Category: Hindi

MUMBAI: 7 Khoon Maaf met with a poor opening response and the public reports have only spoiled its prospects further. The script is poor with no drama, twist or turns and carries on routinely.

Heroine oriented movies rarely find takers on the onset and, to one‘s surprise, despite having a line up of actors in its cast, the film‘s promotions have been centred totally around Priyanka Chopra! The film‘s official website names no other artistes except Priyanka Chopra which is rather thoughtless.

The film has ended its first weekend with a meagre Rs 96 million; its best run is over and completing the week at all cinemas would be a tough task.

From the maker of Bheja Fry tag does not help Kachcha Limboo and the film goes unnoticed.

Patiala House, which fell flat with moviegoers from day one and had collected only Rs 135.8 million during its opening weekend, closes the week at Rs 219 million.

Yeh Saali Zindagi adds another Rs 30 million to its first week tally of Rs 64 million.

Dil Toh Bachcha Hai collects Rs 17 million in its third week with total till date being Rs 287 million.
 

MUMBAI: The release of Vikram Bhatt‘s 3D horror film, Haunted 3D, has been postponed. The film that was scheduled to release on 15 April will now release on 6 May.

Said Bhatt, “The post-production of the movie is taking long and since we want our audience to experience the best of 3D, we have decided to postpone the release date.”

The film is being produced by BVG Films, a division of ASA Productions and DAR Motion Pictures (DAR), the filmed entertainment division of DAR Media (a DAR Capital Group Company). It is touted to be India‘s first stereoscopic 3D film with foreign technicians working in it.

Haunted 3D stars Mahakshay Chakraborty (son of Mithun Chakraborty) and Tia Bajpai.

MUMBAI: Telugu star Nagarjuna is in plans to set up a film institute down South. According to him, this is a way of giving back to the industry that has made him what he is today and see it scale great heights in future.

“Unfortunately, down South, we don‘t have a film school like the one in Mumbai. So the gap has to be filled and I am looking more at the quality aspect; hence this project has come up. After all these years in the industry, I have seen there is no proper channel or guidance here if one wants to make a career in this trade,” he has been quoted in media reports.

The 51-year-old actor is a qualified engineer from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the US from where he did his masters. But since he was inspired by acting a lot, he took a plunge into showbiz. Moreover, he had an inspiration at home from his actor-producer father Nageswara Rao.

Nagarjuna has over two decades in the film industry and more than 70 movies to his credit. His acting journey began with Madhusudan Rao‘s 1986 film Vikram after which he not only became a big name in the South but also did a few Bollywood projects like Criminal, Giraftari, Robbery, Agni Varsha, Angaarey, LOC Kargil and the country’s first 3D film Shiva among others.
 

MUMBAI: Actor-director Sachin (Pilgaonkar) returns to the Rajshri fold after more than 30 years with Jaana Pehchana.

Sachin had earlier played the lead in Rajshri’s Geet Gaata Chal (1975), Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon (1978) Gopalkrishna (1979) and Nadiya Ke Paar (1982).

Jaana Pehchana will also see the return of Sachin and Ranjeeta as a pair. Thirty two years ago, the two had enchanted viewers in the banner’s love saga Ankhiyon Ke Jharokhon.

The film, now in its post-production stage, is said to be the continuation of the love saga.

Avers Sachin, “Jaana Pehchana will be loved by one and all as love is never bound by age or image. My film transcends the age barrier.”

Produced by Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Rajkumar Barjatya and Ajit Kumar Barjatya, the film is being readied for a mid -2011 release.

What Colour Is Your Film?

“You can paint my car any colour as long as it is black.” – Henry Ford.

This intermittent urge by some film people to colour their own old films or one they inherited the rights to, what drives them? What makes them decide it is worth the effort?

I saw Dev Anand’s Hum Dono Rangeen, the colourized and restored version last week. However, very soon in to the film, I realised, I was just watching an old, leisurely paced WW2 background family cum romantic film with great music! The feeling of seeing the film seemed the same to me as I had seen it in my teens at a Ganeshotsav Pandal in black and white. I was conscious of the next scene, next song, just about everything, but the only difference was that now I was watching this film in colour, in the luxury of an air-conditioned Red Lounge on a reclining seat and not sitting on a tarpaulin at Forjett Hill Ganesh Pandal! If at all I would have liked to watch any Navketan film in colour, it would be the ultimate musical romance, Tere Ghar Ke Samne. 

