Movies to look out for this week


Well Done Abba [IMDB]

A driver reports to work 2 months late, from his only daughter's wedding. The movie is the tale he narrates to his employer

Cast: Boman Irani, Minissha Lamba, Samir Dattani

Direction: Shyam Benegal


Hum Tum Aur Ghost [IMDB]

A fashion photographer, who can talk to ghosts, decides to fulfil the wishes of three of them, much to the chagrin of his fiance

Cast: Arshad Warsi, Diya Mirza, Boman Irani

Direction: Kabeer Kaushik


Prem Kaa Game [IMDB]

An extra-marital comedy movie where the happily-married Prem cant keep his hands off his hot new neighbour. But is there more than meets the eye with the temptress ?

Cast: Arbaaz Khan, Tara Sharma, Madhuri Bhattacharya

Direction: Ashok Kheny/Indrajith Lankesh


Mittal v/s Mittal [IMDB]

Scion of Mittal family Karan is smitten by Mitali, whom he woos and marries, only to indulge in domestic abuse and marital rape. Mitali walks out of the marriage and into the courtroom ..

Cast: Rohit Roy, Rituparna Sengupta
Direction: Karan Razdan


Love Happens [IMDB]

A widower whose book about coping with loss turns him into a best-selling self-help guru. But when he falls for a woman who attends one of his seminars, he learns that he hasn't yet truly confronted his wife's passing.

Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Jennifer Aniston
Direction: Brandon Camp

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Love Sex Aur Dhokha


Dibakar Banerjee …. take a bow !!
No seriously, if there ever was a contender to three consecutive National Awards, it has to be this man !!
Three movies – Khosla Ka Ghosla, Oye Lucky Lucky Oye & Love Sex & Dhokha - completely different from each other, yet each a fabulous watch. While his first movie Khosla Ka Ghosla, was his most mainstream work, he got better with Oye Lucky and now LSD is right up there with the all-time greats. It might seem like a preposterous claim, but I stand by it – it is easily one of the best movies to come out of Bollywood. And in wicked coolness, its right up there with Coen brothers and even Tarantino.

Director Dibakar Banerjee’s does repeat a few themes in all his movies. One is them is the city of Delhi – this man knows Delhi like no other. The other is the common man – I am yet to see a greek-god looking hero, dance numbers or foreign locales in his movies – his forte is common people like you and me. Khosla Ka Ghosla was about a middle-class-family cheated out of their land, Oye Lucky was about a lower-middle-class boy’s ambition to be bigger than his circumstances warranted. LSD goes a little darker and explores the camera obsession that has taken hold of our society – again among common people you might see everyday.

While most of us are happy taking photos/videos of our birthdays etc (and posting them on facebook), we also take an inordinate amount of enjoyment being able to peek into others’ lives – reality shows being the best example. LSD is a deranged take on this camera mayhem that has exploded in the public consciousness in the last decade or so. The actors in LSD are rank newcomers – I didn’t recognize any of the faces. The dialogues are very unpolished and spontaneous – very everyday. And the video quality is grainy, shaky and sometimes out of focus – like an amateur’s camcorder footage. And yet its so gripping you wouldn’t want a moment’s distraction

The movie comprises of three separate stories – joined together in a manner reminiscent of Pulp Fiction. The three stories CAN be titled Love, Sex and Dhokha respectively – but then again, all these three elements are there in each of these three stories ! The three stories are captured in handycam, security camera and spy cam respectively – giving the ultra realistic feel to the movie. And do not be concerned, although this movie is about our voyeuristic tendencies, its not a voyeur itself – there are hardly any explicit scenes. But it still not a watch-with-parents-movie either.

The completely unheralded starcast of LSD actually do a fabulous job. The characters are clearly etched out and memorable. From the Aditya Chopra-worshipping-student filmmaker to the bitchy Punjabi salesgirl – you will find a lot to like. And another hidden gem of the movie is the music. Released just a week before the movie release, the title track is totally awesome – it has the potential to be another Emosional Attyachar – and is surprisingly sung by Kailash Kher. Totally unrecognizable !! Not to mention, the music director is Sneha Khanwalkar – a lady !!

With LSD, Dibakar Banerjee has truly raised the bar for what can be considered realistic cinema. With each of the stories each having a smoking firebomb twist at the end, its extremely entertaining as well. An absolute must watch



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Movies to look out for this week

LSD : Love Sex Aur Dhokha [IMDB]

LSD explores the human emotions of love, sex & betrayal told through the chaos of the camera that has invaded all our lives

Cast: A bunch of unknowns

Direction: Dibakar Banerjee


Lahore [IMDB]

Based on kickboxing competition, ‘Lahore’ showcases an attempt to unite archrivals - India and Pakistan, through this sport.

