Kurbaan

Kurbaan is a romantic movie with terrorism as the backdrop. But you shouldn’t compare it with Fanaa or New York, the basic theme of all these movies are totally different from one another. Although, there are few similarities between Kurbaan and Khuda Kay Liye, the widely acclaimed Pakistani movie.

Kudos to Renzil D'Silva, the director of Kurbaan, for choosing such a topic for his debut movie. After seeing the movie, one thing I strongly felt was that this guy knows his work, his treatment of the subject, camerawork and other technicalities are better than most debutante directors. Rensil is also the co-writer of the story, alongwith Karan Johar, who is the producer as well as. I would also like to praise KJo for producing such a movie. The story and screenplay are the major USP of this movie; the movie is well written, where a love story between a couple and the story of Islamic fundamentalists have been shown in parallel. There are few flaws in the script but overall it’s worth watching.

The camerawork and the editing is good. I really liked the way, how the cameraman has captured the monuments of Delhi and also how they have shown some parts of New York, especially the Tube stations. The background music by Salim-Sulaiman is fabulous, complimenting the screenplay at every point and this is what makes the movie a real thriller. Although I feel that songs of the movie, done by the same composer duo, could have been better; my personal feeling is that unlike other KJo movies, the songs of this one won’t rule the chartbusters for long.

Now let’s come to the other important factor in making any movie a hit or a flop, that is, its Actors & their performances. Saif Ali Khan, gives another solid performance, looks equally cool and dashing. Kareena Kapoor was not as good as she was in Jab We Met but definitely far better than Tashan and Kambaqt Ishq and for all her male fans, she is looking stunning in the initial portion of the movie. The couple “Saifeena” look great onscreen.

Vivek Oberoi, after a long long time did a good job, audiences might have forgotten him but this movie could prove to be his comeback film. Om Puri, as usual, is brilliant. Kiron Kher acts more or less in the same way as she has been doing in her recent films, except in the climax where she too is good. If I’ve to dissect the performances of the actors in one sentence, I’ll say that every actor has done played his or her part beautifully.

People going to the theatre should remember that it’s not a normal Bollywood or Karan Johar movie but it’s an intense movie. Overall Kurbaan is a good movie to watch, I’ll give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

New York

New York is a movie on a concept, which film makers in Bollywood haven’t tried much. The story starts with the friendship of 3 friends but mainly revolves round the aftermath of 9/11.

Aditya Chopra, the writer as well as the producer of this movie have taken a bold step by making this movie. Also as a director, Kabir Khan does a good job in his second film and had made an entertaining movie while maintaining the essence of the movie.. The good thing is that these people have chosen a concept which is different from normal Bollywood movies. Firstly, this is not a romantic movie unlike the trademark of Yash Raj Films. Secondly, this movies tries to bring out the other side of the story of the 9/11 attacks, brings out the effects of those deadly attacks on the normal people and their lives.

As far as the characterization is concerned, the story revolves around 4 people: Irfan Khan, John Abraham, Katrina Kaif and Neil Nitin Mukesh. It’s always worth watching Irfan Khan’s performance, he fits into every character so naturally and provides an uniqueness to all of them. He did a good job as always.

John Abraham too is maturing by every film now; he too has done a decent job in fact in some scenes he has done a fantastic job but at times he could have been better too… Neil Nitin Mukesh has done the best job amongst all the actors. He is so natural in the film and suits the character. Definitely slowly and steadily he is gaining the ground in Bollywood…

For Katrina Kaif, I think it’s her career best performance in terms of acting. After this movie, filmmakers would offer her more performance based roles instead of the ones she was getting till now. This movie can help her to come out of her Barbie Doll image and may bring her in the league of good actresses like Priyanka, Kareena, etc.

The music of the movie is soulful and few of the songs are already ruling the chartbusters, even the placement of these in the movie is very appropriate. Like all other Yash Raj movies, this one is a visual treat for all the audiences. Another aspect which I found good was the editing of the movie. The editing of the movie keeps it the story moving at a good pace and also intact. The director and editor have remembered to show the Twin Towers in all the scenes which were supposed to have occurred before 9/11.

