Action Replayy

Rating : 3/10
Release Date : 5th November, 2010
Time : ~140 minutes
Director & Co-Writer : Vipul Amrutlal Shah; Co-Writers : Aatish Kapadia, Suresh Nair; Music : Pritam
Starring : Akshay Kumar, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Om Puri, Kirron Kher, Neha Dhupia, Rannvijay Singh, Rajpal Yadav, Sudeepa Singh

Take "Back to The Future" (a classic). Attempt Indianisation via heavy dollops of unwanted emotion, inane dialogue, silly characters, logical flaws and a ludicrous ending. And you get some idea of the angst I feel after having watched this film.


Aditya doesn’t want to get married to his girlfriend as he feels marriage leads to terrible things. Case in point are his constantly bickering parents, Akshay & Aishwarya. However, when on their 35th wedding anniversary they seem to be on the verge of splitting up, he suddenly cannot digest it, he rushes to his girlfriends grandfather’s place, gets into his time machine and travels back in time to try and make sure they love each other when they get married. Sounds illogical ? It is…


All characters are shallow, a horrible stereotype without any depth or likeability. Each person seems to be wearing floral, psychedelic colours and were denims even in existence in India in 1975 ? The shoddy animation in the beginning and slapstick ending ruins the film completely and the rather simple plot is stretched and stretched till our sanity is close to breaking point.


There is too much emphasis on looks, camera angles and clothing rather than the script. In the edit (quite a few jumpy cuts in the film, BTW) they seem to have forgotten simple things like what is it that Aditya tells his parents & grandparents to become friends with them and start living with them ? At the end there is a reference from each of the grandparents, while bidding goodbye to Aditya, saying they will miss him, miss his constant compliments but we never saw him interact with them or compliment them !

Akshay’s transformation was mildly interesting though his overall look was terrible. Aishwarya’s make-up looked odd but still looked good. And while Aditya showed some breeziness, the film struggles as a whole, purely due to script and edit issues. Neha looked good.


The sad part about this film is that with a little more effort, it could’ve been brilliant. In its current form, it is highly irritating…its a shame that 25 years after Back to The Future we werent able to make a film that could even come close...time for me to do some time travel and watch it again !

The Social Network

Rating : 8/10
Release Date : 4th October, 2010 (USA)
Time : 121 minutes
Director : David Fincher; Writers : Aaron Sorkin, Ben Mezrich (based on his novel, ‘The Accidental Billionaires’); Music : Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
Starring : Jesse Eisenberg, Rooney Mara, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Josh Pence, Justin Timberlake

How would you like to be the world’s youngest billionaire, one of the coolest internet entrepreneurs but totally without friends and a reputation of being an asshole ?


In quite an amazing behind the scenes look at the man behind 38.5% of my personal internet browsing time, we see how Mark Zuckerberg invented Facebook (yes, yes, we all know it started as just a way for geeky Harvard types to connect with each other…but this goes into a bit more detail than that).

Mark is a geek. His social graces and knowledge of what to say or more importantly not say become painfully aware to us and his girlfriend, Erica, in a rapid-fire conversation occupying the opening few minutes. Mark’s angst at Erica then leads to Facemash, one of his first few internet inventions. Its so popular that it causes the Harvard server to crash. At the resultant hearing, an irritatingly smug Mark, instead of being contrite before the board, tells them they should be thanking him for exposing the weak security behind the server. The tone is then truly set for what follows…


Other key characters are Eduardo, a really nice, well meaning guy, no slouch himself on the net (gives Mark the algorithm that makes Facemash work) and is the co-founder and CFO of thefacebook.com. Or so he thinks. Sean Parker, inventor of Napster, golden boy with the golden curls, based in the land of the Golden Gate, is also an important player. He removes the ‘the’ from thefacebook.com and also some other things / people. For a period he has Mark eating out of his hand. And there are the Winklevoss twins. Also from Harvard. Olympic rowers. And the guys who came up with the idea of a place for Harvard people to connect.


