7 Khoon Maaf

After turning several of the Bard’s works into Hindi cinema masterpieces, Vishal Bhardwaj chose to work on an Indian story this time. His choice of Ruskin Bond’s Susanna’s Seven Husbands is consistent with the dark theme of his previous movies. The high decibel promotion of the movie had made all and sundry know that it is about Susanna killing all her husbands and the implication automatically is that it a murder movie or a thriller of sorts. However, 7 Khoon Maaf turns out to be a brooding movie about a woman’s simple desire to find true love – and her sadness at her repeated failures

Of course, this is just a movie and debating on the justification of killing off husbands is completely useless. So leaving that aside, it is quite charming to see the life of an rich Anglo-Indian lady (in what is presumably Panchgani), living in her ancestral bungalow, surrounded by antique furniture, a horse stable and even having a church in her own grounds. She is loyally served by her butler, maid and her father’s old stable-hand throughout her life – even in the inexplicable deaths of her husbands. All the three staff do amazingly well – especially the mute stable-hand/jockey. And without spoiling the fun - the maid is a surprise to say the least.

All the husbands are from different walks of life – and they each represent one unique aspect of the man of Susanna's dreams. But they are all flawed in some way - and it proves fatal for them. Except for John Abraham’s rock star act, all the other husbands perform exceedingly well – never letting you guess how or why it all goes wrong. The standout among them is Annu Kapoor as inspector Keemat Lal and the russian Aleksandr Dyachenko.
[Just to show that women can never be satisfied - unlike men who just want only one thing :D]

Priyanka gives this movie all she has got in acting. Which makes for very engrossing watching. If I had to pick a flaw, it would not be in her acting – but the person that she is. Priyanka is very good looking, and can act fairly well – but she comes across as very straight and open. There is no mystery about her – that intangible mystique – which you just can't fathom, Paeans have been written by poets throughout the ages about this very aura of mystery around women - and Susanna was one character which demanded that mystery. Like Smita Patil did in her times – and what Tabu has in this generation. Tabu would have blown everyone away with this role.

Linking all these stories up is debutante Vivaan Shah as the orphan boy whose schooling Susanna sponsors – and who is also the narrator for the movie. His fresh face somehow lends a little more credence to his story of a childhood crush – and hence contributes significantly to making the story believable.

Vishal Bhardwaj has not pushed any boundaries with 7 Khoon Maaf – which people have come to expect of him given his body of work. It is a linear account of the life of Susanna Anna-Marie Johannes and her loves. As with all of Vishal’s previous works, 7 Khoon Maaf is brooding and dark, but Susanna connects with the viewer much more than any of his previous lead characters. It makes you feel her initial euphoria of getting married, then her despair, and finally her resignation to fate. All of it adds up to a movie with soul.




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No One Killed Jessica

Just before writing this, I was watching the Koffee With Karan episode with Rani Mukherjee and Vidya Balan. It wraps up a very loud and aggressive promotion for this movie that Rani and Vidya have mounted – appearing on numerous shows (reality & otherwise), on nearly every channel. The promotion had needless sexual overtones – lesbian kisses and erotic thumb-sucking – completely at odds with the serious piece of moviemaking that is No One Killed Jessica. Though it raised the profile of the movie – making it visible to a larger audience (and probably got the single-screen audiences somewhat interested in a movie without a hero), I wished it had mounted a different kind of campaign instead of the regular publicity that marks every big movie.

Promotions aside, No One Killed Jessica is another of the well-intentioned movies that do not quite become great cinema. Based on the famous Jessica Lall killing and the public outrage caused by the travesty of justice, it has a great victory-of-good-over-evil story. But unfortunately that same well-known story becomes an impediment for it because it leaves it very little scope for taking liberties with the script. Although the disclaimers claim that it is a hybrid of reality and fiction, apart from dramatizing a coupe of characters, the story sticks to the original events as much as it can

The movie is divided into two clear halves. The first half belongs to Vidya Balan, the quiet and determined sister who will not give up on her sister’s killing. Running after recalcitrant witnesses and attending tedious hearings of the case that dragged on for several years, Vidya portrays Sabrina Lall with a stoic face and steely resolve – you can just feel that she is someone who you cannot budge once she has made her mind. A role without any histrionics, somewhat diametrically opposite to Rani’s – yet I appreciated her performance far more than Rani’s

Rani Mukherjee gets the bolder role – the abuse-spewing, hard-nosed journalist who apparently loves to be described as a “bitch” (don’t ask why). Her opening scene from Kargil tells us all we need to know about which real-life character she is inspired from. Thankfully, at least she didn’t crop her hair like Preity did in Lakshya. The second half of the movie belongs to her completely – and opposed to what their promos seem to suggest, Vidya and Rani have only two scenes together in the movie. Also, Rani’s loud dialogues seem a tad over-dramatized and distract from the seriousness of the movie.

Some other smaller characters make a super impression though. Shireesh Sharma, who plays the accused Manu’s politician father, does a very interesting job as the brooding, hesitant politician instead of the obviously-upto-no-good netas portrayed in our movies. So is the police inspector in-charge of the investigation, who again has a very interesting take on the corrupt cop. Also, Manu Sharma’s mother plays a hilarious caricature of a filmi-mom, with a single dialogue through out “Dekhiye ji, mere Monu ko kuch nahi hona chahiye”.

Director Raj Kumar Gupta shows some of his Aamir brilliance in No One Killed Jessica, but unfortunately cannot match the same taut tension of his debut movie. It is still a very solid movie, where your anticipation is heightened before many pivotal events – but somehow, he never manages to land a cinematic knockout blow. Even the climactic scene between Rani and Vidya turns out to be a damp squib. It is worth a watch to see how blatantly power can be abused in our country, and maybe give us apathetic young people a little wakeup call, but not for its cinematic genius.



