Om Shanti Om : One Life Is Just Not Enough!

Well well well folks, Diwali's finally upon us. The season of lights.
The season of delicious sweets and noisy crackers. The season of
Blockbusters and Box Office Turkeys. This Diwali was a Mexican
Standoff between 2 of India's loudest film-makers, Sanjay Leela
Bhansali and Farah Khan. Both directors with a taste for opulence and
escapism (Except SLB's Black). The former took a gamble by launching 2
rank newcomers whose illustrious family speaks for them in a grand but
offbeat love story. The latter however plays it safe by totally
catering to the masses and the classes with a hardcore commercial
masala flick with the King Khan in the lead.

Out of the 2, I decided to play it safe and watch the SRK starrer, Om
Shanti Om because it had a watchable story. And besides, I'd read the
Dostoevsky story White Nights from which Saanwariya has been adapted
and I'm not very keen on watching cinematic versions of depressing
Russian fiction. So,today morning I walked into the theatre with high
expectations for the 1st Day 1st Show of Om Shanti Om.

Om Prakash Makhija (SRK) is a junior artist living with his mother
(Kirron Kher). His best friend is Pappu Master (Shreyas Talpade) who
also works in the movies. Om is deeply enamored by Shantipriya
(Deepika Padukone) a starlet whose career graph is on the rise. After
saving her life from a fire and pretending to be a South Indian star
Omswami, he manages to get her attention and the 2 become good friend.
However Om is broken-hearted when he comes to know that she's in love
with the suave movie producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal). However
Mukesh has other plans for Shanti and viciously murders her by
trapping her in a blazing set. Om tries unsuccessfully to save her,
but is beaten up badly by Mukesh's bodyguards and is then hit by a car
while wandering wounded and disoriented on the road. He is rushed to
hospital, but all attempts to revive him fail and he dies.

INTERVAL

Omprakash is reborn as Om Kapoor, the son of former superstar Rajesh
Kapoor (Javed Sheikh). He's a typical star-son with all the airs of a
superstar but equally lazy and prone to temper tantrums. A visit to
the same set where Shanti was murdered and his getting the Filmfare
award soon after triggers off a set of memories from his past life. At
the same time, Mukesh Mehra who has now become a hot shot producer in
Hollywood returns to India and Om on meeting Mukesh remembers every
detail of what happened in his past life including the murder of his
love. He immediately catches up with his mother and Pappu and devises
a plan to take revenge on Mukesh with the help of Sandy, A look-alike
of Shanti and a big fan of Om.

The movie is as commercial as it gets. Farah Khan literally indulges
the audience with a look at life in showbiz from the top as well as
the bottom. The sets are breath-taking and the cinematography is
awesome. The dialogues are catchy especially when SRK acts as Omswami.

However what i felt was that the screenplay in the 1st half needed to
be tightened in the 1st half. There were times when i felt extremely
restless watching the movie. But the pre-interval sequences (Om and
Shanti's death) changed all that. The interval leaves you pondering
about what to expect in the 2nd half. The 2nd half starts off with a
bang and refuses to subside till the climax. It manages to keep us
hooked to the screen and doesn't let us look away even once. The
climax however is simply fantastic and is well written.

SRK is basically the star of the show here. He does well in both his
roles. But he's more fun to watch as Om Kapoor with the attitude and
tantrums. The SRK fans will not at all be disappointed.

Deepika Padukone is a star in the making. She's got the looks and the
talent. In fact,she manages to steal the thunder from SRK in quite a
few scenes. Unfortunately her voice has been dubbed in the movie. But
her expressions are perfect and she dances like a dream. Graceful and
Fluid.

Arjun Rampal is simply menacing as Mukesh Mehra. He manages to carry
off the negative role without being too loud.
Shreyas Talpade manages to charm you with his sincerity. Kirron Kher
is excellent as Om's filmi mother.