It’s a fascinating film with several layers. Its great to know how facebook came to be what it is, the story behind some of the features (relationship status, for example, including a place where it comes to bite one of the inventors). Its also interesting to see the dynamics behind some of the lead characters and how they are cast. Mark is cast as a smart guy but a prick. Shaun is made into a playboy but a little sleazy. Eduardo is a genuinely nice guy but perhaps out of his depth (FB may not have become what it is if he’d had his way). And the Winklevoss twins are as uppercrust, rich blue-blooded Americans as is possible, seeking a meeting with the President of Harvard accusing Mark of stealing their idea and where it was reassuring to see bureaucracy being the same in American educational institutions as in ours.


Another layer which was fascinating were some of the business calls being made. What was the philosophy behind FB ? Would you have expanded it the same way (via educational institutions)? When would you have introduced advertising ? An interesting case study by itself.



Quite incisive without quite trying too hard, gripping (great editing in terms of the flashbacks – hard to follow at first but excellent when you get the hang of things), nice choice in terms of the subject matter chosen (can imagine another film on Zuckerberg dealing with entirely different aspects of him / FB) and quite simply superlative casting make this a great watch. Cant wait to see it again !

PS : Loved the Tagline….

Golmaal 3

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 5th November, 2010
Time : 155 minutes
Directors : Rohit Shetty; Writers : Robin Bhatt, Yunus Sajawal; Music : Pritam
Starring : Ajay Devgn, Arshad Warsi, Kareena Kapoor, Tusshar Kapoor, Shreyas Talpade, Kunal Khemu, Mithun Chakraborty, Ratna Pathak, Johnny Lever, Sanjay Misra, Mukesh Tiwari, Vrajesh Hirjee

The sole purpose of viewing the film is to have a good laugh. And it succeeds in delivering that, though for the most part with the crudest of humour, liberal doses of slapstick and amazing facial contortions by all actors. Again, this is just a loose array of gags, strung together very tenuously with something vaguely resembling a story.


Gang One, Ajay Devgn, Shreyas Talpade (he with the stutter) and Kareena Kapoor try many unsuccessful businesses. And of late they always seem to come up against equally unsuccessful Gang Two, Arshad Warsi, Tusshar (he with no vocals) and Kunal Khemu. They live with single Dad (Mithun), while Gang One ke paas Maa hai (Ratna Pathak) (sorry, couldn’t resist).


Turns out Mithun and Ratna had a thing going in their youth and on the instigation of Kareena, they get married with Mithun & co moving into Ratna’s house. The obligatory settling in difficulties happen between warring brothers, some more expensive vehicles are blown up (film budget is more since it’s the 3rd instalment), some more impossible stunts happen (they have to really push the limits because it’s the 3rd instalment) and eventually, it ends almost seamlessly into the making of Golmaal3 (quite liked it – noticed that quite a few of the audience stayed on for the entire end-credits this way).



Ajay Devgn looked extremely fit, Arshad looked quite unfit (needs to lose a few kgs) and Kareena looked like a million bucks of any currency you choose. Everyone did their roles with apt gusto, even the veteran Mithun doing his share of contortion-acting with enthusiasm. There was some thought put into some of the side characters too. A don (Johnny Lever) who has short term memory loss. His sidekick, who mis-spells everything under the son. Kunal Khemu who comes up with non-sequitur couplets for all occasions.


A few places you laugh because its genuinely funny, a few where you laugh almost inspite yourself and through the rest you kind of grin or frown and bear it. Never is it worse than the third degree. It is, after all, Golmaal 3 !

Do Dooni Chaar

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 8th October, 2010
Time : ~100 minutes
Director, Co-writer : Habib Faisal; Co-writer: Rahil Qazi; Music : Meet Bros
Starring : Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Singh Kapoor, Archit Krishna, Aditi Vasudev
A lovely, humorous story which reminds us of the travails of middle class existence in Delhi. Excellent performances, nice dialogue complement the story and further charm is added by the novelty of seeing Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh back together again.

The Duggal family, living in a typical middle class neighbourhood of Delhi, comprises Rishi Kapoor (a maths teacher for ever 20 years, who’s desperately trying to make ends meet by also taking coaching classes), his wife Neetu Kapoor (upbeat housewife, who was forbidden to work by husband when they got married and still gently keeps reminding him about it), their daughter Aditi (v feisty, no-nonsense, college going girl with an attitude) and son Archit (quiet but dreams big, wants to buy an IPL team).


