nomanali77 Reviews

Bachna Ae Haseeno (2008)

The plaster is cracking...

[8/10 · 31 August 2008]

Yash Raj Productions has hardly done much good work in the last few years. Chak De India (which i didn't think was particularly brilliant, but we'll discuss that in its own review) was the only successful film from the so-called powerhouse production company. Personally, I rather enjoyed Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, but I can understand why it was hard to digest by most audiences.

Whether it's the timing, the cast, the story, the screenplay, or even the music, Bachna Ae Haseeno scores in all.

BAH is a romantic comedy about a regular guy who's been around with many women, finally falling in love, but getting rejected, and then going on a journey to redeem himself. Warm, funny at times and definitely interesting.

With the exception of Deepika Padukone, who emerges as a rather wooden actor, the performances were all good. The winner here is definitely Ranbir Kapoor as Raj, who carries a charismatic glow with him in every frame that leaves you with not much else to look at. He's got a very likable quality about him and I can only see him flourish with his future ventures. Minisha does a good job as the Punjabi girl next door who wants to be a "Simran", and Bipasha's role has been written out rather meaty as well (excuse the pun).

Fresh locations can be a bore if they are out of context, or can be forgotten if they are used as mere background, but BAH uses its locations to the fullest. Add to that some good music, where every song fits in, and you have a successful music album.

I give this movie a much more than just "safe-to-watch" recommendation. Highly enjoyable. Great direction, good screenplay and high production values. Yash Raj has finally managed to crack out of the mold of mundane.

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na (2008)

The Date Movie

[7/10 · 14 July 2008]

Well, I just watched it over the weekend, and I wasn't expecting much, so I was quite satisfied that the movie surpassed that. Abbas Tyrewala's first venture as a director relies heavily on good screen writing, done aptly by him as well. With writing credits such as Asoka, Munnabhai MBBS and Shikhar under his belt, this script required a freshness that wasn't there before. And it's there.

A simple story of young love that sprouts between two best friends, Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na does a decent job at story-telling. Imran Khan's Jai and Genelia's Aditi share a nice chemistry, even if the latter needs some polishing up on acting skills. Jai is a believable character for the most part, even if he is a little too sweet. Their friends Boms, Rotlu, Jiggy and Shaleen do a good job as well, though their roles are underwritten.

The screenplay, at times, relies on the charisma, timing and skills of the movie's supporting cast, and it is these who provide the most humor. Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak as Jai's parents, Paresh Rawal the cop, the guy who plays Aditi's brother Amit, and at some moments Sohail and Arbaaz Khan (as the cowboys with the sub-plot) all put in good performances. The characters have been written well, and all bring something in to the story.

AR Rahman's music doesn't stand out much, except for the "Kabhi Kabhi Aditi" number. "Pappu Can't Dance" is a wannabe cool song, and suffers from poorly written lyrics. For me, the other songs just came and went without making much impact. A small mention towards the song playing in the title sequence... I think it's a rather nice take on jazz and blues.

I don't rate the film too high in the rankings, simply because it's somewhat forgettable. The poster of the film is misleading, too. You'd think that you're doing in to watch 3 love stories, but that isn't so. the whole story revolves around Jai and Aditi, and their friends' characters aren't provided enough depth.

Lastly, a lot of the situations in the film are too cute for the mature audience. The film loses out in it's appeal to an audience that isn't fresh out of college and loves sweet love stories. Basically, it's a date movie. If that's your cup of tea with 7 sugar cubes, go watch it.

Love Story 2050 (2008)

Some love stories aren't meant to be told

[3/10 · 7 July 2008]

Here's the story: Harry Baweja, a mediocre director but doting father, manages to scrounge enough money to launch his beloved son Harman in a dream project. They set out to find a damsel to play the female lead and come across Kareena, who reads the script, is a bit indecisive, but signs anyway because she doesn't have any other big projects. Suddenly, Kareena starts getting a lot of film offers that are much more lucrative, and she decides to walk out on the Bawejas. Enter Priyanka, a simple, pretty, girl-next-door type looking for love. She's already tasted success with Krrish (in the sci-fi genre) and thinks she's made for this. So she signs up. Here starts the love story of Priyanka and Harman.

This is their real life story, and if you think this is boring, just watch Love Story 2050.

The director has invested a lot of money into the film, but his investments have gone to waste. Filled with special effects and nice locales, the makers thought they could lay off actual screenwriters and do all the storytelling ideas themselves. Bad move. The story and screenplay, from the very first shot, are the worst thing about the film.. so basically, everything else is a little better, which doesn't really matter, 'cos you've lost your audience's interest.

Our main man, Harman (what was his name in the film??!!??) is a motherless boy living in Australia, with a rich father who gives him no attention. This makes for our first useless sub-plot. Played by Dalip Tahil, our hero's dad has two scenes and his character only adds boring minutes to an already boring start. The 3 token friends our hero has (making a comfy, 90s-style foursome) are nothing but guys who are uglier, skinnier and dumber than him. So they're pretty wasted too. Off the top of my head, that's about 20 minutes which our movie editor ignored.

