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  • ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’: It’s different

    ‘Angry Indian Goddesses’: It’s different

    MUMBAI: Thanks to the world of media and entertainment opening up, filmmaking has been continuously expanding its dimensions. A lot of filmmakers are breaking the genre barriers and daring to project stories that would have been unimaginable until not so long ago. The era of abla Indian naari is long gone, at least, as far as the film stories go. As the title asserts, Angry Indian Goddesses is about a bunch of women who don’t conform to the stereotype. 

    Sarah-Jane Dias, Anushka Manchanda, Sandhya Mridul, Pavleen Gujral and Amrit Maghera are career women (except Pavleen). Sarah, a professional photographer, is asked to compromise: make a dark model look fair for a fairness cream. She is supposed to just shoot her pictures and the rest will be done on Photoshop, she is assured. But, she would not compromise on her skill and walks off.

    Similarly, Sandhya, a tycoon, has a problem on hand as her mining fields are controversial and have been shut down due to a protest led by Tannishtha Chatterjee. Amrit is an aspiring actor but walks out of a film shoot when she is padded up all over to just look sexy and vulnerable instead of acting her part. 

    Pavleen is a merit list graduate but is married off early into a traditional family where the only expectation from her is to deliver a child, sort of, without her husband’s participation. These all are Sarah’s dear friends. 

    Sarah, having walked out of her photo-shoot assignment, heads straight to Goa to her ancestral home. She plans to marry and decides to invite her friends. So, Sarah, Sandhya, Anushka, Pavleen and Amrit gather under one roof in a Goa village. Also around is Sarah’s childhood companion cum maid, Rajshri Deshpande, a gutsy, street smart woman. 

    As one sits through the film, nothing is happening except that this bunch has what is their idea of fun. Generally, this involves pulling each other’s leg, drinking, dancing and finally opening up with their respective problems. As they open up, you feel like an eavesdropper on an all girls’ party! None of them are really happy as the others perceived. One thinks the women have been told by the director to just go along and do as they liked; their idea of a get-together of a bunch of friends.

    If there is a purpose to the film, the indications come only post interval as Sandhya, the tycoon’s b?te noire, Tannishtha, walks in as another guest. 

    The women, all troubled by their circumstances, having time of their life and none feels like going back. On one of their outings, they confront some bike-riding bullies. The guys run away but that is not going to be the end of it. Because, the makers also plan to stress on rape and the attitude of the law and views on a woman’s dressing.

    Finally, Sarah is forced to reveal who she is going to wed and that is another aspect rarely ventured on Hindi screen. It is the last half an hour or so that turns the film around and gives it a purpose. The climax is interesting.

    Pan Nalin has penned and directed this film and he has handled it well considering this is a dicey theme with little substance in the footage for most part. The film has a very situational musical score. The Konkani song, rendered by Anushka, a musician herself, is a delight. The location being Goa, it is a pleasure to watch and aids the cinematography look pleasant to eyes. 

    Angry Indian Goddesses is an interesting watch if you are a discerning film lover with patience. Eventually, it makes up for your patience and money spent. 

    Producers: Pan Nalin, Gaurav Dhingra

    Director: Pan Nalin

    Cast: Sarah-Jane Dias, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Anushka Manchanda, Sandhya Mridul, Amrit 

    Maghera, Rajshri Deshpande, Pavleen Gujra, Arjun Mathur, Adil Hussain.

    ‘Hate Story 3’: Rides on brand equity

    The Hate Story franchise has been a moderate success twice before, albeit, in a limited range. Not blockbusters but profitmaking all the same. And so the story continues. You have a title and you have the basic theme of skin show. Rest would be easy.

    However, while rules at the censor board are still the same, the implementation has changed. So, liberties can’t be taken. ForHate Story 3, the germ is borrowed from the Hollywood movie, Indecent Proposal (1993).

    Sharman Joshi is a successful entrepreneur with an ever growing business empire. He has a loving wife by his side in Zarine Khan. But, there is a sinister man around who has a glad eye for Zarine. That is Karan Singh Grover. He invites Sharman and Zarine for a business launch. He offers to help Sharman to grow his empire even further because, he says, he likes self-made men! However, for his help Sharman would have to send Zarine to Karan to spend a night with him. Now, why should Karan even imagine Sharman, a self-made man rich man would want to do that? You may borrow an idea from a foreign film but how about logic?

    Rejected, Karan becomes vengeful and plans to destroy Sharman and his business. He starts with contaminating the soft drinks in Sharman’s factory. Sharman is wary. He deputes his secretary, Daisy Shah, to lure Karan and find out what he is up to. But, it is not all that easy as Daisy is killed and her body is found in the bushes.

    Hate Story 3 has a weak base and far short of content compared to the earlier two versions. The direction is okay but not good enough to stretch the limited content to over two hours. The songs, usually the strength of a T-Series home production, have limited appeal. Two song, Tumhe apna bana…and Wajah… sound pleasant. Editing needed to be slicker. 

    Performance wise, Sharman looks a bit ill at ease. Karan is okay. Zarine is good. Daisy is passable. 

    Hate Story 3 has taken a good opening thanks to its brand equity. Made within a controlled budget, it has a two week open window without opposition and will make the most of it. 

    Producer: Bhushan Kumar, Vikram Bhatt Director: Vishal Pandya

    Cast: Sharman Joshi, Zarine Khan, Daisy Shah, Karan Singh Grover

  • Tamasha …….A dull show

    Tamasha …….A dull show

    Among the various genres of movies are psycho thriller and romance. Tamasha is a combination of these two and can be called a psycho-romance. The title of the film sounds like a 1980s B grade movie and does not quite go with the film, though. Like in most of his films, here too, the director, Imtiaz Ali, counts a lot on scenic locations. He has shot the romantic parts of the film in the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

    Imtiaz probably watched something like Roman Holiday before he sat down to write the film. It starts in a similar fashion, with a meeting between Ranbir Kapoor, a mid-level executive and Deepika Padukone, a tea estate tycoon. Both know that this is a temporary encounter and agree not to reveal their real names or backgrounds to each other. They also decided on not having a physical relation or body contact!

