keep shrieking out their lines. Just two of the family bonds seem to work in Priyardarshan's extended family: the dad and son (Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Akshay) relationship and the brother and sister (Akshay and Urvashi) rishta. Akshay remains in character for the entire film and once again brings to life something he is adept at: the `ordinary man as hero.' He is ably assisted by Rajpal Yadav, who revisits his desi Chaplinesque act with alacrity.

Tune off a bit for the tedious middle and you could be in for some fun and frolic in Khatta Meetha, Priyadarshan's re-make of his earlier Malayalam film, Vellanakalude Nadu, where Mohanlal essayed the role of the aam aadmi.

Tere Bin Laden

Critic's Rating: 3.0
Cast: Ali Zafar, Piyush Mishra, Sugandha Garg, Rahul Singh, Pradhuman Singh, Barry John
Direction: Abhishek Sharma
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes


Movie Review: Now this one's a real cornball. It maybe a shade amateur and have loads of rough edges to its canvas, if you compare it to a regular Bollywood comedy. But when it comes to content, the film scores above several of the recent laugh riots that may have done well at the box office, but definitely didn't have an intelligent script to boast of. Tere Bin Laden has both: a smart script and some smart acting.


Leading the goofball team is veteran Piyush Mishra as the cranky TV producer who heads a TV channel that goes by the dubious name of `Danka' (or something like that). He sends his newshounds on a punishment assignment: to capture the crowing of cocks in a cock-a-doodle competition.

Yawn! says smartypants, Ali (Ali Zafar) who anyhow sleepwalks his way through most of his assignments because he's waiting for the big kill: an ace reporter's job in the hot and happening US media. But the routine assignment metamorphoses into a dream assignment when Ali discovers a chicken farmer who happens to be an Osama clone.

The rest is easy: an ambitious make-up artist (Sugandha Garg), a maverick dubbing artist who can speak Arabic (Rahul Singh), loads of hungry-for-TRP TV channels and a gullible and godawfully stupid Amreekan government are all that it takes to give the world its new breaking news story.

The actors are having a ball, that's evident. The scriptwriter (Abhishek Sharma) is just loving it: making digs on America's war against terror. And the viewers are in for some breezy fun. Savour the satire.

Lamhaa

Critic's Rating: 3.5
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu, Kunal Kapoor, Anupam Kher
Direction: Rahul Dholakia
Genre: Thriller
Duration: 1 hour 55 minutes


Movie Review: From the communal cauldron of Gujarat 2002 to the scarred battlefield of Kashmir, filmmaker Rahul Dholakia carries forward his tryst with political cinema with a refreshing seriousness and gravitas that defies the demands of commercialisation.



If Parzania portrayed the nullity of communal violence with extreme sensitivity and pathos, then Lamhaa is a no-holds-barred look at the multi-layered turmoil in Kashmir, with so many real-life references that you end up with just one conclusion: now here's a real film about a real problem.

The highpoint of Lamhaa is the fact that it doesn't use the political overboil as an exotic setting for a love story, nor do the fiery Chinar trees and the serene Dal lake double up as sylvan scenery for romantic duets. There is romance, but a mere suggestion of it, between the ex-militant, Aatif (Kunal Kapoor) and the firebrand female activist, (Aziza) Bipasha Basu. The twosome, who are fighting their individual battles for a better future for their state, know the bitter truth: it may be ever-after, but in another paradise,when the bullets have stopped flying and the bombs have been silenced. Till then, Aatif wants to try the power of the ballot -- he wants to fight the elections --having realised the nullity of guns and bullets; and Aziza wants to shed her militant garb for a more workable solution. Our agents of change do realise it isn't going to be an easy task, specially since nobody seems to be in favour of normalcy. Neither the fundamentalist Pakistani leader, Pasha (Yuri Suri), propagating his factories of misconstrued jihad across the border, nor the machiavellian spiritual heads like Haji (Anupam Kher) and the rest, spearheading a hate wave within the state, nor even the sundry middlemen, moneymakers and dubious official agencies drawing their moolah and clout from the Kashmir conundrum.

Also, the film refreshingly -- and realistically -- posits no solutions. Seriously, can a political film actually dare to resolve a complex issue that has claimed millions of lives and has been plaguing a sub-continent for almost three decades? All it dares to do is transport you to one of the most dangerous places in the world that lies at your doorstep and take a hard-hitting look at the movement for self-determination and the role of the Indian state in post 1989 Kashmir. So, don't go looking for a cinema that follows a traditional format, offering made-to-order recipes and instant nirvana. Of course, the film maker has enough hooks to draw you in, the most important being the relentless pace of the film which unfolds like an action-packed thriller. Another alluring factor are the performances.

