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Reviews
Jannat: In Search of Heaven... (2008)
The age-old dichotomy of Good versus Evil
Considering their huge experience in dealing with sensational subjects, the Bhatt camp are a complete Bollywood institution in themselves. After covering human trafficking last year with Awarapan, this time they hit the nail on the spot with a well-researched plot on cricket match-fixing. Even though repeat news telecasts have made the theme a bit clichéd, the writers did a brilliant job except for some minor gaffes.
Imran Hashmi (I don't remember how he likes to spell his first name) plays a debt-ridden, happy-go-lucky gambling addict suddenly striking rich with his Nostradamus-like ability to predict cricket match scores. Thanks to an underworld Don on the loose called Abu-something, he quickly establishes what he calls his "import-export" business -an international cricket bookmaking syndicate. Even though cops are on his trail and his girlfriend threatens to desert him, Mr.Bookie is convinced this is what he was really born to do because he's just soooo good at it. Obviously, he has no moral compunctions and will meet his just desserts someday - the entire story moves at an even pace and there isn't a single moment of bore. The "good prevails over evil" theme is thrust on you and I must say, it has been executed well.
To be honest, Imran does comes across very natural when portraying all those shady, no-morals-no-dilemma characters; what seems to be the reason? Is it about his crooked Semitic nose - you never know? I won't want him to portray straightforward characters - it seems he's finally found his image.
Here's a spoiler: this movie documents events vaguely similar to those which led to the death of Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer in a West Indies hotel room. Even the character portraying the movie coach has a facial resemblance to the real Bob Woolmer - considering that the murder case is still being probed, this was indeed a very brave thing to do.
The only reason I'm not giving this movie a higher rating is because of some fantastical, ludicrous premises which weaken the technical plot e.g. Imran's instinctive ability to predict the outcome of each and every ball, down to the sixes, wickets and final scores is simply too hard to sink in. The Bhatt camp writers could have been a little more creative in depicting those calculations. I'm sorry this is crucial to the movie theme and a little original thinking could have done more justice to it.
Definitely don't watch it more than once.
Bombay to Bangkok (2008)
Very sweet movie; rare and refreshing script - most underrated movie of 2008
The plot revolves around a poor Bombay-based cook called Shankar Singh (Shreyas) who mistakenly steals from Khan Baba (Naseeurudding Shah), a fearsome Don who sends his son to recover the amount from Shankar as he tries to flee India to Dubai, but eventually ends up on an Indian Medical-team chartered flight to Bangkok. Once in Thailand, he encounters Jasmine (Lina Christianson), a beautiful massage parlour "make you happy" girl. Their slow romance development is the main theme of the movie. The apparent cultural disparities as evident in Shankar's lack of Thai skills (neither does Jasmine know English) have been realistically portrayed and are delightful to watch (I remember having had similar encounters with Thai girls on my trip). Also, Shankar is portrayed shocked by his clear failure to understand unique aspects of Thai/South-East Asian culture e.g. a society with easier morals compared to India (there was one funny debate between the Indian man and the Thai girl about their respective views of prostitution - also, Shankar made a faux pas when he mistook Jasmine's brother as a thief because he took his bag only to return it later. It became apparent when he entered into the fold of monks and that was his last "fun night"). Being of the easy and gullible Indian male mentality -Shankar didn't waste time to fall in love with his Thai enchantress whereas she was visibly mad at him after it became clear Shankar was a fugitive and in deep trouble; Jasmine got arrested by Police for her involvement with Shankar - there was some action. Of course, in the end after a few twists and turns; both Shankar was finally able to convince his sweetheart how much he was in iove with her and by the time of credits, they were shown carrying a 6-year old kid.
Among side-plots: my favorite character was that fat Thai Sardarji who doubled as interpreter and assistant to Shankar in his numerous adventures. Man, I would have loved someone like him around when I had an unpleasant encounter in Thailand- communication is SO DIFFICULT in that country! Another character called Javed Khan, the son of Khan Bhai the Don was interesting - he's a wannabe rapper and has a personality disorder which is cured by a beautiful doctor on the Indian Medical team, Dr. Rati. They have a funny romance!
Having travelled to Thailand 2 years back, I have fond memories of its beautiful Buddhism-based culture, accepting/hospitable people and of course, such pretty girls. "Bombay to Bangkok" for me is a refreshing and nostalgic journey into that phase of life. Needless to say, I really enjoyed this movie; Nagesh Kukunoor has written a brilliant script (coming from Nagesh Kukunoor of Hyderabad Blues fame, I take it as original and not cheap Bollywood plagiarism.