P.S. - The Dilli track sounds super awesome in the multiplex
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Phas Gaye Re Obama

The setting is 2008, when the entire world is reeling under the financial tsunami of the Wall street collapse. And the tremors of those events are being felt as far as rural India, where a group of bumbling “khandaani” kidnappers are ruing the “recession” that has made their plight pitiful – victims are offering ridiculously low ransom payments, no one is paying protection money and things are so bad that they cant afford even outgoing calls on mobiles.

Amidst this gloominess, the semi-literate member of the group Anee announces the arrival of NRI Mr Shastri to their town and the kidnappers immediately see a pot of gold with him. Unfortunately for them, other “senior” kidnappers in the area are also seeing stacks of dollars in front of them. In the midst of all this, imagine if Mr NRI is himself bankrupt and is in India only to sell off his ancestral property.

Phas Gaye Re Obama’s story flows well, and a few sequences are especially memorable. Especially the organised kidnapping business, with its bank-like ransom handling facilities and a “kidnapping receipt” - which is to be shown in case of any other kidnapping attempt and is valid for 12 months :) !! There is no sag anywhere in its runtime and the laughs are generated by its quirky characters and their rustic nature (it carries the tradition from the previous gangster capers Sankat City and 99 - both of which I adore).

The “khandaani” kidnapper, Bhaisaab, played by Sanjay Mishra, is a delight to watch. And giving him company is Oye Lucky Lucky Oye’s Manu Rishi – the America-worshipping, small-towner Anee – who gets his dreamer yet gullible act pitch perfect. Rajat Kapoor plays the hassled NRI effortlessly – he seems made for these kind of roles only. Neha Dhupia was the only misfit – her character too unrealistic and her performance nothing to write home about. Amol Gupte carries from where he left off in Kaminey, a natural gang leader.

The movie holds your attention well for its entire runtime and the ending is not quite what you expected – so full marks to the director for that as well. There are no songs etc to distract. A solid effort by debutante director Subhash Kapoor, but left an aftertaste very similar to Sankat City etc. If it was not preceded by the above mentioned movies, I would have rated it a little higher. And others, who haven’t watched those movies will definitely have a lot of fun watching Phas Gaye Re Obama



PS - Even after watching the movie, I did not quite understand the title, although there are definitely a lot of Obama references in the movie
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RED

Retired, but Extremely Dangerous – put Bruce Willis in a movie named that and you are definitely looking at wolf-whistling time. And the movie RED tries not to disappoint you, especially in the opening minutes. (If you cant make out by now, I am a ‘die-hard’ Bruce Willis fan). The movie opens with Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) leading a dull retired life in the suburbs alone. And his only excitement is the politely flirting with an employee of the pension department call center. Till some masked commando-types try to take him out one night

Frank takes out the silent attackers in a flurry of punches that you couldn’t even see properly – and then even a hailstorm of bullets from the outside doesn’t ruffle his hair (not that he has any, but you get the idea) as he finishes off all the baddies. Suspecting they might target Sarah (the pensions dept employee), Frank convinces (kidnaps) her to join him as he rounds up his ex-colleagues to find out why someone is so pissed with him

Enter a mischievous Morgan Freeman, who is spending his last days at a retirement home, the technology-hating paranoid John Malkovich, the ex-KGB Brian Cox who doesn’t mind joining his erstwhile enemies as long as it promises some action and Helen Mirren the lethal but dainty looking bed-and-breakfast owner. These guys obviously have a history together – and there is a twinkle in their eye when they recount older adventures – or while fighting off CIA assassins.

Soon they track down the source of the orders, and as is the case with all such movies, the rogue tends to be someone pretty high up. So our REDs hatch an intricate plan to reach their target. And ofcourse things go kabooom – with spectacular explosions all around. Thankfully, the explosions are not the gory type and blood shown is minimal – keeping its entertainment focus intact.

So does the movie fulfil all its promises ? Well, not all. It is a through-and-through entertainer, with no dull moments. The mood of the movie is borderline funny and the oldies keep indulging in playful banter with each other. It is the action which disappoints a little in the second half. While the first half has a couple of awesome sequences with Bruce Willis stepping out of a spinning cat to shoot down an attacker, the second half is bereft of any such wolf-whistle moments.

A couple more of those would have made this an AWESOME movie.


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Dabangg

We are already looking at Dabangg getting the biggest opening ever, bigger than 3 Idiots. And most of us have had our curiousity piqued after the ultra rustic trailers featuring Chulbul Pandey and Munni Badnaam – we are wondering, is it the real thing ? However, even after trying very hard to like it, I can’t describe Dabangg as the jhakaas movie it is made out to be. Sure it has got some kickass sequences and Salman clearly is the only one who can carry this role off, such is his persona, but Dabangg comes across wanting where it matters most – its dialogues

We have all seen the trailers with the “itne chhed” and the “haramzada” dialogue – and they got us chuckling the first time we saw them. Unfortunately, you have already seen the best dialogues of the movie – there is nothing else in the movie that is as much fun. The dialogues in the movie are all one liners (thankfully no rambling dialogues) – but there are no more ‘awesome’ dialogues.

The story is very similar to Telugu blockbusters – a story set in some rustic location, where the kickass no-nonsense hero will decimate villain goons army single-handedly, but not before sorting out some family complications. There is of course, a village belle whom the hero romances. In Dabangg, the hero is a police inspector who calls himself Robinhood Pandey – who apprehends bank robbers, but doesn’t turn in the loot to the government. And he is not averse to dealing with politicians etc to counter political pressures. But he is essentially good at heart, even if he is a little quirky about it.

Acting wise Salman seems to be having a ball – just look at him dance in the middle of the fight to a caller tune. Arbaaz Khan plays a very subdued role thankfully and Sonu Sood plays the ‘bhaiyya’ politician very well. Newcomer Sonakshi Sinha seems to have quite a spark in her – her performance is quite spirited and she looks pretty good. So no complaints acting-wise. The song Tere Mast Mast Do Nain stands out as a really melodius number while Munni Badnaam is just pure awesomeness.