    Both explore the beautiful island and sing and dance with the local performers. Ranbir has been fond of listening to stories since his childhood—myths, legends and folk—anything. He then loves to act out the characters. He introduces himself as Don who is on the radar of the police from 12 countries. In a song he sings with Deepika, he mimics late Dev Anand. That is his idea of fun in his life.

    The holiday comes to an end and both have fallen in love but decide to stick to their agreement. However, Deepika, when she is leaving Ranbir while he is still sleeping, can’t resist her urges and gets into his bed.

    Back in India, Deepika has taken over the tea company in Kolkata from her father while Ranbir joins his dull job in Delhi. He is sincere and hardworking in his otherwise dull life. Deepika is on a visit to Delhi in connection with her business where she learns that Ranbir frequents a restaurant and decides to meet up with him. They meet and the romance resumes. Ranbir thinks it is time to pop the question and, amid a get-together with a handful of friends, he proposes to Deepika with a ring planted on a cake.

    Deepika then realizes that this is not the Ranbir she fell in love with. The Ranbir she knew in Corsica was a fun loving, happy-go-lucky man. The one she knows now in India is a dull man with a set routine with no excitement in life. He is not ambitious, does his job routinely, also meets up with her every evening, they spend time together and that is that. She does not think this is the man and this is the kind of life she wants to get into. They part. But Ranbir takes it hard. From here on, Deepika vanishes from the scene and it is all about Ranbir. He goes berserk, acts rude with people around and, finally, also misbehaves with his boss.

    Ranbir is now jobless for some months and decides to go spend some time with his parents. There is no peace here. All his life, Ranbir’s decisions had been made by his father, Javed Sheikh, because of who Ranbir’s life became what it was—mundane. Javed is upset to know about Ranbir losing his job. As is his wont, Javed starts lecturing Ranbir again leading to him walking out. Ranbir goes in search of the old man from whom he listened to stories as a child and asks him to compete his own love story which is stuck halfway. In the process, he gleans enlightenment that his story would be what he wanted it to be.

    Ranbir sheds his act of being a disciplined, mid-level white-collar worker. He takes to his real self, in dressing, behavior as well as likes and dislikes. He is now custom made for Deepika.

    Tamasha starts off by confusing the viewer. The film makes one think the couple has known each other for ages but are only putting on an act though, actually, this is their first meeting as Deepika has lost her bag with money and passport. Nobody seems to know English in Corsica and nobody would allow her to make a phone call either. Ranbir, the lone other Indian on the scene is there to help her. The romance then takes a backseat as the footage dwells on Ranbir’s troubled dual life and that makes for a boring viewing. Direction is below par with many contradiction and glitches. The film is overloaded with songs of which Matargashti… , Agar tum saath ho… and Andheri raat mein appeal. Dialogue is routine. Cinematography is pleasing. Editing is slack.

    The film has few characters, depending mostly on Ranbir and Deepika. While Ranbir has a limited range but most footage to which he can’t do justice. Deepika is vibrant and gives a good account of herself. Sadly, the chemistry the duo shared is missing here. Javed Sheikh has about three scenes and the only time he has to perform is when he has to get up from his chair.

    Tamasha is poor show.

    Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala.

    Director: Imtiaz Ali.

    Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika, Imtiaz Sheikh. 

  • Prem Ratan Dhan Payo…

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo…

    Prem Ratan Dhan Payo is about palace intrigue, conspiracy and, as is the wont with Rajshri movies, reconciliation and happy endings. Despite being based on a royal background, the essence remains the same as all SoorajBarjatya films: family and values. This is also the costliest venture Rajshri has produced.

    Salman Khan aka Prem is a street-smart Rambhakta in Ayodhya and loves to perform the role of Ram during Ram Leela. As in most films, Prem has a sidekick in Deepak Dobriyal. Salman Khan aka Vijay Singh is the crown prince of faraway place calledPritampur and due for his Rajyabhishek (crowning).

    Vijay has royal bearings and makes sure he shows it. One of the routines he follows is to have a sabre dual with his step brother, Neil NitinMukesh. Neil is much influenced negativelyin the palace by ArmaanKohli, a sort of major domo. Also, at odds with Vijay are his two step sisters, SwaraBhaskar and Ashika Bhatia, who want a share in the royal property. Swara ekes out a living as a teacher while Ashika is a student and good at playing football.

    Neilconspires with Armaan to remove Vijay from the scene so that he can usurp all the property; he has also been made to believe by Armaan that all his bills are to be sanctioned by elder brother Vijay. Vijay always clears all the bills but Armaan makes Neil believe otherwise thus creating a rift between brothers.

    Though about royalty, the film takes a contemporary approach. But we don’t know why Vijay travels in an old style stagecoach while the rest of the people use limousines. That is probably to make it easy for Armaan and Neil to bump him off! So, the coach rider jumps off the coach locking Vijay inside and the coach falls off a cliff.

    In comes Prem, put in place by the only loyalist, AnupamKher, a diwan from Vijay’s father’s time. Vijay has survived but is badly hurt. While he is being treated by doctors in some secret hideout, thanks to AnupamPrem is asked to pretend to be Vijay. Prem has a reason to accept because he has secretly fallen in love with Sonam Kapoor, a princess from another state, who is due in Pritampur for the occasion since she is the fiancé of Vijay.

    Sonam wants out of the impending marriage because she and Vijay are poles apart.Prem takes it upon himself to correct her misgivings about Vijay by being very nice to her. After all, he is the Rajshri hero who only has other people’s best at heart even if he has to make sacrifices. He also uses his goodness to win over the estranged stepsisters promising them equal share in all the royal wealth. No matter it does not belong to him!

    It is time to contend with the evildoers, Armaan and Neil, who have kidnapped Vijay from the hideout. For whatever reason, they take Prem to the spot where Vijay is captive. Armaan is now ready to betray even Neil and plans to let Vijay and Neil get into sabre fight till one is killed.

    Sonam’s job meanwhile is to sing songs with Salman and help him play the replacement Vijay with conviction by reminding him of her and Vijay’s past encounter. Of course, by now Sonam has also fallen in love with Prem and become demonstrative in expressing her love for him. All the negative feelings of various character are neutralized by Prem and he gets the trophy.