There are few loopholes in the script, mainly towards the end of the story. This movie, especially climax could have been made in a better way but for me, then too it was a good, a different and an entertaining movie…

Overall I'll give New York, 3.5 out of 5 stars...

8x10 Tasveer

8x10 Tasveer is a different movie, with a unique plot which Bollywood have never experienced before (correct me, if I’m wrong)…

Nagesh Kukunoor, writer and director of this movie, had done a far better job as a writer than as a director. According to me, the ending could have been better; for me it was difficult to digest the correlation used to derive the ending. Screenplay was decent and some scenes were really good. There is only 1 song in the movie and which I believe wasn’t required too; also if the film makers wanted to keep that song then they should have inserted it somewhere before… The movie is shot beautifully at various countryside locations; in the initial parts, except for the cast everything looked similar to a Hollywood flick…

Apart from Akshay Kumar, who does a good job, there are many other talented artists like Girish Karnad, Javed Jaffrey, Benjamin Gilani, Anant Mahadevan and Sharmila Tagore; but all these actors were wasted since neither did they have a strong character nor did those characters’ had much length. Ayesha Takia too didn’t had a great role, unlike to what she had in Dor…

A Nagesh Kukunoor movie having a superstar like Akshay Kumar could really have been a delight for the audiences and to some extent, it was… But this combo too wasn’t able to keep the cash registers ringing at the Box Office for long…

Overall I’ll give this 8x10 Tasveer, 3 out of 5 stars…

Delhi-6

Delhi-6, a Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra movie… A movie much hyped and awaited too but definitely not worth all that...

After seeing the trailers of Delhi-6, I felt that it has all the masala (indegreints) which is required to make a Hit Hindi movie. Scores of brilliant character artists, amazing lead pair, soulful music, amazing background setting, etc etc and I was sure that this movie will definitely strike the chord with both Indian as well as foreign audience.

Good points about the movie were definitely its music, especially songs like Masakali, Arziyan, Delhi and also acting by actors like Vijay Raaz, Divya Dutta, Pavan Malhotra and Atul Kulkarni; but these actors weren’t also able to save the movie… For other actors like Rishi Kapoor, Om Puri, Waheeda Rehmaan, Supriya Pathak, Tanvi Azmi and for that matter even Abhishek Bachchan, I think their talents were wasted and should have been utilized better… Sonam Kapoor looks beautiful and gorgeous in the movie and she is definitely better than her debut movie.

More than blaming the director, the script was the primary cause of such a debacle. The first half of the movie was boring, even the number of songs and so many Ram Leela sequences (although I liked them) could have annoyed the audiences. Second half was much better except for the climax which I think was written in haste, in order to bring a dramatic ending to the story and also to send out a social message like RDB…

Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra really thinks differently but such out of box thinking, to which audiences aren’t able to relate, may land him in difficult situations; cause at the end of the day what matters for a commercial movie is its box office success.

After watching the movie I think that except for the music, everything else will find hard to strike any chord, with anyone. Two positive points points which I can draw after watching Delhi-6 were Rehman’s melodious compositions and in my memories, I revisited Chandni Chowk…

For me watching Delhi-6 could be a sheer wastage of both your money and time. I'll give Delhi-6, 1.5 stars out of 5...

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (RNBDJ) was among one of the most awaited movie of the year. It is a film by none other than the team of DDLJ, from the duo of Aditya Chopra and Shah Rukh Khan.

After coming out of the theatre, the first thought which came to my mind was now SRK is the strongest candidate to win the Best Actors Award, for his role of Surinder Sahni, Punjab Power, Lighting up your Life…

RNBDJ will definitely have mixed responses from the audiences. This movie might not have a straight reponse; but some people will definitely like the simpleness and lightness and others might figure out the flaws in the story / screenplay. According to me, the movie may do more business in single screen than multiplexes because of the plot itself. This movie definitely has the guts to become the biggest hit of the year…

Shah Rukh Khan plays the role of Surinder Sahni (Suri), a common man who works in an electric company. The character written beautifully and also played vibrantly. SRK does a fantastic job while potraying the character; the way he talks, walks, thinks, every action he does, justifies the simplicity and characterstization of the character, which the director would have wanted the audiences to see.