Most of the ensemble cast creates convincing characters, with Sanjay Dutt delivering a rock-solid and restrained act after a long time. Anupam Kher's enigmatic and shrewd spiritual leader is chilling and matches up to Yuri's malevolent Lashkar-Jaish leader look-alike. Both Bipasha and Kunal are completely non-starry and quite convincing as the voice of the young Kashmiri, longing for a semblance of normalcy. Just one word of caution: you might end up losing the link, now and then.... there are simply too many people and players who keep bursting onto the screen in unmitigated frenzy. But if you remain patient, you will see them fitting into the bigger picture.

A word about the cinematography: James Fowlds camera captures Kashmir, both in its beauty and its sinister shades. Mithoon's music score too has enough lilt to draw you in. Serious and sensible cinema, Lamhaa is meant for the movie buff looking for something more....

Udaan

Critic's Rating: 4.0
Cast: Rajat Barmecha, Ronit Roy, Ram Kapoor, Manjot Singh
Direction: Vikramaditya Motwane
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours


Movie Review: Udaan is unconventional Bollywood at its biting best. The film is a moody, introspective and ekdum different look at teenage angst: an issue that has never been given the importance it deserves in Hindi cinema which has by and large relegated the 16-something story to teeny-bopper rolls-in-the-haystack romances.

But Rajat Barmecha's Rohan isn't your run-of-the mill Hindi film teenager. He has more substantial (read realistic) problems than to find a girlfriend and discover sex, even though his dad does ask him -- in a delightful sequence -- sex kiya ki nahin?! For him, the issues are mostly existential....Like, how does he cope with a father who seems to be a clone of Hitler; how does he pursue his dreams of becoming a writer, when disciplinarian dad insists he must join him in the factory; how does he learn to love a step brother he doesn't even know; how does he get back to a family that doesn't exist; and how does he adjust to a small town with its uneventful life and its middle-class morality.

Udaan is essentially a performance-based film that scores mostly in the characters it dabbles with. Ronit Roy's cold and emotionally stunted father-figure, bogged down by middle-class fears and obsessions about a `secure' no-nonsense future for his son is actually quite familiar. Even as Rajat Barmecha's dreamy, rebellious teenager who wants to escape rut and routine, is representative of the hundreds of youngsters who have run away from authority and an uninspiring future, with nothing but a pocketful of notes and a heartful of dreams. Add to this, Rajat's younger brother, a victim of domestic abuse, his understanding chacha (Ram Kapoor), and his bunch of edgy friends (both in boarding school and in the dead town) and you have a compelling character study of growing up in middle-class mofussil India.

Hailing from the Anurag Kashyap school of cinema, Udaan has the edgy feel and the bitter sweet emotional core characteristic of India's neo wave cinema. No, life ain't all ha-ha-hee-hee and families that eat together don't always stay together, happily-ever-after. There's a lot of rough-and-tumble-beneath the gloss and that's where all the real drama actually lies. Get down to some real business. Enter some real homes. Grapple with some real problems. And feel some real joy....

Red Alert: The War Within

Critic's Rating: 3.5
Cast: Suneil Shetty, Bhagyashree, Seema Biswas, Sameera Reddy, Naseeruddin Shah, Ashish Vidyarthi
Direction: Ananth Narayan Mahadevan
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 5 minutes


Movie Review: Now what could be more topical than a film on India's most burning issue of the moment: the Naxalite movement that has metamorphosed into a civil war that seems to be setting our nation on fire. Ananth Narayan's film, scripted by one of our finest women directors, Aruna Raje, is doubly important. First, it literally takes off from the headlines that have been glaring in your face in the last few years. Second, it dares to enter not only the geographical territory of the war within, but also explores the more tricky ideological terrain. Is there any justification at all for the maoist movement which has created heroes out of people who are allegedly responsible for unprecedented violence and death? More importantly an ideology which is gradually growing into a mass movement, resulting in an ever-growing Red corridor, running through the heart of India.


Most of the drama is centred in a Maoist camp and witnessed through the eyes of Suneil Shetty, a humble cook who has no political leanings whatsoever. All he wants is to be left with his simple wife Bhagyashree and his two kids, after completing his job which entails delivering food for the fugitives. When one such mission causes him to be caught in the crossfire between the cops and the ultras, he is forced to join ranks with the rebels and ends up under the tutelage of the firebrand leader Ashish Vidyarthi. Vidyarthi leads a hungry pack of guerrilla fighters, hellbent on snatching their rights -- land, food, development -- from a supposedly unresponsive state. So, you have a gun-toting Seema Biswas, a Kohl-lined Ayesha Dharker, and a totally de-glam Sameera Reddy, riding the red wave, as Shetty hurdles up with them and pesters them with the pertinent poser: how justified is it to kill your own people? Ditto, queries Vidyarthi and lays down the matrix of the Maoist movement as a human rights movement, when viewed from the other side of the fence. The film essentially unfolds as the transformation of Shetty the apolitical cook, to a politicised citizen who is forced to pick up the gun, first for one camp and then another.