    PremRatanDhanPayo is unnecessarily long. The first half is as good as irrelevant as nothing interesting happens and the leisurely narrative coupled with loose script make the process slow and boring. The film shows some promise in the latter parts of the second half but again becomes predictable with a routine climax. The SoorajBarjatya touch is missing here and one also notices a few glitches here and there. There is an overdose of songs which are placed at random. However, the film has generally good score. Four of the songs have popular appeal. Sets are good and are well exploited by the cinematographer.

    The film is all about Salman and he dominates the screen throughout. Though the Vijay part is brief compared to Prem, Salman juxtaposes both parts very well. What ails the film is the total lack of chemistry between Salman and Sonam and the latter’s limitations as an actor, the fact which makes the romance hard to believe. Anupam lends credibility to his character of a loyal diwan. Neil has a smaller role and limited scope. Deepak, Swara and Ashika are okay. Armaan fails to make a mark.

    PremRatanDhanPayo may interest audiences away from metros with multiplex crowd soon tapering out. The film has opened to full houses all over and is expected to cross 40 crore mark on day one (released on Thursday), but it faces an uphill task with a price tag of 135 crore.

    Producers: Kamal Kumar Barjatya, Raj Kumar Barjatya, Ajit Kumar Barjatya.

    Director: Sooraj RBarjatya.                       

    Cast: Salman Khan, Sonam Kapoor, AnupamKher, Neil NitinMukesh, SwaraBhaskar, ArmaanKohli, Deepak Dobriyal, Samaira Rao.

  • ‘Four Pillars Of Basement:’ Intolerable

    ‘Four Pillars Of Basement:’ Intolerable

    There’s a huge basement parking lot with scores of pillars. The film is copied almost frame to frame from a 2007 Hollywood psycho thriller, P2. The prime reason to copy P2 would seem to be that the events in the film take place entirely in a basement parking lot which, coupled with nil face value, makes this adventure cheap as well as easy to undertake.

    While lifting a foreign film may not need much imagination, adapting it into a local language for the local audience certainly does require some creativity. But from the title onwards, there is no evidence of either imagination or knowhow of filmmaking in the film’s 116 minute run. 

    It is Diwali night and Aliya Singh is working till late in her clerical job which, it would seem, is full of tharkees. A petty colleague is hitting on her by reciting shayaris while her boss wants to go the whole hog as he leers at her and even tries to molest her on a staircase landing. Aliya’s troubles have just started. As she tries to drive out of the basement parking, her car gets a flat tyre. She tries to seek the help of a guard but the regular one is missing. 

    Aliya sees some hope as another guard, Dilzan Wadia, offers to help her. Dilzan pretends to help her but she soon realises that it is not so. Dilzan in fact is her silent lover and has been stalking her for four years without her getting any hint. He is madly in love with her and has actually trapped her to convince her to marry him! 

    Dilzan drugs her and when she comes to, her clothes have been removed leaving her wearing only a pink slip so that she can do rest of her running around with ample show of cleavage. 

    The sweet talking Dilzan soon turns violent when he fails to convince Aliya. He has already killed the other guard. He proceeds to kill her boss who tried to molest her. Also in the line is the office shayar. As Aliya does running around trying to find a way out of the building, all exits are locked by Dilzan. She tries to contact her finance, Shawar Ali, and brother. The basement may be locked from all sides but both manage to get in and bash up Dilzan who turns the tables soon and kills them both. 

    Aliya also manages to get through to cops, three of whom arrive and leave after a cursory check and asking Dilzan’s wellbeing! Dilzan has a companion in a mentally unstable man who keeps making ugly faces till Dilzan lets him loose on Aliya (in the original it was a dog). It is time for a showdown between Aliya and Dilzan as she finally decides to show her naarishakti! 

    While Four Pillars Of Basement makes a mess of the original (which was a failure commercially), there was no need to stretch it to 116 minutes when the original was 98 minute duration! Direction is shoddy. So are the film’s other aspects. Dilzan and Aliya lack presence not to mention acting abilities.

    Four Pillars Of Basement is intolerable. 

    Producers: Gautam Bafna, Pravin Chudasama

    Director: Giresh Naik

    Cast: Dilzan Wadia, Aliya Singh, Shawar Ali, Anant Jog, Zakir Hussain, Shiva

    ‘Charlie Ke Chakkar Mein:’ Heavy on head

    Charlie Ke Chakkar Mein is about drugs, Charlie being the slang name for cocaine. 

    Naseeruddin Shah is a cop investigating a murder case, which has links to drugs. Shah comes across evidence about a bunch of youngsters, Amit Sial, Anand Tiwari, Subrat Dutta, Manasi Rachh, Disha Arora, in a den with graffiti all around and bodies lying on floors. The bunch is at loggerheads.

    A big consignment of “charlie” goes missing and the underworld goons want it back along with guys who hijacked it. The mobsters are targeting the young lot as Shah sets out to solve the mystery. Shah has found the crime being committed in the footage that he has come across but a lot of the film is about the perception: is what is seen in the footage true or not? 

    The film makes quick jumps between sequences and characters and becomes confusing in the bargain. Twists and turns are convoluted and try the viewer’s patience. The director could have made it into an easy-going crime thriller instead of complicating it so much. 

    The film has a couple of songs, which are utterly forgettable. Editing could have been crisper. Cinematography is good.

    Shah acts out his stock expressions and mannerisms. The young actors are okay with no real challenge in their characters. 

    Charlie Ke Chakkar Mein neither thrills nor entertains.

    Producers: Karan Arora

    Director: Manish Srivastava

    Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Amit Sial, Anand Tiwari, Subrat Dutta, Manasi Rachh, Disha Arora, Auroshikha Dey, Siraj Mustafa

    ‘Ranbanka:’ Bunkum

    Ranbanka is about a simple family man who is deputed to Mathura where he falls victim to a local bahubali, who borders on lunacy and derives power from his brother’s status as a local politician. In short, this is yet another film about a Hindi belt goon who terrorises people and the police happens to be on his side.

    The film is based on Hollywood film, Straw Dogs (1971; remade in 2011).

    Ravi Kishen is the Mathura strongman hanging out with a few of his goons. Like all politicians’ kin he seeks government contracts by bribing officials. If the official fails to deliver, he is in for some humiliation. 

