Priya_1989 Reviews

Andaaz (2003)

Great Movie!!!!

[10/10 · 15 August 2005]

Here's another bright one then, in a brightly-wrapped andaaz. Raj Kanwar, the man who has splurged in masala in all its possible hues over the past decade or so, comes up with ? guess what? ? a story about two girls in love with the same guy. This 'ex-flame come back from the dead' formula is, of course, not new for Kanwar. He has already done it long back with Deewana, the film that introduced Shah Rukh Khan to popular imagination.

Raj (Akshay Kumar) and Kajal (Lara Dutta) are childhood friends and spend most of the time with the campus gang (hiccup: Akshay Kumar as a college boy?!). Raj secretly loves the tomboyish Kajal and his dream is to make it as an Air Force pilot and settle down with her. While on tomboys, the script does a reverse Kuch Kuch Hota Hai here ? when Raj returns as an officer in uniform, Kajal has already given her heart to Karan Singhania (Aman Verma), who could be a walking endorsement of the Perfect Man in all those suiting ads ? sophisticated, stinking rich, and with a heart of gold.

Post interval, by the time Raj meets Jiya (Priyanka Chopra) in Europe, you've already got a hang of Kanwar's caper. The extrovert Jiya throws herself on Raj, woos his bhaiyya and bhabhi too and voila! ? Raj has agreed to marry her. But wait, Karan is dead in an accident and Jiya, it turns out, is his sister. So, when Raj meets Kajal once again, old flames are rekindled. Love triangle tangle time hereon.

With two former beauty queens gunning to serve a hotter peekaboo plethora, you can't possibly complain over timepass with Andaaz. Credit to Akshay Kumar, then ? he still manages to hold a fair amount of your visual attention span, (pleasantly) wedged as he is between the sultry sirens.

Waqt: The Race Against Time (2005)

Beautiful Family Movie

[10/10 · 15 August 2005]

WAQT is a perfect example of a chicken soup not exactly for your soul. The broth unfortunately has lost its actual taste thanks to all the excess dilution and garnishing that went into its making.

What's surprising and disappointing about WAQT is that it comes from a director who stayed away from the usual clichés of Hindi cinema in his first venture but who in his second outing gives in for all the stereotype film formulas. While Vipul Shah had the conviction to show something as implausible as blind men robbing a bank in AANKHEN, he just fails to induce life in the entire packaging of WAQT that is based on something as conceivable as a father-son relationship. Adopted from a Gujarati play Aavjo Vhala Fari Malishu, WAQT does have a sensible storyline with a social message to back up. A mature look on the father-son relationship, a father's unconditional love towards his son and a son's responsibility towards his family. Ishwar Chand Sharawat (Amitabh Bachchan) who has established his entire empire on his own from the scratch leads an affluent life with his wife Sumitra (Shefali Shah). Their only son Aditya (Akshay Kumar) never had the need to strive for anything since he got everything tailor-made and spoon-fed in life. Ishwar's pampering has only spoil him all the more.

Aditya dreams to turning into a superstar but does nothing to make his dreams come true. In the meanwhile he marries his ladylove Mitali (Priyanka Chopra). Ishwar hopes that marriage will make Aditya a more responsible man but he is disappointed. Aditya is still at his blithe best leading a carefree life.

The endurance limit finally collapses when Ishwar expels Aditya from his house. The sudden change in the attitude of his affectionate father towards him and his now expecting wife baffles Aditya. He has no option left but to strive for the livelihood of his wife and his unborn kid. He starts turning into an independent man but the rift in the relationship between him and his father grows.

The story is simplistic while the uncomplicated screenplay has a very elementary approach. One can easily identify and relate with the credible characters of both the father and the son. If you are not one of the two, you at least might have come across individuals like them somewhere in real life.

Add to it director Vipul Shah's easy handling of the screenplay. With a family affair like this, any other director in his place would have added in tons of melodrama in the proceedings as per the cinematic laws of Bollywood family dramas, turning the film into a compulsive tearjerker. However Shah excels in the effortless handling of emotions for most part of the film.

Clear-cut example of his unpretentious direction is palpable in the pre-interval scene where the father expels the son from his house in a rather frivolous manner. The purpose of the scene is achieved without blotting a brunt on the audiences' brains. Ditto for the scene in the second half wherein the now separated father son have a flippant conversation. That's what differentiates WAQT from a KABHI KUSHI GHUM or an EK RISHTAA and in fact places it one level high in terms of treatment.

