Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon
Saw MPKDH on the 2nd day of its release as I had some commitments on Friday. Wished I had got some non-cancellable plans for the whole week, which would have made this review unnecessary.
Synopsis
As has been widely advertised, this is a remake of Rajhsree's Chitchor, and the promos of this film reveal the entire plot anyway.
Sanjana (Kareena Kapoor grating on the nerves as usual, and with a very puffed up face probably due to some late night partying) is the daughter of Satyaprakash (Pankaj Kapoor in a nondescript role) and Susheela (Himani Shivpuri, who has made an art of going over the board). Hmm.. I wonder how a guy like Pankaj Kapoor and a female like Himani Shivpuri can have a daughter who looks like Kareena (Seems one of their neighbour is upto something shady. Cannot elaborate on that one as they did not show any neighbours).
Roopa(Tanaaz Currim), who is Kareena's sister married and settled in the US; chooses a big businessman named Prem for her sister, and informs her family about his scheduled visit to India. Enter Prem (Hrithik Roshan looking great unlike in Mujhse Dosti Karoge) who enters their house and later their hearts. He woos Kareena and turns her scantily clad friends and irritating pets in his favour.
Everything seems to be going hunky dory till one day Tanaaz mails her father saying that Prem's schedule got postponed and he would be coming over in two more days (The way Pankaj Kapoor get excited when he gets mails from Tanaaz seems hilarious. He also seems to be waiting in front of the computer screen the whole day long just so that he could announce a new mail to Himani. I guess he must be excited even by spam. I think I should add him to my movie review mailing list. As an aside, his mail id is shown as satyaprakash@yahoo.co.in and Tanaaz's is roopabeti@yahoo.com :). These are the kind of things you start noticing when the pace of the film falters.). This throws everything out of gear, and Himani starts acting weirdly with Hrithik (who, it turns out is also named Prem, and works for the real McCoy Prem).
Then comes into picture the other Prem (Abhishek Bachchan looking really good and clean shaven for a change) who also falls head over heels in love with Kareena. He comes with a mother (Reema Lagoo) and P.A. (Johnny Lever) in tow. When Hrithik realises that everyone wants Kareena to get wedded to his boss, he tries to move out of the picture.
Analysis
The only person who will probably benefit through this movie is Abhishek. He puts in a restrained performance, and is a pleasure to watch. Kareena looks jaded in most of the movie. Hrithik looks very lean and tries to show off his body a lot, which goes against him. Moreover, his character is supposed to be loud and over the top,unlike any character he has played before. He looks definitely uncomfortable doing this. The computer generated effects for the pet parrot (Raja) and the dog (Johnny) seem out of place and totally unnecessary. They tend to get on your nerves. Johnny Lever is not funny in the short role that he has. Pankaj Kapoor impresses us by his performance. Himani Shivpuri is still in the 1960's age and her act leaves us cold.
Technique
Sooraj Barjatya seems totally out of his element for his first film which is not a family drama. Lots of stuff seems to have been put in just to try all genres. He puts all the cast in scantily clad clothes (except thankfully Pankaj, Himani and Reema :))
New Zealand and Mauritius pass of as Sundernagar. The colleges seem totally out of place, as you can see all the students in the background as Kiwis, and all the cars are models not even available in India. When Hrithik sees the scenery in Sundernagar and comments that he has travelled all over India and never seen such a beautiful place, it seems downright hilarious.
The songs slow down the pace of the movie, which is already too long to be comfortable (3.5 hours). They seem to come in at the most inappropriate times, and except a couple of them, they are all loud and jarring.
Rajan Kinagi's cinematography is good, but when you have such good locales, that is but natural. Bijon Dasgupta's sets are plain bad.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Go in if you are a Hrithik, Abhishek (there aren't many) or Kareena fan. Beware of the hackneyed plot, songs and length of the movie. You might end up liking it inspite of its deficiencies.
Sorry for the length of this review, I got carried away due to the movie's length.
Monday, June 30, 2003
Monday, June 23, 2003
Supari
Saw Supari on the 2nd day of its release as I was busy seeing Jhankaar Beats (read review below) on the first day. I had a splitting headache for one and a half day after seeing Supari.
Synopsis
Aryan (Uday Chopra working outside a Yashraj banner for the first time), Papad (Rahul Dev, he is growing old), Chicken (Purab Kohli, that irritating guy from Channel V) and Mushy (Akash Saigal, not much to go for him) are supposedly good friends. They live beyond their means, and want to continue doing so.