    Manish Paul, an engineer, has been deputed to Mathura for a period of six months to handle a project. Even as he is entering the city, he sees a mob gathered around some incident. He wants to alight from the car and check out. However, his driver warns him against getting involved since whoever is down there is a victim of Ravi and nobody dares raise a voice against him for the consequences could be deadly. 

    Manish settles into the house provided to him with his wife, Pooja Thakur, and a six year old son. It may be a new city for her but Pooja likes to shop and roam around. During one of her outings, when Pooja is trying out some outfits in a store trial room without locking it from inside, Ravi is there too to buy denim and unknowingly walks into the same trial room. Pooja is in her bare minimums and it is lust at first sight for Ravi. Of course, he convinces himself it is love.

    Pooja soon becomes an obsession for Ravi who wants her to marry him no matter that she is already married and the mother of a six year old, a fact she mentions to Ravi. Ravi suggests an easy way out: he would kill the child as well as her husband. The family is terrorised. The police won’t help either. Manish tries to leave the town but is blocked by Ravi’s goons. Ravi’s politician brother is a decent man who tries to help but pays with his life instead. 

    Ravi gets more desperate and ends up killing Manish and Pooja’s son. Again, the couple’s efforts to leave fail. Manish feels trapped and helpless. That is when Pooja humiliates him and prods him to go out and kill Ravi or die in the process. Manish starts the process by killing Ravi’s men one after another. Like old-fashioned film heroes, Manish likes to get clobbered till half dead before he retaliates, which just stretches the inevitable. 

    The film is clichéd and treated like a 1960s small town background film. The script has no twists and turns and is totally predictable. The director adheres to mundane script. Music has one of each like old days: Holi song, an item song, a romantic one and so on. The film is merely 98 minutes long but, yet, full of flashbacks and montages. Manish does well despite limited scope. Ravi looks sinister enough. Pooja is passable. 

    The films about UP or Bihar bahubalis are not exciting at all and this is not the era when one can say the film is made for Hindi belt or, say, single screens. It is a no go for Ranbanka. 

    Producers: Ajay Yadav, Dasrath Singh Rathore, Suman Shukla

    Director: Aryeman Ramsay

    Cast: Manish Paul, Ravi Kishen, Pooja Thankur, Rudra Kaushish, Pooja Kasekar, Anita Sahgal, Avya Agarwal, Poonam Chopra, Navi Bhangu

  • ‘Guddu Ki Gun:’ Toy Story

    ‘Guddu Ki Gun:’ Toy Story

    MUMBAI: The Indian Censor Board was much in news ever since its new chairman, Pahlaj NIhalani took over. All that mainly for blocking films for use of bad words. A week or so back, one watched a film called Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 with hundreds of blips suppressing words like ch***ya. So, what do we have this week was found suitable by the very same Censor Board conveniently named Central Board Of Film Certification aka CBFC?

    We have a rewritten modern fairytale, Guddu Ki Gun. In original fairytales, one read of a man turning to stone or a frog or gold. Here, in this contemporary fairytale, we have a story of a young man whose vital part, his claim to manhood, turning to gold! Filmmaking can’t get any more irrelevant! 

    Kunal Khemu, a Bihari migrant in Kolkata, is a door-to-door salesman and the predictable product he vends is a powerful detergent. While his detergent may or may not work on clothes, his charm certainly works on his female clientele. He seduces them all; so much so that he even maintains a diary noting his conquests.

    One among his victims is a young nubile girl to whom Khemu professes his love and takes advantage of her innocence. The girl’s grandpa happens to be a big time Kali bhakt and to get even, puts a hex on Khemu because of which his manhood turns into gold! He has all feelings in his now perpetually intruding vital part. Khemu can’t figure out what causes his discomfort when his friend, Sumeet Vyas, suggests that it has to be one of his women who put a curse on him. 

    Khemu follows the list on his diary ticking off each of his ‘clients’ who could have done this until he finally remembers the innocent girl he betrayed. After much pleading, the girl’s grandpa withdraws his curse conditionally: Khemu has to find true love and stay loyal to her come whatever. That is when he would be normal again.

    Meanwhile, a local don and an antique dealer are after Khemu to rid him of the very cause of his problem, the golden tool. They feel it is worth lakhs in the international market! Then Khemu comes across a girl, Payel Sarkar, in whose presence he feels normal again. Thinking she is the solution to his problem, Khemu asks for her hand in marriage. He has two problems: the girl is ugly with pockmarks on her face and her father wants Rs 10 lakh from Khemu. He has a one week deadline.

    Guddu Ki Gun is actually a stupid film treated in an old-fashioned way. It is loud and not funny in most parts. Song are placed at random as if its a ritual. Khemu overacts throughout. Sumeet is restrained and good. Payel Sarkar is natural despite limited footage. Flora Saini excels.

    Guddu Ki Gun, meant to be a cheap adult comedy, fails even on that count.

    Producer: Emenox Media P Ltd

    Directors: Sheershak Anand, Shantanu Ray Chhibber

    Cast: Kunal Khemu, Sumeet Vyas, Payel Sarkart, Flora Saini, Brijendra Kala

    Main Aur Charles:’ Slick & Stylish

    Not unlike the legendary ‘villain heroes’ in the West, we too have had some of them hogging newspaper headlines over the years. Charles Shobhraj was one of them who appeared on front pages through 70s and the early 80s. Born of a Sindhi father and a Vietnamese mother and christened Gurmukh Shobhraj, he was a French criminal who committed murders and other crimes across half of the universe. While in Asia, his prime targets were the hippie backpacking tourists. 

    Shobhraj built his lavish lifestyle around killing and stealing from his victims. He sort of mesmerised his victims, holding a special kind of sway over women who he came across to the extent that they stood by him even after learning of his criminal activities. It is hard to say if he committed more murders or married more women! Shobhraj also murdered people to grab their passports and forge them for his own use.

    Main Aur Charles is a 123 minute account of the criminal phase of  Shobhraj’s life, mainly the peak period of his criminal activities. Shobhraj has already been a subject of a few books and documentaries. Despite being based on the life and times of Shobhraj, the film flashes the mandatory disclaimer of being a fiction at the start.

