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Category: Movies

  • NFDC Bazaar: Content evolution through socio-eco changes, expanding genres & innovative distribution to be discussed

    NFDC Bazaar: Content evolution through socio-eco changes, expanding genres & innovative distribution to be discussed

    MUMBAI: The 10th edition of NFDC Film Bazaar to be held from 20 to 24 November, 2016, at Marriott, Goa, will have a series of interesting and engaging ‘Knowledge Series’ sessions this year.

    This year a lot of focus is on technology & its impact on narratives, digitalisation and the expanding scope of monetising films (Indie included) and of course New Voices as well as the tried and tested ones — how do they hope to tell their stories and experiment with form, what are these stories as well as how do they propose to build their viewer community and engage them.

    Film Bazaar 2016 will have a Virtual Reality Sidebar and Film Bazaar VR Lounge powered by Samsung GearVR in Knowledge Series. The VR Sidebar will have three Knowledge Series sessions including a presentation by Michel Reilhac (ex-Head of Film Acquisitions at Arte France curated the VR NEXT sidebar at Cannes 2016, and has also directed 6 VR shorts) on Virtual Reality technology.

    Thithi director Raam Reddy, Sairaat director Nagraj Manjule and Kothanodi director Bhaskar Hazarika will be a part of a panel discussion on stories that are being told in Regional and Small Town India. Google, YouTube’s session will be on Building Communities and Icons and Facebook to have a session on Marketing the Indie Film and Building Communities.

    Knowledge Series, which consists of specially curated presentations, lectures and panel discussions with key decision makers and market drivers of the film industry, will have a Virtual Reality Sidebar.

    This year Film Bazaar takes the thought forward with two key Knowledge Series sessions with two of the most engaging and popularly used platforms –

    1. Google YouTube – Building Communities and Icons In Conversation with YouTube India Head of Content Operations Satya Raghavan

    2. Facebook – Marketing the Indie Film and Building Communities Presentation by Facebook Head, Media Partnerships, Saurabh Doshi

    Over multiple sessions during the four days of Film Bazaar, the Knowledge Series covers a wide range of topics including (but not limited to) the evolution of content through changing socio–economic structures, expanding genres, conventional and innovative platforms of distribution, various emerging co-production possibilities, international collaborations and treaties, and the art of navigating various film festivals and markets.

    Among the speakers are business unit heads of major media corporations (studios/producers/distributors etc.), top executives of organizations connected with the film industry, independent aggregators and content providers from across the world.

  • Force 2…..Of forced action…

    Force 2…..Of forced action…

    MUMBAI: Force 2 is the sequel to the 2011 movie, Force, which, in turn, was based on the 2003 Tamil film, Kaakha Kaakha. Force was about John Abraham, an ACP level cop, a loner who refuses to marry because that would hamper his work of chasing dreaded criminals. His department is always at war with the narcotics trade, and his life is always at risk. 

    However, love happens: he falls for Genelia D’Souza and marries her, only to lose her in his battle with the drug mafia. The rest is about how he avenges her death.

    In Force 2, John the narcotics cop goes international. He is deputed to assist a RAW agent, Sonakshi Sinha. John’s childhood friend, Freddy Daruwala, a RAW agent along with two other colleagues has been eliminated by the Chinese while on duty there. John receives a book from his friend and concludes that his friend’s cover was blown by one of his own compatriots. 

    John takes it upon himself to avenge his death.

    It is for John and Sonakshi to identify the traitor from among their own and then to neutralize him. Sonakshi does not think much of John, he being a cop while she represents the elite espionage force. She does not take John’s contribution seriously as she would rather go about singling out the traitor in her copybook style.

    The equation changes once John pinpoints the culprit while Sonakshi is still marking the probable suspects. But, much to John’s discomfort, the hierarchy is established. John is supposed to take orders from her even though her bumbling ways and reputation of failing to pull the trigger when needed makes her look more like the hero’s funny sidekick

    The villain, Tahir Bhasin, is identified but nabbing him is not easy. After all, he is also a trained spy. What follows is a chase which lasts through most of the first half of the film. The traitor is smart, always well-prepared and a step ahead of his pursuers. He has backup help from the Chinese to whom he is leaking the names of Indian agents in their country!

    As John and Sonakshi catch up with Bhasin, he is always saved by his handlers. Whenever that happens, John and Sonakshi are sitting ducks for them but they, it seems, want to chase to go on!

    Why would an Indian and a RAW agent at that be leaking information? He has his reasons on which the whole premise of the film is based. He is seeking revenge from someone high up in the Indian establishment. And, that is where the finale shall take place.

    The film starts off on an exciting note in the backdrop of China where three agents’ cover has been blown and the way they are killed. But, no, the fight here is not with the Chinese, they are just incidental. It’s all about the enemy within and that takes away some fun to start with.

