Luck By Chance

Rating : 7/10
Time : 156 minutes
Director & Co-writer : Zoya Akhtar; Co-writer : Farhan Akhtar; Music : Shankar Ehsaan Loy
Starring : Farhan Akhtar, Konkona Sen Sharma, Rishi Kapoor, Juhi Chawla, Hrithik Roshan, Dimple Kapadia, Isha Shervani

Is your success due to luck or your hard-work ? As in real life, this film does not provide a definitive answer but showcases how both have a significant role to play. The acting is excellent and there is a lovely understated sense of humour through the film. And the story, set in the Hindi film industry, provides enough engaging characters to keep you completely engrossed from start to finish.



Farhan & Konkona are struggling actors, both having taken different routes to get even to this stage. Farhan left his father’s shop in Delhi, went to an acting school, very interestingly run by Saurabh Shukla, lives with his rapidly running-out-of-patience masi, and is relying on a friend of his to get him his first breakthrough. Konkona walked out of her parents home and life in Kanpur straight into the arms of a producer who promises to cast her as second lead in his next film. Three years later, she’s doing bit parts and starring Bhojpuri films, while still waiting for the film launch.


In another interesting story line, Rishi Kapoor, owner of Rolly productions, a successful veteran producer, is trying to get his film underway. He’s appointed his brother, Sanjay Kapoor, as director. He has Isha Shervani, a new face and daughter of yester years superstar Dimple Kapadia, as his heroine. And he has an increasingly reluctant superstar, Hrithik Roshan, as his lead male. How all these plots come together comprises most of the film…


What the film does brilliantly is provide a good, semi-realistic look at the hindi film industry and the world that exists behind the silver screen. A world of fragile ego’s, petty jealousies, silver spoons, intense backbiting, never ending gossip, small white lies and ceaseless in-fighting, all in a effort to get ahead and get the next hit. It’s a world where big names and banners count, true talent frequently takes a back seat and yes, luck can play a very important role.

The sense of humour through the film keeps the mood light hearter. Whether its Saurabh Shukla’s ticking off Farhan (art imitating life here ?) for being understated vs the normal exaggerated male actors, Hrithik’s reaction when he learns that Karan Johar’s lead actor has broken a leg, his argument with Sanjay Kapoor on the song sequence and their subsequent reactions, Farhan’s realizing whom to butter and then playing the mother daughter team of Dimple and Isha like a guitar, the whole grandfather clock sequence, the ‘bahut tension ho rahi hai, thodi vodka aur daalo’, ‘she’s a crocodile in chiffon’, and Kareena’s ever so sweet ‘you can come over anytime’ to a struggling actor, followed very quickly by a deadpan ‘I’m just kidding’, it makes sure you keep smiling.


Farhan elicits a few ooh’s and aah’s from the female audience for his shirtless poses and dance steps, during the first part of the film. He is understated as usual, some of the jokes, when he gives Isha a horse statue instead of flowers and then follows it up with a ‘no more horsing around’ when the director protests or even his ‘you live in a cake’ remark, seem completely like him in real life. Konkona is brilliant, effortlessly playing a character going though the highs and lows of life, remaining grounded, emotive and looking lovely. My admiration for Farhan (is there anything the man can’t do – write, direct, sing, act, look good ?) and konkona (is there any role she cannot fit completely and naturally into ?) just grows with every film of theirs. A cherubic, curly haired Rishi Kapoor and an graceful Juhi Chawla look good together, Dimple looks every inch the ex superstar and dominating mother, with her vehement description of her early days in the industry providing an insight into the struggle that normally awaits most newcomers. Isha also gives a very good portrayal of a spoilt, foreign accented star daughter (the khoon / murder rehearsal was very funny, as was the ‘log kitne narrow-minded hote hain’ while she slyly slips her hand in her co-stars).


For a change, we have a very well thought through story line which is made a lot more convincing due to the number of guest appearances. Aamir Khan, Raju Hirani, Anurag Kashyap, Manish Malhotra, Kareena, Abhishek, Shabana, Javed Akhtar, John Abraham, Dia Mirza, Ranbir Kapoor, Akshay Khanna, Rani Mukherjee all add to the realism. There are several serious themes which are touched upon – the prevalence of looks vs talent, the star mom’s, the casting couch, the dominance of big names in India, the lack of original content / storylines. And both Karan Johar and Shahrukh say something quite apt, which is given added credibility because its them, with their real-life background, saying it.