Cast: Aanaahad, Nafisa Ali, Sushant Singh

Direction: Sanjay Puransingh Chauhan


Shaapit [IMDB]

The story of a girl who is trapped in a generational curse, which does not allow her love & marriage and her lover who vows to conquer this curse

Cast: Aditya Narayan, Shweta Agarwal

Direction: Vikram Bhatt


The Book of Eli [IMDB]

A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind

Cast: Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman

Direction: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes


Knowing [IMDB]

A teacher opens a time capsule that has been dug up at his son's elementary school; in it are some chilling predictions -- some that have already occurred and others that are about to happen

Cast: Nicholas Cage, Chandler Canterbury
Direction: Alex Proyas


The Young Victoria [IMDB]

A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert

Cast: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend

Direction: Jean-Marc Vallée


Gamer [IMDB]

Set in a future-world where humans can control other humans in mass-scale, multi-player online gaming environments, a star player from a game called "Slayers" looks to regain his independence while taking down the game's mastermind

Cast: Gerard Butler, Amber Valletta
Direction: Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor


The Lovely Bones [IMDB]

Centers on a young girl who has been murdered and watches over her family - and her killer - from heaven. She must weigh her desire for vengeance against her desire for her family to heal

Cast: Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci
Direction: Peter Jackson

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Movies to look out for this week

No reviews this weekend as I am out of town (and frankly none of the movies seem that good)

Alice in Wonderland [IMDB]

19-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp
,
Direction: Tim Burton


Right Yaaa Wrong [IMDB]

A story of a bitter rivalry of two cops, one of which is a prime suspect for his own wife's murder and the other who is heading the investigation

Cast: Sunny Deol, Irfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma

Direction: Neeraj Pathak



Hide & Seek [IMDB]

A story about 4 friends, whose terrible past catches up to them and then how they get back together to fight it

Cast: Purab Kohli, Arjun Bajwa

Direction: Shawn Aranha


Amelia [IMDB]

A look at the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to make a flight around the world

Cast: Hillary Swank, Richard Gere, Ewan McGregor

Direction: Mira Nair


Na Ghar Ke Na Ghat Ke

Adventures of a rural simpleton Devki Nandan Tripathi in Mumbai

Cast: Rahul Aggarwal, Narayani Shastri, Om Puri

Direction: Rahul Aggarwal

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Road, Movie


Never thought I would do this to an Abhay Deol movie – but what the fuck is Road, Movie ?? Unintelligible grammar in the name aside, Road, Movie is one of those terrible art movies that don’t have make any friggin sense whichever way you look at it ! This movie actually gives ‘film festival’ movies a bad name. Because of it, people are going to be wary of the next ‘film festival’ movie that comes along – and movies like the fabulous Road to Sangam will suffer.
(But just to show that I will not be cowed down :) , I will try this weekend’s other ‘film festival’ release Thanks Maa)

The only other thing you will come out of the movie apart from a ‘wtf’ face, is the stark beauty of Kutch landscape. While the Rajasthan landscape has sand dunes etc, nothing impacts you like scene of white land stretching off to the horizon in all directions. The movie has added Kutch to my list of places-to-visit-soon.

The movie itself is difficult to categorize. It IS a road movie, in the sense that the movie is about a trip that the protagonists undertake, but to what end no one knows. Is it a movie about the water bandits in the desert instead ? Or is it about coming-of-age of the main character Vishnu ?

But all these questions will feel meaningless after you see the showdown sequence between Abhay Deol and the water bandits. Till now I am scratching my head about how to interpret the scene. The village fair in Kutch gives you warnings that things are not going to be linear from now on, but after this scene, there really isn’t anything to say in favour of the movie. Even the dependable Abhay Deol hasn’t given his best to the movie – he has just one grimace expression for most of the movie. The child artist Mohammed Faisal does well though and the other two performances are reasonable.

The moronic screenplay makes any acting heroics of the lead characters irrelevant (not that there were any) and that’s where I want to end this review. Avoid this movie at all costs – don’t watch it even on TV. The rating is solely because of the nice visuals in the movie.