On a morning jog, our hero comes across a girl who somehow has the magical powers to control cosmic forces in such a way that butterflies land in the palm of her hand. Apparently, it isn't as hard as it sounds because our man does the same thing once she's gone... and a couple of times over through the course of the film. This girl of course, is Sana (Priyanka), a girl who writes a diary, loves cute/mushy toys and has never done a bad deed in her life. We are taken through another 10 minutes of uncut footage regarding a friend of hers, and a bicycle race through rocky terrains.

Anyways, so he chases her around, trying to woo her with his break dance moves and constant, needy bickering. What girl wouldn't fall for that? Our Sana is no different. They hit it off, and we're treated to the regular song and dance sequence along with romantic moments, just to "build up the love story".

We're soon introduced to some more useless characters via the girl's family, namely her parents and her adolescent siblings. The latter provide plenty of irritation through to the end of the movie. An important character that suddenly gets thrown in at this point is Uncle Ya (Boman Irani), who plays the passionately mad scientist, complete with the frizzy white hair, the overgrown mustache and the ceiling-high chalkboard. For the past 15 years, he's been inventing a time machine of sorts and he finally succeeds.

Meanwhile, our lady love Sana dies in a horrific accident, and our hero is sad as hell. Some subliminal messages tell him that she has been reborn in the future, in 2050, and is living in Mumbai, so he must go. And that's just the intermission.

Cut to the future, and we see a city (apparently Mumbai) that looks way beyond 2050. Flying cars, obedient robots, mid-air concerts and interfaced boutiques are the highlight of our city. Impressive effects, though. 2050 is made up of a mix of SFX ideas from The Fifth Element, Minority Report, iRobot and a few more Hollywood flicks.

Thrust into this unlikely future are our hero (still can't remember the character's name!!), Uncle Ya, and Sana's whining siblings. They finally find Sana, who is now Zeisha, the greatest rockstar/popstar/teen-queen in the world. It's now up to our team from 2008 to remind Zeisha of her past. The director decides that the audience has not had their fill of unnecessary characters, so he throws in a pink teddy-bear that talks, a multi-lingual robot that looks like Angelina Jolie with dreadlocks, and a Darth Vader style villain named Hoshi. Hoshi, apparently has a back-story where he used to be Uncle Ya's assistant and he betrayed him, or something useless like that. All in all, it's a happy ending 'cos Zeisha decides to go back to the past and replace Sana, and life goes on.

After THAT story, you'd think this movie would have some saving grace. Well, the music by Anu Malik is way below average. There isn't a single song that leaves a mark. All our actors are quite bad, and doses of overacting by our leads doesn't help. The locations are fresh, but Harman breaks into a jive every time you try to look at them. Idiot words such as Winkydinks and Boo are thrown around shamelessly to name inanimate characters. Harman looks decent, can't act, and grew up watching Hritik Roshan films. Priyanka is too bubbly to handle in the first half, and too fake in the second. Boman Irani does a fair job, but his character seems to change shades sometimes. Archana Puran Singh (as Sana's mother) provides moments of humor. At over 3 hours in length, LS 2050 is a movie that has the potential of being really interesting and new for the Indian audiences, but ends up trying too hard to be a saga of love, and one that doesn't seem to end.

In the Name of God (2007)

A debut attempt – for the director, and the country's film industry.

[7/10 · 28 October 2007]

Being a proud Pakistani, I bought tickets in advance to make sure that I'm one of the first people to watch the film. I had read a lot of snippets from reviews where the movie is regarded as praise-worthy. I do have a few comments of my own, though.

The first few shots of the film are slow, and in retrospect, seem unnecessary. The first hour goes by rather slow, and I think the added touches of color filters and silence slow it down further. One can pick at least 15-20 minutes that could've been done away with easily. In addition to that, the audience is subjected to some bad acting, particularly by the actor who plays Hussain Shah Khan (Maryam's dad) and Iman Ali (Maryam). Actually, I won't say that Iman Ali is a bad actor, but that fake British accent was too obvious, and added to the distraction. The actor who played her dad was really bad... he just couldn't pull any scene off! Also, a lot of the humor seemed misplaced... I mean, what was that cheap stunt about Maryam's father leaving the village because of the toilet... didn't fit in the moment.

I thought the scene of Maryam's escape and eventual return to captivity was done really well.. the camera work on the chair lift sequence was good... but again, the color tomes made it look archaic, and not rustic, as I would think it was intended to be.

Like most movies from the sub-continent, this movie had an intermission, and I walked out to buy my popcorn and discuss my disappointment with what I had thought would be a good film. I discussed that the film needn't have been technically brilliant as long as it was tightly scripted. Let's face it, it will be a while before Lollywood reaches the technical levels of Bollywood, let alone Hollywood.

Most films go downhill in the second half, because the director realizes he doesn't know how to finish it. This one, thankfully, did not.