I was reminded of Pretty Woman’s ‘This is Hollywood, Whats your Dream ?’opening and closing statement. For a change, even in Bollywood (apologies to Dimple for using this term), Zoya Akhtar, in her debut film makes it seem like every dream is possible !

Chandni Chowk to China

Rating 3/10
Running Time : 154 Minutes
Release Date : 16th January, 2009
Director : Nikhil Advani ; Writer : Rajat Arora, Sridhar Raghavan; Music : Sneha Khanwalkar
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Ranvir Shorey, Mithun Chakraborty, Roger Huan, Chia Hui Liu

This is a great movie for those who’ve had 6 beers (or an equivalent amount of alcohol), or for kids (and those similarly intellectually inclined) or those who are fans of the mindless timepass genre, where you leave your brains at home, land up for the movie and then giggle aimlessly for the next three hours.

All others, like me, will find this movie a disaster. And the sad thing is that they had an interesting premise – a Chinese village, suffering from a tyrant, finds out that they can be freed by an ancient warrior who has been reborn in India. But then its almost as if the ‘brains’ behind the film decided to see how much they could dumb it down, how much unneccessary slapstick & nautanki they could throw in, how complicated (actually that’s too soft a word, convoluted is probably better) they could make the plot. How many films could they ‘borrow’ from – there are shades of Mr Natwarlal, Goldfinger and most old Hindi movies, with the whole twins separated at birth, amnesiac father et all. And in general, how far away from reality could they go…

If it weren’t for Akshay, who still comes through with at least his acting reputation intact, if not his judgement, the rating would be even lower. Deepika is ok, looks good as always. Most others, well actually I’m being unfair on the actors as they were probably doing what they were told. And the songs were in keeping with the rest of the film. Effects, scenery and cinematography is decent. Fight sequences are ok ok - again too far away from reality for me to enjoy, they've almost created a real-life version of Kungfu Panda.

I actually had high expectations from this one (because the premise was interesting) and maybe that’s why I’m so disappointed. I laughed only once or twice throughout the film, most other times I was cringing, or holding my head in my hands. The audience was 50-50, a few walking out in the interval, despite having paid Rs 260 per ticket and some others laughing everytime the director intended them to. They’re actually planning a sequel to this, but despite being set in Africa, a herd of wildebeest couldn’t drag me to that one…

Slumdog Millionaire

Rating : 8/10
Running Time : 120 Minutes
Release Date : 12th Nov, 2008 (USA)
Director : Danny Boyle, Lavleen Tandan (India) ; Co-writer : Simon Beaufoy; Music : A R Rahman
Starring : Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Madhur Mittal, Anil Kapoor, Irrfan Khan, Saurabh Shukla, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar
As a movie, this one is engrossing and well-paced, a story nicely told, well-acted and well packaged. However, for a die-hard, 'India Shining', almost chip-on-my-shoulder patriot, it makes for slightly depressing viewing, raises a lot of uncomfortable questions.

I hate the fact that there are still so many people in my country, without food, water and sanitation (~600 million). I hate the fact that law and order doesn't exist, its almost the prerogative of a privileged few. I hate the fact the exemption list for our toll roads / highways takes 2 hoardings to list and the VIP list at airports expands every year. Both these things pointing again, towards a few people with all the power. I hate the fact that there is still a class divide, even in metro's, a clear division between the have's and have-not's, and that the have-not's are almost resigned to their fate. I hate the fact that all this is changing too damned slowly. And I hate the fact that there are still slums.


Slumdog Millionaire is the story of a slum dweller, Jamaal (Dev Patel), who, on a gameshow, answers all the questions and wins the jackpot (about $500,000). And for that, he gets tortured by the police, who cannot believe that an ordinary slum boy can do what a lot of other more deserving people couldn't. He gets harrassed, mis-led and belittled by the game show host (played with great hubris by Anil Kapoor), who also cannot believe that someone who serves tea is sitting in front of him. Slumdog is also the story of how Jamaal knew the answers - the life experiences that had painfully taught him the answers.


And its the story of his affection / bonding with Latika (Freida Pinto), another slum orphan, who criss-crosses his life regularly and his relationship with his elder brother Salim (Madhur Mittal), who's always been the bigger brother, more street smart, more aggressive...