    After that the action shifts to Budapest for rest of the film but, besides the change of scene as far as the location is concerned, the chases and the one-upmanship game have been seen before and get repetitive. The concept, as mentioned earlier, is based on a premise that is not familiar. Nowhere is the public privy to life of a RAW agent, let alone it being flashed on media like a local incident.

    While the pace is swift as most of the footage goes to action and chases with none wasted on romance or singing and dancing, it also means the film has no distractions as in variety. The script is on predictable lines. The direction, in such an event, is all about sticking to action with little attention to script. 

    The climax takes the audience for granted. Dialogue, especially the lines penned for Tahir, is good. The action is well executed and John, to his credit, makes them look plausible. John also looks sincere about his role of a cop on a rebound. Sonakshi shows little variation in expressions whether she is talking about her mistake which cost five cops their lives or in any other situation. The background score is effective.

    Force 2 is a below average action thriller.

    Producers: Vipul Amrutlal Shah.
    Director: Abhinay Deo.
    Cast: John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha, Tahir Bhasin, Adil Hussain, Raj Babbar.

    Tum Bin 2….Old wine gone flat

    Tum Bin 2 is a sequel to 2001 film, Tum Bin, a musical love triangle. The sequel, also directed by Anubhav Sinha, comes rather late as far as sequels go, as the idea seems to be to cash in on the current trend of sequels and also to put to use a successful franchise. Tum Bin 2 follows almost same storyline as the original.

    Ashim Gulati and Neha Sharma are a pair and live an eventful life full of fun. On one of their days out skiing, Ashim meets with an accident. After attempts to trace him, all hopes are given up on his survival. Neha is devastated and withdraws from the world outside.

    This is when Neha meets Aditya Seal through Ashim’s father, Kanwaljeet Singh. Aditya gets busy helping Neha out of her grief. He also gets her involved in her work. Neha gradually starts living a normal life while also getting attracted to Aditya. Just when lives of all connected seem to be hunky-dory, it takes a turn to bring in the ever so popular and old-fashioned twist.

    Ashim is not dead after all. It is now a love triangle and Neha is faced with her past and present loves.

    There is nothing new to the story about the past catching up and the one in a quandary is always the woman. Tum Bin 2 does not vary from its original and retains the same glitches in the script as well. 

    The forte in the original was its soundtrack which worked in the film’s favour. Here, the music falls short of expectation. Retaining an old Jagjit Singh number from the earlier version is not much help.

    Direction is fair. Dialogue is routine. Cinematography makes the viewing pleasant. Performance wise, Neha Sharma and Aditya Seal do well. Ashim Gulati has little to do in the first half; he is okay.

    Tum Bin 2 faces some tough challenges. It comes at a time when demonetisation has affected box office collections all over; the film needed stronger musical score and, the length of 141 minutes (shortened by six minutes from the original censored length of 147) is too lengthy for a love story without any known faces.

    Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anubhav Sinha.
    Director: Anubhav Sinha.
    Cast: Aditya Seal, Neha Sharma, Ashim Gulati, Kanwaljeet Singh.

  • Force 2…..Of forced action…

    Force 2…..Of forced action…

    MUMBAI: Force 2 is the sequel to the 2011 movie, Force, which, in turn, was based on the 2003 Tamil film, Kaakha Kaakha. Force was about John Abraham, an ACP level cop, a loner who refuses to marry because that would hamper his work of chasing dreaded criminals. His department is always at war with the narcotics trade, and his life is always at risk. 

    However, love happens: he falls for Genelia D’Souza and marries her, only to lose her in his battle with the drug mafia. The rest is about how he avenges her death.

    In Force 2, John the narcotics cop goes international. He is deputed to assist a RAW agent, Sonakshi Sinha. John’s childhood friend, Freddy Daruwala, a RAW agent along with two other colleagues has been eliminated by the Chinese while on duty there. John receives a book from his friend and concludes that his friend’s cover was blown by one of his own compatriots. 

    John takes it upon himself to avenge his death.

    It is for John and Sonakshi to identify the traitor from among their own and then to neutralize him. Sonakshi does not think much of John, he being a cop while she represents the elite espionage force. She does not take John’s contribution seriously as she would rather go about singling out the traitor in her copybook style.

    The equation changes once John pinpoints the culprit while Sonakshi is still marking the probable suspects. But, much to John’s discomfort, the hierarchy is established. John is supposed to take orders from her even though her bumbling ways and reputation of failing to pull the trigger when needed makes her look more like the hero’s funny sidekick

    The villain, Tahir Bhasin, is identified but nabbing him is not easy. After all, he is also a trained spy. What follows is a chase which lasts through most of the first half of the film. The traitor is smart, always well-prepared and a step ahead of his pursuers. He has backup help from the Chinese to whom he is leaking the names of Indian agents in their country!