Chaos is thrown into their lives when Rishi’s sister invites them for a family wedding at her in-laws place. And insists that they all come in a car (not in their scooter, popularly named Duggal Express) as otherwise she has to listen to insults from her in- laws. Neetu commits that they will indeed arrive in a car, much to Rishi’s consternation. This unleashes a chain of events which includes car theft, borrowing, angry neighbours, a vow from Rishi Kapoor that he will definitely buy a car within fifteen days, bribery, a corrupt cop, a pawn shop, a betting scandal, a sting operation, a cash for marks offer and a lifetime supply of detergent. Sounds interesting ? It is…



What makes the film very interesting are the characters, each of whom is painted vividly and their relationship with each other. I loved the way Rishi counsels his son when there is trouble. And his attitude as a teacher (wish there were more like him). I loved the way Neetu takes charge when she senses things are amiss. I enjoyed watching Payal become protective of her father and joining him on a mission when she suspected he may not be able to cope. I enjoyed the fact that there were no stereotypes, ie no submissive wife, dominating husband, cardboard kids. Everyone just seemed normal, and faced issues which are normal. But it’s a tale told well and told humorously…


There is a message too. Again, told without being preachy, and told convincingly. This story seemed to take me back to my roots, the times when money was scarce, when luxury items had to be carefully thought through before being purchased, when you had to think before ordering aaloo (Rs 10) vs paneer (Rs 45). When life was simpler and in quite another way, a tad more fun ! When more than what was in your wallet, it was hope that sustained you….

Anjaana Anjaani

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 1st October, 2010
Time : 150 minutes
Director, Co-writer : Siddharth Anand; Co-writer: Advaita Kala; Music : Vishal-Shekhar
Starring : Ranbir Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra
Two strangers, a man & a woman, meet while attempting suicide. The woman believes in ‘signs’ from up above. These tell her that she needs to live for a few more days. She manages to convince the guy of the same as well and they decide to spend the next 20 odd days having fun, fulfilling their ‘bucket list’. Will they fall in love ? Or will they commit suicide ? And if you cant predict the correct end, you need serious psychiatric help !


Ranbir is charismatic. Priyanka is fun in her opening scene but then seems to taper off. Some of the gags are funny (Ranbir’s gay turn makes him a promising candidate for the next Dostana instalment), some moments iconic (Priyanka changing into shorts in the back seat of a moving car) and there are some interesting merchandising ideas (named helmets, for example).


The music and background score is v good, the scenery nice & fresh, the central premise interesting but then the rest is a silly story that is unable to hold attention, is unevenly paced, has two unreal characters doing things that are just plain unbelievable and is at least an half an hour too long !


This is one of the scripts that relies totally on star power to transform it into something barely watchable. And the producers seem to know this as on their official website, no one else apart from the lead pair are mentioned in the cast. It has its moments but too far and few in between.

Robot

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 1st October, 2010
Time : 180 minutes
Director : S Shankar; Co-writer: Sujatha Rangarajan, Karky Vairamuthu; Music : A R Rahman
Starring : Rajni, Aishwarya, Danny Dengzopa

You must only watch this film if you have a thing for Rajni or Aishwarya or special effects. My rating is purely driven by the latter two but if I’d used the principle of negative marking, then after deducting points for weak characters, weaker story and ditzy dialogue, the overall rating would also have been negative. But then, as most fans of Rajni say, if Rajni is there, who needs a story !

Rajni is a scientist who’s spent 10 years designing an android robot and succeeds (sources of funding not clear at all). He does it while ignoring the ample charms of girlfriend, Aishwarya. However, when she meets Chitty (the Robot’s name, a Rajni look alike), her anger vanishes and she is totally charmed. And so is the Robot. In an interesting development, and one which I wish had been developed better, the robot falls in love with his creators girlfriend and starts to compete with him for her attention. Thanks to a lightning strike, he also develops feelings and during an army testing scenario (apparently the purpose for which he was created), he starts spouting poetry instead.


Rajni, extremely upset, breaks the Robot up into pieces. Evil scientist / competitor, Danny, picks Chitty up and makes him whole again and also makes him a destructive machine. The evil Chitty now begins to hatch revenge against Rajni, kidnaps Aishwarya, blows up half the city and kills half the cops. What will happen next ?