Iron Man (2008)
Good graphics; brilliant script;
I'm not a Marvel comics reader and so, not that qualified to assess this "superhero" portrayal from comics onto the big screen which real Iron Man fans can do much better. However, I found this movie very entertaining and if you're into gadget-loving, sci-fi stuff, there's a lot of innovative stuff to learn. Some particular scenes like the deployment of Jericho missiles were a real visual delight. You don't want to miss the "assembly line" for its gadget-gizmo's delights where Tony Stark (a.k.a. the Iron Man, a billionaire arms manufacturer and Master Designer) designs the robot-prototype armor (which is the central theme of this movie). Basically, the armor is a one-man army like never seen before; impenetrable to bullets, missiles and bombs - the armor is a heavy suit made of gold-titanium alloy (there was another one designed in an Afghanistan cave which falls into the hands of Obadiah Stane, Stark's business partner and main villain in the plot). The climax scene where Stark needs to deactivate a gadget called the arc reactor from Stane's chest is not clear in its outcome(it's supposed to be an inexhaustible source of free energy, Palladium-315 being identified as the fuel). Some scenes had loose ends e.g.the journalist called Christine Everhart from Vanity fair, with whom Tony has a one-night stand, her character wasn't developed but is important. Pepper Potts (played by the beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow) is shown as a loyal and dependable secretary who turns out to love her Boss (even though he's womanizing). Robert Downey Jr. was adequate in his performance as the bundle of energy called Tony Stark.
In my opinion, the script did a lot of to-and-fro between Afghanistan and Los Angeles. The focus should have remained on the main villain Obediah Stane but they had to put another bad guy called Raza, a power-hungry terrorist commander operating from Afghanistan. He's given a lot of unnecessary footage as the unsuspecting ally of Stane who ditches him in the end for his own personal power ambitions - all these seemed like loose ends of the plot to me. Moreover, Afghanistan is a war-ravaged country and the Taliban certainly don't have the technology to "reverse engineer" those robot prototype armors and Jericho missiles - it's unnecessary for Hollywood to project Afghans anymore as terrorists and Taliban -let's leave them alone, the poor Afghans have suffered long and hard enough. What they least require is another "labeling" of a terrorist.
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
Really BAAAAAD movie -complete disaster
I was recently in Singapore and went to a multiplex excitedly to watch this sequel. The first version was really cute film-making and it made me wonder why they are not releasing the sequel in India: guess what now I know the REASON -"Harold and Kumar escapes from Guantanamo Bay" will never see the daylight in India; it's just won't release here. Here's why.
The film is profane and disgusting in inconceivable ways - there isn't one strand of decency in all those scenes which portray graphic nudity and justify drug abuse. Now I'm not all that prudish and experienced Hollywood-cinema lovers are quite used to a bit of breasts and nudity but this film is so vulgar in taste: you just can't watch it with your family. According to one of the movie dialogs, "Topless is so over-rated; bottomless is in"...no prizes for guessing what that situation would imply.
THIS IS NOT A SEMI-PORN MOVIE: I didn't go there to treat myself to visuals of vagina's. Also, there was some dirty toilet humor in the beginning - really disgusting start to one of the most-awaited sequels -I don't think I appreciated it. OK, enough on the vulgarity-but the movie really sucks due to many other reasons.
First, the lack of a script. Unlike the White Castle version, this script looks straight out of someone's masturbatory fantasies e.g. the scene depicting the duo's escape from Guantanmo Bay seems pretty inconceivable to me...you just don't trip over some dead bodies across an electrified fence and bingo, FREEDOM...I don't think it's quite that simple for the highest-security prison in United States of America. Besides, Harold and Kumar both were supposed to be "ordinary guys" in "ordinary situations" for which White Castle perfectly fits the bill. The sequel contains those seemingly impossible "extraordinary situations" like both guys landing in George Bush's house (the character played by G.W. Bush was unoriginal with his Bushie-style misspellings "hypocritizer" and "terrorizer" - also the President of the United States LOVES weed just like Kumar and both call each other "awesome" Wow...male bonding of some degree there?).
Also, the movie is full of loose ends...e.g. the American anti-terrorism Officer who's so hell-bent on after both Harold and Kumar as if it were a "personal vendetta" -he just looked stupid to me. Now, I don't deny there cannot be racists in those high positions but they operate in very subtle ways and not so blatantly stupid as depicted by the officer -e.g. why did he empty that coke can before the Negro guy -what was that supposed to mean?....anyone with an IQ of 100 going through the files of ordinary guys like Harold and Kumar would take it easy on them; I know the "stupid American" stereotype still holds but I never encountered an American who equated Indians with Arabs and didn't knew where India is; c'mon India is just like China -everyone has heard of it.