Finally, it all comes down to the fun factor. For a movie that sells itself for full paisa vasool masti, it was not enough fun. The opening sequence is nicely done – with visceral action and fun ‘Chulbul Pandey moments’. But the tempo doesn’t last and there aren’t enough ‘Chulbul Pandey moments’ in the rest of the movie. I am not bothering with the story etc because in a movie like this, no one should care for it. But it falls short on the ‘wolf whistle’ moments and were it not for Munni Badnam, it would get only 2.5 stars.


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Tere Bin Laden

If any of you sat through that colossal debacle called Khatta Meetha and swore off comedies (and Akshay Kumar in particular), this review is just to reassure you – that there is comedy beyond the Akshay Kumar/Golmaal brand of slapstick. Which wont make your ears or head hurt – and curse yourself for wasting so much of your time and money. Which will actually make you laugh – from within, genuinely. Presenting, Tere Bin Laden.

A bunch of unknown faces make up this witty little comedy - with a debutant director Abhishek Sharma behind the camera. The only known face is Sugandha Garg - the spunky girl from Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na. The lead actor is actually a pop star in Pakistan – I am sure that is going to raise some eye brows. You’d be more intrigued when I tell you the movie is actually set in Pakistan – though I doubt if they actually shot much there. There are a little too many explosions going on there nowadays for it to be conducive to movie making

Nevertheless, the story is about an America-worshipping young reporter Ali, whose biggest ambition in life is to emigrate to the US of A and become a reporter there. However, he finds himself blacklisted following some comic errors and now he is a reporter for a dilapidated pakistani tv channel run by a crazy boss. However, when he and his sidekick cameraman stumble upon a chicken farmer who looks remarkably like Osama Bin Laden, he thinks he has found the ticket of his dreams. However, he doesn’t have a clue what impact his subsequent actions might have.

As events go out of control, Ali tries desperately to put a lid on things – but as you can imagine, things exactly don’t go according to plan. The comedy of the movie is good and clean – with no reference to homosexuality, or shit or any of the other lame props used in most of our mainstream comedies. The jokes are well spread out and the pace of the movie picks up well after a slightly sluggish start. There is no romantic angle to distract – only over-the-top characters, each of one has his own peculiarity to make you laugh. The chaste Pakistani punjabi also works very well, especially when delivered in form of abuses

Tere Bin Laden works quite well as a funny movie – it has enough original moments which you would chuckle about, much after you leave the theatre. It is a recommended watch for everyone, especially given the dearth of good humorous movies at our box office. What stops this movie from being one of the all-time favourites is its too silly storyline. A slightly more intelligent script and a little more mature humour would probably have made it a masterpiece.


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Shutter Island

Martin Scorcese once again delivers a gripping movie that is difficult to take eyes off. Intense, and scary in parts, Shutter Island takes an old story and makes it into a good movie – a sort of a guide to junior directors as to how a thriller should be executed. The only times you might take your eyes off the screen is if you are one of the easily-scared – because a few sequences seem right out of a horror movie. The pace wears off a bit towards the end, but the overall experience is still good.

The director actor combination of Scorcese-Di Caprio is formidable (Departed, Aviator) and they don’t disappoint here as well. Leonardo Di Caprio does great in the role of a suspicious US Marshal – who along with his partner Mark Ruffalo – is investigating the escape of a murder convict from a hospital of the criminally insane. The mental asylum-prison set on an island in the outer Boston Harbor – and the only way to escape is through a boat.

Soon after their arrival, a cyclone lashes the island – complicating matters with an already enigmatic hospital staff – led by the inscrutable Ben Kingley. Di Caprio has his own personal demons to battle as well – how he fares in his quest is the story of Shutter Island.

While the treatment of the story is exemplary – making you question any and everything – as a thriller should, the end could have been a little tighter. Maybe even an alternative ending could have been used. But the director makes up for it by ending the movie on an enigmatic note – the last dialogue from Di Caprio could mean a number of things – its for the viewer to decide

The somewhat weak ending (and an old story) robs the otherwise excellent movie of some of it sheen. Shutter Island may not be one of the director’s greatest works, but its still a very enjoyable watch – definitely better than the over-hyped Raajneeti.


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Date Night

Date Night was a movie that I didn’t think much of at first – and gave it a miss in the week of its release. However, numerous good reviews on twitter made us reconsider it – especially since this week’s new releases didn’t really have anything to offer in spite of the 6-7 odd movies releasing. And it turned out to be a decent entertainer just as promised – not a must-watch, but a good timepass.

The story doesn’t pack a gag-a-minute as it initially promises – but the leading duo sort of make up for it. Steve Carell is a little subdued here, but he still delivers a Hugh Grant-esque performance (minus the good looks and the British accent, I might add). Tina Fey is the star of the show – transforming from a boring soccer mom to a pole dancer at a strip club – she really lets her hair down and has fun

The movie is essentially mistaken identity comedy – boring suburban couple get a shock when their best friends announce that they are separating because “they have become like roommates”. Hoping to spice up their own life, the Fosters head for Manhattan’s swishest new restaurant – and when they fail to get a table there, they claim an unclaimed reservation in the name of the Tripplehorns. However, they bite more than they can chew as they find out in the evening – with bad guys with guns, rogue cops and the Mafioso for company.

The script could have done with a few more clever lines – but Steve Carell and Tina Fey make good use of the ones available – especially the scenes with a shirtless Mark Wahlberg. Both have great comic timing – and make this really unbelievable night somewhat real. The plot about gangsters and the police – especially the climax – is a little absurd though

All in all, it’s a good watch, compared to this week’s underwhelming releases –especially if you are bored of the IPL circus.