    Randeep Hooda plays Shobhraj. While a lot of women play the parts of the glamourour ladies that came into his life periodically, as far as Hindi films go, Richa Chadda plays the female lead.  Since the film claims to be a fiction, Richa replaces the Nepali girl, NIhita Biswas. Richa, a law student, is mesmerised when she sees Shobhraj for the first time arguing his own case in a court. From that moment on, she is devoted to Shobhraj.

    The film deals with Shobhraj’s killings in Thailand in a montage, not wanting to dwell into details. For, after all, the victims did not mean anything to Shobhraj himself; they were just means to his ends. Shobhraj has a razor sharp brain which, sadly, is overpowered by his overconfidence. For all the crimes he commits, the evidence against him never goes beyond circumstantial; there is not enough proof to convict him. 

    Being the calculative criminal that he is, Shobhraj is serving a sentence in Tihar jail in Delhi. He knows that once out, he would be deported to Thailand where he is sure to face a shooting squad. He uses his knack to bribe and win over the jail staff to escape by drugging the entire jail staff. This is his ploy to get his Tihar sentence extended so as to not face a Thai shooting squad. 

    Shobhraj crisscrosses between continents and it is while he is in Goa that the police nabs him. The police as well as Shobhraj know that the proof against him in India, which can be proven is only jail break and can’t amount to more than a three year sentence.

    But, crime never pays is an adage that has more often than not passed the test of time. Shobhraj, out of jail, settles down in France but being the adventurous soul that he is, he makes the foolish decision to visit Nepal where he was wanted for murders. Nepal jail is where he is still cooling his heels.

    Main Aur Charles has been written and directed by Prawaal Raman. His background as filmmaker seems to start with Ramgopal Verma, which shows in certain aspects of his treatment of the film. He hurries through initial parts mixing flashbacks and present at random managing to create a bit of confusion in the viewers’ minds. He probably thinks his viewers know the legend of Shobhraj too well to waste time on establishing the gory crimes of the criminal whose story he intends to tell. Sadly, his story and his viewers are a few generations apart. 1970 was the last century; Main Aur Charles is 2015. 

    At interval time, Shobhraj is nabbed and one thinks this is it, what more is left to see? However, to his credit, Raman gets his grip back. This part is all about one-upmanship between the cops, Adil Hussain, being the top cop from Delhi Police handling the case. 

    To Raman’s credit, his handling technically is slick and stylish. The use of background music is effective. The use of the film’s single song is good. Dialogue carries at places. Cinematography captures this mostly outdoor film well.

    The film’s best part is its casting, well almost. Because, while Randeep Hooda fits Shobhraj to the T, Richa Chadda is a misfit. Richa hardly looks like a law student; in fact she looks much older and to add to that, her makeup and dressing make her look dowdy. To add to her woes, all the other women who play passing roles in the film are chic, glamorous and pretty. While the supporting cast does well, the three who make a mark are Adil, Tisca Chopra and Vipin Sharma. 

    Main Aur Charles is a well-executed film albeit with its appeal limited to elite multiplex audience; like with real life Shobhraj, the film too may appeal more to female audience. Having been released in dull pre-Diwali period, the film’s opening is poor. It can only count on positive critic reviews and word of mouth for some improvement over the weekend.

    Producers: Amit Kapoor, Vikram Khakhar, Raju Chadha

    Director: Prawaal Raman

    Cast: Randeep Hooda, Adil Hussain, Alexx O’nell, Richa Chadda, Tisca Chopra, Vipin Sharma

  • ‘Shaandaar:’ Not really!

    ‘Shaandaar:’ Not really!

    Director Vikas Bahl has made a wedding movie of 146-minute duration. But, at the same time, he wants to be different from similar ‘wedding videos’ made in the past. After all, a comparison to the pioneer wedding movie, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun would be inevitable. To avoid this, Bahl tries to treat his film in a fairytale style. To this end, the film has been shot in a huge country side palace. The film even starts with Naseeruddin Shah narrating what is to follow a la ‘once upon a time’.

    Sushma Seth is a billionaire tycoon occupying the palace with her family of three sons, a daughter-in-law and the older son Pankaj Kapur’s two daughters, Sanah Kapoor and Alia Bhatt; Alia being an adopted child. Pankaj and his two brothers as well as the rest of the family are totally under Sushma’s thumb. She rules the palace like her own domain and its inhabitants like her slaves.

    Sushma has made it to the cover page of Forbes magazine but also sharing the cover with her is her relative to be, Sanjay Kapoor, who goes by the name of Fundwani. He is also a local tycoon. The wedding between Sanjay’s son and Sanah is actually a business deal for Sushma for her enterprise has gone broke and she expects this liaison with Sanjay’s family to give her bank balance some stability.

    For Sanjay, being a Sindhi is the ultimate thing to be and all those who are successful, including Queen Elizabeth and Michael Jackson are, in fact, Sindhi. Sanjay wears a huge pendant with the dollar sign, which he says stands for Sindhi. Well, that is meant to be the comic content in the film.

    Sushma wants the wedding to be a big tamasha and has appointed Shahid Kapoor to manage the event. Shahid has his first encounter with Pankaj and, soon enough, with Alia. Love happens at first sight. The rest of the film is about Shahid and Alia coming closer while Pankaj does his best to keep them part. All this while the rest of the wedding programme, including the sangeet, mehndi etc, takes place in the background. An attempt is made to make it funny by having Karan Johar in a cameo to compere Mehndi with Karan. Actually, there is nothing worthwhile happening in the film.

    The film has no story to tell and tries to weave this wedding video with a series of gags (poor), song-and-dance numbers and useless nothings. The attempt to give the fairytale touch to the story does not work despite gimmicks like bringing in a frog called Ashok or even choreographing a song in a Dick Tracy kind of setting. Some secrets tumble out through the course of the story. Sanjay himself is on the verge of bankruptcy and expects to benefit with this wedding deal into Sushma’s family. Meanwhile, Alia is actually Pankaj’s own daughter born out of an affair he had while training as a pilot.

    Scripting is very poor and patchy. Direction lacks imagination and the outcome is juvenile. The film has two hummable songs in Shaam saaandar…. and Nazdeekiyaan; a variety has been tried in song presentations to little effect. Editing needed to be crisper. Visually, efforts are made to give the film a pleasant look.