The second half is power-packed with action, plenty of emotions, lots of events, great music, a great courtroom scene and a great finale. Naseer Ud Din Shah, in a brief appearance, played a character that turned the whole story around. So it can be safely said that even though his role was short, it was of major importance.. and what a performance in that short time. I remember the audience applauding during his courtroom sequence at some of the dialogs.

I think Shaan and the guy who played his brother gave good performances also. Shaan, especially, was brilliant and played the character with ease.. really got under the skin of "Mansoor". The ending, a mixture of sadness and contentment, was fair and all in all, left you with a satisfied feeling.

I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know about the strife of the common Pakistani in this world today, and to those who want to educate themselves a little bit on Islam and what it preaches and permits. Don't walk in expecting to be bowled over by top-class film-making, and you might end up enjoying it.

Jaan-E-Mann: Let's Fall in Love... Again (2006)

A Surprise Flop

[8/10 · 15 January 2007]

Granted, the story is old and inspired, some scenes and plot lines are lifts, some dialogs are lifted (the 6 smiles one from "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton", for example), but really, that isn't what Jaan-e-mann is about. This movie is all about the screenplay and editing, and that's where it scores brilliantly.

The screen is used like a stage, with characters moving in and out, especially during song sequences, and this carries the story forward. Personally, I feel the treatment is great. It works well, and every frame is a visual treat.

Salman and Akshay are not the best actors in the industry, but have consistently proved themselves worthy of mention in comic roles.And these roles are mostly about timing. Preity Zinta is alright, but then she usually is. I've never seen her do too bad, and I've never seen her shine out either. Anupam Kher delivers as required. Javed Sheikh was a surprise, and had a really short role with hardly much to say.

The songs sound strange and incoherent when you hear just the audio soundtrack, but fit in really well once you watch them in the film, as they come. They truly are situational songs, as i said before, and they move the story along. A true break from directors trying to make the songs picturesque by shooting in Switzerland.

Jaan-e-mann is a good film, definitely worth a watch, and I'm surprised it flopped. Audience reactions can be a real surprise sometimes. I still recommend this for a good, fun few hours.

Dhoom 2 (2006)

Great packaging; contents leave a lot to be desired

[7/10 · 24 December 2006]

Dhoom 2, one of the most eagerly awaited movies of the year, is finally out. And how is it? It's okay.

It looks great, brilliant locales, camera work, Hritik and Ash look excellent, too. But as far as a storyline goes, it disappoints. Unlike the first Dhoom, where there was a crisp storyline, supported by great stunts, this one has superb stunts trying to hold together a non-existent story.

Ash is extremely annoying, from her first dialog onwards. Bipasha is wasted. Abhishek doesn't have that much to do and is more supporting cast than anything else. I can't stand Uday Chopra.

Hritik is the best thing in the movie. He is cool, smooth and can take on action really well. However, compared to John Abraham's character in the first one, Hritik is a slightly kind hearted and emotional guy. I preferred Kabir's character cos he was really a bad boy. I don't know why they didn't go all the way with Hritik on that. It might have been better and Ashwairya's character could've been completely written off.

All in all, watch it once cos its fun.

Bhagam Bhag (2006)

Comic Mystery

[7/10 · 24 December 2006]

After 36 Chinatown, we now have Bhagam Bhag, which is a mixed genre film, namely comedy/mystery/suspense.

It starts off great, with very natural performances (the Sync sound helps here), original dialog and an an interesting introductory phase-in of the characters. This is one thing the film doesn't stop till the end. Each and every character is introduced slowly and the audience then has to piece that character in with the rest. Good, because the audience gets to think a bit.

The film provides great laughs, many of which are non-slapstick (thus a treat for the slightly intellectual).

Govinda stands out like a shining star. He's back. And he's brilliant. Akshay Kumar isn't far behind. These days, Paresh Rawal's performances seem to be based on a character he's already played. Rajpal Yadav is decent. Jackie Shroff does what he needs to. Lara Dutta is okay. Tanushree Dutta, in a special appearance, manages to look rather slutty. The rest of the cast does their job well.

The movie has a great pace, up until the last 30 minutes or so, where, once again, the screenwriter and director have run out of ideas on how to end the movie, and it becomes an ensemble of the entire cast involved in mindless buffoonery. Someone's got to come up with a better ending for these Priyadarshan films.

Don (I) (2006)

The "Don" of a New Era

[9/10 · 20 October 2006]

"DON KA INTEZAR TO MUJHE GYAARA (11) MAHINON SE THA, LEKIN MAIN YEH NAHIN JAANTA THA KE DON KE TICKETS MILNA MUSHKIL NAHIN, NAMUMKIN HAI."

I couldn't catch Don on the first day of release as it was all sold out, and I had been extremely busy at work the whole of last week to even think about the movie, and buying tickets in advance. Anyways, no harm done. I watched Don just tonight, on the second day. And what an experience it was.