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Valentine's Day

Frankly, it is becoming a little difficult to write detailed reviews about romantic movies – they are all essentially similar, just the actors change around. Valentine’s day, if you havent noticed (Movies to look out for this week), has a HUGE star cast (all A-listers) – and so in that sense it’s a pleasure to watch. Its an ensemble story, reminiscent of last year’s He’s Just Not That Into You (and Love Actually way back in 2003). Its similarly entertaining, and its predictable. The only thing lacking in the oomph factor – none of the females are that hot really. Misses a Scarlet Johansson if you ask me

There are far too many storylines in the movie – recounting all of them would essentially give the whole movie away. There are the usual old couple, a young couple, a couple who hate Valentine’s day etc stories. The tracks do not throw any real surprises at you – except maybe the Bradley Cooper one – and the best friend’s story is a little too predictable. But its all wrapped in a nice mushy packet for you to watch with your loved one.

Single guys – this movie is really not suitable for you. Girls, you watch any romantic comedy, so I guess you will anyway watch this movie. Couples/Married folks – you don’t have a choice, do you :) ?

The movie doesn’t quite reach the heights of director Garry Marshall’s previous works Pretty Woman or Runaway Bride, inspite of Julia Roberts being present in the movie. It is a decent timepass - nothing more, nothing less


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Raat Gayi Baat Gayi

There is something about ‘wordy’ ‘conversational’ movies which makes you feel all intelligent – even with not-so- intellectual dialogues. With a cast comprising of Vinay Pathak, Rajat Kapoor & Ranvir Shorey (cameo), you know you are going to get an intelligent movie – even though occasionally the same crowd does produce a Via Darjeeling too. So atleast for a few people, this star-cast is enough to make the movie a must-watch. For most other people, they need a little more convincing.

Unfortunately, in the case of Raat Gayi Baat Gayi, I wont try to convince you that this is a movie you have to watch. Because even though it takes a refreshing look at marriage in our modern lives, it doesn’t give you any new insight or break any new paths in filmmaking. The end is a bit predictable and unlike the promos, the movie is non-frivolous for the most part. It’s a fresh story with great acting all around, but the story falters just enough in the second half to make it miss the recommended tag. However, if you enjoy your ‘intelligent’ movies, you should probably catch this movie

Raat Gayi Baat Gayi starts off in the morning with a hungover Rahul (Rajat Kapoor) trying desperately to remember what happened at a party the previous night after he was flirting with the mysterious & sexy Sophia (Neha Dhupia). To make matters first, his wife Mitali (Iravati Harshe) seems in a foul mood. Fearing the worst, he calls on his friend Amit (Vinay Pathak), only to find him having his own issues with his wife Nandita (Anu Menon). They seek the help of their third friend Saxena (Dilip Tahil), host of the party, to find out what happened to Rahul the previous night.

If the outline seems like the plot of the movie Hangover, you are mistaken. Because the short memory-lapse is the only common thing between the two movies. As Rahul and Amit desperately try to figure out who Sophia was and what happened last night, we are introduced to all the three wives and we go back and see the party from the view point of all the 6 people. The individual flashbacks introduce new facets of the story, like layers of a cake – in a manner similar to the Ayesha Takia-starrer Sunday or Via Darjeeling.

The first half of the movie is more enjoyable as Rahul and Amit talk about their respective problems and the previous night’s party. Vinay Pathak really shines in these kind of conversational scenes – stealing a laugh with a straight face - while the director keeps the proceedings as realistic as possible. The only fly in the ointment is the slow pace of the narrative as conversations in the party introduce us to the main characters. The story moves quickly in the second half, but after Sophia’s discovery, it loses its sense of mystery.

Acting is laudable by all the 6 major characters – especially Anu Menon (or Lola Kutty) turning in a surprising non-caricaturish performance and Iravati Harshe reminding us what a sublime performer she is. Neha Dhupia makes a very alluring Sophia, without any needless sleaze - the backless party dress being a masterchoice. Makrand Deshpande, Sudhir Mishra, Ranvir Shorey all have cameos – and their performances leaves nothing to complain about.

Raat Gayi Baat Gayi suffers in the closure of the story – where the makers try to become conventional after building an entire movie on errant behaviour. Funnily, my last thought while walking out of the movie hall was whether I would have been able to tolerate a Jolly Saxena in real life. I am just a pompous ass sometimes :)


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Avatar

By the time I finally managed to catch Avatar (yesterday), it seems the entire world has already seen it and everyone is … er …. raving about it, to put it mildly. So you have to pardon me if I went with sky-high expectations – and came back not too impressed.

Knowing very well that the storyline is not the reason why someone watches Avatar, I still cant help myself from commenting on the hackneyed script. Did they think no one else in the world has watched The Last Samurai or The Ant Bully or the numerous such movies ? All of them have the SAME plot – hero lives with a different species/race and he becomes one of them and fights his own people. Here the location is planet Pandora and the race is the Na’vi people of Pandora.
Even otherwise, the storyline is really predictable - you would run up pretty high numbers if you start counting movie clichés.

The visuals ofcourse, are breathtaking – colors and imagination have run riot on Pandora. The forests is magical with its glowing trees, lighted water and twirly winged lizards. The animals of Pandora are stylized versions of regular animals – the horse, the rhino, the dog – and the flying creatures resemble dragons (without the fire breath ofcourse). It’s a fascinating landscape with flying mountains, huge waterfalls and giant trees – James Cameron didn’t restrict himself when he was painting this landscape. The quality of the animation can be gauged from that fact that most of the times its impossible to tell that the human characters are animated.