There is nothing that is shown in the film that is not realistic - I think all that is shown could've really happened. You can almost touch the grime, smell the faeces and feel the tension. And I think Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy got the balance just right, it never got too depressing / too sordid, the story moved at a very good pace, the flashbacks here helping to change the mood ever so often. And most of all, I felt it was the casting that was spot-on. The young Jamaal and Salim (engagingly played by Ayush and Azharrudin respectively)
are so innocent, so frail, they get your sympathy straight away, despite the various things they try to steal. And the elder Jamaal exudes just the right mix of naivity, honesty and resignation, makes you warm to him and trust him completely. And Freida is just right for the elder Latika, with eyes that seem to have seen it all, yet looking young and innocent.

I enjoyed the film. There are some scenes that are burnt in my memory (the whole clip about how he knew the answer to who wrote the bhajan 'Darshan do Ghanshyam', for example) and there were others which made me squirm. It reminded me of a small passage in Khaled Hosseini's Kite Runner, where it almost seems like you're a guest in your own country. But overall, as I've experienced in reality as well, in India, whatever your circumstances, there is always more hope than despair. And this film is a lovely depiction of that...

PS : I would leave kids at home for this one

Australia

Rating : 6/10
Running Time : 165 Minutes
Release Date : 26th Nov, 2008 (internationally)
Director & Co-Writer : Baz Luhrman ; Co-writer : Stuart Beattie; Music : David Hirschfelder
Starring : Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, Bryan Brown, David Wenham, Brandon Walters
The movie is one big cliché and so quite predictable most of the time. But Baz Luhrman’s masterstroke was the angle of the aboriginal kid, endearingly played by Brandon Walters, which made sure we were kept hooked right through the film.


The first half an hour or so, though, relentlessly shows us all the cliché’s, the things we would expect. An English woman (Nicole Kidman), who’s come to Australia to sell her land and bring back her husband, who’s totally out of place there, traveling with a wagon load of bags, being told that the bar doesn’t allow any women / the hen parlour is next door. The rugged, Crocodile Dundee style, horse riding, tough talking man (Hugh Jackman), who works only for himself. The ruthless businessman, who will stop at nothing to get what he wants (Bryan Brown). And an assorted crew of beefy, ruddy, cussing, beer-swilling blokes, who seem to spend all their time in the bar.

We also see some magnificent landscape, showcasing the beauty of the Australian continent, herds of bulls, horses running by, pounding hooves, crystal clear streams, red rock cliffs. And, of course, we see kangaroos hopping by.


And we see the aboriginal kid, the half caste, called ‘Creamy’ by most of the white folk and Nullah, by those who love him. Grandson of King George, who has given him some of his mystic powers. Who lives in mortal fear of being caught by the coppers and taken to the mission (part of Australia’s infamous policy of resettlement). Who is torn between his desire to please Mrs Boss (Nicole’s nickname) and stick to his traditions and do the aboriginal walkabout with his grandfather.


While the first story (of Nicole / Hugh / Bryan) pans out as you would expect, it’s the story of the aboriginal kid which is more intriguing, provides the real emotional connect for the audience. And the film is almost two movies in one, as the first half deals with the business end of the story, while the second is more about the relationships between Nicole / Hugh and the kid and the impact of the World War II on Darwin and the rest of the Northern territories.

While it tries to be an epic, it lacks the depth (character wise or time wise) to truly be one. It’s a fair watch, though, a chance to check out Australia’s history and raw natural beauty. And their shameful Aboriginal past from not so long ago. Its an interesting film, without ever being enthralling. A good watch, rather than a must watch…

Oye Lucky Lucky Oye

Rating : 6/10
Running Time : ~ 131 Minutes
Release Date : 28th Nov, 2008
Director & Co-Writer : Dibakar Banerjee ; Writer : Urmi Juvekar; Music : Sneha Khanwalkar
Starring : Abhay Deol, Neetu Chandra, Paresh Rawal, Archana Puran Singh, Manu Rishi, Manjot Singh

I don’t think I’ve seen a better picturisation of Punjabi Delhi than this film. The narrow, small houses, the class barriers, the divide between those who speak English and those who don’t, the early morning fog, the people sitting on their charpoi’s soaking in the winter sun. And the language, with the whole film being Hindi tinged with Punjabi or Hindi tinged with very rustic Haryanvi accent. However, I also think the story meandered and lost steam in the second half. In his first film, Dibakar managed to keep us engaged with the objective of seeing how Mr Khosla built his Ghosla. Here, he just lets it kind of peter out, without that definite ending, and that weakens the whole film.