Amitabh Bachchan made Don immortal in the 1978 original. SRK re-does that now in 2006 for generations to come. And though I do not want to give too much away, Farhan Akhtar has done something to Don that the original version did not. You will have to watch the movie and find that out for yourself, though.

As a director, FA takes care of everything in a frame. Extremely talented, his attention to detail is impeccable. From the moment the film starts, till the very last shot, the film is a slick, stylish thriller of blockbuster proportions.

SRK does a really good job, both as Don and as Vijay. Priyanka Chopra as Roma does a fine job too, and the martial arts training paid off. Boman Irani as DeSilva and Om Puri as Malik are very good, as would be expected. Arjun Rampal as Jasjit is great, and in fact makes you feel much more for the character than Pran (in the original) did, in my opinion. Personally, I thought the actresses picked to play Kamini (Kareena Kapoor) and Anita (Isha Koppikar) could have changed roles. Kamini does nothing but jump in the "Ye Mera Dil" song, and although some dance steps from the original have been retained, she does not bring in the sexy siren factor to as much an extent as Helen did, in the original. I thought Isha Koppikar could've done that.

The movie pays homage to the original, which will be to the delight of fans of the 1978 version, by keeping a lot of the dialog the same. The situations are similar, the setting has been changed. Instead of Deepu and Munni (Jasjit's son and daughter), there's only Deepu, which is good because Munni was redundant anyways. Much like that, many little changes have been made, not only to go with today's times, but also to tighten up the screenplay.

The title song as well as the "Aaj Ki Raat" song have been shot really, really well. "Main Hoon Don", in particular, really looks good, with the Moulin Rouge kind of setting and slick camera work. Simply by the way it's shot, and the expressions and behavior of the people involved, the audience is treated to an inside look on the lives of Don's gang. "Aaj Ki Raat" carries a wonderful retro/disco feel, visually, and reminded me of Parveen Babi's era.

Farhan Akhtar has added certain twists in the movie that weren't there in the original, and it is these that make this a Farhan Akhtar film. The twists are a shocker for both the new viewers, as well as for those who've watched the original. In fact, I think they come as a greater shock for the viewers who've watched Amitabh's Don, because they will be under the impression that they know what's coming. Brilliant.

The film has been handled really well, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat. I don't see too many reasons why it wouldn't go down well with most people, except for those (my wife for one) who can't stand SRK. As for me, I'm a fan, always have been. Way to go.

Omkara (2006)

A little below expectations

[7/10 · 6 August 2006]

I just watched the film last night. Was I expecting too much? I think not, since I already had a rough idea what the basic storyline was, having read Othello (albeit years ago). Let's not get me wrong. The film is quite brilliant in many aspects. Saif Ali Khan as Tyagi is superb, and I couldn't have seen him play that role, but kudos to the director for having seen it like that. The cinematography is great. Excellent music, both soundtrack as well as background score. There were however a few things that didn't seem to gel.

The basic character of Omi was written out a bit different from the character of Othello. I don't know whether it is Devgan that did that to the character, but his inner angst didn't hit home too hard.

What was Naseeruddin Shah doing there? A brilliant actor who seemed to have been brought into the cast to only add weight to the movie. It's like commercial cinema adds Bachchan to their cast without having a proper role written out for him.

The screenplay was not as tight as it could've been. Too much slang leaves lot of the audience alienated. Although I must say that a lot of the individual dialog was well-written. Other bits of dialog, however, seemed that they were written to induce a cheer from the audience more than anything else.

Lastly, I would say that the film could've been much shorter. Some serious editing could've been done. i felt that many scenes were stretched and seemed to hang loose in the film.

I do recommend this film to people in order to appreciate the canvas that the movie is set upon. It is quite an undertaking. The treatment of the movie is rather impressive and adds another feather in the cap of Bollywood.

What If? (2006)

Above average

[7/10 · 23 July 2006]

The general storyline and the climax are quite interesting. Having known nothing about the film, I was a bit suspicious when they tell us the year 2001 in the first frame of the film.. and it all came to me when Irrfan Khan sat in the office with the calendar behind him. I suddenly understood everything.

The Good: Great performances by all the actors. I wasn't disappointed with anyone's performance. Good twist in the end, too.

The Bad: Screenplay. Even though the movie was short, I felt that quite a few frames were wasted and did not need to be there. We didn't need the romantic angle Irrfan's character had with the older woman. She was useless to the script. Paresh Rawal's character and Rathna Pathak's charter did not need the love angle either. It didn't add anything.

Fortunately, the film didn't have any ugly points. You can depend on a seasoned film personality like Naseeruddin Shah to direct a film, which, even as a débutant will be above the regular fare you watch in Bollywood. For the most part, you can appreciate the film and I will go on and say it is a good film, even with it's flaws. I guess it is a learning experience for the director, and I can just see his future ventures being much much better.