They place a bet on a cricket match, which is supposed to be rigged in their favour. The scheme backfires, and they land up in a debt of Rs. 5 lakhs. They had bet money they didn't have in the first place. This gets them in a fix, and in comes Mamta Sekhri (Nandita Das, looking gorgeous with short, gelled hair) who gives them a chance to repay their debt by comitting contract killings for her. She also has a shady guy staying with her, whom she calls Baba(Irfan Khan must be really short of money to do such roles). All of the studs except Purab (Hey, he is called Chicken, remember. What great depth of characterisation) start loving the thrill of killing and the extra money it offers them.
Dilnawaz (Nauheed Cyrusi, remember the cute girl from the Perk ad) is in love with Aryan, which doesn't say much for her intelligence level, besides making us doubt her eyesight. The cool dudes screw up a hit due to Nauheed and Purab, and are on the run from the police as well as the gangsters. To complicate matters, Nandita falls in love with Uday (Hey, India is running short of optometrists due to the brain drain).
The rest of the movie is about how they get on a shooting spree, killing everyone in sight (even vegetables are not spared).
Analysis
Uday Chopra wont get a break without his father's patronage. Even though this movie is not produced by Yash Chopra, the only reason he seems to be in it is because Yashraj films bought the distribution rights for a number of territories. Arjun Rampal was slated to do Uday's role earlier. Rahul Dev tries his best, which is not much. Purab Kohli has to just act scared out of his wits throughout the movie. No wonder the producer-director had to convince him for a long while to accept this role. Akash Saigal is just present in the frame to fill it up. He is more like an extra without a character sketch. Nandita Das and Irfaan Khan must be really tired of arty films to accept stuff like this for their mainstream staple.
Nauheed makes her presence felt, but she goes over the top most of the time, which might be because she is supposed to play a Parsi, which in Moron's Dictionary of Bollywood Characterisation means she has to be over the top. But she certainly has an endearing presence.
Technique
Padam Kumar comes credits himself as the writer (shared with Mushtaq Sheikh and Anuradha Tiwari), producer as well as director of this movie after his first dud Champion (Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala).
The movie tries desperately to get into the Satya mould, and fails miserably. Editing by Sanjay Verma is too slipshod to be considered professional.
Music by Vishal-Shekhar (Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and Jhankaar Beats) is tolerable, as the movie affords just two songs. Though lots of other people are given credits in the movie (like Sutapa Sikdar for dialogues, T. Ramji and Velraj, Farah Khan and Rekha Prakash for choreography), I don't find them worth mentioning as I simply dont want to waste more time in writing this review than they spent on doing their work on this movie.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Forget it. It is too dark and gory without any need for it to be so. The goings on will give you a headache, and at the end of the movie you will have lots of questions unanswered due to the bad screenplay. That gives me an opportunity for a joke. The first scene of the movies shows the four duds standing in a line, where we see just their faces, telling each other about how they have done everything together, and this time too, they won't let each other down, my very dear friend Harish (who has been tortured a lot as he needs to accompany me to many pathetic movies) commented: "Arrre!! Why are they thinking so much when all they want to do is pee". When the movie ended, he left to seek a lawyer, as he thought that he might be able to sue the producers for making such a bad movie. I completely agree with him. Please let us move the consumer court to take care of our grievances.
Saw Supari on the 2nd day of its release as I was busy seeing Jhankaar Beats (read review below) on the first day. I had a splitting headache for one and a half day after seeing Supari.
Synopsis
Aryan (Uday Chopra working outside a Yashraj banner for the first time), Papad (Rahul Dev, he is growing old), Chicken (Purab Kohli, that irritating guy from Channel V) and Mushy (Akash Saigal, not much to go for him) are supposedly good friends. They live beyond their means, and want to continue doing so.
They place a bet on a cricket match, which is supposed to be rigged in their favour. The scheme backfires, and they land up in a debt of Rs. 5 lakhs. They had bet money they didn't have in the first place. This gets them in a fix, and in comes Mamta Sekhri (Nandita Das, looking gorgeous with short, gelled hair) who gives them a chance to repay their debt by comitting contract killings for her. She also has a shady guy staying with her, whom she calls Baba(Irfan Khan must be really short of money to do such roles). All of the studs except Purab (Hey, he is called Chicken, remember. What great depth of characterisation) start loving the thrill of killing and the extra money it offers them.