However, while the computer generated imagery was pitch perfect, I didn’t find anything impressive about the 3D aspect. It didn’t add anything to the movie at all – I didn’t see any reason why the 2D wouldn’t have been equally fun to watch. But I have to qualify that I watched it at Movietime at The Hub – and their projector or glasses might have been the culprit. Its not the best of theatres Bombay has to offer

Avatar is definitely a major technical achievement and visually marvellous. Great cinema it is not. So whether to watch it or not? I think I am going to discount my less-than-stellar-3D experience and recommend a watch. Hopefully your 3D experience will be better than mine



(I think I should also mention that The Hub is the only place I have seen where you have to BUY paper 3D glasses for Rs. 30 each to watch the movie – in addition to your ticket price ! The tickets were pricey as it is – and usually 3D glasses are given for a deposit or included in the ticket price. Needless to say, I will be trying to avoid this place if possible

While we are on the subject of rants against multiplexes, I want to talk about my experience as a really avid cinephile in Bombay. Fame Cinemas and Cinemax are the best I have encountered so far. Their ticket booking system are more robust – I have probably had zero or maybe one failure so far in 3 years. And I book 95% of my movies online. The other reason I like them is that they were the first to jump on the mobile booking bandwagon more than 2 years back. Fame is on ngpay and Cinemax has its own mobile application. Movies start within 10 minutes of schedule time and there never has been any technical glitches that I recall.

PVR has the newest and posh multiplexes in Bombay, because of its locations at Juhu and Phoenix Mills. Seating etc is best among all the multiplexes but unfortunately their ticketing system is the worst. Can you believe it that their website itself would work on Firefox (anything apart from IE) till 4 months back ? Forget booking tickets – just the homepage wouldn’t open ! The online ticketing system is hopelessly fragile. I would say atleast 30-40% of my bookings with PVR fail the first time – and I have to redo them. This weekend was the limit though - I tried booking a 3 Idiots show 4 times – and failed – money being charged to me everytime !
(Btw, yesterday I called the customer support and then wrote a scathing email to their Head, Customer Support. He called back offering to book the tickets himself, but I had already booked tickets elsewhere)

Fun Cinemas, is at the bottom of my multiplex list despite having a robust ticketing system and being one of the pioneers on ngpay. Its just a horribly managed cinema – movies never start on time, there have been inordinate delays at random moments – including a 30 minute intermission once and a 20 minute projector breakdown one other time. And once this summer, they even turned off the AC in the lobby citing cost-cutting as a reason. This and numerous other reasons make it absolutely the multiplex to avoid. Unfortunately, it is the the only multiplex screening English movies at late night or running some foreign movies – which make it unavoidable at times.

INOX I have hardly used once or twice and don’t have any comments)

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Radio

Most of you probably would never consider watching a Himesh movie. But if you decide to, I would suggest you give Radio a try. Not because he has really improved as an actor – he isn’t anywhere close. But this movie is overall entertaining, its completely set in young sensibilities (coffee, facebook etc) and is in a way pleasing on the eyes (the two leading ladies ofcourse)

Debutant director Ishaan Trivedi has a lot of ideas, but he hasn’t got the execution down to a pat yet. The story he narrates is very in our times – a young couple divorced but still friends, attraction towards someone at work and commitment issues. He chooses to go with chapter-wise screenplay (reminiscent of Pyar Ke Side Effects) and goes back-and-forth a couple of times – which is part of why the movie appears refreshing. Non linear timelines or chapter-wise narration aren’t new things – but are pleasantly executed in Radio. Especially check the chapter names.

But the main reason you should watch Radio is our man Himesh Reshammiya. While he isn’t dancing or judo-kicking villains this time, he has some of the funniest one-liners of the year. Delivered seriously, ofcourse. So, while the movie for the most part, is very sorted out, few of his dialogues that are so incredible cheesy and banal that you cant help but burst out laughing. It’s a case of so-bad-its-good, but only for certain one-liners. It helps keeps the mood cheery through the movie. If the director wasn’t a debutant, I might have even considered it was a deliberate ploy.

The leading ladies – Shenaz and newcomer Sonal Sehgal – do their job well. Come to think of it, doing well against Himesh shouldn’t be that much hard work, but hey they suit the roles. Shenaz is perfect in the role of vivacious RJ Shanaya, and Sonal does reasonably as the somewhat immature Pooja. Have to put in a word of praise for the stylist – all the three leads look very trendy and smart, without trying too hard to be cool and casual. Same applies to the workplace – its what you would expect a radio station to be. Believable.

Then there is Paresh Rawal in the role of Jhandu Lal, a bakra caller. He has a couple of random scenes but they are all good fun – all calls ending with “saale #%^&@*” !!

If the same movie had been made with better actor/s, it would probably have been a good romantic movie. The idea and execution is refreshing & realistic – and music is one of Himesh’s better works. The storyline is not without its faults – and the parents are over-the-top – but like Wake Up Sid, the freshness of it all makes you overlook those niggles. Himesh provides the not-intended comic effect – and frankly I liked the movie as it is. There, I said it. I would recommend you check Radio out and make your own opinion.


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A Christmas Carol

The Disney version of one of the most famous christmas stories, A Christmas Carol was perhaps released a bit too early to cash in on the festive season. I watched it on Thanksgiving Day though, so there was some holiday spirit. Made with motion capture and in 3D, the visual quality of the movie is terrific – the animations having a wonderful life-like quality and you easily forget you aren’t watching a movie with regular actors. But unlike Disney regulars, this movie has a few scenes which are quite scary – I am afraid the kids might take home a few nightmares after this movie.

The story hasn’t been tampered with much – on the christmas eve of 1842, miser Ebenezer Scrooge’s dead partner Marley visits him and foretells the arrival of three ghosts – of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The three ghosts show Scrooge his past, present and what could happen in the future – making him see the error of his ways. The visualization of the ghosts ofcourse has been adapted – which is where the movie becomes a little un-Disney.

The Good
Visuals are great, and appear even better if watched in 3D – but it’s not a necessarily-3D-movie. Meaning you would enjoy the movie almost as much without 3D. The motion capture technology enhances the facial expressions and body movements, so Scrooge’s frightened face looks just like an actual old man’s. But then, coming from Robert Zemeckis (maker of Back to Future, Forest Gump, Cast Away & Beowulf), technical perfection is to be expected.