I’m not even going to go into story flaws. They’re just too numerous and I could fill 3-4 pages just on them. The enjoyable moments, while not enough, are definitely quite a few. The first fight scene is really comic and entertaining, especially the whole angle of ‘Devi Ma’ and the women ululating. The song ‘Naina Mile’ made more sense in the film than just the video, particularly the shots of the inner portions of the Robot coming alive. Some of the locales were stunning with special mention for the desert scenes in the first song (along with the water bodies, it looked out of this world). And of course Machu Pichu, though, why they were singing ‘Kilimanjaro’ there, beats me.

The special effects at the end (in a very long drawn out climax) were fantastic. The different formations done by the robots were truly visionary, imaginative and never before seen in the best sci-fi movies.


With a little bit more effort, better structuring though, this movie could’ve become a worldwide phenomenon. It had one of the biggest stars of the Indian film industry, the world’s most beautiful woman and some brilliant special effects. With just a little more vision it could’ve been brilliant. As of now, it’ll have to just settle for being above average, but only just…

Step Up 3D

Rating : 6/10
Release Date : 3rd September, 2010
Time : 107 minutes
Director : John Chu; Writer: Amy Andelson, Emily Meyer; Music : Bear McCreary
Starring : Rick Malambri, Adam Sevani, Sharni Vinson, Alyson Stoner, Keith Stallworth, Joe Slaughter
If this wasn’t in 3D, would probably be advising you to stay away. Very weak & predictable story, mostly wooden characters, hammy, school play-ish acting, clichéd dialogue is compensated for by some good moments, great choreography and some mind blowing dance moves which become pure dynamite in 3D.


The plot is very very weak, reminiscent of almost every film in this genre made previously. Plot elements include a ‘good’ guy (Rick) who scouts talent and runs a dance school / practice arena, a must win (else Rick loses his house & everything) dance competition (the World Jam), a precocious new talent (Adam) who has to choose between engineering and dance, an evil ex-best friend now turned enemy (Joe), an insider who seems to be leaking information and a turncoat, unsympathetic bank managers and the obligatory love interest (Sharni). Pretty obvious how things pan out ?


There are a few moments which really stand out. A tango (quite unexpected amongst all the hip hop). A lovely street dance between the 2nd lead pair of Adam and Alyson, again set to an unexpected music track. A beautiful moment on a vent between the main leads, truly lovely to watch (especially the bubbles, and I’m definitely going to try this out). And some truly kickass choreographed set pieces, both the qualifying rounds (yes, the world championship only requires 2 rounds before the finals) and a fitting fantastic finale…


The good thing here is that some of the moves are made specifically for 3D, its not just a technological afterthought but clearly part of the original thought process. Water, bubbles, hand movements, some jumps, confetti, light effects all combine nicely with the 3D to create a visual feast. And some of the sets were truly terrific, very artistic.


So, a film that is very clear what its about (and what its not). Almost juvenile in parts, yet manages to excite. A good, fun, one time watch.

Dabangg

Rating : 8/10
Release Date : 10th September, 2010
Time : 129 minutes
Director, Co-writer : Abhinav Kashyap; Co-writer: Dilip Shukla; Music : Sajid-Wajid
Starring : Salman Khan, Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood, Arbaaz Khan, Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, Om Puri, Mahesh Manjrekar, Mahie Gill, Tinnu Anand

‘Tu atom bomb hui, darling mere liye’

This film is an ode to the old-fashioned, over the top entertainer. The one man army, who cant be stopped by either a hail of bullets or a stab to the stomach. The avenging ‘Incredible Hulk’ like superhero. And of course, his lady love. Sonakshi Sinha receiving the perfect launch pad.