    As John and Sonakshi catch up with Bhasin, he is always saved by his handlers. Whenever that happens, John and Sonakshi are sitting ducks for them but they, it seems, want to chase to go on!

    Why would an Indian and a RAW agent at that be leaking information? He has his reasons on which the whole premise of the film is based. He is seeking revenge from someone high up in the Indian establishment. And, that is where the finale shall take place.

    The film starts off on an exciting note in the backdrop of China where three agents’ cover has been blown and the way they are killed. But, no, the fight here is not with the Chinese, they are just incidental. It’s all about the enemy within and that takes away some fun to start with.

    After that the action shifts to Budapest for rest of the film but, besides the change of scene as far as the location is concerned, the chases and the one-upmanship game have been seen before and get repetitive. The concept, as mentioned earlier, is based on a premise that is not familiar. Nowhere is the public privy to life of a RAW agent, let alone it being flashed on media like a local incident.

    While the pace is swift as most of the footage goes to action and chases with none wasted on romance or singing and dancing, it also means the film has no distractions as in variety. The script is on predictable lines. The direction, in such an event, is all about sticking to action with little attention to script. 

    The climax takes the audience for granted. Dialogue, especially the lines penned for Tahir, is good. The action is well executed and John, to his credit, makes them look plausible. John also looks sincere about his role of a cop on a rebound. Sonakshi shows little variation in expressions whether she is talking about her mistake which cost five cops their lives or in any other situation. The background score is effective.

    Force 2 is a below average action thriller.

    Producers: Vipul Amrutlal Shah.
    Director: Abhinay Deo.
    Cast: John Abraham, Sonakshi Sinha, Tahir Bhasin, Adil Hussain, Raj Babbar.

    Tum Bin 2….Old wine gone flat

    Tum Bin 2 is a sequel to 2001 film, Tum Bin, a musical love triangle. The sequel, also directed by Anubhav Sinha, comes rather late as far as sequels go, as the idea seems to be to cash in on the current trend of sequels and also to put to use a successful franchise. Tum Bin 2 follows almost same storyline as the original.

    Ashim Gulati and Neha Sharma are a pair and live an eventful life full of fun. On one of their days out skiing, Ashim meets with an accident. After attempts to trace him, all hopes are given up on his survival. Neha is devastated and withdraws from the world outside.

    This is when Neha meets Aditya Seal through Ashim’s father, Kanwaljeet Singh. Aditya gets busy helping Neha out of her grief. He also gets her involved in her work. Neha gradually starts living a normal life while also getting attracted to Aditya. Just when lives of all connected seem to be hunky-dory, it takes a turn to bring in the ever so popular and old-fashioned twist.

    Ashim is not dead after all. It is now a love triangle and Neha is faced with her past and present loves.

    There is nothing new to the story about the past catching up and the one in a quandary is always the woman. Tum Bin 2 does not vary from its original and retains the same glitches in the script as well. 

    The forte in the original was its soundtrack which worked in the film’s favour. Here, the music falls short of expectation. Retaining an old Jagjit Singh number from the earlier version is not much help.

    Direction is fair. Dialogue is routine. Cinematography makes the viewing pleasant. Performance wise, Neha Sharma and Aditya Seal do well. Ashim Gulati has little to do in the first half; he is okay.

    Tum Bin 2 faces some tough challenges. It comes at a time when demonetisation has affected box office collections all over; the film needed stronger musical score and, the length of 141 minutes (shortened by six minutes from the original censored length of 147) is too lengthy for a love story without any known faces.

    Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anubhav Sinha.
    Director: Anubhav Sinha.
    Cast: Aditya Seal, Neha Sharma, Ashim Gulati, Kanwaljeet Singh.

  • Sony Le Plex HD to premiere Philippe Petit’s ‘The Walk’

    Sony Le Plex HD to premiere Philippe Petit’s ‘The Walk’

    MUMBAI: “My dream is to be the most glorious wire walker in history,” so said Philippe Petit.
    There may have been dozens step on the moon, but only one man has ever walked between the World Trade Center Towers, 1,350 feet above the ground. Bringing the engaging real-life depiction of the wire-walk between the Twin Towers, Sony Le Plex HD is all geared up to air the premiere of The Walk. The movie will broadcast on 20 November 2016 at 1 pm and 9 pm.

    Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the movie chronicles the courage and belief of 24-year-old Petit played by Joseph Gorden-Levitt along with actor Ben Kingsley as the worthy mentor.

    The plot revolves around a young French high-wire artist, whose heart is set on the Twin Towers in US, aspiring to walk the void between the two someday. His unnerving passion leads him to celebrated high wire artist Papa Rudy and beautiful musician Annie. Together, they resolve to accomplish the most illicit yet lyrical piece of performance in history.