The screenplay is tight – there is no slack anywhere once the ghosts appear – and on the whole it is quite thrilling. But even with this fast screenplay, the moments of tenderness in clerk Cratchit’s family or Scrooge’s nephew Fred’s toast are unmistakable and lend this movie its soul.

Scrooge’s voice is almost unrecognizable as Jim Carrey’s – and other big names like Colin Firth, Gary Oldman & Robin Penn Wright make up the rest of the cast.

The Bad
The appearance of the final ghost is a little over-the-top frankly. Looking like the grim reaper and chasing Scrooge around in London in a carriage drawn by fiery-eyed-black-horses, it caused me to jump a couple of times. Accustomed to sugar-coated Disney movies where bad things are masked in a lot of funny gags, this was a little too grim. I don’t think this Disney movie is going to be too popular with the kids

Though its an animated version of a traditional christmas tale, it lacks the joyfulness and happy nature of Disney classics like Tarzan or Mulan. While A Christmas Carol too ends on a happy note, the overall mood and cinematography of 19th century London is certainly dark. A grown up and mature Disney movie, you might call it. Its definitely worth a watch, but I cant help wishing for a more feel-good holiday movie.


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Fa Yeung Nin Wa : In the Mood for Love

In the Mood for Love is not a new movie – it was released way back in 2000. And it was nominated for the Palme d'Or (best movie) at Cannes that year and won Best Actor there. The director Wong Kar-Wai is one of the more acclaimed current directors in Hong Kong. The reason I am reviewing it now is that it is being shown as part of the Palador Film Festival* - which is showcasing some great world cinema for Indian audiences. Currently in Bombay, only Fun Cinemas in Andheri and Eros Cinema in town are screening these movies every week.

Somewhat true to perception – some of these movies are not for general consumption. I’d say watch In the Mood for Love only if you are bored with the format of mainstream Hindi and English movies. It brings a very different take on movies with it - the use of lighting, repetitive use of certain camera angles frequently and portrayal of other characters by the two lead characters. Production wise, it appears frugal as most of the movie is in a couple of cramped rooms and a lonely street corner – but apparently it took 15 months to shoot.

The movie is about two couples who move into two neighbouring apartments on the same day – a reporter Mr Chow & his wife in one and a shipping clerk Mrs. Chan and her husband in the other. We know something is a little amiss when neither Mr Chan nor Mrs Chow’s face is shown. They are always shown from their back or their voice is heard from behind the camera. Mr Chan travels for weeks for his business and Mrs Chow works late night shifts as a receptionist – leaving the respective spouses alone in their rooms and frequenting the neighbourhood noodle place for dinner. The twist comes when they realize their spouses are cheating on them – and their loneliness acknowledges each other.

The treatment of the story is very unconventional with the story moving ahead in fits and starts - sometimes just languidly watching the rain fall or making perfect smoke rings in the air. The story is set in 1962 and in quite a rundown part of Hong Kong. Nothing like the gleaming metropolis of today. And even there, minimalism in everything – the simple 4-5 sets, the limited characters (the Chans’ landlord Mrs Suen & their cook, Mrs. Chan’s boss Mr Ho and Chow’s friend Ping), the minimal dialogue and the repeated background score. I recognized the famous Spanish song Quizás, Quizás, Quizás playing a couple of times (Spanish original of Perhaps Perhaps, the title track of BBC comedy series Coupling)

What I remember most about the movie are the lead characters enacting the hypothetical interaction of their spouses – it takes a few moments for it to sink in that it was a rehearsal and not the real thing. And it will happen again and you still wouldn’t be able to catch it.

Don’t watch it for ‘timepass’ - as they call it in Bombay – its not one. It’s a completely different genre of cinema and you will appreciate it more if you have a wider view of movies than hero-meets-girl-and-they-fall-in-love-despite-differences. You can call it an acquired taste if you like



* If you are interested in such movies, you might want to check Reeload ( http://www.reeload.net/) , the movie club hosting these shows. They are offering free dvds and workshops with filmmakers etc on membership. Its not mandatory to be a member to watch these shows

Disclaimer – I am not a member of this club and I paid full price for my tickets :)
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Kurbaan

One of the slickest looking movies to come out of Bollywood this year, Kurbaan is worth a watch just for its high quality visuals. Rensil D’Silva and his team will wow you by their sheer technical brilliance - I cant remember the last time frames of any movie looked so good. And designer Aki Narula’s wardrobe and overall look for Kareena adds a lot to the beauty of the movie – deep kohl lined eyes and rich Indian clothes (without a single hot pants or low-cut top).

Kareena gives one of her better performances as Avantika, even though she has very limited dialogues and screentime. Her eyes speak for her as she goes through emotions from amusement to happiness to despair and sorrow. She reminds us why she is one of the best actresses around today. And she completely outshines Saif in the second half, where he appears to be rolling through the scenes without much effort. However Saif is in his own territory in the first half, where he is the suave, confident dude who is trying to sweep Avantika off her feet. Their chemistry is sparkling and it is not very difficult to guess that they are a real-life couple.

Kurbaan is a love story of Ehsaan (Saif) and Avantika (Kareena) set in a background of muslim terrorism. Avantika is a professor of psychology in NY university, but she is teaching in Delhi university for a semester because her dad is recovering from a stroke in Delhi. There she bumps into Ehsaan Khan, a new professor at the college and soon they fall in love. However, she gets an ultimatum to return to NY for the next semester and Ehsaan agrees to go with her to the US – after marriage. And so they land up in New York.

And all this happens in the first 15 min of the movie!