The film is naturally made within the confines of our Censor Board which means it must tread the middle path or cross-over to politically correct terrain (read the Indian State). No, Red Alert, refreshingly doesn't become a state-sponsored documentary, despite its sensitivity to Chidambaramspeak and all that terrorist versus revolutionary debate that springs from the Arundhati Roy camp. By and large, it races and paces through safe territory, and unfolds like a thriller that keeps you on the edge most of the time.

Performance wise, the film boasts of a strong ensemble cast, though one does feel fine actors like Seema Biswas and Ayesha Dharker have too little to do. Had they been given a larger role, Red Alert would have been molten lava. Suneil Shetty and Ashish Vidyarthi are earnest and engrossing while Sameera Reddy is unrecognisable and adequate. Scene Stealer? Naseeruddin Shah, despite being relegated to just a single scene. Vinod Khanna? Just okay as the Naxal ideologue who engineers a bizarre finale. It may be politically correct in its tenor, but Red Alert does make you sit up and demand attention. Specially in a season when political cinema is raising its banner in Bollywood.

I Hate Luv Storys

Critic's Rating: 3
Cast: Imran Khan, Sonam Kapoor, Samir Dattani, Samir Soni
Direction: Punit Malhotra
Genre: Romance
Duration: 2 hours 16 minutes


Movie Review: First things first. Imran Khan and Sonam Kapoor make an interesting pair. After the Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif coupling, this seems to be the most refreshing jodi that's jaunting and jiving on screen. Nice chemistry. Nice tu-tu-main-main (sparring). Nice physical compatibility. And a well-balanced emotional quotient. Kudos to the two of them to carry forth a film which once again doesn't really have anything to boast about in the `storys' department.

Thematically, I Hate Luv Storys, is extremely simplistic, uni-layered and terribly predictable. Imran and Sonam do begin on the we-hate-each-other note, with Imran squirming at any and everything that's filmy while Sonam swears by it all: pink teddys, bunches of blooms, candle-light dinners, Karan Johar films, cuddly Cupid's bows, shooting stars, soppy dialogues and all that made-for-each-other mush. But we all know the way the wind blows, from the word go. Mush shall rule, and how! For all the digs that producer Karan Johar allows on himself (filmmaker Samir Soni is actually a spoof on KJo), we know the film's going to end up reiterating KJo -- and all he translates into onscreen -- as king.

So, Jay Dhingra, who likes girls, but hates girly stuff, is gonna end up crying like a girl very soon. Of course, first he must ridicule Simran for all her `stoopid' misconceptions about lurrrv, including her boyfriend Raj who besides being a frumpish bore, wears `fugly' shirts too. But it doesn't take long for the tables to be turned, twice over. On the one hand, Simran discovers her penchant for Mr Wrong (quirky, irreverent Imran), rather than Mr Right (politically correct Samir). And on the other hand, sceptic Imran succumbs to the love bug, red roses, rain-drenched songs, airport encounters, et all. Only, their turn-overs are mistimed. So that, when Simran says `haan', jokey Jay says `nah!' and when Jay wanna say `yes, yes, yes!', it's a punctilious let's-be-just-friends from the sobered Simran.

Kya khali-peeli confusion, all this babalog blah. But hey, blah can be timepass too. Specially when it has loads of icing on it. Debutant director Punit Malhotra layers his first film with oodles of sugar coating: great locales, mast music (Vishal-Shekhar), a yummy 'n yuppy lead pair, some laugh-out-loud moments and a lot of laugh-on-ourself sequences that ridicule the romcoms that roll out of the Bollywood factory (there are jibes on almost all of Karan Johar films), only to finally reiterate them as pills the public wants. On the performance front, watch out for Imran's endless emoticons (eyebrow lifts, smirks, smileys) and his pronounced pout. And for Sonam's svelte form and pleasant screen presence.
Candy floss floats. Popcorn rules. Go, chew on it.

Raavan

Critic's Rating: 3.5
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Vikram, Govinda, Ravi Kishan
Direction: Mani Ratnam
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours 6 minutes


Story: Cop Dev Pratap Sharma (Vikram) has just one mission in his life. He wants to capture the local outlaw, Beera (Abhishek Bachchan) who may be a Robin Hood for the tribals around, nevertheless, he is a law breaker. More importantly, he has kidnapped the cop's beautiful wife, Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) to avenge a personal grouse and has escaped into the dense jungles. Turn ofevents: the kidnapper falls in love with his trophy victim who too gets indecisive about where her loyalties lie....