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Movies to look out for this week


Road, Movie [IMDB]

A young man's journey across the mythic Indian landscape becomes a life changing odyssey

Cast: Abhay Deol, Satish Kaushik, Tannishtha Chatterjee

Direction: Dev Benegal



Atithi Tum Kab Jaaoge [IMDB]

When an unannounced guest refuses to leave, the harried couple resort to extreme measures to get him out

Cast: Ajay Devgan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Paresh Rawal

Direction: Ashwini Dhir



Legion [IMDB]

An out-of-the-way diner becomes the unlikely battleground for the survival of the human race

Cast: Paul Bettany, Dennis Quaid, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Tenney

Direction: Scott Stewart


Thanks Maa [IMDB]

A 12 year-old street urchin Municipality takes it upon himself to find the mother of a two-day-old infant he rescues from a dog

Cast: Master Fayaaz, Alok Nath, Barry John

Direction: Irfan Kamil


Man on Wire [IMDB]

A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century."

Cast: Philippe Petit, Jean François Heckel
Direction: James Marsh


Rokkk

Two sisters fall under the curse of an accursed house and try to find the story behind it

Cast: Udita Goswami, Shaad Randhawa, Nishigandha Wad

Direction: Rajesh Ranshinge
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The Princess And The Frog


Even after the universally acclaimed new-age animations like Wall-E or Cars, quite a few people feel that animations are meant solely for the children, and no serious adults should be caught watching them. I really feel sad for those people, because in their lame posturing, they are missing out some of the greatest joys cinema has to offer. I confess I am an unabashed fan of animations – and The Princess And The Frog is right up there with best that Disney has offered so far.

For the past few years though, Disney hasn’t been on the cutting edge of the animation - with Pixar producing most of the recent animation masterpieces like Wall-E, Cars, Incredibles, Ratatouille etc and Dreamworks producing Shrek, Kung Fu Panda & Madagascar. All the above movies are all a product of CGI animation and look more expressive and real, compared to the old style 2D animations like Aladdin. The Princess And The Frog too is rendered in the old style, but and what it lacks in technology, it makes up with cheerfulness, vivacity and song-and-dance.

It is a Disney musical like Lion King or Mulan – with lot of fun songs and amazing choreography. The one with the fireflies is incredibly vivid and beautiful – sure to bring a wide smile to your face. And it has its fair share of lovable characters, without which any Disney movie is incomplete. There is a Louis, the jazz-loving alligator and Ray, the romantic firefly. The story is a tweak to the old fable about a Princess and a Frog - only, the story is set in the early 20th century. Where a hard working waitress Tiana is saving up for her own restaurant and runs into the visiting Prince Naveen of Maledonia.

The story is formulaic, and Tiana and prince Naveen are adorably cute – and the baddies are clearly bad. But even with all the predictability, the movie is a joy to watch. So if you feel like you need a helping of good cheer and fun, watch The Princess And The Frog this week. And watch out for the blind Mama Odie.


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Karthik Calling Karthik


Innumerable times, I have been disappointed in the second half of a movie after a very promising first half - regular readers (the two of you that are out there somewhere) would remember a lot of earlier reviews, ranting about this very weakness of Indian directors. However, for the first time since I can't remember when, the second half of a movie was immensely better than the first half. And because of it, Karthik Calling Karthik is definitely recommended – a slick psychological thriller quite like the ones from Hollywood.

Debutante director Vijay Lalwani almost messes it up in the first half an hour though, crafting a loser-to-hero story about the submissive Karthik Narayan, who works in a construction firm office. His abusive boss, office colleagues and even his landlord keep bossing him around. Farhan Akhtar is top-notch in his acting and he plays the moping loser very well. However, the transformation from the ugly duckling to a swan was very amateurishly done and you sort of miss Farhan’s previous movies’ attention to detail.

The story moves onto become a fluffy romance till the interval, with Deepika Padukone serving admirably as eye candy and acting passably. However, the mood in the second half undergoes a drastic change – and it is here that director Vijay Lalwani’s script flexes its muscles. Things become quite intriguing and suspenseful as the phone continues to ring – and our guesses about it fall flat with each “tring tring”. A big reason I liked the movie is because it does not spoonfeed you with each and every thought of Karthik as they go through his head – sometimes you have to try and guess what he is upto. Thinking man’s entertainment I like to call it.

The final explanation of the happenings completely took me by surprise – because it was simplistic yet sneaky. Just like a good thriller is supposed to be - and I loved the movie for it. Most directors fall in the trap of treating their audience as dimwits – but not Lalwani. His writing is a good mix of the obvious and the probable – and he leaves a question or two unanswered at the end.

So even though the beginning of the movie might put you off, bear with it and Karthik Calling Karthik will surely entertain you. It is a refreshing and well thought-out story – so it’s a recommended watch for this weekend


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