    A visual spectacle in every sense of the term, The Walk was applauded across the world for outstanding visual effects. With rigorous lessons from Petit himself, Gorden-Levitt emerged as an actor of athletic finesse with just eight days to portray the story of man who believes that art can make you fly.

  • Sony Le Plex HD to premiere Philippe Petit’s ‘The Walk’

    Sony Le Plex HD to premiere Philippe Petit’s ‘The Walk’

    MUMBAI: “My dream is to be the most glorious wire walker in history,” so said Philippe Petit.
    There may have been dozens step on the moon, but only one man has ever walked between the World Trade Center Towers, 1,350 feet above the ground. Bringing the engaging real-life depiction of the wire-walk between the Twin Towers, Sony Le Plex HD is all geared up to air the premiere of The Walk. The movie will broadcast on 20 November 2016 at 1 pm and 9 pm.

    Directed by Robert Zemeckis, the movie chronicles the courage and belief of 24-year-old Petit played by Joseph Gorden-Levitt along with actor Ben Kingsley as the worthy mentor.

    The plot revolves around a young French high-wire artist, whose heart is set on the Twin Towers in US, aspiring to walk the void between the two someday. His unnerving passion leads him to celebrated high wire artist Papa Rudy and beautiful musician Annie. Together, they resolve to accomplish the most illicit yet lyrical piece of performance in history.

    A visual spectacle in every sense of the term, The Walk was applauded across the world for outstanding visual effects. With rigorous lessons from Petit himself, Gorden-Levitt emerged as an actor of athletic finesse with just eight days to portray the story of man who believes that art can make you fly.

  • Box Office: Demonetisation adds to sequel woes

    Box Office: Demonetisation adds to sequel woes

    MUMBAI: Attempts to cash in on the trend of sequels is not working. In most cases, the sequel has nothing to do with the original, content-wise and, when there is some connection, the content is poor. Both the releases of the week, Rock On II and Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur, are sequels.

    Both have met with a miserable fate at the box office. There was an added factor of the demonetization of the currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 which affected all businesses including cinema which is not really a priority in such a situation. The situation may even lead to the postponement of one or two films due for release soon.

    *Rock On II, sequel to the 2008 film Rock On, lacked in just about every department, be it script, content, romance and, mainly, music; not a single song worth humming considering this is a musical. With all these aspects being poor, the film’s length of 139 minute becomes telling on the viewer.

    The film had a poor opening on day one, showed little improvement on Saturday as well as on Sunday ending its first weekend with Rs 6.2 crore. The number of shows per screen have been reduced today onwards.

    *Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation) takes forward the story of the merciless killing of four sons of Guru Gobind Sikh, the tenth Sikh Guru. The Guru decides to end the tradition of guru and, instead, appoints one of his disciples, Banda Singh, to carry out certain tasks to safeguard the sect. Rather than get to the story, the film takes too much time getting into repeating the story from the first part and, a 134 minute animation film is stretching it thin.

    The film fell much short of its first part and the collections remained in lakhs through the weekend.

    *Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, with nil opposition, managed to collect Rs 20.4 crore in its second week taking its two week total to Rs 98.6 crore.

    *Shivaay managed to rake in Rs 16.4 crore in its second week as the film’s vigorous promotion continued and there were no major releases for a choice for the moviegoer. The film takes its two week tally to Rs 81.5 crore.

  • Box Office: Demonetisation adds to sequel woes

    Box Office: Demonetisation adds to sequel woes

    MUMBAI: Attempts to cash in on the trend of sequels is not working. In most cases, the sequel has nothing to do with the original, content-wise and, when there is some connection, the content is poor. Both the releases of the week, Rock On II and Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur, are sequels.

    Both have met with a miserable fate at the box office. There was an added factor of the demonetization of the currency notes of Rs 500 and 1,000 which affected all businesses including cinema which is not really a priority in such a situation. The situation may even lead to the postponement of one or two films due for release soon.

    *Rock On II, sequel to the 2008 film Rock On, lacked in just about every department, be it script, content, romance and, mainly, music; not a single song worth humming considering this is a musical. With all these aspects being poor, the film’s length of 139 minute becomes telling on the viewer.

    The film had a poor opening on day one, showed little improvement on Saturday as well as on Sunday ending its first weekend with Rs 6.2 crore. The number of shows per screen have been reduced today onwards.

    *Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation) takes forward the story of the merciless killing of four sons of Guru Gobind Sikh, the tenth Sikh Guru. The Guru decides to end the tradition of guru and, instead, appoints one of his disciples, Banda Singh, to carry out certain tasks to safeguard the sect. Rather than get to the story, the film takes too much time getting into repeating the story from the first part and, a 134 minute animation film is stretching it thin.

    The film fell much short of its first part and the collections remained in lakhs through the weekend.

    *Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, with nil opposition, managed to collect Rs 20.4 crore in its second week taking its two week total to Rs 98.6 crore.