But after gaining all the distinction points, one may wonder where does WAQT still fail in? The problem lies in the fact that while WAQT distinguishes itself from the others in it's league in terms of treatment, it gives in to the glitches in the terms of packaging. What with the director forcing in song-n-dance every now and then in the first half. There's a Johar kinda shaadi song, a Chopra kinda Holi song, a father son disco dandia song, a dream song and a dream come true song inducing sufficient yawns in the viewer. Picture this... the father has just ousted the son from his house and the son is dreaming of a song in Moroccan mountains with his wife. Out of place! Out of reason! and the audience Out of seat.

The film just drags in the first half and the actual story starts only in the second half. The director has wasted too much WAQT on unnecessary elements. The much talked about dog chase sequence isn't bad but is not redeeming either. However Akshay Kumar's taandav dance is simply ridiculous. Imagine he qualifies for the star hunt in the movie with this (unintentionally) hilarious histrionic. Add to it the climax set at the finals of the star-hunt where the son bursts out with emotions. That's so archetypal! Also the editing pattern could have been reversed to conceal the father's reason for the change in attitude towards his son.

Anu Malik's music is fine though unnecessary in the proceedings. Santosh Thundiiayil's camera-work is competent enough though not much demanding. Aatish Kapadia has come up with some good dialogs for dramatic moments.

Boman Irani and Rajpal Yadav make up or the light moments in the film very efficiently. While Rajpal Yadav has been going overboard with his comic histrionics in many films off lately, this time he underplays his character and is completely restrained. His deadpan expressions are perfectly complimented with Boman's over-the-top histrionics.

Shefali Shah is convincing in the mother's role. Not to be taken as a censure but she is flawless in both playing and 'looking' her character. Priyanka is gorgeous and performs her part well.

Of course the major applause deserves are Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan. Akshay is especially expressive in the scene where his doting father intentionally berates him to make him aware of his responsibilities. Though Bachchan goes a bit dramatic in a couple of scenes, his brilliance strikes throughout the film.

To sum up, WAQT is like a soup whose ingredients are both tasty and nutritional but the final recipe somehow isn't as much appetizing.

Vaada (2005)

very interesting romance/thriller movie

[9/10 · 13 August 2005]

Teri kurti sexy lagti hai," sings Arjun Rampal to his screen-wife Amisha Patel before he goes blind...and the film goes bust.

Wish we could see anything remotely sexy in this sterile thriller about a blind man, his beautiful wife and his closet-psychotic friend, played by Arjun, Amisha and Zayed Khan with all the correct pauses in-between fits of passion.

But alas, nothing finally fits in "Vaada". It's like an over-elaborate jigsaw puzzle. Someone evidently read the instruction booklet on whodunits too carefully. So much attention is given to the fine print that the overall framework appears to miss the bus...and the buzz.

Dead at the centre, cruelly unproductive at heart, "Vaada" is one of those could've-beens that don't take long to become has-beens. The cruellest blow to the audiences' expectations (no matter how low) is that the thriller, as written by Rumi Jaffrey, has the potential to grip.

The narrative just lets it droop...and drip until the basic story tapers into a blow-dried dead-end. Very often in the course of this stiff-and-over-conditioned film you ask yourself if director Satish Kaushik was briefed to make a play on film.

If so, the narrative ought to have been free of those frisky flights of fancy into foreign shores for Himesh Reshammiya's can't-get-over-you song sequences.

Styled like the Michael Caine-Dyan Canon-Christopher Reeve thriller "Deathtrap", "Vaada" tries to create an aura of upper class languor.

Dil Ka Rishta (2003)

Strong relationship between Arjun Rampal and Aishwarya Rai

[13 August 2005]

It's the usual boy meets girl start. Needless to add, love blooms at first sight. The boy ? Jai (Rampal) proposes. Alas the girl ? Tia (ever heard such a name?) is already booked by Raj (Priyanshu). Jai still keeps trying but Tia marries Raj and multiplies. RUMpal, drinks and drives and and ... accident. Raj dies and Tia suffers from the regular memory loss syndrome, something that follows after each Bollywood accident. Jai takes charge of Tia's family and eventually girl starts loving boy.

Moral of the story: To get your ex-love back 'Drink And Drive'.

Mommy Rai's obsession for scripting bears faint resemblance with Tum Bin, which in turn was a spin-off on Gulzar's Kinara. Nadeem Shravan's tunes are passable but Kumar Sanu hissing hay hay hay in the background whenever the cupid strikes is somewhat irritating.