But lets first focus on the good parts. Abhay Deol, is magnificent as Lucky, the small time crook who yearns to strike it big. He lives by his wits, is not too planned or organized, has a short temper and is unwilling to align himself totally to Gogi Arora (a well-connected fence who buys stuff from crooks, one of Paresh Rawal’s three roles in the film) or anyone else. His home is his car (aage drawing room, peeche bedroom), he’s left his family and doesn’t have too many friends. He’s this way right from childhood, always up for a dare, stealing a scooter to show his girl a good time, getting her to come for a ride with him with the memorable ‘aaj mera happy budday hai, saal mein sirf do baar aata hai’. And he retains that sense of humour in his later years, along with that lovely dimpled smile of his. One of the highpoints of the movie was the theft of the red Mercedes. And having lived in that part of Delhi, I can assure you that it can really happen this way.



The film essentially focuses on the rise and rise of Lucky – who remains solo except for his ‘friend’, Bengali (Manu Rishi). And goes national. And soon also becomes the topic of the national news, those crazy crime shows where the only objective is to scare you and use big, really big Hindi words (like sansanikhez…). And on the side, he courts Neetu Chandra, a shy girl (‘ye sharifon ka mohallah hai’ ya ‘main is tarah ki gaadiyon main nahin baithti’…), who finds herself being easily charmed by this lovable rascal.

The sound track is good, though a bit one dimensional. And where this film really lost out for me was in the second half and the ending. It dragged a bit. It just lacked the wonderful focus Dibakar’s previous film had.

However, watch it just to relive the sights and sounds of Delhi. The fights over the parking places, the Modern school kids and the girls in their short skirts, the tendency of showing off, the difference clothes make, the farmhouse parties. And the humour. Because, everyone in Delhi can be funny. Either intentionally or unintentionally….

PS : This is the first movie I saw on Tata Sky Showcase and I must say I was disappointed in the quality of the film, rather like a jerky DVD

The President is Coming

Rating : 8/10
Running Time : N/A (~100 minutes)
Release Date : 9th Jan 2009
Director : Kunaal Roy Kapur; Writer : Anuvab Pal; Music : Goldspot
Starring : Konkona Sen, Ira Dubey, Satchit Puranik, Anand Tiwari, Vivek Gomber, Namit Das, Shernaz Patel, Shivani Tanksale, Imran Rasheed

Why do women fake orgasms ? Because they think we care…

A message flashes on the screen, before the movie starts, stating that the film is a documentary and that the makers do not regret its lack of credibility. However, what this message doesn’t do is prepare us for the madness that is unleashed upon us. 6 young Indians vie in a reality TV style contest for the honour to be the young Indian to shake President Bush’s hand on his visit to India.



I think it’s the surprise element that is most amazing about the film – you’re caught unawares a lot of times, most of the jokes and situations being completely unpredictable. And the surprising thing is that the characters are also built up well, we actually start to care about them and feel for them.

Anand Tiwari plays Kapil Dev, a stockbroker who wants to become more famous than his namesake, who is so obsessed about stocks that “the capital of USA ?” for him is “Dow Jones”. When impressed with another contestant, his compliment is “If you were a stock, I would buy you”. And his display during the talent show was brilliant. Vivek Gomber, “you can call me Rohit or Tom or whatever”, has lived in the USA for a short while and now runs an accent training school. Ira Dubey, daddy’s girl, runs a lipstick “5 crore empire, which she started with a 3 crore capital”. Satchit Puranik is an MBA from IIM-A, a khadi wearing social activist who teaches kids in villages using buffaloes as a blackboard. Konkona is a Bengali authoress, the coldest, most sane of the lot, or at least that’s what we think. And finally, we have Namit Das as the programmer from Bangalore, who’s seduction techniques (I’m Ramesh S. S is private) border on the insane (“lets have some late night HBO type of fun ?”)…

We also have two PR persons who are running the contest – Shernaz Patel playing an ultra-aggressive, ball-busting person while Shivani Tanksale is the sensitive person who actually does all the work.

And once the contest begins, so many skeletons tumble out of the closet that you wonder whether it was a closet or a doorway to a graveyard…


Though like I said the best ones are the surprise / lateral ones. Dharmendra’s photo, for example, turns up in a completely unexpected place. There is a statue of Bush in a gaudy sherwani, at the entrance of the embassy. And a poster adorning the contest room saying ‘Don’t hassle the hof’.

