Category: Movies

Producers: Nitin Manmohan, Sameer Karnik. Director: Sameer Karnik. Cast: Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Kulraj Randhawa, Nafisa Ali, Anupam Kher.

MUMBAI: Yamla Pagla Deewana is a trip back into the 60s and 70s cinema; L is for laughter here and L for logic be damned. Since Hindi comedies depend on gags, usually borrowed from foreign films, the trick is to piece them together. This film borrows generously from foreign as well as Hindi films of all hues.

Sunny Deol is a Sikh settled in Canada, living with his wife, mother and kids when he learns that his father and younger brother (Dharmendra and Bobby Deol) are in Benaras and are known con men. Dharmendra has walked out on his wife, Nafisa Ali, with Bobby, the younger of his two sons for no plausible reason – the first signal not to expect sense. He has turned his son also into a petty con man; both eat, drink and womanise together like buddies. Down comes Sunny Deol, wanting to trace his father and brother.

In his pursuit to get his father and brother back, Sunny Deol joins their con team. But that is not what the film is about, though that‘s what you may think! Even while Sunny Deol is working on winning over his people, the younger one spots Kulraj Randhawa, clicking pictures with her camera all over Benaras Ghats and falls for her.

What follows is what the film is supposed to be, a comedy entertainer. The brothers decide to embark, later joined in by the father and others, on the girl‘s ruthless Sikh family which shoots first and asks questions later. Well, what follows is not unseen in many films before.

For a comedy, Yamla Pagla Deewana takes its own time to get down to business; the 70-plus minute first half meanders a lot and, hence, is dull. The post interval part, with 80-plus minute of running time, does have some funny moments and dramatics but those are few and far in-between besides being repetitive. 

The characterisation of actors is comic book brand; except Sunny Deol, all others are caricatures. The film has had its curiosity value because of Dharmendra, and his enthusiasm is overwhelming; wish he had a range and few variations to his role. Sunny Deol is his usual self, a muscled mass, convincing all the way with all that he does. Kulraj Randhawa is a non performer. Bobby Deol leads the hamming brigade with Anumapm Kher following suit. The rest are incidental.

Direction by Samir Karnik is aimless; no restraint on scenes, they just carry on. Editing is poor. Musically, expectedly, the one song that holds the score is the old Laxmikant Pyarelal tune, Main jatt yamala pagala deewana, which is the signature tune as well as the mainstay of the film.

YPD is an average entertainer, which caters to the single screen. It has better prospects in the North.

MUMBAI: South Korea-France film Dooman River/ La Riviere Tumen has won Maharashtra government‘s ‘Best international film‘ award named ‘Prabhat‘ carrying a purse of Rs 1 million on the concluding day of the 9th Pune International Film Festival.

Likewise, the ‘Prabhat‘ best international director award of Rs 500,000 was lapped up by Polish director Borys Lankosz for his film The Reverse. The special jury award was given to Natalie Smirnoff, director of the film Puzzle, a Argentina- France production.

The Sant Tukaram Best Marathi Feature Film award of Rs 500,000 was given to the film Baboo Band Baaja by Rajesh Pinjani. Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) student Tathagata Singha bagged the PIFF special award of Rs 25,000 for direction.

ALT Entertainment & Friday Filmworks‘ first Marathi film, Taaryanche Bait won two top honours. While Shailesh Dupare, Sourabh Bhave and Kiran Yadnyopavit walked away with the award for the best script, Sachin Khedekar‘s portrayal of a father caught in a dilemma won him the best actor award.

Giving his concluding speech, PIFF director Jabbar Patel said, “Next year, we are going to introduce Indian cinema competition award in which first or second film of the Indian director will be eligible for the competition. Forty films from PIFF will be sent to the first Yashwant International festival which will held in Mumbai later this month.‘‘

Minister of state for cultural affairs Faujia Khan, who was the chief guest of the evening, said: “PIFF is the only award function, the state government involves itself with and government takes lots of efforts to encourage Marathi films.‘‘
 

MUMBAI: Deepa Mehta‘s adaptation of Salman Rushdie‘s Midnight‘s Children has a new name. Now it will be titled Winds of Change.

The prize-winning novel tells the story of the events before and after Independence and partition of India.

Starring Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi and Soha Ali Khan, the film is due to release in Sri Lanka next month.
 

MUMBAI: Indian born British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha is set to roll out DreamWorks Animation’s animated musical Monkeys of Bollywood. The Bollywood-style animated musical, set in Mumbai, revolves around two monkeys who try to stop an ancient demon from conquering the world. 