Dilnawaz (Nauheed Cyrusi, remember the cute girl from the Perk ad) is in love with Aryan, which doesn't say much for her intelligence level, besides making us doubt her eyesight. The cool dudes screw up a hit due to Nauheed and Purab, and are on the run from the police as well as the gangsters. To complicate matters, Nandita falls in love with Uday (Hey, India is running short of optometrists due to the brain drain).
The rest of the movie is about how they get on a shooting spree, killing everyone in sight (even vegetables are not spared).
Analysis
Uday Chopra wont get a break without his father's patronage. Even though this movie is not produced by Yash Chopra, the only reason he seems to be in it is because Yashraj films bought the distribution rights for a number of territories. Arjun Rampal was slated to do Uday's role earlier. Rahul Dev tries his best, which is not much. Purab Kohli has to just act scared out of his wits throughout the movie. No wonder the producer-director had to convince him for a long while to accept this role. Akash Saigal is just present in the frame to fill it up. He is more like an extra without a character sketch. Nandita Das and Irfaan Khan must be really tired of arty films to accept stuff like this for their mainstream staple.
Nauheed makes her presence felt, but she goes over the top most of the time, which might be because she is supposed to play a Parsi, which in Moron's Dictionary of Bollywood Characterisation means she has to be over the top. But she certainly has an endearing presence.
Technique
Padam Kumar comes credits himself as the writer (shared with Mushtaq Sheikh and Anuradha Tiwari), producer as well as director of this movie after his first dud Champion (Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala).
The movie tries desperately to get into the Satya mould, and fails miserably. Editing by Sanjay Verma is too slipshod to be considered professional.
Music by Vishal-Shekhar (Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and Jhankaar Beats) is tolerable, as the movie affords just two songs. Though lots of other people are given credits in the movie (like Sutapa Sikdar for dialogues, T. Ramji and Velraj, Farah Khan and Rekha Prakash for choreography), I don't find them worth mentioning as I simply dont want to waste more time in writing this review than they spent on doing their work on this movie.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Forget it. It is too dark and gory without any need for it to be so. The goings on will give you a headache, and at the end of the movie you will have lots of questions unanswered due to the bad screenplay. That gives me an opportunity for a joke. The first scene of the movies shows the four duds standing in a line, where we see just their faces, telling each other about how they have done everything together, and this time too, they won't let each other down, my very dear friend Harish (who has been tortured a lot as he needs to accompany me to many pathetic movies) commented: "Arrre!! Why are they thinking so much when all they want to do is pee". When the movie ended, he left to seek a lawyer, as he thought that he might be able to sue the producers for making such a bad movie. I completely agree with him. Please let us move the consumer court to take care of our grievances.
Jhankaar Beats
Saw Jhankaar Beats on the first day of its release. As I wanted it to see it before Supari. Half an hour before the show started, I was one of just 4 guys out there at the theater. I had made up my mind to smile and bear through it. Boy, was I rewarded; it definitely is one of the funniest Hindi movie I have seen in recent times.
Synopsis
Jhankaar Beats is about two friends, Rishi (Rahul Bose, great as usual as a bratty misogynist) and Deep (Sanjay Suri, charming as usual but getting repetitive in his portrayal of Mr. Goody Two Shoes); who work in an advertising agency and moonlight as musicians at a local club. Their ambition is to win Jhankaar Beats, an annual music competition that they have lost for two consecutive years.
Suri has a wife Shanti (Juhi Chawla as gorgeous as ever; marriage has done wonders to her), who is seven months pregnant. The problem in his life is that his mother-in-law(Shashikala, who has grown quite hefty) is coming to visit them, and they do not exactly share the milk of kindness and love.
Bose is in the midst of a messy divorce with Nicki (Rinke Khanna; she should quit acting now that she even has a reason; that of being happily married); their bone of contention being Bose's obsession with R.D.Burman and Jhankaar Beats.