    No actor has a defined role to make an impression. While Pankaj is a pleasure to watch, Shahid and Alia play the usual romantic pair, Sanjay sticks to buffoonery. Of the rest, Sanah does well.

    Shaandaar caters to low IQ viewers which, at prevailing tickets rates, will be hard to find.

    Producers: Anurag Kashyap, Vikramditya Motwane, Karan Johar, Madhu Mantena.

    Director: Vikas Bahl

    Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, Pankaj Kapur, Sanjay Kapoor, Sanah Kapoor, Sushma Seth, Karan Johar (cameo).

  • ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2:’ Fun all the way

    ‘Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2:’ Fun all the way

    Ideas are at premium and a safe way is to cash in on brand equity. Pyaar Ka Punchnama was a reasonable earner in 2011. What better than to en-cash the equity and hence Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 follows the prequel almost to the T.

    The story, as such, follows the same lines. Three friends suckered by three girls. They are desperate for dates, company, sex and love; love comes last though they are foolish enough to think they are in love when they do find their respective girlfriends. 

    Kartik Aryan, Sunny Singh and Omkar Kapoor are roomies. They share a flat in Delhi, eat together, drink together and dream of girls together. All three are stag. They are thicker than brothers in that they can take each other for granted, whoever earns more picks up all the tabs and there is no accounting or sharing of cash spent; all they share is bonhomie. 

    Soon enough, their desire for girlfriends comes true. All three find one each. All three girls represent different mind-sets. Kartik is with Nushrat Bharucha (both being the only common factor from the earlierPKP), Omkar gets Ishita Raj while Sunny ends up with Sonalli Sehgal. 

    The three men, deprived of romance and sex, go all out to woo their girls and, thanks to their blind love and desperateness, they trust the girls immensely while the girls use their weakness to exploit them. Not all three get in return what they had dreamt of.

    Kartik is head over heels with Nushrat. She is game for everything, sex included, though she is too finicky, her every question, which is answered by him leads to a counter question from her. Also, she is still in love with her ex-boyfriend from Chandigarh with whom she sleeps around even while professing her true and total love for Kartik. 

    Sunny and Priyanka are dating. He hopes to marry her but ends up becoming an errand boy for her father and mother, Sharat Saxena and Mona Ambegaonkar. She is the chaste kind who won’t sleep before marriage. She does not, however, have the guts to tell her father she loves Sunny. Priyanka’s father is looking for a groom for her and Sunny even ends up escorting her to her meetings with her grooms to be. 

    Omkar’s girlfriend, Ishita is game for everything Omkar would desire in a woman. She pretends to be dignified always ready to pay her own share of an outing. Soon, having established herself as a self-sufficient and self-respecting girl, she gradually starts milking Omkar even talking him into giving her an add-on credit card and open a joint bank account where he deposits 20 per cent of his Rs 3 lakh salary against 20 per cent of her Rs 20,000 salary.

    The rest of the film follows the earlier version as the boys realise what they have got into. Establish the guilt of each of their partner and want out.

    The film has nothing new for those who have seen its earlier version since it adheres mainly to the same sequence of events. Yet, what works is some witty lines and its raw youth appeal. The young ones who would want to get in to and out of affairs; sex being the aim. The film has some fun moments and some dull ones. However, you don’t come out cursing it. Direction is in keeping with the theme. Music is soothing as it comes mostly in small doses. What helps it is the visuals since it has been shot at Pattaya while taking liberty to shift to UAE for a song or two. 

    While the acting is generally competent, the three boys do better. Sunny tops the list with equal contribution from Kartik and Omkar. Kartik has his minutes of glory when he delivers a long monologue on girls. Ishita as a scrounging girlfriend to Omkar is best among girls with Nushrat is close on her heels. Priyanka is fine too. Sharat is in his element while Mona has little to make an impact with. 

    Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2 enjoys the brand equity. The film has opened to very good response despite Navratri and Ram Leela season and should turn out to be a minor hit.

    Producer: Abhishek Pathak

    Director: Luv Ranjan

    Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Nushrat Bharucha, Sunny Singh, Sonalli Sehgall, Ishita Raj, Omkar Kapoor

    ‘Wedding Pullav:’ Unappetising fare, served cold

    Wedding Pullav is loosely based on the 1997 Hollywood movie, My Best Friend’s Wedding. This is also the launch pad for Film & Television Institute of India (FTII) alumni and Shashi and Anu Ranjan’s daughter Anushka Ranjan. When a girl is to be launched, romantic comedy would seem like a safe bet. Hence, ready to serve inspiration from Hollywood.

    Diganth Manchale is getting engaged to Sonalli Sehgal with who he thinks he is in love for, after all, she is the one who convinced him to pursue a course in MBA, got him a job in her dad, Parmeet Sethi’s company where he designs motorbikes! One would think an IIT grad would be better suited for such a job! But, an MBA is the flavour of the season.

    While there are minutes left for the mahurat for the engagement ceremony, Diganth is anxious because there is no way he can proceed unless his best friend since childhood, Anushka, does not arrive. Anushka and Diganth had a tiff four years ago after which she had left in a huff for London. So what makes her come to his engagement? No script is ever all perfect. The engagement is done with and when it comes to wedding time, the families concerned shift to Pattaya where the ceremony will take place.  

    Anushka makes a grand entry with a band in tow. She is tomboyish and her usual dress code is casuals, jeans mostly and that is what she wears at the engagement, too. For, if she dresses up as a glam girl, love happens. Which does when she ‘dresses to kill’ as she plans to go receive her boyfriend from London, Karan Grover. 

    Since Anushka and Diganth are best buddies, it is suggested that both the couples, Diganth and Sonalli as well as Anushka and Karan marry at the same venue back to back. And so, Karan arrives in Pattaya. The presence of another man in Anushka’s life sort of makes Diganth uncomfortable and, soon, he realises he loves Anushka and not Sonalli. 