    *Shivaay managed to rake in Rs 16.4 crore in its second week as the film’s vigorous promotion continued and there were no major releases for a choice for the moviegoer. The film takes its two week tally to Rs 81.5 crore.

  • Rock On II….Rock Bottom!

    Rock On II….Rock Bottom!

    Rock On II has a different director in Shujaat Saudagar, the first one, Rock On (2008) having been directed by Abhishek Kapoor. The lead actors, however, remain the same. After all, there has to be some identification with the original for it has been eight years since the original. 

    Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli, the members of the band Magik, remain friends though the band has been disintegrated. Farhan, married and father of a son, has moved to Meghalaya helping the local farmers with his cooperative movement as well as running a school. He has left his wife, Prachi Desai, and son behind. Arjun Rampal owns a club leaving behind his deprived childhood. Purab Kohli runs a studio composing jingles for his clients. 

    The wherewithal of the characters having been established, the film now moves towards reuniting the band, Magik, and regain its past glory and the happier times. Arjun, Purab and Prachi pay Farhan a visit on the eve of his birthday and, soon enough, he is convinced to return to Mumbai to give their band a second chance. 

    If that were the purpose of making the sequel, the film would have been fun with the help of some good tunes. But, the film now opens up multiple tracks: a boy who is an exponent in playing Sarod Shashank Arora, a reluctant song writer and singer, Shraddha Kapoor, her father, Kumud Mishra, a classical Indian music maestro who desists pop music as also its fusion with Indian music. 

    Then there is a track of an aspiring musician whose suicide haunts Farhan, besides the exploitation of the farmers under Farhan’s cooperative by a cartel.  To add to all these tracks, there is one where the farmer members of Farhan’s movement are victims of a forest fires, all their crops destroyed leaving them starving.

    The muddled bunch of stories never connect with each other and the film jumps from one thread to another leaving loose ends in the process. For some substance during gaps, the story goes into flashbacks of the earlier days of the group keeping the present events aside. 

    After a number of forced incidents, the band is now ready to relaunch and the cause is found; it will perform in Shillong to raise funds for the fire affected farmers. Even while this is being planned a few more side tracks play the villain to ruin the concert. But once the mood is set by Usha Uthup rendering the opening number of the concert, crowds from all over swell the venue. 

    The writing is disjointed and twisted and turned on whim. Shraddha has a partner in Arora but just to link her with Farhan, one fine evening, Prachi comes and declares to him that they are no more compatible. This paves the way for Shraddha to keep eyeing Farhan with suggestive looks! The concert venue along with the sound system is ransacked by local goons but, magically, replaced by a chela of Arjun. The film is full of such fillers inserted as per convenience. 

    The idea to bring back the band story with middle-aged actors looks passé as even on English music scene, groups are now limited to rock; it is mostly solo performers topping the charts. Even the musical score required for such a film is a let down here.   This is a tough film to edit and it shows all over. Dialogue is mediocre. 

    There is nothing much to the performances as Farhan seems to monopolize the footage. Arjun makes his presence felt though. Shraddha’s part is about carrying a sad face through most of the film till she singles out Farhan for her smiles and meaningful looks. Prachi and ShahanGoswami have little footage. Shashank does well. 

    Rock On 2 fails to qualify as a musical as well as a feel good film. Too slow and heavy on head, it has had a very poor opening and the public reports will only add to its misery. 

    Producers: Farhan Akhtar, RiteshSidhwani.

    Director: ShujaatSaudagar. 

    Cast: ShraddhaKapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, PurabKohli,Shashank Arora, Prachi Desai, Shahana Goswami, Kumud Mishra. 

    Dongri Ka Raja….No dons please!

    Looks like every aspiring or new director worth his salt wants to make a film on underworld folk stories set in the once famous “Mumbai-3” as it was known, or the Dongri area. No matter that these stories and their imagined versions have been done to death. There is no Deewaar to be made anymore as many recent Mumbai underworld films have proved.

    The director, Hadi Ali Abrar, and writer, M Salim, come up with an emotional love saga about a Dongri don, his excuse of a wife, their adopted Hindu son and the son’s love story. Things get complicated and repetitive but here is an attempt to decode it:

    Ronit Roy is the dreaded don who operates from Dongri. He seems to have married a woman, Ashwini Kalsekar, out of some compulsion and there is no love lost between the two. The don’s two-man army consists of a Hindu Man-Friday and his adopted Hindu son, Gashmeer Mahajani. Mahajani is much loved by Ashwini, just like her own son. This equation takes time to come through and fathom. 

    Gashmeer is Ronit’s most trusted sharpshooter who usually wears the uniform of a known police inspector, Ashmit Patel, when shooting a rival. As is the tradition with love stories which went on to become folklore, Gashmeer falls in love with Richa Sinha, who, it turns out, is the sister of inspector Ashmit. 