Ash acts very unnatural carrying a plastic smile throughout. Surprisingly Arjun Rampal, improves shaking off his wooden image. Isha Koppikar is wasted for there's no scope for an item number. Priyanshu's bit though sweet, is so short that by the end of the flick the audience tends to say bhaisaab, aapko pehle bhi kahin dekha hai. On the whole Dil Ka Rishta fails to bond a strong relation with your heart.

Tehzeeb (2003)

good mother and daughter relationship

[8/10 · 13 August 2005]

Tehzeeb is the story of Rukhsana Jamal (Azmi), a singer drunk in the fame she has attained. She doesn't care for her husband (Rishi Kapoor) and two young daughters (Tehzeeb played by Matondkar and Nazneen essayed by Mirza). Her failed businessman husband suspects her of an illicit relationship (shown only through a flip-second image) and creates a scene, which ends in his death.

Their elder daughter Tehzeeb watches it and 'sees' her mother with a revolver. She grows up suspecting her mother of her father's murder. Nazneen grows into a child-woman whom Rukhsana puts in a hospital, to be rescued later by Tehzeeb and her husband Salim (Rampal).

Ruksana's colorful character builds up with such negative shades in the first half that you almost begin to wonder ? what kind of a mother is she? Feminists might feel that a career woman is being assassinated just because she is successful in her career.

However, that is not to be as you discover later. The mother visits Tehzeeb and then the tension between the two unfolds in bits and pieces, through caustic comments, stifled praises and formal acknowledgment of love, till Tehzeeb can't take it anymore and bursts. The burst carries into the second half and then loses its bite. And so does the film.

Mohamed has proved himself as a storyteller with Sardari Begum, Mammo and Zubeida but sadly, he has punctured Tehzeeb with unnecessary baggage like Diana Hayden, Namrata Shirodkar and endless love scenes between Matondkar and Rampal after interval.

As expected, the movie belongs to Azmi and she is charming as a successful woman. Rampal too has done a good job as a rich author, and a doting husband and brother-in-law.

Tehzeeb is a good step over Fiza for Mohammed, and hopefully, whatever he does next, will deliver more.

Dil Hai Tumhaara (2002)

very interesting movie

[13 August 2005]

It starts off with a mother-stepdaughter conflict. Rekha cannot come to terms that her husband had a mistress and a daughter through her. Circumstances force Rekha to shoulder the responsibility of bringing up the daughter (Preity Zinta). Her own daughter (Mahima Chaudhry) takes to her stepsister immediately. Meanwhile, Rekha just gives her stepdaughter the cold shoulder.

That fact established, Shah plunges into the romantic angle. Shalu (Preity) and Dev (Arjun Rampal) are in love with each other. Trouble is, Nimmi (Mahima) loves him, too. More, Sameer (Jimmy Shergill) loves Shalu.

While you are still unravelling that one, Shah introduces the villains hatching some complex schemes. Mittal (Govind Namdeo) wants to become the mayor of Palanpur, Himachal Pradesh (where the story is based). The only way he can become one is to overthrow the current mayor Rekha.

With so many sub-events to tackle, no wonder Shah loses his grip and ends the film in a hurry. That is offered thus: a woman who sees her husband's betrayal every time she sees her stepchild, has an abrupt change of heart after 22 years. No valid reason given for that change of heart. A teary speech is all it takes.

All the characters, except Preity, who enjoys an author-backed role, are half-baked. Rekha, as the mayor, is never shown at work. The entire film sees her tackling only one problem --- the price of apples! Also, her house in the small town of Palanpur appears to be a mansion that has a transparent floor with water flowing underneath! Like her last film, Raj Kumar Santoshi's Lajja, Rekha's performance is top class. For the first time, she appears as a screen mother to two contemporary actresses. She looks gorgeous in the beginning of the film as a young mother. Later, she takes up the mature role of an elderly woman with dignity.

Preity is superb. Her last film with Kundan Shah, Kya Kehna!, won many accolades for her performance. Her spontaneous smile lights up the screen. As the neglected child, Preity does not spend her time crying and wallowing. Due credit for this should go to Shah. Preity is presented as the bubbly, vivacious girl, with a sensitive heart.

Though you wonder: given how close she is to her sister, why does she not breathe a word to her about her love life? Mahima looks great and dances well, and does justice to her role as the prim and proper girl who loves her younger sister to death. Here, Shah ought to have concentrated on her a little more and given depth to her role.