They have a boss Mr. Kapoor (Vijayendra Ghatge looking good after a really long time) who is after them to get a one liner for a condom ad. This gives them a lot of situations for cracking jokes. Vijayendra has a son (Shayan Munshi seems a complete bozo. Maybe he should get back to modelling, where he doesn't need to open his mouth, as every time opens it, he puts his foot in it) who is in love with Preeti (Riya Sen looking bad in the first half of the movie, and recuperating in the second half). Shayan's only problem is that he can't express his feelings to Riya and keeps following her. But the fact of the matter is, he has not talked to her even once. That makes him nothing more than a stalker in my dictionary.
Lots of characters like Raja Vaid (from SET MAX's Kahaani Poori filmi Hain as a neighbour with lots of mojo), Archana Puran Singh (Miss Voluptous heading a rival advertising agency), Parmeet Sethi (as Nicki's lawyer, he must have come as a package deal with his wife Archana Puran Singh), Dinyar Contractor (As Mr. Roy, the condom company owner), Kurush Deboo (as Bose's lawyer) and Goolistan Gandhi (as Mrs. Pinto, a neighbour who has a problem with Bose's rattletrap car) are thrown in to get a few laughs
Analysis
This movie has an irreverent DCH (Dil Chaahta Hai) feel to it.
Rahul Bose has got the meatiest part, and he does full justice to it. The jokes keep on flowing through his mouth. Sanjay Suri, as always, plays the foil for others and makes a good job of it. Juhi Chawla has got a better part, and she is good in it. Riya Sen and Rinke Khanna don't have much to do.
The chemistry between the actors is good.
Technique
This movie is written and directed by Sujoy Ghosh who impresses us with his debut. Earlier he had stated that he was or rather is a great fan of MAD comics, and he had tried to give a similar feel to this movie. After reading that statement, I was appaled, as for me MAD is like the bible, and anyone even trying to imitate is sacrilege. But though Sujoy Ghosh cannot even get to be even 1/10th as funny as MAD, that is more than enough to enjoy this movie.
Music by Vishal-Shekhar, who had earlier done the music of Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi is passable. The dialogues by Sujoy Ghosh, Milap Zaveri and Suresh Nair are good.
Editor Suresh Pai does a scissor job on the movie, and some pieces seem disjoint, but the pace is maintained.
Though the end product is not as polished as DCH, it certainly is worth more than a look.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Go for it guys. It is a good movie, and funny Hindi movies which really prove out to be funny are very rare to come by in Bollywood. This happens to be a good movie which has come along in a very long time for us. Do encourage such experimental movies, or else we will always get to see movies like Andaaz.
Saw Jhankaar Beats on the first day of its release. As I wanted it to see it before Supari. Half an hour before the show started, I was one of just 4 guys out there at the theater. I had made up my mind to smile and bear through it. Boy, was I rewarded; it definitely is one of the funniest Hindi movie I have seen in recent times.
Synopsis
Jhankaar Beats is about two friends, Rishi (Rahul Bose, great as usual as a bratty misogynist) and Deep (Sanjay Suri, charming as usual but getting repetitive in his portrayal of Mr. Goody Two Shoes); who work in an advertising agency and moonlight as musicians at a local club. Their ambition is to win Jhankaar Beats, an annual music competition that they have lost for two consecutive years.
Suri has a wife Shanti (Juhi Chawla as gorgeous as ever; marriage has done wonders to her), who is seven months pregnant. The problem in his life is that his mother-in-law(Shashikala, who has grown quite hefty) is coming to visit them, and they do not exactly share the milk of kindness and love.
Bose is in the midst of a messy divorce with Nicki (Rinke Khanna; she should quit acting now that she even has a reason; that of being happily married); their bone of contention being Bose's obsession with R.D.Burman and Jhankaar Beats.
They have a boss Mr. Kapoor (Vijayendra Ghatge looking good after a really long time) who is after them to get a one liner for a condom ad. This gives them a lot of situations for cracking jokes. Vijayendra has a son (Shayan Munshi seems a complete bozo. Maybe he should get back to modelling, where he doesn't need to open his mouth, as every time opens it, he puts his foot in it) who is in love with Preeti (Riya Sen looking bad in the first half of the movie, and recuperating in the second half). Shayan's only problem is that he can't express his feelings to Riya and keeps following her. But the fact of the matter is, he has not talked to her even once. That makes him nothing more than a stalker in my dictionary.