Corporate (2006)

A surprise

[7/10 · 12 July 2006]

Corporate explores the dark world of politics and under-the-table boardroom techniques in the business world. Set in present day Mumbai, it follows the story of our main protagonist Nishi (Bipasha Basu) and how everything and everyone around her have an effect.

Tightly scripted and well acted, Corporate could have made it to being the best film this year, if it wasn't for a few things.

1. The director brings in songs where they weren't needed. The item number, especially, was completely out of place.

2. The slight love angle between Minisha and Sameer is totally useless... in fact, Sameer's character wasn't even needed.

3. the character of the pervert CEO was pushed too far. He is a middle aged man in a bad marriage. He likes other women. But he doesn't need to bite his lips all the time in a horny fashion. Totally unrequired and a bit unrealistic.

4. Bpasha's scene at home with Minisha did not need to have as much emotion as it did. It came off weak, since she was shown as a strong woman. A strong woman in a bad marriage would not be weeping that way 5 years later.

All this does not mean that this is a bad movie. It is a rather good one, in fact. These points have been marked just as a severely critical viewpoint. You can actually walk in and totally enjoy the film.

Pardes (1997)

"Pardes" or "How to disguise a one-sided judgement and get away with it"

[6/10 · 4 July 2006]

In its essence, Subhash Ghai's intentions were decent. He wanted to make a sort of patriotic movie about family values in India, respecting one's parents, loving one's home, etc. To illustrate this point as easily and "over abused-ly" as possible, he needed to draw a contrast with something. He decided to pick on Americans since he knows so much about them because he has watched a lot of TV.

What could have been a decent storyline with a truly meaningful message, turned out to be a self-patronizing, American-bashing exercise. Each and every negative stereotype was used against the Americans, and even for the Indians. Ghai refused to do any learning or research on the subject, got a budget approved to shoot in Hollywood and took the team there to act like Americans.

In short, the thing that Pardes teaches us is that Indians are family-oriented, have their feet on the ground, are humble, and keep their virginity for their spouses. Americans, or even Indian-Americans are vicious creatures that lust for flesh, respect no one, practice adultery.. and smoke.

I'm sorry Mr. Ghai, nice try, but the project could have been a classic had it not been put in your reckless hands.

Iqbal (2005)

A little bit overrated

[6/10 · 29 June 2006]

Iqbal has won a lot of accolades in the past year. It is a decent effort, but I wouldn't say it was the best effort from Nagesh Kukunoor. The awards this movie has won are not a reflection on how great this film is, but rather how much the rest of the films coming out of Bollywood lack originality.

Iqbal is a feel good movie. It has an original story and an original (if limited) screenplay. It also boasts some new actors.

The story is about a young deaf and dumb boy who struggles to make it to the International Cricket Team in India. What does the film lack? Reason. It lacks a reason for the main character being a mute. His entire struggle was away from that. He could have had as much trouble even if he could speak. Iqbal's main handicap was his poverty, not his inability to speak.

To top it off, his whole struggle was not that tough anyway. It all came a little too easily to him. I think there was scope to make him struggle some more.

These points are what lack in this film, that don't let it be a film of International standards. the joy is there when he finally makes it to the team, but it isn't as hard-to-get as the victory in Lagaan or something.

Krrish (2006)

Surprisingly Good!

[8/10 · 25 June 2006]

I didn't like Koi Mil Gaya much. Aside from HR's acting, it didn't offer much to adults. It was more a kids' film, I felt, having grown up watching ET and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Krrish, however, comes as a complete surprise because it offers a somewhat original story with a fast-paced screenplay, and includes all the masala that Bollywood is known for. To put it simply: Paisa Vasool.

For the most part, the special effects are great and tie in well with the movie. Only the part where he is in the jungle fighting the ninjas could've used a bit more work.

Hritik delivers a great performance, both as Krrish(na) and as his father Rohit. The make-up was done really well and look believable. Naseeruddin Shah delivers an excellent performance, and you expect nothing less from him.

If you guys have watched Minority Report, you would notice that the whole fortune telling computer and the way it's controlled is highly inspired by that. Roshan seems to be a huge fan of Spielberg... who isn't. Other than that, I think the movie scores in all departments.

Teesri Aankh: The Hidden Camera (2006)

IMDb saves a few people.

[1/10 · 26 March 2006]

Usually, I can trust this website to have complete information on most things. In this case, however, IMDb seems to have nothing on this particular movie – which is a blessing in disguise for the makers of the movie, because it saves them some embarrassment. However, I am here to spoil all that.

About a month ago, my wife and I decided to boycott partying every weekend and made our way to the cinema to watch the latest Hindi release "Teesri Aankh – The Hidden Camera". Since then, we have continued our partying ways.

I visited this website the next morning to write my comments on the movie but could find no trace of this movie ever existing, until now, so I am here to write some comments.