The Good
Throughout the first half of the movie, pace is quick – almost frenetic. You get the feeling you are watching a thriller rather than a love story. The background score of the movie enhances that edgy feeling. And most importantly, logic is not sacrificed as most of the characters in the movie are more realistic – and not caricaturish. What they say or do makes sense – like the FBI is not just composed of muslim-hating officers.

Acting was a positive surprise – especially from Vivek Oberoi. He was much better than I remembered, and Kiron Kher does the Afghani accent exceedingly well.
And a trivial positive - when the police try to defuse a bomb, the wrong wire is cut and things go kaboom. Not like other movies where invariably, the correct wire is cut.

The Bad
Post-intermission, the movie slows down quite a bit, but the biggest failure of the movie is its climax. The screenplay abandons all pretence of logic or reason and its all senti-drama. Kareena does very well in the acting department, but Saif just sleepwalks through the role here. Given that there were lot of expectations from his negative or ‘grey’ character’, Saif fails to get you to sympathize in Ehsaan.

Kurbaan is a more realistic movie that New York or Fanaa – but its not a Khuda Kay Liye either. What works for it is superb production values and the chemistry between its lead-actors – the spark between them is quite visible. But it is let down by the Bollywood philosophy of love above everything else. It would easily qualify for 4 stars, were I to consider only the first half. However, it loses its way significantly in the second half and the stretched climax leaves a bad taste in your mouth.


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Surrogates

Thankfully, from now onto the end of the year, there are good big-budget Hindi movies bunched up for release on every weekend. Hollywood hasn’t been scrimping on the big budget movies exactly, but they have been really disappointing so far. But if the last 2-3 weeks are any indication, we can look forward to getting some “good” Hollywood movies as well. In the last 3 weeks, I have seen Away We Go, Orphan, Up, Inglourious Basterds, The Time Traveler’s Wife and Surrogates. And all of them have been great movies !! And even after watching so many movies, I missed some pretty good ones like Vicky Christina Barcelona, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, My Sister’s Keeper, Taking Woodstock and The Duchess.

Unfortunately, some work pressure and a little ill-timed fever has meant that I couldn’t write reviews for all of them. I will try to clear the backlog as much as I can.
I chose Surrogates now because this movie impacted me more than the others – in a similar way that District 9 did – in that it made science fiction plausible. The scenario painted in the movie 15 years from now feels rather believable and that’s what made me like this movie a lot to begin with.

The Plot
Scientists make a breakthrough in prosthetics – they manage to tap into brain signals to control movements of artificial limbs for the disabled. Soon, its possible to control a full humanoid robot with your brain and people start to use their surrogates – as these robots are called – to go about their daily lives while they remain at home. It results in significant cut down in crime and there hasn’t been a single murder in years - till now, when someone murders two surrogates. FBI agent Greer (Bruce Willis) has to venture into the real world for the first time in years and finds out that there is much more than what meets the eye

The Good
The realism of the scenario of people using surrogates is the one which makes this movie a great watch. If you think about it, it just makes a lot of sense to let a robot do all your activities while you physically lie on a couch with a visor on your eyes. And you can make your surrogate resemble yourself, yet have the muscular physique or a size zero figure (as your inclination might be). Ofcourse, you can also avoid the stench of sweat in public transport, communicable diseases, muggings and all other unpleasant things. And as can be expected – there are small groups of dissenters who abhor the idea of using surrogates. They are confined to ‘reservations’ in all the major cities, which resemble the ghettos you might see today.

The story itself is a good whodunit for the first part but the identity of the villain is a let down. But the twist regarding The Prophet is awesome though. With such an interesting premise, it would seem the makers didn’t think the entire story through with the same intensity. They could have made the story delve more into the effects of living your life like a video game – because even if your surrogate is destroyed, it doesn’t harm you at all and you can just buy one off the shelf and continue your life.

Ofcourse, there is Bruce Willis – when he is there, you expect some action - and he kicks ass as usual. But this is not a full-on-action Bruce Willis regular. There are just two chase sequences and the first one is rather enjoyable.

The Bad
Greer’s relationship with his wife is supposed to be a sideplot which tries to portray the complications arising out of dependence on surrogates. But it fails miserably and the makers never quite explain why he cant just walk into her room and yank her visor off !!

But most importantly, right at the very end, after the villain has been unmasked and everything is saved, the makers take a very childish stand in dealing with the surrogates phenomena. After such a though provoking premise and first half, the ending was just too banal. You know this could have been such a great movie if someone rewrote the last 20 min of the movie. And its for that Surrogates gets just a 3 star.


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The Ugly Truth

Do you want to know The Ugly Truth ?
Push-up bras can work wonders !! Ok that’s not what the movie is about, but you do have to marvel at the results they produce …

The Ugly Truth is not too far off though – it’s a risqué comedy about the battle of sexes – with enough sexist humor for you to wonder why it didn’t have an ‘A’ rating. But then it is also supremely entertaining movie for it. Gerard Butler shows he has great comic timing in him apart from his uber-manly persona and Katherine Heigl is damn good as an anally-retentive control freak.

Abby (Katherine) just cant stand the sight of Mike (Gerard), who’s been signed up to boost the ratings of her morning show. Mike’s segment is titled The Ugly Truth where he cynically analyzes relationship dynamics between men and women – and Abby sees herself going to ‘broadcasting hell’ because of him. However, Butler bets Abby that he can help her get her man of her dreams – her new neighbour – if she does exactly what he says.

And I really shouldn’t have to tell you what happens next. Slightly predictable, but with great performances, and some very raunchy laughs. Just watch out for the dinner scene with the panties. The movie is your regular sweet romantic comedy with a slightly tangy coating – good for a change - and equally enjoyable for both sexes. So all the boyfriends/husbands – you wont be bored when you accompany your partner to this movie. And girls you dig romantic comedies like these anyway, right ??