Lots of characters like Raja Vaid (from SET MAX's Kahaani Poori filmi Hain as a neighbour with lots of mojo), Archana Puran Singh (Miss Voluptous heading a rival advertising agency), Parmeet Sethi (as Nicki's lawyer, he must have come as a package deal with his wife Archana Puran Singh), Dinyar Contractor (As Mr. Roy, the condom company owner), Kurush Deboo (as Bose's lawyer) and Goolistan Gandhi (as Mrs. Pinto, a neighbour who has a problem with Bose's rattletrap car) are thrown in to get a few laughs
Analysis
This movie has an irreverent DCH (Dil Chaahta Hai) feel to it.
Rahul Bose has got the meatiest part, and he does full justice to it. The jokes keep on flowing through his mouth. Sanjay Suri, as always, plays the foil for others and makes a good job of it. Juhi Chawla has got a better part, and she is good in it. Riya Sen and Rinke Khanna don't have much to do.
The chemistry between the actors is good.
Technique
This movie is written and directed by Sujoy Ghosh who impresses us with his debut. Earlier he had stated that he was or rather is a great fan of MAD comics, and he had tried to give a similar feel to this movie. After reading that statement, I was appaled, as for me MAD is like the bible, and anyone even trying to imitate is sacrilege. But though Sujoy Ghosh cannot even get to be even 1/10th as funny as MAD, that is more than enough to enjoy this movie.
Music by Vishal-Shekhar, who had earlier done the music of Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi is passable. The dialogues by Sujoy Ghosh, Milap Zaveri and Suresh Nair are good.
Editor Suresh Pai does a scissor job on the movie, and some pieces seem disjoint, but the pace is maintained.
Though the end product is not as polished as DCH, it certainly is worth more than a look.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Go for it guys. It is a good movie, and funny Hindi movies which really prove out to be funny are very rare to come by in Bollywood. This happens to be a good movie which has come along in a very long time for us. Do encourage such experimental movies, or else we will always get to see movies like Andaaz.
Monday, June 16, 2003
Chalte Chalte
Saw Chalte Chalte on the first day of its release. Hey, Shahrukh normally makes tolerable movies, and I love movies directed by Aziz Mirza. Seems like I was proved wrong.
Synopsis
Chalte Chalte is a story about two people with very different backgrounds falling in love with each other (Oh my!!! How very original!). Raj Mathur (Shahrukh Khan in his umpteenth film as a character named Raj. Hey guy, the films which clicked with SRK as Raj had nothing to do with the character's name!) owns a transport company, and loves to drive a truck at a moment's notice. Priya (Rani Mukherji looking absolutely gorgeous throughout. This coming from a non-fan like me really means something.) is a fashion designer from Greece. They meet on the highway on an acrimonious note. SRK falls head over heels in love with her, and tries to convince her of how he would be the best life partner for her.
Enter Sameer Arora, (Jas Arora, after a long hiatus post Danger; looking good.) a childhood friend of Rani's; wearing Versace suits and moving in the right circles; who is supposed to get married to her. SRK follows Rani to Athens, and she falls in love on the way. After convincing her father Kishore (Rajiv Verma with no dialogues to boast of, and a funny moustache), Rani marries SRK.
They start living together, and get to notice their differences over minor tiffs. Her aunt Anna Mausi (Lillete Dubey doing a Bindu kinda role) tries to show Rani how she has made a mistake by marrying SRK. Things get to a head on when Rani takes the help of Jas Arora to get SRK out of a financial mess.
The last half an hour is about how they reconcile.
Manubhai (Satish Shah) and his wife (Jayshree T) are neighbours who come in to help. Nandu (Johny Lever in a role with depth less than the one given to his dog Moti, whose real name I unfortunately don't know. This dog has acted really well compared to Johny Lever.) is a drunkard in the neighbourhood who is pining over lost love.
The Lillete Dubey Rajiv Verma relationship seems a bit shady, as they go about everything like husband and wife.
Analysis
One of the first movies aping Saathiya is out. Keep waiting for a dozen more to follow.
SRK is in his element, acting both funny, and intense with amazing skills. Rani is looking great throughout the movie; unlike Saathiya, in which she looked good in a few scenes and plain ordinary in the rest. She certainly is the surprise package.
Lillete Dubey, Rajiv Verma and Johny Lever, Satish Shah and Jayshree T have inconsequential roles. The songs come in at normal intervals in the first half of the movie, and do not irritate the viewer.