    Her romance with Gashmeer — is it just a ploy, or real?

    It is surprising that the police, instead of targeting Ronit, the force behind all the illegal activities, is chasing his shooter! The rest of the film is about Richa’s merry-go-round; when she is not with her brother and his cause, she is with Gashmeer, her love. She betrays Ashmit and Gashmeer in turns. Gashmeer and Ashmit play chor sipahee through the film leaving Ronit out of contention to be never seen again even as the film ends.

    Dongri Ka Raja is a contrived, amateurish don story living by the stereotype that a don has to be a Muslim, dreaded by all just because you are told so. The story idea, scripting, direction, dialogue are all poor. Performances are stagey and even Ronit Roy does not bother to vary his single expression. Gashmeer Mahajani is good in parts. 
    Dongri Ka Raja is as passé as once upon a time stories.

    Producer: PS Chhatwal. 

    Director: Hadi Ali Abrar.

    Cast: Ronit Roy, Gashmeer Mahajani, Ashmit Patel, Reecha Sinha, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sachin Suvarna, Gulshan Pandey. 

    Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation)….Limited appeal

    Chaar Sahibzaade: The Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation) comes as a sequel to the maker Harry Baweja’s earlier film, Chaar Sahibzaade (also 3-D: Animation-2014), about the martyrdom of four young sons of the the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. The earlier film dealt with the Sikh community’s various battles with the invading Mughals and their harsh ways of meting out justice as well as about Sikhs’ defending the religion against forcible conversion.

    This film tells the story of the Sikh religion and its warriors post Guru Gobind Singh.

    The Sikhs are fighting a valiant battle against the tyranny of Mughals, especially the sadist subedaar of Sirhind, Wazir Khan. Wazir, who had killed the two older sons (aged 18 and 14) of Guru Gobind Singh, imprisons the two younger sons (aged 9 and 7) of the Guru, to suffocate them to death.

    The fights have now taken the form of deceit. The Sikh army is small but impenetrable and Wazir Khan wants Guru Gobind Singh dead. He deputes two of his men to sneak into the Sikh camp and assassinate Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Singh is hurt and survives only to die a slow death of blood poisoning.

    Guru has no heir apparent left and he does not want the Sikh faith to suffer the same fate as the Caliphate did. He declares the end of Guru System, declares Guru Granth Saahib as the ultimate and perpetual Guru of the Faith. He appoints one of his trusted disciples, Banda Singh, to settle scores with Wazir Khan with five selected wise Sikh men called Panj Pyare, as the deciding council to help and guide Banda Singh as well as to check on him.

    Banda Singh and his five-man council go on to tackle Mughals, help their victims and build an army to finally take on the might on Wazir Khan.

    The story is about Banda Singh and how he succeeds in sustaining and furthering the Sikh religion. But, Harry Baweja takes his time in coming to that part as he uses most of the first half of the film in retelling the story of four sons of Guru Gobind Singh which has already been the story of the previous film. This stretches the duration to 140 minutes, which is rather lengthy for a community-based animation film.

    The narration is like a bedtime story, too much detail in a linear manner creating no interesting moments. There is no conclusion to the Banda Singh story leaving an option open to carry on the saga further. Dialogue and rest of the approach is monotonous. The musical score is inspiring. Om Puri does the narrative voiceover as he did in the earlier film. Animation and the 3-D effects are okay.

    Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur is aimed mainly at the Sikh community which appreciated the first film. The returns with the sequel are likely to show diminishing returns because of a huge part of the film being a repeat of the original.

    Producer: Pammi Baweja.

    Director: Harry Baweja.

    Voice: Om Puri and others

  • Rock On II….Rock Bottom!

    Rock On II….Rock Bottom!

    Rock On II has a different director in Shujaat Saudagar, the first one, Rock On (2008) having been directed by Abhishek Kapoor. The lead actors, however, remain the same. After all, there has to be some identification with the original for it has been eight years since the original. 

    Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal and Purab Kohli, the members of the band Magik, remain friends though the band has been disintegrated. Farhan, married and father of a son, has moved to Meghalaya helping the local farmers with his cooperative movement as well as running a school. He has left his wife, Prachi Desai, and son behind. Arjun Rampal owns a club leaving behind his deprived childhood. Purab Kohli runs a studio composing jingles for his clients. 

    The wherewithal of the characters having been established, the film now moves towards reuniting the band, Magik, and regain its past glory and the happier times. Arjun, Purab and Prachi pay Farhan a visit on the eve of his birthday and, soon enough, he is convinced to return to Mumbai to give their band a second chance. 

    If that were the purpose of making the sequel, the film would have been fun with the help of some good tunes. But, the film now opens up multiple tracks: a boy who is an exponent in playing Sarod Shashank Arora, a reluctant song writer and singer, Shraddha Kapoor, her father, Kumud Mishra, a classical Indian music maestro who desists pop music as also its fusion with Indian music. 