Now the question: Why this exercise of colouring an old classic, which was and has always been well received the way it was? Ideally, a film to change into colour would be one with lot of outdoor sequences, vast visuals and crowds. A film like Raj Kapoor’s Jis Des Mein Ganga Behti Hai would be perfect, if for nothing, at least for its last sequence of surrender with the song, ‘Aa ab laut chale…’

So far three Hindi films have been colourized: Mughal- E-Azam, Naya Daur and Hum Dono but, unfortunately, none has been able to set the box office afire! This certainly renders colourisation as a futile exercise; in Dev Anand’s case probably his last hurrah for how else would so many from the industry, young and old alike, would have converged to pay their respects to him as they did at the premiere of his Hum Dono Rangeen?

There had been talk of Arun Dutt, son of late Guru Dutt planning to colourise some of his father’s films. I feel touching classics like Pyaasa and Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam for any such purpose would be nothing short of sacrilege! Their very mysticism, which creates an aura around them, mesmerizing a viewer, lies in the fact that they are in black and white. Like reading a book, even as a black and white film unreel a tale on screen, it still leaves a lot to your imagination.

MUMBAI: Choreographer Remo D`Souza, who shot into limelight with Ram Gopal Varma`s Rangeela among others, wants to make his next film based on dance and cast Hrithik Roshan or Shahid Kapoor for it.

Said D`Souza in a statement, “My next film will be based on street dance something similar to Step Up. The concept is ready and I am planning to begin shooting the film in May or June. I think Hrithik and Shahid are great dancers and they can pull it off very well.”

D`Souza’s first film as a director is the upcoming film F.A.L.T.U, releasing on 1 April. It deals about the education system in the country where there is no place for the average students, who are often marginalised by the system.

“I want to spread the message that such people should be allowed to indulge in a field of their choice. Just follow your dreams is the message I want to send to all,” he stated.

D`Souza, named Ramesh Gopi in real life, has been the man behind making Akshay Kumar dance to his tunes in the recent Patiala House.

D`Souza, whose forte is Hip-Hop, loves Indian classical dance. He became a household name with the dance reality show Dance India Dance (DID), in which he was one of the judges besides choreographers Geeta Kapoor and Terrence Lewis.

He will be seen again in the third season of the show. “I will come back in the third season of Dance India Dance. I do not consider DID Juniors and Doubles as a part to the actual concept. I am associated with DID singles which we started,” he said.

With more than half a dozen guest appearances by hit stars, his debut is set to release on 1 April.

MUMBAI: Kamaal Rashid Khan, who gained popularity with his film Deshdrohi in 2008, has expressed his desire to make a film on the Noida double-murder of Aarushi Talwar and Hemraj three years ago.

Says Khan, “My film is based completely on the CBI‘s closure report. Trust me, people, including Aarushi‘s parents, will have moist eyes after watching my film. Aarushi‘s parents will thank me for making this movie. They will say I have done a great job.” 

As per Khan’s plans, the shoot will begin by March. Plans are underway to rope in actors from Delhi. “We will be coming to Noida and Delhi soon,” Khan announced.

The actor, producer, director wishes to take the film to international film festivals and portray the case of Aarushi touchingly to melt everyone‘s heart.

MUMBAI: Intermittently, someone experiments with a feature film with more than one story; the recent one was Mirch which had four short stories. 7 Khoon Maaf has seven stories, rather seven episodes in a woman’s life through her various marriages and husbands.
 

Producers: Ronnie Screwvala and Vishal Bhardwaj. Director: Vishal Bhardwaj. Cast: Priyanka Chopra, John Abraham, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irfaan Khan, Naseruddin Shah, Anu Kapoor, Aleksandr Dyachenko, Ruskin Bond, Vivaan Shah, Usha Uthup, Harish Khanna, Shahsi Kumar Malviya.