Technique
Aziz Mirza is a veteran, with great movies to his credit. Even though his movies like Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Yes Boss or Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani were not very big hits (the last two were certified flops in many territories), they were certainly appreciated for being about ordinary people doing extraordinary things under extraordinary conditions. He clearly disappoints in this movie, which has a wafer thin story, probably written on the back of a paper napkin after a couple of beers (Aziz Mirza and Robin Bhatt). Dialogues by Ashish Kariya, Pramod Sharma and Rumi Jafri (David Dhawan fame) are good in the first half. Lyrics by Javed Akhtar, music by Jatin Lalit and Aadesh Srivastava and choreography by Farah Khan are run of the mill.
Ashok Mehta as the director of photography, is as usual great.
The editor Amitabh Shukla was certainly sleeping on his job, as the last half of the movie would certainly have been better if it was pruned by about 15 minutes.
Overall, the first half of the movie impresses by its breezy atmosphere and light banter modelled after DDLJ. Half an hour post interval (Saathiya) is engaging. The goings get heavy after 2 hours (Raja Hindustani), and that's the time when it gets really boring.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Hmmm... Are you an SRK fan? If yes, certainly worth a look.
Are you the kind who can get out of a movie when you start getting bored? Then you should certainly go for the engaging first half, and leave half an hour after the intermission.
Are you the kind who can entertain yourself as well as others when the movie gets to be boring? Then certainly go for it. Hemant, a friend who accompanied me to the movie, aptly summed up my emotions when he said: "Now the onus of entertaining the people is not on SRK or Rani, but on us!" :) .
Saw Chalte Chalte on the first day of its release. Hey, Shahrukh normally makes tolerable movies, and I love movies directed by Aziz Mirza. Seems like I was proved wrong.
Synopsis
Chalte Chalte is a story about two people with very different backgrounds falling in love with each other (Oh my!!! How very original!). Raj Mathur (Shahrukh Khan in his umpteenth film as a character named Raj. Hey guy, the films which clicked with SRK as Raj had nothing to do with the character's name!) owns a transport company, and loves to drive a truck at a moment's notice. Priya (Rani Mukherji looking absolutely gorgeous throughout. This coming from a non-fan like me really means something.) is a fashion designer from Greece. They meet on the highway on an acrimonious note. SRK falls head over heels in love with her, and tries to convince her of how he would be the best life partner for her.
Enter Sameer Arora, (Jas Arora, after a long hiatus post Danger; looking good.) a childhood friend of Rani's; wearing Versace suits and moving in the right circles; who is supposed to get married to her. SRK follows Rani to Athens, and she falls in love on the way. After convincing her father Kishore (Rajiv Verma with no dialogues to boast of, and a funny moustache), Rani marries SRK.
They start living together, and get to notice their differences over minor tiffs. Her aunt Anna Mausi (Lillete Dubey doing a Bindu kinda role) tries to show Rani how she has made a mistake by marrying SRK. Things get to a head on when Rani takes the help of Jas Arora to get SRK out of a financial mess.
The last half an hour is about how they reconcile.
Manubhai (Satish Shah) and his wife (Jayshree T) are neighbours who come in to help. Nandu (Johny Lever in a role with depth less than the one given to his dog Moti, whose real name I unfortunately don't know. This dog has acted really well compared to Johny Lever.) is a drunkard in the neighbourhood who is pining over lost love.
The Lillete Dubey Rajiv Verma relationship seems a bit shady, as they go about everything like husband and wife.
Analysis
One of the first movies aping Saathiya is out. Keep waiting for a dozen more to follow.
SRK is in his element, acting both funny, and intense with amazing skills. Rani is looking great throughout the movie; unlike Saathiya, in which she looked good in a few scenes and plain ordinary in the rest. She certainly is the surprise package.
Lillete Dubey, Rajiv Verma and Johny Lever, Satish Shah and Jayshree T have inconsequential roles. The songs come in at normal intervals in the first half of the movie, and do not irritate the viewer.
Technique
Aziz Mirza is a veteran, with great movies to his credit. Even though his movies like Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman, Yes Boss or Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani were not very big hits (the last two were certified flops in many territories), they were certainly appreciated for being about ordinary people doing extraordinary things under extraordinary conditions. He clearly disappoints in this movie, which has a wafer thin story, probably written on the back of a paper napkin after a couple of beers (Aziz Mirza and Robin Bhatt). Dialogues by Ashish Kariya, Pramod Sharma and Rumi Jafri (David Dhawan fame) are good in the first half. Lyrics by Javed Akhtar, music by Jatin Lalit and Aadesh Srivastava and choreography by Farah Khan are run of the mill.