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The Taking of Pelham 123

When you see a movie has Denzel Washington as its leading man, you know the movie usually be a notch above the others. Maybe because he is good at choosing scripts or just that he is good at his work – but I cant remember him in a really trite movie. The same holds true to some extent with John Travolta, though he seems to prefer stylish movies a bit more – which makes him the perfect villain.

The Taking of Pelham 123 benefits enormously from the performance of its two leading men as there isn’t anyone else in the movie to mention. Except ofcourse, the mayor of New York City (James Gandolfini) who is the butt of a lot of jokes. The script of the movie is tight and the pace relentless – keeping you gripped all through the movie.

Walter Garber (Denzel Washington) is a high official in the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) who is under investigation for kickbacks in the purchase of new subway trains. He has been demoted to the desk as a dispatcher at the subway command centre, pending the investigation. And his boss is pretty convinced of his guilt, although nothing has been proven. Ryder (John Travolta) is an ex-con who decides to hijack a subway train – Pelham 123 – and demands $10 million within an hour before he starts executing his hostages. And he makes these demands through the dispatchers desk – which happens to be Garber’s.

Ryder takes a liking to Garber and demands that he communicate only with him –putting Garber’s honesty further under question. From then on, it’s the radio conversations between Garber and Ryder which drive the movie further – as well as being the movie’s brightest spot. Tony Scott’s editing is slick and adds to the suspense as the hour creeps along. The mayor provides the comic relief and the scene with the media is quite funny.

The best point in the movie is the confrontation of Ryder and Garber over the subway radio, regarding Garber’s alleged bribes. And the worst point is also a confrontation of Ryder and Garber, but this time face-to-face on Brooklyn Bridge, in the climax of the movie. Wish they had thought of a better ending

Tony Scott has produced quite a gripping thriller, which involves you right through to the end. It only fails in being slightly predictable about its ending – it would have gotten an extra star if it had surprised at the end. But still a good watch


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Shinjuku Incident

After countless action-comedy roles, Jackie Chan is finally giving serious acting a try in Shinjuku Incident. Yes you heard that right – there is no ‘slam-bam-haha’ action in the movie, where Jackie Chan single handedly fights off scores of baddies. Instead, it’s a story of Chinese immigrants who enter Japan illegally in search of that elusive prosperity – but are condemned to live in ghettoes and do menial labour. For some, the only way out of the wretched conditions seems to be life of crime …

The movie is a Hong Kong production and apparently took some 9 years to wrap up. Thankfully we get the English dubbed version, so we don’t have to squint at the subtitles continuously. And the dubbing is fairly decent, but some flavour invariably gets lost in dubbings …

Jackie Chan tries his best to appear serious throughout the movie and he succeeds mostly – even his smile appears subdued. The action sequences are subdued as well – with no fancy kung-fu stuff. However his age shows through and his opening scenes with Xiu are not at all convincing – they look more father and daughter than childhood sweethearts. The other woman in the movie – Lily – seems better paired with him, though both the women do not have much to do on screen.

Jackie Chan plays Nick, a simple farmer in some unnamed province in China, who’s childhood sweetheart Xiu goes to Japan to ‘earn money’ but then never comes back. Unable to reach her, Nick follows her to Tokyo and settles down with a group of other illegal Chinese, doing low level manual labour – like cleaning garbage grounds and underground sewers.

However, a chance encounter with Xiu - now a wife of a powerful Yakuza boss – while working in a restaurant makes Nick rethink his life. He decides to begin his life in crime – starting with simple fake phone cards, graduating to stealing from supermarkets with credit card fraud and cheating at casino slot machines. And he helps along his friends with him as well, slowly turning to organized crime.

From then on, the movie is very reminiscent of Goodfellas (and various other similar mafia movies). There are quite a few subplots like the relationship between Nick and his best friend, between Xiu and her Yakuza husband and the Japanese inspector – but they are satisfactorily closed out with the climax. The setting of the movie is quite dark and gritty, and the violence quite sudden and unexpected – but gory. The pace of the movie is a little slow at times and you can make out that some scenes have been cut away for the Indian release (but nothing major lost like The Reader).

Shinjuku Incident is a decent film, but nothing outstanding. Jackie Chan does a serious role but doesn’t quite blow the screen away. Catch it if you feel like watching a good gangster movie or haven’t watched an Asian movie in sometime …


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Fast & Furious

Apologies to everyone for not posting in a while - had gone home for a week. But then couldnt have been at a better time - since there are no new movies being released :)

Although confusingly titled, this is actually the 4th iteration of the Fast & Furious franchise – and dare say, they have finally gotten their act together. Most of the people I know (including myself) kinda enjoyed the original, but were totally put off by the sequels. This one gets back to the original formula with the original cast – Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez – and has a semblance of a story line to link together the car chases.

Talking of which, Fast and Furious opens with a cool truck heist scene that sets the furious tone – Dom (Vin Diesel) & Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) along with a new crew are hijacking trucks for a living in the Dominican Republic. But almost immediately, actions moves back to California, where Letty gets murdered by a drug lord – and Dom swears revenge on her grave. Meanwhile Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) is back in the FBI on the trail of the same drug lord. So its but natural that their paths cross …

Dom and O’Connor continue off from the original movie – their interaction has the same combative yet humourous undertones. Vin Diesel delivers his punchlines with the same stoic face – but then you don’t goto this movie for the acting, do you ? You watch this movie for the races. Thankfully, director Justin Lin knows just how to – the races are superbly picturized, with that sensation of high speed all pervasive. The tunnel sequences, with its claustrophobic dimensions, add to the excitement and each of the car chases keep you on the edge of your seat.

The script nicely balances the car scenes with the story – and it feels more an action thriller rather than just a car video game – till the climax scene, where logic takes the back seat and its all engines revving and tires burning. I am rather partial to cars and bikes, so I really enjoyed the movie but I can say with confidence that anyone who found the original Fast and Furious an ok timepass would be pleasantly surprised with this one.


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