Arjun Rampal catwalks into the role with his easy smile and not-so-natural acting. Thankfully, he has no emotional scenes to tackle. His character raises a lot of questions. One: why does he allow himself to be pushed into marrying Mahima without a whimper? Jimmy Shergill as Preity's childhood friend has scant screen time. His skill as a ventriloquist is questionable. His puppet seems to have a life of its own, even talking at the same time as Jimmy. Once, the puppet is shown sitting away from Jimmy, and manages to talk and move its hands.

Shah doesn't seem to have paid attention to detail. While he establishes that Arjun comes to Palanpur from Delhi (at least six hours by car), there is a scene shown when Arjun gets some pastries smeared over his tie and shirt and wants to go home to change. He is shown changing his shirt at his Delhi home! A bit absurd? At one time Preity is afraid to go to Delhi alone from Palanpur and drags Arjun along. The second time, she simply runs out at night alone. Shah simply seems to have forgotten that Arjun's house is in Delhi, not Palanpur.

Preity and Arjun's office in small town Palanpur is shown as a modern designer office. Strange for an office that is incurring heavy losses and is on the verge of closing down.

Watch Dil Hai Tumhaara if you happen to be a Preity fan. And if you want to be treated to the rare opportunity to watch Bollywood diva Rekha.

Yakeen (2005)

A Watchable Romance and Thriller movie!!!!!!!!!

[9/10 · 13 August 2005]

Yakeen was a romance and thriller. I absolutely loved it because Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra made an awesome and hot couple on-screen.

More than just a handsome face, the lead star of "Yakeen", Arjun Rampal, has always been a very versatile actor. He played the obsessed man in "Moksha", a blind thief in "Aakhen", a manipulative con man in "Pyaar, Ishq Aur Mohabbat" and had amazing comedic timing in "Tehzeeb". He has also proved that he could play the rough-cut action hero in movies like "Elaan" and "Asambhav" and could be the pretty boy toy as well in movies like "Dil Hai Tumhara" and "Dil Ka Rishta".

In "Yakeen", Arjun proves exactly why he's one of the most talented actors to come out of Bollywood in recent times. His character, Nikhil, is one of many shades; an obsessed lover who wishes to destroy the man who touches his wife, a lost man desperately trying to piece his life together, a bad-ass husband who doesn't give a damn about anything but his business and an angry individual who believes the whole world is against him. It shows an amazing scope of Arjun's capability and Arjun played each layer of his character to perfection.

The best part about "Yakeen" is that the story kept an even, interesting pace throughout. There are so many twists in the movie that you'll be caught by surprise again and again throughout. Kudos to the filmmakers because even with all the twists, the audience are still able to keep up with the story – something that a lot of other Bollywood thrillers fail to do. All loose ends are neatly tied up and the audience won't leave the cinema wondering what the hell happened. (Of course, Hindi moviegoers will also know enough to leave logic at the door when watching.) Not to say that "Yakeen" is without fault though. No. Characters could have been developed better (like Kim Sharma's character for example) and the music score leaves much to be desired (Is it just me or is Sameer, the lyric writer, losing his touch these days?). In all fairness, "Yakeen" isn't SO mind blowing that you'll leave the cinema awe-struck. But what it IS, is a solid piece of storytelling that deserves a watch.

Elaan (2005)

Best Hollywood Presentation!!!!!!!!!

[10/10 · 8 August 2005]

When i saw this movie, i was stunned. I mean when i saw all fives heroes, and i one villain in this movie who is Mithun, i absolutely loved this movie. I give Amisha Patel a 7/10, she looked beautiful n loved the way she portrayed as a reporter. I will give Lara Dutta a 8/10 cause she knows what to do in this film and looks like she's going to be the next Lara Croft, so then i give her a 7.5/10. For John, he really was very funny for pretty much playing a comedian, she should go on with the look that he has in this film n also do action films more often, so then i give him a 8/10. For Arjun, he had a good performance in this movie because he mostly did everything, and also knows how and what to do in this mission, so then i give him also a 9/10. This was Rahul Khanna's first action n that i thought that he did pretty good in this Gil so that i give him a 9/10. Most of all, in this film, this film belongs to Mithun because he had a great performance of being a terror in this movie, and also had a great comeback too, so for Mithun i give him a 10/10. If any one of you people who didn't watch this movie, what are you doing??, i mean get up and watch this movie, its such a good movie. People this movie is kind of like the old Hindi film movie "sholay", so ya i know for sure that everyone will see this movie. And that i give this movie a 10/10.