Movie Review: The epics return again to contemporary cinema. After a re-telling of the Mahabharata against a political backdrop in Prakash Jha's Raajneeti, cineastes can now feast their eyes on a modern-day rewrite of the Ramayana, against a cops-and-robbers canvas.

Raajneeti

Film: Raajneeti
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Arjun Rampal, Manoj Bajpayee, Nana Patekar, Sarah Thompson
Genre: Drama
Direction: Prakash Jha
Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes
Critic's Rating: 4 stars


Story: It's a bloody battle for political power between the rival claimants of the Pratap family. When the venerable elder suffers a paralytic stroke, the seat of power automatically shifts to his younger brother, much to the discomfiture of his son, Manoj Bajpayee who considers himself to be the rightful heir to his bed-ridden father's throne. He can't see his rival cousins, Arjun Rampal and Ranbir Kapoor, rising to power while he is left simmering in the shadows. He seeks the assistance of dalit leader, Ajay Devgn to play his political cards and clear the path for his ascent to the top job (party president/chief ministership), even if it means traversing a blood-strewn and violent road that leads through assassination and fratricide. Of course, he underestimates the power and political shrewdness of the supposedly apolitical youngest cousin, Samar Pratap Singh (Ranbir Kapoor) who ostensibly came to India from New York on a short vacation but ended up playing the role of Arjuna in a veritable political Mahabharata, with Krishna-like Brij Gopal (Nana Patekar) guiding him through the intrigue.

Movie Review: Welcome to the return of story and plot to popular cinema. Of late, Hindi cinema had been floundering in a plotless marshland, where you either had to merely laugh at madcap situational goof-ups, which were mostly unfunny, or gawk at action cuts, loosely strung by a paper-thin one-liner posing as the plot. By and large -- exceptions notwithstanding -- the good, old-fashioned `kahani' had gone missing in mainstream lore. Raajneeti marks the return of twist-and-turn drama to contemporary cinema, which indeed is a refreshing turn of events. The film basically anchors its plot in two classic tales -- The Mahabharata and The Godfather -- to create an engrossing diatribe on India's political system where democracy may prevail, but not in its purest form. Dynasty, lawlessness, violence and misuse of power are the ugly underbelly of India's not-so-clean political framework where the battle for the ballot is waged almost like war: unprincipled, belligerent and bloody.

Director Prakash Jha has always been a master story-teller (remember Gangajal, Apharan). This time, his political thriller unfolds as the quintessential Pandava-Kauravas conflict from the Mahabharata, with most of its characters tracing their antecedents to the epic. And that brings us to the second high point of Raajneeti: its fleshy and form-filled characterisations. If you go character-spotting, it won't take long before you discover a modern-day Yudhishthir in Arjun Rampal, an Arjuna in Ranbir Kapoor, a Krishna in Nana Patekar, a Duryodhana in Manoj Bajpayee and a Karna in Ajay Devgn. And as these half-brothers fight out their brutal war for the political domination of the state, spilling over with its dynastic and caste politics, you begin to see shades of The Godfather too in Ranbir Kapoor's interpretation of Arjuna. The young actor presents an engrossing desi portrait of Michael Corleone as Samar, the reluctant, albeit ruthless rookie who plays the political game with masterful strokes. Setting aside his academic ambitions to teach in NYU, he is thrown into the deadly vortex after an untimely assassination and learns the rules of the unethical political sport, faster than anybody else. Of course, he does have the experienced stalwart, Nana Patekar by his side, to guide him, his explosive, impulsive elder brother, Arjun Rampal to hug him, vivacious childhood buddy, Indu (Katrina Kaif) to adore him and American girlfriend Sara (Sara Thompson) to whisper sweet-nothings in broken Hindi to him....But by and large, he strategises alone, like Mikey in his high-backed chair, and unleashes one bloody ace -- from up his sleeve -- after the other. And, there is little the rival camp, headed by Manoj Bajpayee and Ajay Devgn, can do, other than hiss, rave and rant. Absolutely engrossing fare.

Add to this, a dash of topicality -- Ms G riding the sympathy wave factor -- and you have a compelling thriller on contemporary India's politicalscape. Interestingly, Katrina Kaif seems to slip into the high-powered shoes easily with her awkward accent and climax speech which emphasises her vulnerable status and evokes a mandate on the basis of public sympathy. She looks as uncomfortable as you-know-who does on public platforms. But back home, as the sparkling and seductive Indu who tries her best to transform her childhood buddy, Ranbir into her romantic lover, she is quite-quite irresistible and makes you wonder why Ranbir would choose the somewhat pheeka (jaded) firangi, Sara, over this spunky fireball.