Ashok Mehta as the director of photography, is as usual great.
The editor Amitabh Shukla was certainly sleeping on his job, as the last half of the movie would certainly have been better if it was pruned by about 15 minutes.
Overall, the first half of the movie impresses by its breezy atmosphere and light banter modelled after DDLJ. Half an hour post interval (Saathiya) is engaging. The goings get heavy after 2 hours (Raja Hindustani), and that's the time when it gets really boring.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Hmmm... Are you an SRK fan? If yes, certainly worth a look.
Are you the kind who can get out of a movie when you start getting bored? Then you should certainly go for the engaging first half, and leave half an hour after the intermission.
Are you the kind who can entertain yourself as well as others when the movie gets to be boring? Then certainly go for it. Hemant, a friend who accompanied me to the movie, aptly summed up my emotions when he said: "Now the onus of entertaining the people is not on SRK or Rani, but on us!" :) .
Monday, June 09, 2003
Khwahish
Saw Khwahish on the first day of its release. This time not due to any personal likes, but because I had lots of requests pouring in for its review. Hmm... the perils of the trade I am in. I would consider Khwahish an occupational hazard for a movie reviewer.
Synopsis
Khwahish pretends to be a modern day look at a couple in love, and their trials and tribulations after marriage. The film is about Lekha Khorzuvekar (Mallika Sherawat, who had earlier debuted as Reena Lamba in Jeena Sirf Mere Liye, the Kareena-Tusshar dud) and Amar Ranawat (Himanshu Mallik, the loser from Tum Bin). Himanshu and Lekha are in love, and Himanshu wants to get laid. Mallika is the modern woman with morals, and is not ready to go the whole way before marriage. So, for the silliest of reasons, they decide to get married; though it looks like Himanshu is doing it to spite his father (Shivaji Satam in a role that does not offer much scope), a rich businessman. Enter the girl's father (Mahamud Babai), a poultry farmer; who after the initial scenes, starts getting on your nerves. Shivaji Satam refuses to toe the line, and tells Himanshu to complete his MBA, and then marry any girl of his choice; which seems logical enough to the lay user.
Hormones win in the end, and Himanshu gets married with Mallika, his father's disapproval notwithstanding. Mahamud helps them through this phase, and gives them money to tide over the time he might need to do his MBA.
After scenes of them living in a chawl, and Mallika taking music lessons to make ends meet, Amar gets his MBA and lands a job. They seem to settle into a life of marital bliss, in a nice home. When they realise that Himanshu cannot spare the time for Mallika, they try to come up with innovative ideas to spice up their lives. They arrange a get-together for old friends, where their joy lasts for one whole song, after which they are at their wit's end again. They think about having a baby, and find that they cannot. Tests reveal a deeper problem, and the last half an hour is about how they cope with it.
Analysis
Mumbai filmmakers should be punished for thinking that different necessarily means great. And, how different is Khwahish really, save the skin show. A supernatural thriller works (Raaz), and half the industry is busy making supernatural thrillers. A skin flick does just about decent business (Jism), and the industry is busy making skin flicks which try to outdo each other in terms of being "bold". Honey, spare me all the thought about those much publicised 17 smooches in Khwahish... they come and go without anyone even noticing them, as they are nothing but pecks (I think they even counted the times that the father pecks his daughter lovingly).
Mallika Sherawat is a female to look out for. She certainly has screen presence, and a great body. The publicity posters and teasers do not do her justice. She looks comparatively ugly in them. Himanshu is too wooden. It seems he hasn't forgotten his modelling days yet. In nearly all the scenes, all that he is aiming for is the right pose, and nothing beyond it. After a point, it gets downright hilarious. I have seen porn actors putting in more emotion in their roles than this dude. Shivaji Satam is wasted in a miniscule role. Mahamud Babai hams a lot.
Technique
Govind Menon had impressed with Danger, a small budget movie (Ashutosh Rana, Tara Deshpande, Jas Arora) which wasn't a hit, but was certainly watchable. In the midst of making that movie, he was kicked out and the producer Vasant Chheda finished it as Chheda said he was disappointed with the way the film was shaping up. Seems like all the credit for Danger should be given to Chheda, as Menon seems to have totally trashed this movie. Producer Vivek Nayak ought to have gone the Chheda way and kicked out Menon.