The film is based on Ruskin Bond’s Sussanna‘s Seven Husbands with some of Vishal Bhardwaj’s own input and a little inspiration from the 1960s Italian film, Vittorio De Sica’s Sette Volte Donna (Woman Times Seven).

Like its Italian counterpart, Vishal Bhardwaj also gives his seven stories different names like Adamkhor Major (Neil Nitin Mukesh), Ek Duje Ke Liye (John Abraham), Musafir Hun Yaaron (Irrfan Khan), Amar Prem (Aleksandr Dyachenko), Pyaar Ki Keemat (Anu Kapoor), Mushroom Da (Naseerduddin Shah) and Prem Pujary (She marries to the service of Jesus via Ruskin Bond).

Priyanka Chopra, a pretty looking lass has married an army major, older than her but dashing looking; he has earned a medal and a disability losing one leg in Operation Blue Star. He is a brutal man who terrorises his staff as well as wife, Priyanka. Out on a hunting trip, he is fed to a leopard by Priyanka and her butler.

Soon Priyanka falls for a guitar strumming John Abraham who is soon exposed for riding the success wave on strength of stolen songs. His success soon opens the door for him to drugs and women. That trait puts paid to his life on earth as he is soon found dead with an overdose of heroin.

A compulsive romantic, Priyanka soon discovers Irrfan Khan, a shayar, his shayari as well as his religion, Islam. Irrfan Khan has a Jekyll & Hyde personality; is a gentle poet by day but a violent sadomasochist by night. Well, she decides she can’t take it anymore and Irrfan is consigned to an icy tomb, alive.

It is interval time, three down and four more to go; four more to go? And to think that things have already started getting monotonous and predictable!

Fourth in line is Aleksandr Dyachenko, a sort of Russian spy who marries her for, from what one could gather, to be able to stay in India for as long as he wants to; he has a wife and kids back home in Russia. Priyanka can’t take a spy double crossing her. This time, they even make a song and dance about killing him!

Anu Kapoor has helped her get out of two murder charges by now, that of John Abraham and of Aleksandr Dyachenko, and likes to be paid in kind with some help from Viagra. He wants her for keeps and marries her, only to drop dead after a vigorous night. For a change, there is an interesting episode finally, that of husband number six, Naseeruddin Shah; it is him who wants her dead; for once she has a genuine reason to kill someone.

By this time the protagonist, Vivaan Shah, has caught up with her; she has been his benefactor and love. He has grown up adoring her. Now he is ripe enough for her to seduce. She declares her intent to marry seventh time. However, this time she is seeking Nirvana or to use an age old adage, ‘Sau chuhe khake billi Hajj ko chali’. She takes to the path of atonement, dedicating rest of her life to Lord Jesus and the cause of religion.

The seven story 7 Khoon Maaf is six stories too many. Because, in stretching a novella to a full length feature film script, it does not justify all the stories. One more marriage is treated like just one more day in life. The stories are so rushed through, nowhere do they manage to create either justification or drama in what is happening.

The only episode that has an iota of suspense element is Mushroom Da, with Naseeruddin Shah, the only time she is the target. The justification to kill husbands is weird; “it seems as a child she had two routes she could take to school, both identical in time taken and distance. A stray dog started harassing her on the route she took; instead of changing her route, she borrowed her father’s gun and killed the dog!” So rather than walk away from or divorce a husband, she would rather she killed him! After a couple of episodes, it looks more like she is marrying only to kill and enjoying doing it.

What could have helped the narrative was some genuine justification, may be TV serial writer could have done that to better results. Here, a story of a woman wronged by six men looks more like a charade; you neither hate the husbands nor empathise with Priyanka Chopra.

Director Vishal Bhardwaj has continued to play with light and shade treatment even while the narrative itself looks rudderless after first episode. Music is not much help either. Length of the film starts telling on the viewer after interval. Background score is monotonous. The title carries the tale one khoon further for the sake of using this phrase; there are only six really.

To sum it up, 7 Khoon Maaf is a pretentious, half baked story which has been made into a film which justifies none of its essentials; and, if performances are good by a few artistes, it is purely by their own merit and not that of script.