Performance-wise, the film scores with its gritty ensemble cast that creates credible characters. Nana, Ajay, Manoj and Arjun grab eyeballs in almost all their scenes. If Nana holds the plot together, almost like a sutradhar, Ajay returns to his impeccable angry avatar as the Dalit leader, Manoj Bajpayee brings back memories of his mesmeric performances in films like Satya and Zubeida and Arjun Rampal once again transcends his eye-candy visage after Rock On. Even Naseeruddin Shah pulls you up with his miniscule cameo as the revolutionary leader who makes khicchdi -- and love -- when he's not delivering fiery speeches. But the film finally belongs to Ranbir Kapoor who perfects the art of minimalism -- and literally grows before your eyes -- as the simmering volcano that cannot be held back, once it erupts. He's as grey and soot-filled, as volcanoes go....Also, there's no forgetting the intelligent script by Prakash Jha and Anjum Rajabali and the thriller-like narration, which does begin on a confusing note, but soon settles down as a racy-pacy, action-packed political drama. The audio track too boasts of some compelling numbers (Bheegi si, Mora Piya, Dhan Dhan Dharti) but the film does not leave much space for them.

Take time out for a serious and compelling celluloid experience. Don't miss Raajneeti.

Kushti

Film: Kushti
Cast: Rajpal Yadav, Om Puri, Sharat Saxena, Khali
Genre: Drama
Direction: TK Rajeev Kumar
Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes
Critic's Rating: 2 stars


Story : Post master Rajpal Yadav falls in love with the local wrestler's daughter but can only win her hand if he defeats the mighty Khali. He enters the tutelage of rival wrestler, Om Puri and hopes to win a losing battle. Will love conquer all the odds?

Movie Review: Rajpal Yadav is a lucky man. He manages to get a lot of film makers who are willing to weave films around him, which isn't what many comedians or character actors can dream of in Bollywood. Sometimes he manages to carry them off (Main Madhuri Dixit Banna Chahti Hoon, Main Meri Patni aur Woh) and sometimes he slips. Here, he just manages to maintain some ground beneath his slippery feet. But only some.

Set in a sleepy village, the film follows the travails of the postmaster (Rajpal Yadav) as he tries to woo wrestler Sharat Saxena's daughter. Needless to say, he keeps getting into sticky situations but none is as bothersome as the climactic one where he must defeat the mighty Khali before he can claim the village belle's hand. He does try to learn a few tricks of the trade from Om Puri who runs his own akhada, but eventually, it's his me-just-a-joker act which creates a bigger bang than all his thigh thumping in the arena.

Needless to say, the high point of the film is Khali's presence in the film. But this one would be quite a disappointment for Khali fans, because the professional wrestler has a minuscule cameo that includes a terrible sequence where he is supposed to savour an item number too. Poor Khali, he simply can't handle this khal-bali and looks truly uncomfortable.

Kites

Film: Kites
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Barbara Mori, Kangana Ranaut
Genre: Romance
Direction: Anurag Basu
Duration: 2 hours
Critic's Rating: 2.5 stars


Story: Hrithik Roshan treads the crooked path in the by-lanes of Las Vegas. He has married umpteen girls for the coveted green card and Barbara Mori happens to be one of his abandoned wives. But sparks fly between the two when they meet again, this time under different -- and dangerous -- circumstances. The mercenary couple are all set to marry a rich brother-sister duo (Kangana and Nick Brown) for their money but they soon discover they are in love and flee the rich and powerful siblings who are hell bent on avenging their dishonour. Will love surmount all odds?

Movie Review: Where's the chemistry? Where's the story? And where's the twist in the tale? Kites could have been that cross-over film that Bollywood has been dreaming about since long. Sadly, it flounders even before it can take off and soar....

So what's holding it down? First and foremost, the film completely lacks a story (oops! it has three people credited for story: Anurag Basu, Akash Khurana, Robin Bhatt) and unfolds as an unabashed chase film. Nothing wrong with that, for we have had a number of road movies that have thrilled and chilled us. But for that, there has always been a twist in the tale to provide an edgy feel to the film. Kites, on the other hand, does have Hrithik and Barbara spending the second half of the film as fugitives on the run, but their journey is so predictable, it fills you with a yawn. If the first half is a non-happening prolonged romance that unfolds in stares, glances, looks followed by some more stares, glances and looks between our protagonists (Hrithik and Barbara) as they try and seek out covert moments of togetherness in the palatial house of their respective bethrotheds (Kangana and Nick), the second half is a hit and run case which sees the fugitives hoping to make out 'neath the shadow of the gun. Both Barbara and Hrithik decide to give up their get-rich-quick plans and opt for penniless love instead, even though they know they will be pursued till the end of the world by the ditched brother-sister duo.