Teesri Aankh is an absolutely pathetic venture by loser director HARRY BAWEJA, where he pretends to expose the horrible effects experienced by women that get trapped in the porn ring. That's just an excuse to make this movie a flesh-fest, with clichéd dialogs and situations. Our cast is headed by Mr. Beef himself, SUNNY DEOL and his two leading ladies are AMISHA PATEL and NEHA DHUPIA. The former, as we have seen time and again, most notably in Mangal Pandey, has run out of reasons to continue in this industry. Whats makes it worse is that she's actually given a meaty role of a mute. The silver lining is that you don't hear her voice at all. But even her sign language is so annoying, you just want to tie her arms up. Our second leading lady is more of an extended special appearance, and her character is too dumb to understand that her 2 male agents (she plays a model) that are continuously ogling at her and looking up her skirt and down her bra, are eventually going to want to rape her.

So she dies since her purity is so important to her, and her boyfriend Deol goes to London in search of her. He meets our mute friend who falls in love with him and helps him pursue his girlfriend's killers. So, most of the movie is shot in London, you would think. Ha! Every third scene takes the viewers to one of our characters (vile villains included) to a shot of them walking across Oxford street. And that's it. Even though the entire movie is supposedly taking place in London, the shooting isn't. Okay, maybe budgets were low, but could they have at least made the effort to make the place look like London.

There's a fight scene in the night on an empty road, where Deol is smashing one of the sidey's head on a bus, and not only did they have an old, beat-up, Indian brand bus parked there, but it actually has yellow chameli garlands hanging in the windshield! Viewing of this movie can result in serious mental doubts about the state of Indian Cinema, so my advice is avoid unless your life depends on it. If you do watch it, and do survive the first half, my guess is the second will kill you. There's actually a scene where a villain across the road is running towards Sunny with a gun, and Sunny, seeing a nearby 4WD parked, kicks the car (YES – like a football, causing it to fly), which hits the villain who goes flying away. Wow, that is how you must take care of villains!

You will have more fun tying and untying your shoe laces for 3 hours.

Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham... (2001)

Trademark Karan Johar

[9/10 · 12 March 2006]

I respect Karan Johar. He is an honest director. There are a lot of young directors out there today that are taking the Hollywood approach to film making and the end result is a mish mash of a desi product in a foreign packaging. Karan Johar, on the other hand, takes a desi story, puts it in a desi package but only refines it more than most others do. What you get is a very good Bollywood movie that has elements of emotion, melodrama, comedy, family values, romance and music in equal doses. Yes, I admit that the story does leave a lot of questions unanswered, but that's OK considering the desired target market is one that is alright with that and sheds expectations of credibility before walking in to the cinema.

K3G is a beautiful example of what a good director can do. Agreed, the movie may not have been as great without the power star cast, but then, let us not forget that before those people are stars, they are very good actors. Well, except maybe Kareena and Hritik.

This is where the minus points are. Hritik did nothing but weep perpetually. Kareena played an overbearing slut. And to top it off, she and her friends all spoke American slang and also had that slight twang of an American accent. (PHAT: Pretty Hot And Tempting?? That's ghetto lingo!) And I really didn't like the national anthem thing. i felt it was a little pushed. I think KJ went a little overboard there in trying to make the NRI audience cry. The only time that trick has worked effectively was years ago in "naam" when Pankaj Udhas sang the "Chitthi Aayi Hai" song.

There are certain scenes that I found really well done in the movie. The last time Rahul meets Rohan before the latter goes off to boarding school, he has a talk with him about taking care of Mum, losing weight and joining he cricket team. They are sitting on a bench, side by side having this talk. Years later, in the second half of the movie, after Rahul realizes that his brother has been living with him all this while, the scene again cuts to them sitting on a bench, this time ten years later. It could've been shot anywhere, but the fact that the setting is so similar just makes it even more memorable.

The scene where Nandini (mom) meets Rahul after years at the shopping mall, she places her hand on his shoulder and he turns around. Wow.

And the finale of course. Amitabh breaking down with SRK.

One mustn't expect great international cinema here. this is what great Bollywood is all about.

Hadh Kar Di Aapne (2000)

Good fare

[7/10 · 12 March 2006]

The first thing one must do when about to watch a Govinda flick, is discard the expectation of a realistic, credible storyline in the movie. Also, don't look for technical brilliance, since compared to other films, movies starring him are of a lower budget. if you have these two things covered, just enjoy.

Hadh Kar Di Aapne features European locales, a pretty leading lady, mistaken identity, girl/boy hate then love scenario, plenty of song and dance and many such masala elements of recent comedy films.

One of the most ridiculous scenes I remember is when Govinda dresses up like a Japanese man and sits with his head in the TV screen, pretending to be part of the TV show. Ridiculous, yet funny.

The movie does get annoying at times, because the comedy goes a little overboard, but on the whole, if you are a Govinda fan, you may like it.