The Bend it like Beckham director will work on the film along with her producer husband Paul Berges on the film inspired by ‘Ramayana‘. Earlier, Chadha and Berges have teamed for films including Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice.

The animation studio has also roped in A R Rahman and lyricist Schwartz for the project. Music maestro A R Rahman and Indian-origin British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha are all set to work together on an animated musical about monkeys.

MUMBAI: The Enlighten Film Festival is going to hold Kabir Festival from 14 to 23 January across diverse venues in Mumbai where five musical documentaries made by Shabnam Virmani would be screened.

The seven-day festival will be held in various schools and colleges to drive home the message of Kabir in today‘s youth. The last three days of the festival will have multiple events at different locations, all open to the public on first-come-first-served basis.

The documentaries that will be screened in the festival are Had-Anhad (that looks into the politics of religion on both sides of the border between India and Pakistan); Chalo Hamara Des (story of two individuals, folk singer Prahlad Tipaniya and North American scholar Linda Hess, who despite their different backgrounds come together to search for the country of Kabir).

The third documentary, Koi Sunta Hai, interweaves the oral folk traditions of Kabir in central India with the intensely personal narrative of the late classical singer Kumar Gandharva while the fourth, Kabira Khada Bazar Mein, raises questions about organised religion and investigates the ironies between the secular nature of Kabir and the sacralization of Kabir by the Kabir Panth.

Among the last three, Do Din ke Mela is a musical about the songs of a Dalit community in Gujarat that draws inspirations from Sufi traditions of Kabir and Shah Abdul Lateef Koi Sunta Hai and Chalo Hamare De.

Besides the screening of the documentaries, the festival will involve talks and discussions by prominent speakers and live music concerts by folk and classical singers from different parts of India.
 

MUMBAI: Aiming to bring together voices from across the globe on issues regarding disability, the eighth edition of the ‘We Care Film Festival‘ will go underway in the capital on 15 January.

The festival will be launched by Brotherhood, the United Nations Information Centre for India and Bhutan (UNIC), Unesco, the National Trust, which functions under the ministry of social justice and empowerment, and the Asian Academy of Film and Television (AAFT).

With 67 entries from countries like US, Britain, Canada, Israel, Indonesia, Spain, Italy, Brazil, Australia and Nepal besides India, the festival will travel across 25 venues in India and four South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries like Nepal, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Bhutan in five months.

Some of the places where the festival will be held in India are the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), AYJ National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped and SNDT Women‘s University in Mumbai, Tezpur University in Assam and Manipal Institute of Communication, Manipal University, in Karnataka.

Said an organiser of the festival, “The festival‘s uniqueness lies in the fact that the audience watches and rates each film through a participatory rating process. This approach goes a long way in familiarising people with persons living with disabilities and also encourages filmmakers to tell their stories in an effective yet engaging manner.”

The festival will culminate in May.

MUMBAI: B4U Films has teamed up with T-Series along with Mukesh Talreja‘s People Tree Films for the release of film Patiala House.

Produced by Twinkle Khanna‘s Hari Om Productions and Zoeb Springwala‘s Bugle Boy‘s, the film will hit the screens on 11 February.

Following the success of his films like Kal Ho Naa Ho and Salaam-e-Ishq, director Nikhil Advani‘s Patiala House will star Akshay Kumar, Rishi Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Dimple Kapadia.

B4U has released a variety of films across the globe last year.

At Patiala House lives the Kahlon family ruled by Bauji. The film follows his life as he tries to hold onto his ‘Indian values‘ in the land of the ‘goras‘. The younger generations at the Patiala House wants to assert themselves and follow their dreams but are held back by their respect and love for Bauji and the shining example of Bauji‘s eldest son, Parghat Singh Kahlon aka Gattu. Gattu gave up his dream at the altar of Bauji‘s biases. What follows forms the crux of the film.

States T-Series managing director Bhushan Kumar, “B4U has proven to be one of Bollywood‘s major platforms and for this reason T-Series is proud to be teaming up with it for the release of Patialia House. I am certain that this is the start of a successful long-term working relationship and I look forward to working with B4U for our forthcoming films and projects.”

B4U CEO Sunil Rohra avers, “B4U is thrilled to be working alongside such a reputable company as T-Series. Bhushan Kumar has been a pioneer in the Indian music industry and his creative vision and dynamics have aided in the growth and success of the Bollywood genre. We are delighted to be releasing Patiala House which has got all the essential ingredients for it to be a high quality hit Bollywood film.”