    Then there is a track of an aspiring musician whose suicide haunts Farhan, besides the exploitation of the farmers under Farhan’s cooperative by a cartel.  To add to all these tracks, there is one where the farmer members of Farhan’s movement are victims of a forest fires, all their crops destroyed leaving them starving.

    The muddled bunch of stories never connect with each other and the film jumps from one thread to another leaving loose ends in the process. For some substance during gaps, the story goes into flashbacks of the earlier days of the group keeping the present events aside. 

    After a number of forced incidents, the band is now ready to relaunch and the cause is found; it will perform in Shillong to raise funds for the fire affected farmers. Even while this is being planned a few more side tracks play the villain to ruin the concert. But once the mood is set by Usha Uthup rendering the opening number of the concert, crowds from all over swell the venue. 

    The writing is disjointed and twisted and turned on whim. Shraddha has a partner in Arora but just to link her with Farhan, one fine evening, Prachi comes and declares to him that they are no more compatible. This paves the way for Shraddha to keep eyeing Farhan with suggestive looks! The concert venue along with the sound system is ransacked by local goons but, magically, replaced by a chela of Arjun. The film is full of such fillers inserted as per convenience. 

    The idea to bring back the band story with middle-aged actors looks passé as even on English music scene, groups are now limited to rock; it is mostly solo performers topping the charts. Even the musical score required for such a film is a let down here.   This is a tough film to edit and it shows all over. Dialogue is mediocre. 

    There is nothing much to the performances as Farhan seems to monopolize the footage. Arjun makes his presence felt though. Shraddha’s part is about carrying a sad face through most of the film till she singles out Farhan for her smiles and meaningful looks. Prachi and ShahanGoswami have little footage. Shashank does well. 

    Rock On 2 fails to qualify as a musical as well as a feel good film. Too slow and heavy on head, it has had a very poor opening and the public reports will only add to its misery. 

    Producers: Farhan Akhtar, RiteshSidhwani.

    Director: ShujaatSaudagar. 

    Cast: ShraddhaKapoor, Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, PurabKohli,Shashank Arora, Prachi Desai, Shahana Goswami, Kumud Mishra. 

    Dongri Ka Raja….No dons please!

    Looks like every aspiring or new director worth his salt wants to make a film on underworld folk stories set in the once famous “Mumbai-3” as it was known, or the Dongri area. No matter that these stories and their imagined versions have been done to death. There is no Deewaar to be made anymore as many recent Mumbai underworld films have proved.

    The director, Hadi Ali Abrar, and writer, M Salim, come up with an emotional love saga about a Dongri don, his excuse of a wife, their adopted Hindu son and the son’s love story. Things get complicated and repetitive but here is an attempt to decode it:

    Ronit Roy is the dreaded don who operates from Dongri. He seems to have married a woman, Ashwini Kalsekar, out of some compulsion and there is no love lost between the two. The don’s two-man army consists of a Hindu Man-Friday and his adopted Hindu son, Gashmeer Mahajani. Mahajani is much loved by Ashwini, just like her own son. This equation takes time to come through and fathom. 

    Gashmeer is Ronit’s most trusted sharpshooter who usually wears the uniform of a known police inspector, Ashmit Patel, when shooting a rival. As is the tradition with love stories which went on to become folklore, Gashmeer falls in love with Richa Sinha, who, it turns out, is the sister of inspector Ashmit. 

    Her romance with Gashmeer — is it just a ploy, or real?

    It is surprising that the police, instead of targeting Ronit, the force behind all the illegal activities, is chasing his shooter! The rest of the film is about Richa’s merry-go-round; when she is not with her brother and his cause, she is with Gashmeer, her love. She betrays Ashmit and Gashmeer in turns. Gashmeer and Ashmit play chor sipahee through the film leaving Ronit out of contention to be never seen again even as the film ends.

    Dongri Ka Raja is a contrived, amateurish don story living by the stereotype that a don has to be a Muslim, dreaded by all just because you are told so. The story idea, scripting, direction, dialogue are all poor. Performances are stagey and even Ronit Roy does not bother to vary his single expression. Gashmeer Mahajani is good in parts. 
    Dongri Ka Raja is as passé as once upon a time stories.

    Producer: PS Chhatwal. 

    Director: Hadi Ali Abrar.

    Cast: Ronit Roy, Gashmeer Mahajani, Ashmit Patel, Reecha Sinha, Ashwini Kalsekar, Sachin Suvarna, Gulshan Pandey. 

    Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation)….Limited appeal

    Chaar Sahibzaade: The Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur (3-D: Animation) comes as a sequel to the maker Harry Baweja’s earlier film, Chaar Sahibzaade (also 3-D: Animation-2014), about the martyrdom of four young sons of the the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh. The earlier film dealt with the Sikh community’s various battles with the invading Mughals and their harsh ways of meting out justice as well as about Sikhs’ defending the religion against forcible conversion.