The music by Vishal and Shekhar is excellent. The music perfectly sets
in with the mood of the movie. The songs which stood out for me in the
movie are Jag Soona Soona, Deewangi and the title song that's shot at
the climax. The songs have been picturised marvellously especially
Ajab Si. Deewangi is also good to watch with all the stars making an
appearance. Farah Khan also manages to incorporate the Filmfare Awards
in the movie and yet make it look real and not forced. But the song
that takes the cake is the title song at the climax whose
picturisation is simply amazing.

Overall the movie has all the makings of a sure-fire blockbuster. Also
considering the bad reviews that Saanwariya has been getting all over,
I think SRK was right when he said 'Diwali sirf meri hai' (Diwali is
mine and only mine).

Bhool Bhulaiyya : A Maze Half Complete

Originally posted on Passionforcinema.com

Link to that post is

http://passionforcinema.com/bhool-bhulaiyya-a-maze-half-complete/

Priyadarshan is back again with Bhool Bhulaiyya just a couple of weeks
after the extremely intolerable Dhol with his loyal friendly starcast
of Akshay Kumar, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Yadav etc along with Shiney
Ahuja, Vidya Balan and Amisha Patel. The movie as i guess everybody
knows is a remake of Manichithrathazhu (1993) directed by
Priyadarshan's mentor Fazil. The original has already been remade in
Tamil as Chandramukhi and in Kannada as Aapthamitra. But while the
former was a psychological comedy/thriller, The latter 2 were more of
what I'd describe as star vehicles.

Badrinarayan Chaturvedi (Manoj Joshi) is the regent of a kingdom in
Banaras. When his nephew Siddharth returns from the USA with his newly
married wife Avni (Vidya Balan) and announces his decision to stay in
their ancestral palace, Badrinarayan is extremely disturbed as that
palace is supposedly haunted by the vengeful spirit of a beautiful
dancer from Bengal named Manjulika who committed suicide due to her
lover Shashidhar being murdered by the cruel king Vibhutinarayan Singh
the ancestor of Siddharth. After the married couple moves in with the
rest of the family, they are disturbed by strange occurences. Attempts
are made on the life of Siddharth and the blame comes on the shoulders
of Radha (Amisha Patel) the adopted daughter of the family. This is
when Siddharth's friend Dr Aditya (Akshay Kumar) steps in and tries to
solve this strange case.

The story here stays extremely faithful to the Malayalam version, but
unfortunately the screenplay is anything but taut which ended up
causing a lot of restlessness. Till the entry of Akshay Kumar, the
movie is actually pretty dull except for a few interesting sequences
here and there. After the interval, the movie gets funnier, but the
pace keeps slipping every now and then which is extremely frustrating.
It finally leads up to a very well captured climax, but more on that
later.

The good parts of the movie are that in some scenes Priyadarshan
manages to keep his comic touch intact. The palace has been portrayed
in a pretty eerie way and the director manages to create a little bit
of suspense among the audience, but is let down by the screenplay. But
then, even Priyadarshan has been losing his touch lately thanks to a
bunch of indifferently made movies which are a far cry from some
genuinely good movies made by him in the past like Virasat, Gardish,
Hera Pheri and Hungama.

However these are not enough to save the movie. The screenplay (I keep
stressing on this because in the other versions, the screenplay was
tighter and there was never a dull moment) especially. Then some of
the comic portions which are anything but funny and even the songs
which end up acting like speedbreakers.

Akshay Kumar enters the movie only at the interval point, but manages
to stand out. He's in pretty good form here and manages to provide a
few laughs. Shiney Ahuja however is not exactly up to the mark here in
spite of having more screentime. Vidya Balan is as reliable as ever,
but unfortunately her performance in spite of its sincerity pales in
comparison to Shobhana in the Malayalam version and the late Soundarya
in the Kannada version. Amisha Patel looks better in this movie
compared to the last few movies that she's done, but her acting is
still as bad as ever. Her emoting is anything but convincing and she
literally hams in some scenes. Paresh Rawal and Rajpal Yadav are
supposedly the comic relief of the movie, but it doesn't really work
all the time except in bits. Vikram Gokhale makes a return to the big
screen after a long time, but you wish he'd returned in a more
substantial and consequential role. The rest of the starcast provide
able support.