Music by Milind Sagar is not worth a mention. All the songs in the movie are sung by Asha Bhosle, which might come as a relief to some people going for this movie.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Why not??? I have lots of enemies in this world. In fact, I would be ready to send them free tickets to harass them through the movie.
But for my loyal readers... Stay away from this movie unless you think you are willing to endure 120+ minutes of torture just to see a skin show by Mallika.
Saw Khwahish on the first day of its release. This time not due to any personal likes, but because I had lots of requests pouring in for its review. Hmm... the perils of the trade I am in. I would consider Khwahish an occupational hazard for a movie reviewer.
Synopsis
Khwahish pretends to be a modern day look at a couple in love, and their trials and tribulations after marriage. The film is about Lekha Khorzuvekar (Mallika Sherawat, who had earlier debuted as Reena Lamba in Jeena Sirf Mere Liye, the Kareena-Tusshar dud) and Amar Ranawat (Himanshu Mallik, the loser from Tum Bin). Himanshu and Lekha are in love, and Himanshu wants to get laid. Mallika is the modern woman with morals, and is not ready to go the whole way before marriage. So, for the silliest of reasons, they decide to get married; though it looks like Himanshu is doing it to spite his father (Shivaji Satam in a role that does not offer much scope), a rich businessman. Enter the girl's father (Mahamud Babai), a poultry farmer; who after the initial scenes, starts getting on your nerves. Shivaji Satam refuses to toe the line, and tells Himanshu to complete his MBA, and then marry any girl of his choice; which seems logical enough to the lay user.
Hormones win in the end, and Himanshu gets married with Mallika, his father's disapproval notwithstanding. Mahamud helps them through this phase, and gives them money to tide over the time he might need to do his MBA.
After scenes of them living in a chawl, and Mallika taking music lessons to make ends meet, Amar gets his MBA and lands a job. They seem to settle into a life of marital bliss, in a nice home. When they realise that Himanshu cannot spare the time for Mallika, they try to come up with innovative ideas to spice up their lives. They arrange a get-together for old friends, where their joy lasts for one whole song, after which they are at their wit's end again. They think about having a baby, and find that they cannot. Tests reveal a deeper problem, and the last half an hour is about how they cope with it.
Analysis
Mumbai filmmakers should be punished for thinking that different necessarily means great. And, how different is Khwahish really, save the skin show. A supernatural thriller works (Raaz), and half the industry is busy making supernatural thrillers. A skin flick does just about decent business (Jism), and the industry is busy making skin flicks which try to outdo each other in terms of being "bold". Honey, spare me all the thought about those much publicised 17 smooches in Khwahish... they come and go without anyone even noticing them, as they are nothing but pecks (I think they even counted the times that the father pecks his daughter lovingly).
Mallika Sherawat is a female to look out for. She certainly has screen presence, and a great body. The publicity posters and teasers do not do her justice. She looks comparatively ugly in them. Himanshu is too wooden. It seems he hasn't forgotten his modelling days yet. In nearly all the scenes, all that he is aiming for is the right pose, and nothing beyond it. After a point, it gets downright hilarious. I have seen porn actors putting in more emotion in their roles than this dude. Shivaji Satam is wasted in a miniscule role. Mahamud Babai hams a lot.
Technique
Govind Menon had impressed with Danger, a small budget movie (Ashutosh Rana, Tara Deshpande, Jas Arora) which wasn't a hit, but was certainly watchable. In the midst of making that movie, he was kicked out and the producer Vasant Chheda finished it as Chheda said he was disappointed with the way the film was shaping up. Seems like all the credit for Danger should be given to Chheda, as Menon seems to have totally trashed this movie. Producer Vivek Nayak ought to have gone the Chheda way and kicked out Menon.
Music by Milind Sagar is not worth a mention. All the songs in the movie are sung by Asha Bhosle, which might come as a relief to some people going for this movie.
Verdict
Would I recommend this movie to someone?
Why not??? I have lots of enemies in this world. In fact, I would be ready to send them free tickets to harass them through the movie.
But for my loyal readers... Stay away from this movie unless you think you are willing to endure 120+ minutes of torture just to see a skin show by Mallika.
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