But hey, do they make out? Not really, unless you call Barbara yakking relentlessly in Spanish as sexy or Hrithik stitching up her arm beneath the rocks as romantic. Which brings us to the chemistry bit....Quite unlike the pre-release claims, the Mexican-Indian mix isn't exactly red hot chilli pepper stuff. Their romance hardly sizzles, with Mori spending most of her time flashing toothy grins and Hrithik failing to match up to his hot-hot bonding with Aishwarya Rai in Dhoom 11. Even the waterfall sequence in the jungle ends up as ekdum thanda!

So what works in Kites? It's the look of the film which carries it forward. Director Anurag Basu may have dipped in the emotional quotient of the film but he does create a visual feel and texture that has an international feel to it. The cinematography by Ayananka Bose has a grand texture and creates compelling montages, specially in the rain-drenched climax sequence. Performance-wise, the lead actors are just adequate and do not exactly set the screen ablaze, neither with their emotions nor with their passion. One almost feels sorry for Kangana, a fine actor who is reduced to a speechless accessory that is left to do what Hrithik and Barbara do -- stare, glance, look as the woman scorned -- for the short span that she's on. The audio track by Rajesh Roshan doesn't linger too, because the film mostly has a loud, repetitive background score by Salim-Suleiman interspersed with maybe just one forgettable number.

Watch Kites for its kool looks. But don't expect the popcorn to remain crunchy for long.

Bumm Bumm Bole

Film: Bumm Bumm Bole
Cast: Darsheel Safary, Ziyah Vastani, Atul Kulkarni, Rituparno Sengupta
Genre: Drama
Direction: Priyadarshan
Duration: 1 hour 55 minutes
Critic's Rating: 3 stars


Story: Darsheel Safary is sent to the cobbler to get his kid sister's sandals repaired. He ends up losing them and then begins the confusion as the brother and sister duo are forced to share a single pair of shoes to attend school. They can't tell their parents who are too poor to buy them a new pair. Pinu tries his best to make amends but shoes don't come easy for down and out kids growing up in the backwaters of terror-infested India....

Movie Review: Priyadarshan reveals his multi-faceted craft once again. Digressing from his usual dhamaal comedies, which haven't been quite so uproarious of late, he takes time out to make a desi version of the much felicitated Iranian film, Children of Heaven.

Does he manage to capture the warmth and poignancy of Majid Majidi's 1997 classic? Well, partially. For Bumm Bumm Bole is quite a watchable film, both for adults and kids, with an exquisite canvas where the tea gardens of Ooty double up as the ULFA-infested terrain of Assam. It creates a heartening picture of a destitute family that may be depleted of rations but does have an abundance of love. Dad Atul Kulkarni tries his best to keep the fires burning in his ramshackled home; mum Rituparno feeds her two kids with whatever she can lay her hands on; and the two kids -- Darsheel and little Ziyah -- spend most of their time with school, homework and housework, with almost no time to play, as Darsheel must assist dad and Ziyah must pitch in with mum. But nothing's amiss and no one's complaining, even as the terrorists are creating mayhem in the outside world, for the family knows it's going to be fine as long as they stick together.

Trouble begins when Darsheel loses his sister's only pair of shabby sandals and can't tell dad, because dad has no money to buy them a new pair. The young siblings try to resolve their problems themselves by sharing the only pair of scruffy shoes left between them: Darsheel's dirty sneakers which fill Ziyah with despair as she watches the fancy footwear of the other young girls in school. Darsheel even tries to buy a new pair for his sister by accepting a clandestine assignment which leads him into gun and bomb territory...but to no avail. Eventually, he sees a sliver of hope when his school announces a marathon which offers a pair of shoes as the third prize. Needless to say, the little boy doesn't want the first and second prize, despite their greater value. All he wants is a pair of shoes for his kid sister!

So far so good. The film is on song as long as it follows the kiddie track. The children deliver their roles perfectly and do not end up as precocious young things as is the case with most Indian films with child protagonists. But the terror track does seem totally unwarranted and ends up as a jarring note in what could have been a idyllic portrait of familial bonding. Nonetheless, Bumm Bumm Bole is fine vacation fare for the family and presents a viable alternative to parents who are looking for meaningful tween entertainment in a boom-boom age.