Ghulam (1998)

On the Khandala-front

[7/10 · 11 March 2006]

I went through the list of Vikram Bhatt movies, and realized I had seen quite a few of them. And there isn't a single original storyline in any of them. Vikram Bhatt isn't happy in just getting inspired by Hollywood movies, he copies them totally. Sometimes, he does a bad job (Awara Paagal Deewana: The Whole Nine Yards, Deewane Hue Paagal: There's Something About Mary) but sometimes it isn't so bad (Raaz: What Lies Beneath and Ghulam: On the Waterfront).

The difference with Ghulam is its treatment. This treatment is very rustic and non-glamorous. What you get is a nice, realistic view of the situation, with Siddhu being a very real character. Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Rajit Kapoor, Sharat Saxena and Mita Vasisht all turn in pretty good performances. I remember when I first watched the movie and was impressed by Rani. Come to think of it, I have been a fan of Rani since then itself, so I'm pretty glad things are working out for her now.

Even being a copy, it is a rather good movie with a believable storyline and strong performances. Worth a peek.

Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon (2003)

In agreement..

[5/10 · 11 March 2006]

I have been reading a few other comments by users, and the general view is that this movie is bad. I agree. Although, sadly, it had the ingredients to be good. Those ingredients do not include Hritik and Kareena, the script and definitely not the animation! Hritik's Prem has had 12 too many Red Bulls and for the first half of the movie, he is a live wire that loves everyone, and aside from the fact that he can annoy the crap out of you, he is the perfect good boy. Kareena's Sanjana is also a daughter to be proud of. She dresses in skimpy clothes and prances around at the school function to which her parents have been invited, but other than that she gives her parents a lot to be proud of. Sanjana's family owns a parrot that talks unnecessarily and a dog whose face becomes animated when angered.

Abhishek's Prem enters and really saves the day for the movie because he is the only sober performance in an over-excited cast.

The music is pretty good and the movie is shot well... the storyline isn't bad either, but the cast mess it all up.

By the way, did anyone notice that Hritik keeps whistling an unknown tune through the movie. It was a tune he kept whistling in K3G as well. Absolutely useless information, but true none the less.

Malamaal Weekly (2006)

Wasted Time

[3/10 · 10 March 2006]

Something is wrong out there. The genre of comedy is not going through a very good phase in Bollywood. There was a time when a movie like "Malamaal Weekly" would have been very highly appreciated for its great slap-stick, nincompoop approach to humor. Unfortunately, a new wave of directors have set such high standards in film-making, scripting and screenplay, that an idiot-ride like the one under mention here cannot go unpunished.

The heavy dosage of actors cannot save this film. In fact, they are just as much to blame in messing it up. Except, perhaps Ritesh Deshmukh, who gets better with his films. Let's go through the cast, one by one: Paresh Rawal: Plays Lilaram, the lottery ticket seller. Bad teeth, worse jokes. Not as annoying as he was in Garam Masala, but seems to be fading out on the comedy scene. A possible favorite of Priyadarshan, and no doubt a brilliant actor, but this director has worn him out. Give him something new to do.

Om Puri: ballu, the milkman. Now, why is it that we see Om Puri, a great character artist of commercial and parallel cinema, doing comedy so often. i feel he has limited ability in comedy. he seems to be playing the same kind of character over and over again. Slightly temperamental, very opinionated, etc. Leave him to his serious roles.

Rajpal Yadav: Nothing new ever comes out of him.

Asrani: He's an "Angrezon ke zamane ka comedian". This generation needs something else to laugh.

Shakti Kapoor: They're still offering him movies?? Innocent: Really famous comedian from South India, but I think his voice was dubbed by Tiku Talsania.

Ritesh Deshmukh: The only decent performance in the movie. His scenes are the most bearable.

Reema Sen: Plays the village belle. Wears make-up all the time.

Arbaaz Khan: Confused and hurried as usual.

I am not going to discuss the plot, but overall the movie was stretched beyond tolerance and the amount of characters that were there was completely unnecessary. If you want to watch an actually funny movie along the same lines, watch "Rat Race". I think "Malamaal Weekly" could've been inspired by that.

Biwi-O-Biwi (1981)

A Childhood Favorite!

[8/10 · 7 March 2006]

I first watched this film back in the early 90's. i was around 14 or 15 and it tickled me crazy. And since then I have loved it as it continues to entertain on each viewing. The story is really unbelievable and ridiculous, but that exactly is its selling point. To take an inane storyline, over-the-top characters and really unique dialog and make it into a crazy film, that too back in the early 80's.

Few people manage to do it today, that is make an out and out comedy film. A good example more recently would be Andaz Apna Apna that is equally crazy and funny, although I have noticed that there are certain dialogs in AAA that are inspired by BOB. Off the top of my head, I can remember the part in BOB when Gafoor says some poem/couplet (Sher) about angoor and langoor, and Veer Singh asks him how dare he call "memsaab" a langoor. A similar line was used in AAA when Amar dresses up as an old man and takes away Raveena on a horse cart, while Prem runs behind them.

Anyways, I don't much fancy any other of the director's work... except maybe Arjun, which was one of his better works.