SRK also plays another character Raj, which is totally opposite to Surinder Sahni, but I think that SRK does an ok job there since this a character which he had been portraying since years. But one thing here is to appreciate that the both the characters were different and we really got to see 2 different people in the movie.

Anushka Sharma, the debutante actress looks confident, is a good dancer and does a good job considering the fact that this was her first movie. Initially when I saw her in the promos, I thought she is not so pretty as other new actresses these days are; but certainly after watching the movie I agree that she fits into the character well. She is both traditional as well as modern at the same time. Vinay Pathak aka Bobby Khosla, is also another character to look for in this movie…
I agree with some of the critiques that the writing department wasn’t upto the standards of Aditya Chopra. The story and dialogues were simple but by any chance you not comparable with the likes of DDLJ, and for that matter neither with Mohabbatein. The dialogues weren’t heavy but they were surely similar to what a common man like Mr. Sahni will use in his daily life. The screenplay was one area which really wanted some more polishing; the first half was good but I felt some scenes of the other half were long and bit monotonous.

The music by the duo of Salim-Suleiman is very soulful and catching up with the audiences well. Haule Haule had already become a hit while Tujh Mein Rab is out an out romantic song. Chance pe Dance is a song which has the capability to teach dance even to poor dancers like me; it can be used for dance teaching lessons in the future. These songs are liked by the listeners not only because of the music but also due to their lyrics. The lyricist Jaideep Sahni had written some very beautiful and touchy lines; he is equally responsible for making the music so wonderful. The choreographers Vaibhavi Merchant (Haule Haule) and Shiamak Davar (Dance pe Chance) had given their 100%, both were successful in bringing out the innocence of Suri and the studness of Raj.

According to me, RNBDJ, a movie with a simple story, light comedy and full of romanticism, is definitely worth watching…

I’ll give RNBDJ 4 out of 5 stars, where 1 extra star is only for Mr. Surinder Sahni…

Dostana

Dostana - as the name suggests, is a film about friendship...

Some people might say that Dostana is only one time watch or may be not worth watching et al but one thing which I witnessed in the theatre was that audiences present there were laughing out loud... 

I too agree that the story in general is predictable and the weakest link of this movie but overall the plot of the movie is new for Bollywood... The screenplay and dialogues were the areas to look forward too...

People to look for in this movie are Priyanka Chopra and Abhishek Bachchan. Priyanka looks ravishing, even hotter than what she looked in Fashion and definitely deserves the introductory scene showing her sensuous lips and curvaceous body. She once again gave a solid performance... Abhishek was best among the male actors, his expressions as a Gay were mind blowing, especially in the scene where he narrates the incidence of first meeting with John Abraham... John and Bobby Deol did an ok job but definitely they could have been better... Definitely for girls, it would have been a retreat to watch John bare chest... Characters of Boman Irani, Kirron Kher and Sushmita Mukherjee are also worth watching and had good comic timing...

The music of Dostana is good but that not great like any other typical Karan Johar flick... Songs like "Maa Ka Ladla" and "Desi Girl" are foot tapping numbers while "Jaane Kyun", "Kuch Kam" and "Khabar Nahi" are soulful and romantic songs... You'll like the songs but may not remember them for long as we remember KKHH, K3G, KHNH songs... But as any other KJo movie, the cinematography and editing are awesome... It was a pleasure (and tonic for the eyes) to watch the Miami beaches...

Tarun Mansukhani, the debutante director overall does a good job... The chemistry between the 3 (Abhishek, John & Priyanka) of them is certainly a thing to look for... 

I'll give Dostana 3.5 out of 5 stars...

ROCK ON !!