Admissions Open

Film: Admissions Open
Cast: Anupam Kher, Aditya Vidyarthi, Ankur Khanna, Arshi
Genre: Drama
Direction: K.D. Satyam
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes
Critic's Rating:1.5 stars


Story: Ankur Khanna and his friends have just passed out from school and fail to find admission in any of the prestigious colleges in Pune due to their low percentages. Do they give up? No, they turn their backs to the traditional education system which stifles creativity and individuality and try to set up their own alternate college.

Movie Review: Now this film did have a noble idea. But alas! Why had it to be so ignobly done. While the first half does manage to raise a few pertinent questions on higher education and parental pressure, the second half goes completely cuckoo with a bunch of crazy characters aimlessly going around under the ruse of running a college of the youth, by the youth, for the youth. Ekdum weird!

It's the usual I-wannabe-a-rock-star, but dad doesn't understand syndrome which forces Ankur Khanna to seek refuge with Anupam Kher and accept him as his guru. Having read educationist Kher's articles on the Bill Gates' brand of education which enables you to reach heights, despite being high school drop-outs, Ankur convinces Kher to start his defunct college called SPIRIT: South Pune Institute of Research and Information Technology. But before he can open the gates to new learning, Kher is summarily done away with (dunno why) and it's left to Ankur and his band of crazy friends to run the institute which offers classes in the art of cooking, music, seduction, bhaigiri, politics and what-you-will. Of course, there are no teachers, no exams, no order, only chaos, as the students supposedly go around tutoring themselves. Mentor Ashish Vidyarthi is there, but all he gets to do is wear gaudy shirts and guzzle liquor: he's the disgruntled friend, philosopher and guide.

End result? Total and terrible confusion.

Badmaash Company

Film: Badmaash Company
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Anushka Sharma, Vir Das, Meiyang Chang
Genre: Drama
Direction: Parmeet Sethi
Duration: 2 hours 24 minutes
Critic's Rating: 3 stars


Story: Shahid Kapoor and his gang of three friends -- Anushka, Vir Das, Chang -- dream of getting rich quick. Obviously, morals don't have much to do in their show-me-the-money schemes and they set up their million dollar company on umpteen crooked deals. So far so good, but soon power corrupts, the law catches up and family values come in conflict. Can the dream run continue?

Movie Review: They are your average friendly neighbourhood guys: the hazaar Cafe Coffee Day dreamers and diviners who hatch a million plots and plans for a zingy future before their cappuccino gets cold. And they all have one thing in common. They all want the good life fast, any which way, and don't mind breaking a few rules here and there. No nine to five stiff-collared jobs for this Badmaash Company who may have been brought up with middle class values, yet they couldn't care less before dumping them in the nearest trash can. Extra baggage for them, all this blah-blah about imandari (honesty) and izzat (respect).

Hence, the importance of Shahid Kapoor and gang who tell their dads to take a chill pill and turn their backs to papa's punctilious way of life, believing it got him nowhere. In a seminal scene of the film, Shahid watches his mom pawn or sell off her jewels -- or something precious--for a couple of thousands which she hides under pallu, as the duo drive off to the hospital to save daddy (Anupam Kher) who's suffered a heart attack. His eyes well up but his face grows hard, with anger and frustration. Ah! the desperation and the drudgery of the middle class existence....After that, it's mission get-rich-quick all the way, as Shahid embarks upon a dangerous journey with his friends to unleash one shady business deal after the other. The foursome christen their badmaash company as Friends and Co. and hop aboard a roller coaster ride that obviously has no disembarkment point. And, when they've done all the stuff that money can do, they realise they aren't the same simpletons any more. More importantly, Shahid's grown into an egotistical, power-hungry maniac who actually believes he's God! Watch out for this neat little sequence which adds punch to the proceedings.

Indeed, Badmaash Company does have a bunch of riveting scenes, although the story does follow a very predictable line of crime and punishment/repentance.Also, what jars most are the repetitive business deals which form a major chunk of the film and say nothing new, other than the fact that the foursome are building their empire on fraud. The film picks up when the cracks begin to appear and the company breaks up due to internal fission. The chemistry between the foursome does have a dash of energy, although most of the time is spent in song and dance.

Badmaash Company may not be as buoyant as Bunty aur Babli, the original badmash couple in recent cinema, but it does make for some merry viewing.