    This film tells the story of the Sikh religion and its warriors post Guru Gobind Singh.

    The Sikhs are fighting a valiant battle against the tyranny of Mughals, especially the sadist subedaar of Sirhind, Wazir Khan. Wazir, who had killed the two older sons (aged 18 and 14) of Guru Gobind Singh, imprisons the two younger sons (aged 9 and 7) of the Guru, to suffocate them to death.

    The fights have now taken the form of deceit. The Sikh army is small but impenetrable and Wazir Khan wants Guru Gobind Singh dead. He deputes two of his men to sneak into the Sikh camp and assassinate Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Singh is hurt and survives only to die a slow death of blood poisoning.

    Guru has no heir apparent left and he does not want the Sikh faith to suffer the same fate as the Caliphate did. He declares the end of Guru System, declares Guru Granth Saahib as the ultimate and perpetual Guru of the Faith. He appoints one of his trusted disciples, Banda Singh, to settle scores with Wazir Khan with five selected wise Sikh men called Panj Pyare, as the deciding council to help and guide Banda Singh as well as to check on him.

    Banda Singh and his five-man council go on to tackle Mughals, help their victims and build an army to finally take on the might on Wazir Khan.

    The story is about Banda Singh and how he succeeds in sustaining and furthering the Sikh religion. But, Harry Baweja takes his time in coming to that part as he uses most of the first half of the film in retelling the story of four sons of Guru Gobind Singh which has already been the story of the previous film. This stretches the duration to 140 minutes, which is rather lengthy for a community-based animation film.

    The narration is like a bedtime story, too much detail in a linear manner creating no interesting moments. There is no conclusion to the Banda Singh story leaving an option open to carry on the saga further. Dialogue and rest of the approach is monotonous. The musical score is inspiring. Om Puri does the narrative voiceover as he did in the earlier film. Animation and the 3-D effects are okay.

    Chaar Sahibzaade: Rise Of Banda Singh Bahadur is aimed mainly at the Sikh community which appreciated the first film. The returns with the sequel are likely to show diminishing returns because of a huge part of the film being a repeat of the original.

    Producer: Pammi Baweja.

    Director: Harry Baweja.

    Voice: Om Puri and others

  • Sony Le Plex HD brings Hollywood trivia on ‘It’s 9 O’ Talk’

    Sony Le Plex HD brings Hollywood trivia on ‘It’s 9 O’ Talk’

    MUMBAI: Great conversations start with great topics. Great topics come out of common interests. Common interests include one’s undying love for great movies. Indeed, movies are great conversation starters. These conversations can often unravel some interesting, unknown facts that are common across a diverse set of films – like profession of the characters or their graduation school or scenes shot at the same location or actors having the same name – factors that are random but unique. Sony Le PLEX HD is all set to bring out these interesting binding themes with a brand new slot called ‘It’s 9 O’ Talk’ starting Monday, 14 November, 2016.

    Airing once a month, Monday-Friday at 9 PM, the channel will showcase five different movies in ‘It’s 9 O’ Talk’, that are connected on a string through one distinct theme. Creating a premium conversational platform for quality cinema lovers, Sony Le PLEX HD has introduced an innovative way to add to the enthusiasm of movie buffs. Reaching out to the movie lovers, anchor Neha Sareen will share some interesting facts around these themes before the airing of each movie. The first theme on the show is called ‘Dollars in the Diapers’, which connects 5 movies – The People vs. Larry Flynt, Mortdecai, After Earth, Prisoners and Still Alice – with a common theme of actors born with a silver spoon like Edward Norton, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jaden Smith, Jake Gyllenhaal and Kristen Stewart.

    The other interesting themes include ‘Bling on the Ring’ – Biggest and the Best celebrity engagement rings, ‘The AD-vantage Actors’- actors who started their acting careers with ads and ‘And The Award Doesn’t Go To’- actors you won’t believe haven’t won an Oscar! to name a few.

    Sony Pictures Networks India EVP and Business Head, English Cluster, Saurabh Yagnik said: “With the tagline ‘Where You Belong’, we created a community that brought together different or uncommon people through their common love for films. Listicles fit in with that idea of finding the common in the uncommon. It is a very popular format to drive online conversations amongst communities. This unconventional programing initiative will be a delight for movie lovers as it gives them reasons to have interesting conversations through the week. The themes focus on finding a unique, unexpected and unusual connection between various films, which is supplemented with interesting information – essentially, fun trivia for movie lovers to discuss with their loved ones.”

    Sony Le PLEX HD is the premium Hollywood movie channel caters to avid English movie lovers who enjoy watching critically acclaimed Hollywood cinema.