Sometime back I saw a promo saying, “From the makers of Dil Chahta Hai” and yeah after watching it, I can easily say that they haven’t lowered their standards and were also up to the expectations of their audience…

Rock On is a movie not only about a Rock Band but also about relationships and friendships…

Abhishek Kapoor, the director as well as the story & screenplay writer has done a fantastic job. The story is unusual but at the same time very realistic, to which people can easily relate to, all the characters of the story were well defined. First half of the movie consists of many transitions from present to past and vice-versa but well written screenplay and editing helps you in not realising the same. One thing which I feel about the story is that people from metros / bigger cities will easily relate with it while people from smaller towns may not bond with it so easily…

Through this blog, I would like to ask Farhan Akhtar a question “How can 1 person be so talented; an intelligent director, successful producer, brilliant actor and an amazing singer?” Farhan performs excellently in all his 3 roles, acting, singing and dialogue writing. Songs have already become chartbusters and guys believe me; he’ll definitely give a fight to Imran Khan for Best Male Debut Award…

All the other characters were equally important in the movie and they all too did full to their specific roles.

Rock On’s music is very refreshing, youthful, different (with a touch of Rock music) and already ruling the charts. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy once again proved that they are one of the best in the industry and especially when it comes to experimentation; who would have allowed a new singer like Farhan to sing 6 out of 9 tracks of the album. Generally our Bollywood actors sing 1 or at max 2 songs but in this case hats off to the combo of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Farhan Akhtar.

Javed Akhtar, as usual have written mind blowing lyrics; one may not understand them when listening for the first time but after watching the movie you’ll definitely like it.

Another thing which I also liked is the use of the song, “Tum Ho Toh”. This is a romantic song but in the movie it has been used as friendship song and the placement of the song is so perfect that it fits the situation…

Overall Rock On is a good movie to watch… I'll give this flick 4 out of 5 stars...

ROCK ON!! definitely rocks...

Bachna Ae Haseeno

I'll give Bachna Ae Haseeno, 3 out of 5 stars...

Jaane Tu... ya jaane na

Jaane Tu… ya jaane na is a fun-filled, youthful and entertaining movie…

What actually took me to the theatre to watch this flick was its refreshing look, soulful music and some expectations from an Aamir Khan Productions. And believe me I now have many more reasons to watch it for the second time…

Debutante director and well known writer and lyricist, Abbas Tyrewala has done a good job in all his three roles… Although the story isn’t very different from normal love stories, when I say this I mean don’t expect this one to be an out-and-out a different movie like DCH, etc. I won’t be disclosing the story here, since I always believe that Movie Reviews aren’t meant for it… Other aspects of writing i.e. Screenplay and Dialogues have also been handled extremely well and are among the main reasons why this movie is liked so much. The dialogues are funny and one can easily relate to them in their day to day lives. It’s a light comedy movie but not a slapstick one…

One thing, which I personally liked in the movie, was that it’s entirely shot in Mumbai, except for one song. No grandeur sets or exotic locations, no designer wears or unnecessary accessories. Movie showcases its characters wearing clothes which normal people like them wear in their daily lives.

Music by A. R. Rehman is youthful and at the same time soulful. The lyrics, by Tyrewala himself, are written beautifully. Tracks like “Kabhi Kabhi Aditi” and “Pappu Can’t Dance” had become hits, even before the movie released; other songs like “Kahin To Hogi Ho” and “Jaane Tu Meri Kya Hai” also sounds soulful to our eardrums.

Now comes the part, for which many of you may be waiting i.e. how the actors have performed, especially Imran Khan, nephew of Aamir Khan, the perfectionist. Before coming to any particular actor, let me tell you that all the characters in the movie were well defined and every artist played their part well.

Imraan Khan has done a good job and if you consider that this was his debut film, then he has done a fabulous job. People might comment that this was a tailor made role for him, although it wasn’ t but if it was then too what’s the harm in it. He suits to the character similarly as Aamir was to QSQT and Hrithik to KNPH; he’ll surely become the heartthrob of the nation in days to come…

Genelia D’Souza has done a fantastic job , even better than Imran. Only after seeing the promos, my friends told me that she already had done few movies; but now after this one she too will become a known actress. Her facial expression and dialogue delivery was perfect. The movie is equally dependent upon her as it’s on Imraan, for its success.

