Change Your Image
Badman5
Reviews
Ek Din 24 Ghante (2003)
What a waste
I rented this because I like Nandita Das and Rahul Bose and the synopsis on Netflix said it was an "opus" with a different take on Bollywood. What we got was shoddy acting, camera-work, cinematography, editing, directing, and not a single redeeming factor. Even the screen colors change randomly. The story begins and ends on a whim. The concept of narrative thread is apparently lost on the director and any similarities to "Run Lola Run", while intentional, do injustice to the classic in this horror freak-show. Rahul and Nandita would have been better utilized in a school play. I could have sworn that this movie was made by a four-person crew, two of whom were stoned. Bad movie. Bad bad movie. And I'm the kind of person who likes bad Indian movies.
Flop Show (1989)
Ahead of its time
This Indian comedy series came on Doordarshan in the late 80s, early 90s, when high-end production sets and the juggernaut of cable networks had yet to infiltrate the Indian public. Surprisingly, the series was incredibly funny and served up satire a la Jaspal Bhatti of the then social situations. Each week was a different plot and different characters, unlike the running TV serials of today and the 'Hum Panch' variety. Bhatti's veritable genius then is incomparable even in today's light. He wrote, directed and acted on the show along with his wife and several regular cohorts. The series always dealt with current issues with a subversive edge on comedy and surprisingly, very little buffoonery. A classic episode is the one dealing with renters and landlords. Must see Hindi TV.
Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II (2003)
A rare Dark Comedy from Bollywood (Hindi)
An unconventional and surreal 'reaction to Bollywood' as the film calls itself, Waisa Bhi Hota Hai is an unconventionally comedic and serious movie with the main character who is a Ad writer in Bombay, with a cop girlfriend and a gangster best friend. The plot is decent, and so is the acting. The dialogues are quite amusing in a subtle and intelligent way, so rare for any bollywood flick. I expected to see an independent-style gangster production with profanity and more-than-needed violence, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise. Could have been better, but a good rent if you're sick of the the regular overdramatic/romantic/too serious crap that comes out.
The Italian Job (2003)
Really Really shoddy
I've seen the original Italian Job with Michael Caine, and that was a classic action/comedy. This version shifted its action to L.A., and its theme from action/comedy to action/drama. Unfortunately, it delivers very little of either. The acting is listless and the story, lacklustre.
I'm a fan of Jason Statham, but he's not enough to save this movie. Seth Green plays a computer whiz who claims he invented napster (another annoying and pointless schtick). And somehow he's got enough remote hardware power to wirelessly hack into the L.A. traffic system from a baggage claim cart to throw the whole city into logjam.
The mini-cooper car chase scenes are hardly reminiscent of the car chase scene from the original movie, which still remains a classic.
The relationships between the characters are poorly developed for a pseudo-drama, which they try to toss in between Donald Sutherland, as Mark Wahlberg's mentor and father figure; and his romantic interest, Charlize Theron. The worst part had to be the abrupt end to the movie, which culminated with Charlize and Mark living happily ever after without every developing a history in front of the viewing audience. Another major disappointment is Edward Norton's character as a greedy, ruthless villain, who apparently is not smart enough to avoid transporting his gold putting it at the greatest risk possible for looters like Mark's crew.
Tropical Heat (1993)
Nowhere close to 'The Other Woman'
This shoddy excuse for erotica-thriller is probably exactly what you'd expect from Jagmohan 'Jag' Mundhra. Although I became an instant fan after 'The Other woman', his previous and later efforts failed to live up to par.
The story goes to India and revolves around a murder mystery surrounding the Raja's death and her widowed british wife. The insurance investigator, as usual, gets more than what he bargained for and gets entangled in the web of sex and deceit.
Lee Anne Beaman's scenes of importance are poor and almost irritating at times. The english woman and investigator's sex scenes are even worse, (one of the tired scenes portrays the couple making love on the edge of a waterfall among the rocks! what the hell?)
The only saving grace of the movie is the dark and raw beauty of Asha Siewkumar, who of course is not noted for her acting abilities. She isn't extraordinarily pretty, but very very sexy.
Word of Mouth (1999)
Excellent Erotica with One HOT babe
Catalina Larranaga is the best thing to happen to the erotica genre yet. She's got a latin/spanish/mediterranean look with a tight body to match. The plot is about a director making a documentary about a classy call girl (Catalina). He starts falling for her, with every sizzling story she recounts for the screen. The scenes are very good and plentiful, if you know what I mean. Excellent rent.
The Other Woman (1992)
So called Erotica genre finally delivers
This is probably Jag Mundhra's best work on erotica so far and probably in the so called 'erotica' field. All the Zalman King and Shannon Tweed movies being the worst kind.
This movie actually had a fairly interesting plot about Lee Anne Beaman in the lead as a journalist trying to uncover something big against the mob and starts discovering information about her husband's lover. What results is a film filled with just the right amount of sex and erotic scenes all played out very artfully for a non-mainstream production. Lee Anne is hot and so is Jenna Persaud, and sex scene in the end with them together is probably the best 'erotica' work yet. A must see if you've been renting those movies that promise much at the local video store but fail to deliver.