    Even as Diganth gets drawn to Anushka more with every passing moment, he is committed to Sonalli and her father’s millions as well as his career. Also in attendance at the venue in Pattaya are his three friends, Anushka’s relatives Himani Shivpuri and grandma and, of course, his parents, Satish Kaushik and Upasana Singh. They all can see that Diganth actually loves Anushka but is marrying Sonalli. 

    So there are some melodramatic moments, which actually seem like hours to slow down the pace of the narration till Diganth realises and gathers enough courage to open his mind while just about everybody else knew who he loved including his bride to be, Sonalli and Anushka’s groom to be, Karan. 

    It is time to sum up things; the wedding rituals have started when Diganth decides to walk out of the ceremony and go searching for Anushka. Of course, Jai is very much there to complete the matchmaking. Love triumphs and hero and heroine get each other. QED. 

    Though inspired from a hit Hollywood film, the film lacks on reworking the script. The direction is just passable while the editing needed to be a bit crisper. For a love story, the music is lacking. Dialogue is not much either. Anushka is a sort of photoshop version of Juhi Chawla and few more though, eventually, fairly charming. Diganth needs getting used to and does not appeal when in mug shots. Karan has good screen presence. Sonalli is fair. Rishi Kapoor plays a cameo and makes his presence felt. Satish has nothing to back his comic yet is a wary father while Upasana is loud without a cause as she has always been. Himani is her usual self. Kitu Gidwani and Parmeet fill the bill. 

    Wedding Pullav is a film you can sit through but not carry home. Lacking face value, it faces a tough challenge of drawing the audience from show one. For after all, admission rates offer no discounts for a film sans face value.

    Producers: Shashi Ranjan, Anu Ranjan

    Director: Binod Pradhan

    Cast: Anushka Ranjan, Diganth Manchale, Sonalli Sehgall, Karan Grover, Rishi Kapoor, Satish Kaushik, Himani Shivpuri, Parmeet Sethi, Upasana Singh, Kitu Gidwani

  • ‘Jazbaa’: Lacks passion

    ‘Jazbaa’: Lacks passion

    Urdu film titles, one thought, had served their utility and vanished along with the Urdu script in film scrolls. Jazbaa may need to be explained to many though they may figure out the meaning roughly, especially today’s generation. A remake of a Korean film, Seven Days, this one is a whodunit that hurriedly goes around its purpose, introducing new characters randomly, till it is time to spring the who of whodunit. That will come as a surprise to many if one is patient enough till that stage.

    Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, returning to films after a five year hiatus, is a lawyer who is reputed for never having lost a case. She can work miracles with her logic and save the accused from certain death sentences. She does not care how big a criminal is as long as she wins and as long as the criminal can afford her charges. So the poor soul is fated to save only high-profile criminals.

    Aishwarya has got a criminal acquitted of a ghastly murder but her glee is short-lived. Her daughter, Sara Arjun, has been kidnapped from under her eyes. There is no ransom demand. Instead, the deal is that she defend a criminal, Chandan Roy  Sanyal, certain to be sentenced to death for rape and murder of a girl just out of her teens, Priya Banerjee, who is the daughter of Shabana Azmi, a professor.

    Aishwarya has to accept the deal. She has just four days until the convict’s next hearing is due. When she accepts the case, it surprises a lot of people.

    Irrfan Khan is a friend of Aishwarya since college days. He secretly loved her but never managed to get it through to her. He is a super cop; all movies have them. He is charged with corruption and is awaiting suspension. His seniors would let him off the hook for Rs 1.5 crore. But, suspended cops are preferred in film stories. They have the freedom to pursue personal adventures, especially at a time when the cop’s damsel in distress needs him.

    While Aishwarya does not initially confide in Irrfan about her daughter, he catches on eventually. Both join forces as Irrfan makes it a habit to spring up wherever and whenever Aishwarya is in trouble. The film keeps serving up some red herrings in Jackie Shroff, who is a politician (they make easy negative stereotypes in films), his drug addict son, and his henchman until, after about 100 minutes of runtime, the dots start joining themselves. Voices from nowhere start talking into Irrfan’s cell phone giving him clues and directions leading him to the culprits as well as the kidnapped girl.

    The jigsaw pieces have started self-assembling. So much for an ace lawyer’s logic and a super cop’s detection skills. The case solves itself. While the climax justifies the appointment of the ace lawyer Aishwarya to save a rape-murder convict, nothing justifies all that meandering about for almost two hours with content that is not relevant.

    The writer-director team have not bothered to build any sort of bond between Aishwarya and her daughter, a mandatory requirement for the Indian audience. The situation is just thrown at you that here is this great lawyer whose daughter has been kidnapped. Bringing in new characters on the scene without introduction or ties hardly helps.

    Director Sanjay Gupta loves to fill his screens with scenic visual and towards this end, cinematographer Sameer Arya lives up to his expectation. But, it is the adaptation of the Korean film to Hindi and efforts made to make it palatable for the local audience that spoils the show. Songs, three in all, are immaterial to the film.

    Irrfan has some good lines but, otherwise, the dialogue is mundane. For a lawyer of high standing, even Aishwarya’s court arguments don’t carry an impact as they should. Editing could have avoided repeat scenes. Background score is over the tolerable decibel level.

    Irrfan has created a fan following of his own because of which there is a market for him. But, three films between May and October,Piku, Talvar and now Jazbaa, shows his limitations. In all his films, he is Irrfan, not the character he plays. Aishwarya overacts all the way. Shabana is a veteran but has little scope here; Jackie has none at all.

    Jazbaa has failed to rouse much curiosity in the moviegoer due to which the opening response is below par. The word of mouth not being in favour, the film’s box office prospects are poor.

    Producers: Sanjay Gupta, Nitin Keni

    Director: Sanjay Gupta

    Cast: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Irrfan Khan, Shabana Azmi, Chandan Roy Sanyal, Jackie Shroff, Atul Kulkarni, Siddhanth Kapoor, Priya Banerjee, Sara Arjun

  • ‘Singh Is Bliing’… while the weekend lasts

    ‘Singh Is Bliing’… while the weekend lasts

    Every hero and his shadow seem to be doing action. Sadly, action sequences have become so similar that no matter who the hero is, they all look mechanical. Akshay Kumar was an action hero, who did some romance and later took to comedy. Not known for histrionics, his fortunes have always depended on the writer and director.