Overall, Jaane Tu… is a light romantic comedy, which may remind you about your own friend circle, you might be relating characters of the movie with your near and dear ones… I’ll give Jaane Tu… ya jaane na, 4 out of 5 stars…

Tashan

Tashan: another hyped movie from Yashraj Films was released on last Friday.

Just to inform my readers, due to some differences between the distributors and the exhibitors, this movie was only released in single screen theatres across Mumbai and not in the multiplexes…

Tashan, like many other movies, was not upto the expectations of the audiences; primarily due to its storyline. On the technical front, it’s a decent effort but lack of a good story and direction will definitely disappoint the audiences. I will not disclose the story here, since I always believe that Movie reviews are not meant to tell the story of the movie…

The acting of all the 4 leading actors is ok types… Anil Kapoor’s character is of a don but somewhat similar to the character of Javed Jaffrey of Salaam Namaste fame; where he tries to speak English on every occasion… Initially we laughed at his dialogues but as the film progressed it was a bit irritating too… Also it was unbelievable for me, that a modern day don will use a water canon or a fire pipe to defeat his enemies… Overall, Anil hadn’t been used to fullest of his abilities…

Saif Ali Khan does an average job, nothing extraordinary in his acting too…

Kareena Kapoor is looking gorgeous in her zero-size figure… And she looks extremely sexy in the parrot-green colored bikini, which she wore in one of the scenes; definitely it’s a treat for all the men watching the movie… She does a decent job but don’t compare this one with her performance in Jab We Met…

Akshay Kumar is as usual brilliant in this movie too… His comic timing, facial expressions and dialogue delivery are awesome. He is one actor to look for, in Tashan… Almost all the audiences present in the theatre clapped at his entry…

The music is average type but definitely not what is actually expected out of a Yashraj movie… Few of its songs have picked up slowly… Like all the Yashraj movies, the song-dance sequences and exotic locales are worth watching… Cinematography and background score are good. The film makers tried to make this as an action flick and were also a bit successful in doing that except for the final action sequence, which, in the present day scenario, seems to be more of a comedy rather than an action sequence…

Overall Tashan was a one-time watch movie and not that bad as most of the critics have rated it… According to me, only 2 things which may bring audience to the theatres are the hype associated with the movie and Akshay Kumar’s mind-blowing performance… And no doubt, that this time Yashraj made a big mistake by not releasing this movie in the multiplexes, since it would have brought more audiences to the theatres and hence lesser amount of loss to them…

The director of the movie, Vijay Krishna Acharya will have to think something better next time, in order to woo the critics as well as the audiences… If, I’ve to rate this movie, I’ll give 2.5 on a scale of 5 (1.5 for the movie and an additional 1 point for Akshay’s performance)…

The Pursuit of Happyness

In last two weekends, I’ve seen four movies: 300, Just Married, The Namesake and The Pursuit of Happyness. Each of them was a fantastic movie in itself and was from a different genre. Although I liked all the four movies but The Pursuit of Happyness will be favorite amongst them. One suggestion to all the movie lovers, it's an awesome movie don't miss it.

The Pursuit of Happyness is a story about a man who always tries to keep his family and himself happy. I was touched by the scene where Chris Gardener (Will Smith) gets a job and he was so happy that he didn’t knew what to do and starts crying. That particular scene reminded me the day when I got the job… although I didn’t have to face so much difficulty while searching for a job but the joy was the same on getting it…

At first instance I didn’t believed that I had got the job. I was thrilled with excitement and just wanted to convey that good news to everyone I knew… On hearing that news my mother started crying and even I had tears in my eyes.

One principle on which I always believe in and which was also conveyed in the movie is: One should always try his best and never get disheartened in anything, whatever the conditions may be.