All the jokes mentioned above are truly just a sample – there’s many many more, its almost non-stop craziness. In fact, during the interval, there was an ad for a program called “Indian Pagalpanti League” on some TV channel. And I thought how apt – we’ve just seen it already !

Madagascar2 : Escape to Africa

Rating : 7/10
Running Time : 89 Minutes
Release Date : 7th Nov 2008
Director : Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath; Writer : Etan Cohen
Starring : Ben Stiller, Alec Baldwin, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett Smith
The penguins provided some of the best moments in this one for me. Right from the start, beginning with their assault on the Dreamworks logo, their ‘Damn you, Darwin’, when they have to cajole monkeys to help them because of their opposable thumbs, the whole carjacking sequence and even the ‘We have some good news and bad news – the good news is that we’ll be landing soon. The bad news is we’ll be crash landing.’, they are simply hilarious.



Else, we have all the usual crazy characters in a plot which doesn’t really matter. Zuba’s son, Alex the lion, goes to New York and then returns with the zebra (Marty), giraffe (Melman) and hippo (Gloria) where, even though he re-unites with his parents, he finds it difficult to adjust to life in the non-concrete jungle, especially with Makunga, who wants to be the alpha lion in Zuba’s place, playing the villain. On top, we have the regulars, including the whacky King Julien, the monkeys, the penguins and some new ones, including the feisty Nana, the tough old lady from New York, who becomes the scourge of the lions.


Most memorable moments for me included the fight between Nana and Alex, the first time Moto Moto (a giant hippo) walks up to Gloria and delivers the classic ‘I’m Moto Moto, you like it so much, you say it twice’. King Julien, with his ‘first class travel’, the interaction between Gloria and Melman and finally the moment when Alex presents a handbag to the slightly effeminate Makunga, who’s reaction is ‘ooh, wow, a shoulder strap ! Does it adjust ?’

Its not that long, but it feels even shorter. Another proof of ‘Laughter is the Best Medicine’ philosophy…We can apparently expect a third in the series in 2011 and it can’t come soon enough…

Ghajini

Rating : 5/10
Running Time : 181 Minutes
Release Date : 26th Dec 2008
Director & Writer : A R Murugadoss ; Music : A R Rahman
Starring : Aamir Khan, Jiah Khan, Asin, Pradeep Rawat, Tinnu Anand

If I had to choose three words to describe this film they would be ‘gory, implausible, predictable’ with just a bit of ‘interesting-ness’ thrown in. Its a more pulpy copy of Memento (I was laughing when I read about the case between the original producer vs Murugadoss etc as both have essentially copied an English film anyways). I know Ghajini is a huge hit, but I was disappointed in the end-product – with a little more effort, it could’ve been much better…


Aamir plays a man who suffers from short term memory loss, where you cant remember anything for more than 15 minutes – so he has to rely on polaroids etc to remind himself of his house, his friends, his bus etc. And in Aamir’s case, he’s also got tattoo’s all over, which remind him that his fiancée, played by Asin, was killed by a man named Ghajini, whom he has to find and kill. While all this is made obvious in the first 15 minutes (the director fearing that the audience may also be suffering from short term memory loss perhaps), the rest of the movie then describes how the ultra rich Aamir and the poor-ish Asin fell in love, what led to the transformation of the smooth, rich tycoon to the muscle bound, tattoed, crew cut, near monster we see in the posters. And Jiah Khan plays the most underworked medical student I know, who has oodles of time to try her luck as a crime investigator and help put together what happened to Aamir.

I don’t like films where you kind of give it all away in the first few minutes and then explain how in flashbacks – it takes away the suspense for me and makes my viewing experience poorer. Here, they gave away too much – there was no need to do so and you then watch the entire film with a sense of grim foreboding, waiting for the bad stuff to happen. The songs were kind of weird – the mix of the South Indian grandeur and beats with Bollywood kitschiness. The fight sequences were a throwback to the good old days where the hero could single-handedly beat up 50 thugs, without a mark on himself, no matter that they were bigger, beefier etc. Also, in keeping with the theme of the ‘good, old days’, the thugs also shunned guns / knives but relied on wooden clubs, iron bars etc.


Aamir acts very well – even the implausible bits – but then you expect nothing else from him. Both Asin and Jiah were lukewarm for me, not entirely convincing in their roles, missing the spark a bit. The best part for me was the opening credits with the CG shots of the brain and its nerve endings provide a surreal background canvas. I also liked the way where in parts they used the fast forward technique of describing the story. However, the movie drags quite a bit, you feel most of the latter half of its three hour length go by.