Sarkar (2005)

Sarkar: A Gangster Feast

[9/10 · 5 March 2006]

Let's imagine for a second that Yash Chopra's Deewaar (1975) didn't end the way it did. Vijay Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) did not die, Anita (Parveen Babi) did, the two brothers split up for good, and the mother went with Ravi (Shashi Kapoor). Vijay continued his ruling over Mumbai, and grew more and more powerful. Eventually he married Pushpa (Supriya Pathak). Any contact with his brother and mother was lost, and they probably died later. Vijay went into hiding, changed his name to Subhash Nagre, had two sons with Pushpa, Vishnu and Shankar, came out of self-exile and continued to rule Mumbai. However, he is a good man at heart. His elder son goes into film production, while the younger son is in the US, studying. After completing his education, the younger son, Shankar (AB Junior) returns to Mumbai.

This is where Sarkar starts.

Comparisons aplenty to Godfather, but Sarkar stands on its own. I won't go into the story, because it is March 2006 and almost everyone who is interested must have watched the film already. The plot itself is very simple, but it is the on-screen performances as well as the screenplay and direction that make this film a winner.

Memorable Scenes:

1. Rasheed meeting Sarkar at the latter's home. Do you remember the disgust with which Subhash Nagre looks at Rasheed? He maintains it throughout.

2. Hospital scene where Subhash Nagre is told that his son has joined his rivals.

3. Shankar telling his family that he has killed his brother. "Maine bhaiyya ko maar diya." That is the ONLY dialog in that scene! 4. Shankar goes to Silver Mani for help and Rasheed is there already.

5. Shankar kills Rasheed. Even underwater, Raheed didn't lose his composure.

I think that's all I can remember right now.

I don't think Sarkar beats Satya or Company, but it definitely is up there amongst RGV's best.

Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001)

Almost Perfect

[9/10 · 4 March 2006]

There have been hundreds of good reviews and comments on this movie, and I must say that I agree with almost everything that has been said about it. So I'm not going to patronize it anymore, because everyone already knows how great it is. But I did find a couple of negative points in the movie. Things that were either silly or unnecessary. What were they? I felt that the whole romantic angle between Elizabeth and Bhuvan was completely useless and could have been avoided completely. Why couldn't Elizabeth have wanted to help them purely out of the goodness of her heart? In fact, after their first meeting when the villagers are observing the cricket match in hiding, Elizabeth asks their names, and after they've left, she actually whispers "Bhuvan" to herself... as if she's already falling for him.. ridiculous! In fact, i thought the whole Bhuvan/Elizabeth/Gauri triangle was useless and did nothing for the plot. yes, it gave a chance for our "Gori Mem" to sing a song, but come on!! The last few words in the movie claim that Elizabeth never married, and is referred to by Amitabh Bachchan (the narrator) as her remaining Bhuvan's Radha forever. A little laughable.

Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (1994)

One of SRK's first films

[8/10 · 26 February 2006]

I have watched this movie over 20 times. But i don't think that it's a GREAT movie. It's just a fairly good movie. Simple, to the point, slightly comedic, slightly romantic, slightly heart-warming. But I have watched it over 20 times. The reason is Shahrukh Khan.

This was Shahrukh before Baazigar, before Darr and more importantly, before DDLJ. This was Shahrukh Khan raw. This was him before the audiences found him lovable and adored him. This was him before he was able to floor girls with just a look and a smile. This was SRK before he became a star.

As said by another reader, SRK breathes life into the character of Sunil. Sunil is a guy we all know, we all are. He is the common man. He has weaknesses, he isn't rich, or particularly handsome and he's sometimes willing to go the wrong way to achieve something.

The movie is filled with ridiculous situations (the Chinese theme bar!!!) and characters (Anthony Gomez) but SRK fights it all and shines through. I recommend this movie to all people who watch SRK today and say that he keeps doing the same kind of roles. It is a brilliant performance.

Let's Bring Our Heroes Home (2004)

Not so bad...

[7/10 · 25 February 2006]

This is a pretty OK film... yes some parts are lame and exceptionally convenient, and the movie doesn't really justify the large star cast (AB, SD, Tanuja). However, the actor that really impressed me here was Kay Kay Menon (not to be confused with the singer KK). In the scene where he first meets Amitabh's character, I thought that a man who can just look at AB, keep staring and not say a word, and still look strong, is definitely a good actor. In fact, he has proved himself worthy again in Sarkar, alongside AB for a second time. This guy should get more roles, he's brilliant.

If you've read any of the other reviews here on IMDb, you already know the plot, and I do agree that Akshaye Khanna's entry into Pakistan was a little too easy. And the little love angle he shared with "what's-her-face" was completely unnecessary. But he is a fairly good actor (as seen in DCH), Sunjay Dutt is cool to watch, always. and AB... what can I say. I don't know if I'm his biggest fan in the world, but I know I can definitely compete for the spot.

An interesting watch, considering it's Bollywood, although a bit inspired by Hollywood oldies like "the Great Escape" and "Bridge on the River Kwai".