While Priyanka Chopra may change her husbands and make-up thanks to foreign technician, she does not change her expressions. Of the six husbands, Neil Nitin Mukesh and John Abraham don’t bother to act; Naseeruddin Shah and Anu Kapoor do what they have been doing in all their films, that is be themselves. Aleksandr Dyachenko is better off not mentioned. Irrfan Khan is the only one to make a mark, seen making an effort. The two actors who impresses, but are not given due billing are: Harish Khanna as the butler cum handyman and Shahsi Kumar Malviya as Gunga, besides Usha Uthup (a surprisingly pleasant casting).

Sadly, 7 Khoon Maaf does not even fit into a particular genre of films; the paying public and box office is not so forgiving of the mundane.

 

                Kachcha Limboo: A muddle which has all the negatives  
 

Producer: Sahara Motion Pictures. Director: Sagar Bellary. Cast: Vinay Pathak, Sarika, Rukhsar, Atul Kulkarni, Taheer Sutarwala

Kachcha  Limboo refers to an old slang for a kid who belongs nowhere, especially in local games kids play.

Taher Suttarwala is either hated or disliked uniformly across the line; his fellow school students as well as other school students alike dislike him.

For what, only the writer/director knows. Yes, he is a bit brash, selfish but those who don’t like him don’t know any of that! He is a character totally indulged by his step father to earn his attention but disregarded by others. This boy is a totally negative character, in all respects, looks as well as deeds. He tends to get into trouble all the time.

With such a character as your protagonist/hero, whatever you may call him, where would a film lead? Exactly where Kachcha Limboo does, nowhere!

Kachcha Limboo is a muddle which has all negatives. Who does this film cater to; Children, Parents? You don’t care after an hour into the film.

Poor in script, poorer in narration and directionless, Kachcha Limboo, coming from the maker of Bheja Fry, should have been named so for it really fries your bheja no end!!
 

MUMBAI: A brainchild of Indian journalist Anand Swaroop Verma, Flames of the Snow, a two-hour documentary chronicling the rise of the pro-democracy movement in Nepal from the 19th century and culminating in the abolition of monarchy in 2008, has been released in 42 theatres in Nepal.

This is for the first time that a documentary will be screened commercially across so many theatres.

Produced by India-based Third World Media in collaboration with Nepal‘s GRINSO and directed by Ashish Srivastav, the film traces the long and blood-drenched pro-democracy struggle against three regimes: the Shah kings of Nepal who ruled the country for 240 years, the repressive Rana prime ministers who reduced the kings to puppets for 104 years and a succession of 12 governments in 13 years which sought to put down people‘s protests by force.

Starting with the fateful Friday night when a family dinner in Nepal‘s royal palace in June 2001 turned into a massacre, leading to the death of the king, queen and eight more royals, the documentary ends with the sun setting on the Shah dynasty on 28 May 2008 when an elected Parliament formally abolished monarchy and ordered the deposed king to vacate the palace so that it could become a national museum.

Flames of the Snow offers a rare insight into the reason that made Dahal, a poor farmer‘s son, become the mighty Prachanda, whose name is now an inspiration to communist movements worldwide.
 

MUMBAI: Looks like the Nepalese have more of an inclination towards seasoned directors of India.

The country that recently hosted mini festivals of directors like Goutom Ghosh and Shyam Benegal is going to host a retrospective of 10 films of Satyajit Ray from 21 to 25 February at Kathmandu organized by Film South Asia (FSA).

To be screened at the Yale Maya Kendra in Patan, the films include Charulata, Aranyer Din Ratri, Sadgati and Shatranj Ke Khiladi among others. The screenings will be followed by discussions on the films.

In the 1990s, after the FSA was established in Kathmandu by the Himal Media Group to popularise documentary films and showcase the best documentaries of South Asia, Rajendra Bhattarai, a Nepali environmental engineer, had suggested to the FSA to host a retrospective of Ray‘s films.

Now, almost a decade later, a retrospective of the maestro‘s films is being held in Nepal.