I hope this wasn’t the case, but there did seem to be an element of Aamir saying to Shahrukh, whatever you can do, I can do better – the six-pack abs, the romancing chocolaty hero, the vengeance seeking fighter etc. Aamir, for me, is in a different league and stands for something different. I wish he had stuck to being himself or at least been more involved in the story - we would surely have seen a better film then.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Rating : 7/10
Running Time : 167 Minutes
Release Date : 12th Dec 2008
Director & Writer : Aditya Chopra; Music : Salim - Sulaiman
Starring : Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma, Vinay Pathak

This one is implausible yet endearing. It is frivolous yet serious, even emotional at times. Its almost three hours long, yet stars only the 3 actors mentioned above. Surinder Sahni (Shahrukh) is an ordinary, middle class bloke who in very unusual circumstances gets married to Taani, a very pretty young thing, full of life and feisty. Quite early on, she declares that though she will be a good wife, she can never really love him. And Shahrukh, aided by his good friend Bobby Khosla (Vinay Pathak in yet another delightful cameo), spends the rest of the movie trying to make her.


Well written & directed by Aditya Chopra himself, the film captures quite well the shy hesitancy of the initial stages of marriage, especially arranged ones. The polite, almost formal language, the awkwardness of suddenly being in a room alone with someone new, the slow ferreting of information about the other (do you like biryani ?) etc. And, as usual, we enjoy watching the contrasting characters of Surinder Sahni and Taani interact, the lovely smile of one vs the shy, almost silent smile of the other. The cool strength of one vs the more volatile temperament of the other. And finally there is this whole dimension about the secret character inside all of us – the one we bury under the formalities and customs of the world, whom we let out for brief moments only in front of the bathroom mirrors or our daydreams. It makes for engaging viewing.

The music is a big plus. The title track, Haule Haule, is excellent, with its music used through the film as background music. The other songs also fit well, provide good entertainment, including the one where old Hindi songs and titles are parodied mercilessly. One of the highlights of the film for me was the Dhoom sequence, for its sheer surprise and freshness. Anushka is very, very good in her first movie, she’s a great find. She is charming, with a really nice 1000 watt smile. And unlike the almost sinful beauty and looks of the Priyanka’s, Kareena’s and Aishwarya’s, her looks are pleasant, engaging and well, charming, I think is a good way to describe them. Shahrukh alternates between understatement and a wildly exaggerated character. The former is fun as we’re not used to seeing a deglamorised SRK (there is a scene where a topless Shahrukh is shown bathing underneath a tap, as far a cry from the Dard-e-Disco days as imaginable). And the latter is fun as Shahrukh overacts as only he can, throwing exaggerated mannerisms, trembling lips and everything but the kitchen sink at the role.


The length of the film (it drags a bit in the second half) and the sheer implausibility of it all, along with the predictability are what pull the movie back somewhat. But its worth noting, that despite the length most of the audience stayed for the photographs during the end-credits (the commentary apparently penned by SRK himself).

That’s as much a tribute to the rich characters created in the film and their sheer lovability as to the fact that you watch most of the film with a smile on your face. I saw the film without any idea as to what it was about, I'd not seen a single promo or trailer of the film, which made it more enjoyable for me.And truly, love does happen in the unlikeliest of places and in the unlikeliest of people. This film is a timely, gentle reminder of that…

Dostana

Rating : 7/10
Running Time : 145 Minutes
Release Date : 14th Nov 2008
Director & Writer : Tarun Mansukhani; Music : Vishal-Shekhar
Starring : Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Sushmita Mukherjee, Boman Irani, Bobby Deol, Kirron Kher

When you’re laughing so hard (and I mean really hard) in the first hour or so, half of it is due to some brilliant ones (like Abhishek’s response when Kunal (John Abraham) asks him how he knew his name) and the other half is as you watch the movie take you further in the realm of gay and straight sexual jokes than you ever thought it possible in mainstream Bollywood. And you laugh so hard that you’re willing to forgive the predictability of the plot, the slight overacting, the clichéd ‘gay’ mannerisms shown and the slightly stretched ending.


The story is simple – two straight men (John and Abhishek) have to pretend to be gay to get an apartment on rent in Miami. They share the flat with the landlady’s niece, Priyanka, and the rest of the movie deals with how their relationship with her develops. The story is kept briskly moving in terms of the different sub plots and cameos, such as the delightfully over the top Sushmita Mukherjee as the landlady, the whole thing about Priyanka’s work life and Kirron Kher playing an exaggerated Punjabi mom once again (isn’t she bored of playing this role ? She does it well but isn't she too talented to be stuck playing the same role…?).