Apartment

Film: Apartment

Cast: Neetu Chandra, Tanushree Dutta, Rohit Roy, Anupam Kher

Genre: Thriller

Direction: Jagmohan Mundhra

Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes

Critic's Rating:***

Synopsis : Tanushree Dutta needs a paying guest in her new apartment after she fights with boyfriend, Rohit Roy and throws him out. Enter Neetu Chandra, the small town girl in a crumpled salwar kameez who seems to be a dream come true. She cooks the food, cleans the dishes and takes care of `didi' Dutta with utmost devotion. But only until she's sure that didi is hers and hers alone. As soon as she finds Tanushree rebonding with her boyfriend, her eyes begin to flash ominously.... Movie Review: Single White Female, anyone? Ok, so this one's another of those sundry lifts from Hollywood films, repackaged as desi kitsch. But what's there to complain about? Don't we see it happening so often? So let's just try to see if Apartment deserves a dekko or not. It does. Primarily because of Neetu Chandra. The Garam Masala girl is sure emerging as a fine actor after a dispensable debut act as a routine song-dance dish. After her Traffic-stopping act, came Oye Lucky...Not forgetting her cameo in Rann which managed to standout despite the fact she had to remain a silent bystander for most of the film. Here, in Apartment she ends up as the mainstay, as she plays the edgy, unpredictable tenant, Neha who not only enters Tanushree Dutta's apartment but tries to take up her entire life. Blame it on her orphanage upbringing, but this limpid-eyed girl with the disarming smile is actually a hell cat who doesn't blink before unleashing her venom. And suddenly, when you think she needs handcuffs, she turns into the vulnerable waif all over again. Don't really know what to do with her, do we, except pay attention to her antics that transform this run-of-the-mill thriller into watchable fare. Quite a bravura act indeed, specially since she gets little help from a poker-faced Tanushree Dutta and a routine-act Rohit Roy. Even Anupam Kher spends most of his screen time with his pet cat.... End verdict? Apartment's a decent watch provided you promise not to watch Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh do the catfight in Single White Female.

Housefull

Film: Housefull

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Riteish Deshmukh, Lara Dutta, Jiah Khan, Boman Irani

Genre: Comedy

Direction: Sajid Khan

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

Critic's Rating:***


Story: Akshay Kumar, the proverbial loser, believes he can ward off his bad luck by finding true love. But each time he falls in love, misfortune strikes and his girlfriend walks out on him. This time, hope begins to float...He finds Deepika Padukone who does love him. But how does he convince her military-man brother, Arjun Rampal and extract himself from the web of lies his friends, Riteish and Lara, have built around him?

Movie Review: Sajid Khan returns after the success of Heyy Baby, a spilt milkfood and soiled diaper soiree that did manage to tickle your funny bone with its infant histrionics. With Housefull, he doesn't stray much and tries to create a similar riot of hilarious episodes, centred around two couples -- Akshay Kumar-Deepika Padukone and Riteish Deshmukh-Lara Dutta. Trouble lies not so much with the couples as with their relatives: Lara's estranged Pappa, Boman Irani and Deepika's angry brother, Arjun Rampal. Can the boys manage to win their beloved's parivar walas? Not an easy task, specially when both are losers of sorts and don't have the mandatory big house, big money, big lifestyle....

The film begins on a funny note, with Akshay trying to seek refuge from his bad luck by moving in with his best buddy, Riteish and his wife, Lara. A vacuum cleaner turned awry and a tryst with a tame tiger on the sofa are some of the spoofs that showcase Akshay Kumar in his quintessential comic act: deadpan humour by the I'm-just-a-simpleton hero. You do settle down for some fun and games, but sadly, the film peters off into a not-so-funny middle with Akshay serenading Jiah Khan and the viewer having to endure a prolonged Chunky Pandey cameo as Aakhri Pasta, an Italian hotelier who actually makes you want to howl than laugh. Thankfully, he is bundled off, but the muddlesome middle has already taken its toll on the film by putting the brakes on comedy. The second half picks up again as the foursome rent a house and the relatives -- Boman and Arjun -- arrive. The game of subterfuge and mistaken identities begins with Akshay reluctantly pitching in as Lara's husband and Deepika's boyfriend and trying his goofy best to win over both Boman and Arjun.

It's literally slapstick humour, with a lot of slaps flying around between simians and humans, humans and humans. Nevertheless, it makes you laugh, provided you don't go looking for artistry and intelligence. Also, you'll find the usual jokes about homosexuality and Gujarati incredulousness, made famous by Kal Ho Na Ho. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy's audio track has a few peppy numbers which however do not promise to end up as chartbusters, except Mika's `apni to jaise-taise...' The rest of the songs are good while they last. Period. Akshay Kumar and Riteish Deshmukh share a better chemistry between themselves than they do with the girls. Wish the Boman Irani and Lilette Dubey track had been explored further. It did have great potential.

All said and done, Housefull might not set the summer scorching, but it does create a ripple after a prolonged lull at the multiplexes. Let the summer begin to simmer, then sizzle....