GURU

GURU – The story of a Villager, Visionary and a Winner

Gurukant Desai, a character whose life moved similarly as to the iconic Dhirubhai Ambani. According to the Mani Ratnam, director of this awesome movie, the story and the character Guru are totally fictitious and are not inspired from the life of legendary Dhirubhai but are inspired from the lives of various great men.

The movie starts from the time, when Guru was only sixteen or seventeen years of age but continues till he becomes eighty. Depicting the whole life of a person in 2.5 hours is also a very difficult task for the director. But three cheers to him, he did it again and that too perfectly. I don’t know which of his creations would be ranked as the best but I’m sure that Guru would also be amongst one of the best ones.

Not only the director but the entire team of guru had done a marvelous job. The cinematography by Rajiv Menon is brilliant, the screenplay by Mani Ratnam and editing by Sreekar Prasad are too good. Even the music by Rehman and the background score are too good.

The protagonist of the movie is Abhishek Bachchan. After watching the movie, you may belief that both of them that is, the role and Abhishek was made for each other. He did such a fantastic job that it looks like it was a tailor made role for him, even though every actor would love to do such type of roles. He overall did a stupendous acting. I think that Guru is his best performance till date. The movie is solely his and he carries it well.

Apart from Abhishek, every other actor too did their job very well but the Mithun Da was the best amongst the others. It seemed that he is back in Bollywood after a long time. Even Madhavan looked very young and handsome in this movie.

There are many scenes which I liked but the best ones were the final court room scene, the emotional hospital scene with his long time friend and associate, Manoj Joshi and the scene at the Mithun’s house, where Madhavan gives his opinion about Guru.

Finally, this is a movie which everyone must watch. And if you are missing this one then surely you are missing one of the best movies made in the Bollywood in the recent times.

The best thing which I liked in the story or about Guru is the passion which he had for making his dreams true. And one thing which Guru always believed and told people was:

“if you don’t dream
you will be stuck to your village
all your life”

Hasna Zaroori Hai

RGV & K Sera Sera presents “Darna Zaroori Hai"

Saw the movie on Friday night @ Cinemax, Andheri East. I just wanted to share some of my experiences related to this movie, this may help my frndz in saving some money.

Few years ago, Ram Gopal Varma experimented; he made a movie with six different stories but with same conclusion named Darna Mana Hai. His latest offering in this 'Darna' series is Darna Zaroori Hai. This movie also has six different stories but they all are similar to the stories in previous part.

Even the main plot of the movie was similar to the previous one. Let's get this straight. 'Scary' is too strong a word for Darna Zaroori Hai. The film doesn't even succeed in sending a slight shiver down your spine. Almost everyone present in the theatre was laughing instead of getting scared.

Of the six stories that are juxtaposed in this new 'Darna' series, I only liked the first story, which was directed by Sajid Khan. The remaining five stories and also the story that binds them in a thread, of an old woman and five children were unable to generate interest amongst the audiences.

On the whole, the movie lacks the power to scare, frighten, terrify or to even generate some interest in the audience. It was a major disappointment. Instead of Darna Zaroori Hai, the title of the movie should be “Hasna Zaroori Hai.”

Paint It Yellow !!!

Saw Rang De Basanti over the weekend. The first half of the movie reminded me of all the “FUN” we used to have in college whereas the other part touched me, with the “ISSUES” that have been dealt in the movie.

Almost everything in the movie was fantastic, whether its script, screenplay, music, direction or the performance. The background score was amazing, so was the screenplay. How Director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra interchanges between the two plots, that is, past and present in the movie, is brilliant. The music by Rehman is not of the regular type and it will be liked by almost everyone. The performances of not only Aamir Khan, but all the actors were excellent. All of them look very natural. Even Alice Patten had spoken Hindi so fluently that nobody could say that she is a foreigner. The way each of them start behaving like real freedom fighters towards the climax was really fascinating. The climax of the movie is also one thing which makes it unforgettable. Guys believe me, do go and watch this movie.

I strongly believe that Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra should have made this movie in English too, as he originally thought of; so that this world would have not missed such a brilliant movie. The name of the English version was to be “Paint It Yellow.”