The people who really make the movie come alive are Abhishek and Priyanka. Abhishek is at his expressive best, and even though his gay mannerisms are a bit too obvious, you forgive him as he brings a certain energy and vibrance to his role. He has now put together an impressive array of roles in his CV – from Yuva to Sarkar to Dus / Dhoom and now this. Priyanka, trust me on this one, has never looked hotter. I could probably write a page just on her, with maybe a paragraph just on her opening shot where the camera begins with a close-up of her lips and then lovingly caresses other body parts, totally inappropriately for a movie releasing on Children’s Day. The amazing thing is, on a recent flight I was watching parts of Drona, and you almost can't believe it’s the same pair in that film and this – what a change a good director and well-written roles make….

John alternates between his lost-puppy and his naughty-hunk look, seems content to play second fiddle to the smaller B. Boman Irani is a bit too la-di-dah in his gay avatar, I don’t really know if he and the Javier immigration guy were necessary at all. Sushmita provides one of the abiding memories of the film with her Marilyn Monroe photoshoot, and Bobby is a bit too straight (pun intended), too flat and a bit too love-sick in an otherwise mad movie.

The songs are brilliant – really get you going, feet tapping, heart racing and I’m sure I will hear nothing else on the radio stations / discotheques for the next month. The jokes, though, are what really set the movie apart. Such as when Abhishek is asked by this American guy what made him become a nurse or the whole theory about Gabbar being gay or the ‘aur bum ki baat ?’ Freudian slip or even the performance of ‘beedi jalaye le’. There are plenty of moments which stand out for their sheer humour – and its of a slightly more elevated level vs say a Golmaal Returns – not necessarily slapstick.

The best moments are when the three of them are together, especially in the first half, when they’re upto some madcap caper or another. The pace does drop a bit in the second half but at the end of the day, it’s a gay film which makes you feel precisely that – very very gay…though of course in another sense…

Quantum Of Solace

Rating : 8/10
Running Time : 106 Minutes
Release Date : 7th Nov 2008 (India)
Director : Marc Forster; Writers : Paul Haggis, Neil Purvis, Robert Wade; Music : David Arnold
Starring : Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Judi Dench, Mathieu Amalric, Gemma Arterton, Giancarlo Giannini

Right from the beautifully done opening sequence by MK12 where sensuous female forms merge in and out of sand dunes, its almost as if someone took a look at the last Bond film (Casino Royale) and then decided to dial everything up a notch. The plot was much better, the women more stunning, the jokes funnier, there were more action sequences with several heart stopping moments and the one liners dripped with sarcasm.


There is a mysterious group, undefined, not truly known to MI6, which is indulging in activities which don’t totally make sense to M and her cohorts, Bond included. Fronted by Mathieu Almaric, they seem to be doing a mix of sponsoring philanthropic activities and the occasional revolution. The CIA, using the expediency that characterized the Bush administration, decides that they can sleep with this group, in return for (of course) their pound of flesh. So now, as expected, its up to Bond to save the world once more, at times even without the backing of the British government.


Dull moments, that is those where your heartbeat is under 100 beats per second, are almost on ration as a car chase in a quarry soon becomes another parkour like sequence on the rooftops of the very picturesque Sienna which in turn swiftly converts into a fight sequence and later on a boat chase in Bolivia. And all this within the first half hour.

Olga Kurylenko and Gemma Arterton provide the eye candy extremely ably. And Daniel Craig – I think I’ll have to take back my comments on him (and agree with what Rohit said in the comments section of Casino Royale) as he really has grown quite beautifully into the part, replacing the suave-ness of the Brosnan era with a very hard, physical Bond, who doesn’t mind killing a lot of people and getting all bruised and cut up.



The difficult thing about Bond movies is that you know how its going to end. The trick remains on how you can make the journey there interesting. And while they stretched the realms of credibility a bit too much with this ending for me, this one works beautifully in making the journey one of the most action packed ones in recent memory.

EMI

Rating : 5/10
Running Time : ~120 Minutes
Release Date : 7th Nov 2008
Director & Writer : Saurabh Kabra; Music : Chirantan Bhatt
Starring : Sanjay Dutt, Aashish Chowdhury, Urmila Matondkar, Arjun Rampal, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Neha Uberoi, Manoj Joshi

The film yo-yo’s between being good and mediocre and kind of settles for average. Nice moments like Sanjay struggling to open a bottle of champagne (its funny if you know the man and his experience in the area of alcohol) and some well built storylines are lost in the midst of some forced dialogue and a preachy ending.