The story line is simplicity itself. Salman is the stepson of Vinod Khanna, yearns for his Dad’s love & approval but doesn’t get it, all of it going towards his real son, Arbaaz Khan. When Salman becomes a cop, he faces a couple of battles. First with notorious youth leader and chief villain, Sonu Sood. And the other within his family. Oh, and BTW, Salman also falls in love with Sonakshi and conducts an hilarious courtship with her…


There is nothing new in the storyline, nothing we haven’t already seen. But its done with a flair, panache and sense of humour that entertains and delights. And no one but Salman could’ve carried it off. His simple dance steps are noteworthy – the one with the buckle, the one with the hand in ‘humka peeni hai’, the swimming step in the same song, his ‘mad’ dance to the munni song. His style will spawn a thousand imitations. The sunglasses at the back of the collar, the stiff walk, the jokes, his own reaction to his own jokes. And the little thing he has going whenever a certain ringtone plays in a certain villains pocket. The ‘mote wale is taraf, patle wale is taraf , aur fit wale mere peeche’. The neon hearts reflection in the sunglasses. Fantastic.



Sonakshi looks great and does a good job of the role assigned to her. Her debut also spells hopefully, a return of the voluptuous heroines, the heaving bosom’s & sizzling sarees. And an end to the size zero skimpily clad bimbette’s. Here’s looking at you, kid.


Everyone in the character cast does their job well (Dimple, perhaps, felt a little out of place). The background score, like that of a western’s, is exhilarating. And each song is a spectacle, worth waiting for. None more so than Munni with her ‘Shilpa sa figure and Bebo si ada’.


If I’m to carp, I’ll find fault with the ending (interesting, slightly long drawn, perhaps needed a small twist?). But I’m not going to.


I heard the sound of claps, whistles and cheering after a long time in a multiplex. Reminded me of the days of single screen theatres when this was normal. I’m probably going to watch it again in one, a late show this time for full on audience effect. A friend of mine (Amitabh) used to complain that modern Hindi film heroes are too soft, that when they hit someone he only falls a foot away while the older heroes used to make them fly 10-15 feet, break walls etc. Amitabh, you’ll be rooting for Salman here. Would suggest you make your bookings too…

Oh and one more thing…this one deserves to be watched on the big screen…and if anyone dares to do otherwise…to hum aap main itne chhed karenge ki confuse ho jaoge ki saans kahan se lein aur @##% kahan se….

We Are Family

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 2nd September, 2010
Time : 115 minutes
Director, Co-writer : Siddharth Malhotra; Co-Writer : Karan Johar (Remake of Step Mom); Music : Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy
Starring : Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Nominath Ginsberg, Aachal Munjal, Diya Sonecha
The film is created / constructed with the sole objective to lubricate your eyes & give your tear glands a thorough work out. Also, since I’ve not seen Stepmom, I can only comment on this film, not on how good or bad it is as a remake.


Arjun Rampal has divorced Kajol three years ago. She lives separately with their three kids (eldest daughter is 13, son is 7-8 or thereabouts and youngest daughter is about 5). Arjun and Kajol seem amicable enough about this relationship, he seems to have free visitation rights, takes kids home for the weekend, attends b’day parties, school functions etc. Arjun now dates / lives in with Kareena and decides its high time she became friendly with the kids. Kareena makes an honest effort but it doesn’t seem to be really working, leading to fights between Arjun, Kajol and Kareena. Will they ever be able to make this work ?


The first half is reasonably frothy. Kareena’s sometimes misplaced efforts are fun to watch as is the kids reaction to them. The rare moments of fun between Kajol / Arjun and the kids also occur around here. The scenery is lovely, the beauty of Australia coming through.


The issues, though are many. We don’t really understand Arjun’s character. What does he think of Kajol ? Or Kareena ? How important are either to his life ? Cause he seems to flit from one to another reasonably randomly. We don’t have any dialogue where Kajol and Arjun really communicate without sinking into platitudes or the routine ‘where are you’ kind of phone calls. Actually, thinking about it, most of the good dialogues are already revealed via the promo’s and apart from the tear-jerker stuff, there’s not much else to discover in the film.


The kids acted well but were given horrible characters to play. They were made to behave like kids of yore, too innocent, too sweet, too clingy, almost like the kids portrayed 15 years ago in Hindi films. Not at all like the street smart kids of today who’re sometimes even more aware than the parents of whats going on around them. Arjun, throughout the film, seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, perpetually frowning. Kajol is fine, her eyes expressive as always. I found Kareena quite vivacious, her expressions spot on and mannerisms great in a reasonably tough character role. She brought some much needed life into the film.

Someone told me that the film brought to life the worst nightmare that she as a woman could think of. For most guys as well, the film will be their worst nightmare, but for entirely different reasons.