Other scenes that make you cry for help in the cinema hall (absolutely worst cinematography): 1. Why did Janey's (Kumar's ex-gf) fiancé betray Harold and Kumar by turning them over to the authorities. That was a dumb portrayal and they didn't give any explanation. Even though he might have thought of Kumar as a threat, there was no reason to be that kinda "douchebag". 2. Why would the Alabama White couple who were in an incestuous relationship deliver something that looks like a one-eyed Cyclops? Now, I'm not a huge fan of incest but this was simply too unbelievable. 3. Most of the JOKES in Guantanamo Bay weren't really that funny..unlike the real-life parody situations in White Castle, they were obnoxious and silly, and delivered the punch-line in advance. E.g. the initial reference to a "cock-meat sandwich" wasn't all that hard to predict what would happen later. 4. Why would Kumar be so dumb to act STRANGE in an aircraft? I mean he's someone who's studying for a Medical degree and doesn't have enough common sense to not play wit FIRE in a frigging aircraft? And what gave him the stupid idea to concoct a mechanism that resembles a bomb? 5. Neil Patrick Harris too overdid his part. In the original version, he seemed a sweet and nice character with obvious flaws- even though he's shown as the same ultimate whore-monger in this one, his character lacked depth. Why would a positive role like him do something like brand the breasts of one of the whores and later, get shot and killed. Damn, considering NPH is a close-buddy of Harold and Kumar showing him dead wasn't a good idea. It's a disaster scene. 6. Final scene where Kumar kisses and makes up with his ex-gf -it was so unoriginal and clichéd..one would only laugh at the stupidity. And what gave them the idea to make Kumar repeat nonsense babble on cube root of three and some junior arithmetic. Was that supposed to be romantically funny? I don't think so - the scenes were poorly planned and badly executed, that's it.
7. Of course, they finally meet Maria (the Korean guy's gf) in Amsterdam and together, all four go and smoke weed...a very happy ending. Damn, wasn't it easy to predict in the first visual itself?
-- The Summary of Harold and Kumar escape from G. Bay is that it was done in a hasty way and very poor project planning. The original version was a refreshing change from seasonal Hollywood crap -this one is crap of the worst order.
Totally NOT RECOMMENDED. This movie really let me down in so many ways. I am disappointed.
Khuda Kay Liye (2007)
A must-watch for both Muslims and non-Muslims alike
I saw Khuda Kay Liye in a multiplex just now and was overall impressed with the depth and quality of this Pakistani film which offers you, the Indian viewer, a rare glimpse into the emotions, daily-life concerns and mentalities of "real" Pakistani People across the border, not just clichéd TV images of General Pervez Musharraf or Pakistani cricketers/artistes. The script was brilliantly researched; there isn't a single boring moment to talk about but the direction let me down somewhat as the execution should've included some humour and drama elements. When you narrate a story, it's just not about being serious right from the word go - you're not telling a documentary; allow the theme to gradually progress and don't forget to add drama/surprise elements as you reach climax. That's the winning formula for a compelling story-narration; but I'm sure Pakistani movie industry will learn the ropes faster now that Khuda Kay Liye is a runaway blockbuster.
Anyways, apart from these minor glitches this film was very pleasing to my senses. It was a really nice movie; and coming from Pakistan, very refreshing to watch too (if it had been directed by Bollywood or Western cinema, I would've given it a skip). The acting was really mind-blowing - all characters played their part convincingly. I would love to watch this film again for the sake of dialogues alone. Being a huge fan of chaste Urdu, I really enjoyed the weighty Urdu dialogues especially the ones in the end by Naseeruddin Shah - the court-room scene. I was so much impressed by individual acting skills of Pakistani actors that a special mention is to be made:
1. Shaan (Mansoor Khan)- intense, resilient and powerful; he did a wonderful portrayal of an innocent man trapped in circumstantial evidence. His last words to his Firang wife really touched me, "Please don't hate all Muslims for a few fanatics". Hats off!
2. Naseeruddin Shah as Maulana Wali - Naseer is one of the most brilliant actors of Indian cinema; he certainly added a refreshing touch with his monologue on Qu'ranic Ayats. Of course, it was the minimum expected from him!
3. Fawad Khan (Sarmad) -Did a convincing transformation from the music-loving romantic youth to a fanatical, know-nothing Taliban terrorist commando; this boy has good future in the film industry -he should try Bollywood!
4. Rasheed Naz (Maulana Tahiri) -Fantastic portrayal of a rabid Mullah; he could give the real Mullah Omar a run for the money with such a brilliant performance. Every time he came on screen with his Islam-based hypocrisies, I couldn't help but admire his guts; what a convincing mother-fu*cker! Wonderful performance.
5. Maryam was beautiful and played her part as trapped Venus pretty well (pun unintended); but she did overact in several scenes and her histrionics was getting to me.
6. That crook-eyed, hook-nosed guy playing the role of the CIA officer was impressive; he really made poor Mansoor's life miserable with his torture techniques.
---- Khuda Kay Liye has a lot of relevance in modern cinema. It should, especially be seen by non-Muslims. Many people I know are wary about Muslims; it's like when a Muslim family moves into your neighbourhood everyone's on ALERT...people in India, especially, have long been suspicious of Pakistani Muslims and there is always this sad association of Pakistanis with arrogance, criminality, terrorism, raping women and all that stuff. This film is guaranteed to change the ignorance of even the most rabid Muslim-haters.
Overall, a must-watch and the kind of film experience you won't forget in your lifetime: Khuda Kay Liye is a superhit!