The music of the movie is average and there are only 2 songs that stay
with you after the movie. 1 is the much hyped title song which appears
at the end of the movie though the opening riffs keep playing
throughout. The other is the soft romantic Labon Pe which is pretty
hummable. The background score of the movie however is pretty good.
It's eerie and complements the scarier sequences perfectly.

Overall the movie is a pretty decent watch if you avoid the comparison
to its more illustrious predecessors. However you wish that
Priyadarshan had worked harder and created a more fitting tribute to
his mentor.

What's On This Week!

Well,this week looks pretty good. Since it's Eid, 2 big movies are facing off against each other. Bhool Bhulaiya by Priyadarshan and Laaga Chunari Mein Daag by Pradeep Sarkar. Will be watching Bhool Bhulaiya on Friday. So, let's hope for some entertainment this week.

Dil Dosti Etc!

College Life!!! Some of the most memorable years of a person's life. A time of fun and frolic. A time of sex, drugs and rock (if so inclined). A time where you make some long lasting friendships. A time where you 1st experience true freedom. A time where you experience love in its most realistic state. All this and more is addressed in the movie Dil Dosti Etc.

I'd first heard about this flick in an issue of Filmfare and i was kinda interested. The movie sort of sounded like a more realistic version of Rang De Basanti minus all the shooting politicians and be the change fundas. Plus the starcast of Imaad Shah and Shreyas Talpade sounded pretty good and Smriti Mishra was coming back after a hiatus. So it sounded like an interesting indie campus movie. Atleast on paper it did.

Apurv (Imaad Shah) is a laid back rich kid who joins college just for the fun of it. His father is frustrated with his lazy attitude as he even turned down an offer from Yale University to stay back in India. He is pretty confused with his life and just keeps roaming here and there and everywhere, His favourite haunt being the brothel where he's deeply in love/lust with Vaishali (Smriti Mishra) a beautiful but sharp tongued prostitute with a heart of gold. But at the same time, he's trying to seduce Kintu (Isshita Sharma) a sharp but sweet 15 year old schoolgirl. He meets and befriends Sanjay (Shreyas Talpade) his senior and aspiring politician in college.

Sanjay Mishra is basically a weird cocktail of old and new values. He's from a backward area of Bihar where even today, The IAS is the only lucrative job. He however is idealistic and wants to do something for society. He is also very fearless and dynamic and doesn't back away from a fight. He falls in love with Prerna (Nikita Anand) a rich Delhi socialite. But unfortunately the clash between his old-fashioned ideals and her more modern fundas come in their way and cause a rift between them. All this happens in the backdrop of Delhi University where Sanjay is standing for elections for the post of President of the student union.

Now the story sounded exciting on paper. But Manish Tiwary unfortunately is not able to do full justice to the movie. It ends up looking more like the sexual adventures of a Delhi student. But to their credits, the actors somehow end up rising above the story and act pretty well. Especially Shreyas Talpade who manages to make his performance look realistic. Watch out for his outburst in the pre-climax. The role of Apurv seems to have been tailor-made for Imaad Shah. Smriti Mishra is as good as ever and makes you wonder where she had disappeared all these days. Isshita Sharma makes a confident debut and looks perfect in the role of the schoolgirl trying to act older. Nikita Anand makes a confident debut, but she needs to work a little on her expressions.

The dialogues of the movie are hilarious and mainly consist of Delhi lingo. The music is very light-hearted and blends well with the campus mood of the movie. Especially the raw and earthy Dum Laga which stays with you even after the movie's done.

Overall, not such a bad viewing experience after all. But doesn't exactly live up to expectations.

Johnny Gaddar!!

Ok, Now that we've got God's blessings, i suppose it's time to get on with the real business behind this blog.