Arjun Rampal is a DJ / Casanova and the last of the big spenders, using every conceivable credit card to spend on women, including a very skimpy (pun intended) appearance by Malaika Arora Khan. Aashish Chowdhury plays a man who gets married to Neha Uberoi on loans – one for the car, another for the laptop and a third for the honeymoon. Kulbhushan Kharbanda is a very middle class father who takes a loan to pay for a slightly profligate & big dreaming son’s studies abroad. And Urmila is a widow who takes a loan to convert her husbands suicide into a murder to be able to collect on insurance. All these people are now passed onto ‘Good Recovery Agency’, headed by Sanjay Dutt, which specializes in the strong arm method of loan recovery. Sanjay has political ambitions though, and some advice he’s given changes the way he chooses to collect in these cases.


There are some nice laughs scattered through the film – the supporting cast (like Manoj Joshi and Snehal Dabhi) around Sanjay in his recovery agency provide the bulk of them, with names like ‘Decent’ and ‘Central’ amongst others. The variety of ringtones, the different recovery tactics all help with the amusement. The movie begins a bit flat but then picks up nicely, with each story developed till it makes sense. I found most of the songs a distraction, though, and pace dropped distinctly in the second half with the ending a bit ‘fake’, everything tied up too neatly and too quickly. Sanjay acted well, as always, though looked overweight (this was his first film after his prison stint).


As the storylines unfold, you do wonder if really there are more and more Indians falling into the ‘live on credit’ trap. I hope not, I hope we’re smarter and the frugality that is drilled into us right from the moment we are born, triumphs and prevents us from having too much fun if its on loan….

Fashion

Rating : 6/10
Running Time : 160 Minutes
Release Date : 29th Oct 2008
Director & Co-Writer : Madhur Bhandarkar; Writers : Ajay Monga, Anuradha Tiwari; Music : Salim-Sulaiman
Starring : Priyanka Chopra, Kangana Ranaut, Mugdha Godse, Raj Babbar, Arbaaz Khan, Kitu Gidwani, Sameer Soni and Arjan Bajwa

The film is a nice peek into the highly insular and very artificial world of fashion in India (and probably the world). The world of air kisses, tight deadlines, anorexic models, show stoppers and diva designers. All this compounded of course by extreme bitchiness, back-biting and jealousies. While it does a good job of communicating the high adrenalin rush you get from watching a good fashion show (just like in any other live performing art), it unfortunately shows too much of the negatives to make the film a truly pleasurable watch.


It shows, through rose-tinted glasses, the struggle of Priyanka Chopra to become a model (it cant be that bad though when you’re spending your struggling days in Café Coffee Day) and then shows how her rise to supermodel status is accompanied by a similar rise in her super-bitchiness and arrogance, and a parallel fall from grace of another model (Kangana Raut).

You watch the film with a degree of morbid satisfaction – just wondering how bad its going to get, hoping Priyanka’s character will finally see sense or someone will be able to spank some into her. There are some good performances – Priyanka’s, who looks good as always, Kangana, in yet another portrayal of a manic depressive alcoholic (can somebody please give her another role ?) and some lovely cameo’s by Kitu Gidwani, Arbaaz, Mugdha Godse, Sameer Soni and Arjan Bajwa. I really liked the dresses shown as well – quite beautiful and very vibrant colours and different materials and even the shows themselves were well choreographed with stunning backdrops. And the music / songs were nice, not interfering with the movie but enhancing it.


I really wish Madhur Bhandarkar had injected some more moments of humour (for example, in one scene, the models discover ‘made in Bangkok’ tags on the dresses of a major designer about to do a show), dwelt more on the positives (maybe more of Priyanka’s joy at the accessibility of the finer things in life) or even found a better ending / some twist as its too predictable right now. The film is actually uncomfortable to watch and depressing vs being interesting / uplifting and surely that cant be right ?

In the spirit of the festive season, the movie provides a visual depiction of not one but two age-old morals, the types we grew up being told by parents, teachers and all others around us. The first is ‘All that glitters is not gold’ and the other is ‘Pride hath a fall’. Wish someone had drilled that into Priyanka’s or Kangana’s characters as well.