Movie Reviewing

Today I ended up watching 3 movies back 2 back in adlabs with a very good friend of mine. The 1st movie we watched was the 1st day 1st show of Johnny Gaddar. Now this was a movie i had been looking forward to from a long time since i saw the trailer. It promised an edge of the seat adrenaline rush , some good thrills and an overall watchable movie. Plus all the pre-movie buzz was in favour of the movie. Some people like the folks at www.passionforcinema.com whose opinion i normally trust when it comes to movies had given it a thumbs-up and had hailed it as one of the better movies of the thriller genre. So naturally i was hooked and wanted to watch it. Anyways, enough of my rambling, it's better to get on with the review.

The movie begins with a black'n'white sequence on a rainy night and a man getting shot from behind. From here we move to an imaginatively designed opening credits which reminds one of the glory days in the 70s. We're introduced to the main players of the movie.

• Sheshadri (Dharmendra), a retired criminal by profession, but a gentleman by nature. On the surface, a very humble and charming person, but actually a very intelligent man with a razor sharp mind and equally sharp eyes that can size up a person on sight.

• Shardul (Zakir Hussain), Crudeness is his middle name. He doesn't believe in subtleties. He is a person who knows what he wants and will do anything to get it.

• Prakash (Vinay Pathak), A person who appears to be street-smart, but is in reality very naive and easy to fool. He is also a compulsive gambler due to which he always ends up losing a lot of money. His other weakness however is his wife whom he loves very much.
  

• Vikram (Neil Mukesh), A youngster who wants to make quick money rather than actually work for it. A very clever man, he's also very ambitious and has big plans.

• Shiva (Daya Shetty), A strongman whose lack of brains is made up for by his strength. He doesn't understand matters of intellect and prefers to settle matters by brute force.

There is also Mini (Rimi Sen), Vikram's loving girlfriend, Varsha (Ashwini Kalsekar), Prakash's wife and Inspector Naidu (Govind Namdeo), A ruthless police officer who happens to be a good friend of Sheshadri's.

The 5 are told by Naidu of a heist in Bangalore through which they can make 2.5 crores within 5 days. However during the heist, something goes wrong leading to a series of murders, mishaps and mayhem.

The 1st half of the movie literally moves at a break-neck speed leaving you no time to breathe or even blink your eyes and stops at a cliffhanger at the intermission. However after the intermission, it moves pretty much at a relaxed pace letting the frustration, guilt and fear of the protagonist (Or should i say antagonist!) sink into the audience. From there , the movie just keeps twisting and turning keeping you hooked throughout and finally leads to a twist ending which leaves you gasping for breath and makes you go "Oh my God, I didn't see that one coming!".

Dharmendra is as good as ever and makes full use of his charisma and genuine warmth for people in this movie. Neil Mukesh makes a confident debut and hopefully we should see more of him in the future. Zakir Hussain and Vinay Pathak are simply terrific with excellent performances. The rest of the cast ably supports the story.

The best part about the movie is that it never stops moving. No unnecessary sub-plots or songs to spoil the mood that was built up by the previous scene like in most movies. Sriram Raghavan who made a promising debut with Ek Hasina Thi (A fantastic thriller in its own right) goes a step ahead and makes a faster and grittier thriller. The movie has been shot stylishly and gives Mumbai a dark look given before in movies like Satya etc. The background music is equally racy and doesn't jar on the nerves of the audience.

The songs of the movie provide some of the background music and help the story move forward. Especially the title track which has to be one of the better songs heard by us lately.

Overall the movie has lived up to expectations, Its biggest plus point being the fact that it treats its audience as people with normal intelligence levels and doesn't spoon feed them. Only negative point is the lack of publicity for the movie as compared to crap like Dhamaal or Dhol etc. Anyways i guess, word of mouth publicity should help the movie to a large extent.

In The Beginning!

Well, I'm not exactly a very religious man. But I do believe that before you start something, you have to invoke the blessings of God. And who a better God than our very own Ganapati Bappa who is the God of auspicious beginnings.