    Not counting just on one genre, his latest flick Singh Is Bliing combines action and comedy, to the extent of placing romance at third position on its priority list.

    While Akshay is generally clumsy and ends up making blunders on a regular basis, he excels in all demonstrations of physical prowess. That, of course, has not prepared him to fight the goons who don’t go by the rule. As such, he gets bashed up most of the time and that adds to the comic quotient of the film. More so because the girl he is supposed to protect, Amy Jackson, excels in martial combat often saving Akshay from the goons rather than the other way round. 

    Akshay is a good for nothing Sikh lad living in a joint family in a small town in Punjab headed by his father, Yograj Singh (ex-cricketer, father of cricketer Yuvraj Singh and later actor in Punjabi films). Fed up of Akshay’s waywardness, Yograj gives him two options: either to marry his friend’s fat daughter or to shift to Goa and work with his friend, Pradeep Rawat. Akshay opts for the latter. 

    Meanwhile, Amy Jackson is in Romania. Her father, Kunal Kapoor, is some sort of international don who distributes sections of the world to various others so that they don’t fight for or trespass onto others’ territory. One of his subordinates is the father of Kay Kay Menon, a lunatic criminal, who wants Amy at any cost. He even kills his father so that he inherits his position. Menon’s first encounter with Amy is humiliating as, when he tries to get fresh with her, she thrashes him and pins him down to ground. Now, he wants her more than ever before. 

    Kunal asks Amy to leave and stay somewhere where Menon can’t find her. Amy chooses Goa. She has an agenda; she wants to trace her mother who left her and Kunal when the latter took to illegal businesses. Kunal asks his friend, Rawat, to tend to his daughter who, in turn, deputes Akshay to do the needful. Akshay and Amy have a major communication gap since she knows only English while Akshay can communicate only in Punjabi or Hindi, a fact that Akshay has hidden from Rawat. 

    In comes Lara Dutta. She is the translator who knows both, Hindi as well as English. Lara soon realizes that she is caught between an uncouth Akshay and a headstrong Amy. Her survival trick is to manipulate the translation as Akshay and Amy converse so that neither of the two is offended. This adds to the fun.

    Like a typical gangster film, this one too has layers of villains, one bigger than the other. When Akshay is rendered unconscious by a bunch of goons, Amy eliminates a layer or two for which Akshay gets the credit from Rawat, who himself is a gangster in Goa.

    Meanwhile, of course, love has happened. Akshay has fallen for Amy out of a lot of miscommunication thinking that she is enamoured by him. Amy, too, has eventually fallen in love with Akshay for his simplicity and because he always stands by her to protect her – so what if eventually she ended up protecting him on a few occasions! 

    The film is fun so far but then comes the summing up and the need to give the hero, Akshay, his moments of glory. So, Amy’s mother has to be reunited with her, Menon’s demand to marry Amy is to be dealt with and, finally, love has to triumph. 

    The climax is with Menon and his European goons who attack Akshay in a horde over a narrow bridge. This is that moment of sunshine reserved for Akshay. Akshay is felled. But, he chants a quote by the 10th Guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh, and is rejuvenated to fight the villains till end. This once, Amy does not resort to her martial abilities for she is now in love, turned into coy woman; her man, Akshay, can handle it for her sake!

    Singh Is Bliing is a mid-level action comedy that entertains for most of its length. The film has some funny moments and some hilarious ones as well as some forced gags. The direction is fair. So is the photography. The songs have a heavy Punjabi flavour. The editor could have snipped another eight to 10 minutes. Locations are pleasant to the eyes. Action scenes, especially of Amy, are very well executed and deserve credit.

    The film’s scoring point is its casting. Besides Akshay, it has avoided using the stereotypical. Casting of Kunal as Amy’s father, Rawat is Akshay’s boss, Yograj, Lara and Menon are a work well. While, in totality, Lara emerges the best of the main players. Amy is good despite limited dialogue. Akshay sticks to playing what he played in his earlier films. Menon, Rawat, Yograj, Rati Agnihotri and Kunal Kapoor are good in support.

    Singh Is Bliing is a fair entertainer, which has managed an excellent opening thanks to a national holiday (Gandhi Jayanti), which combined with the weekend collections should help the film to a great extent.

    Producers: Akshay Kumar, Ashvini Yardi, Jayantilal Gada

    Director: Prabhudeva

    Cast: Akshay Kumar, Amy Jackson, Lara Dutta, Kay Kay Menon, Rati Agnihotri, Pradeep Rawat, Murli Sharma, Kunal Kapoor, Yograj Singh

    ‘Talvar:’ Merits a watch

    Based on the Arushi Talwar murder case of 2008, which happened in the Delhi NCR area, Talvar is a fictional account of the case where, in real life, Arushi’s parents were held guilty of killing their daughter. A film has been made on this case earlier while even some TV crime-oriented shows have dealt with the subject, not to forget the hours and hours of TV news footage that the case got.

    The film looks at the case from three angles. The first one being that of the local police’s casual approach, which jumped to conclusions on hearsay and called it an open and shut case without even bothering to collect appropriate proof or calling the forensic experts to the crime scene. 

    The second stage is when the ministry wants to be very certain about this case since parents are involved and orders a CDI probe (read CBI). Irrfan Khan is in charge of the case though he does not consider such murder cases up to his class. 

    Irrfan follows the case meticulously going back into details and trying to recreate the crime scene. He has an able assistant in Sohum Shah, who usually starts the questioning and slapping of a suspect before Irrfan takes over; till then Irrfan loves to play games on his cell phone!

    Besides recreating the scene of crime and talking to all concerned, Irrfan even opts for the lie detector tests of the servants as well as the parents of the girl murdered, Neeraj Kabi and Konkona Sen Sharma. While a servant owns up to the crime, the parents come out clean even in the narco-analysis that follow. 

    Irrfan reaches a conclusion that the parents did not commit the crime but the servants did when an attempt to rape the girl backfired. But the day his investigation is completed and handed over to his boss, Prakash Balwadi, is also the last day of his boss in the office. His send-off party is the celebration of the conclusion of this case. 

    However, the next boss to come in is not convinced. He has his own theory. He sidelines Irrfan and appoints a new investigator who will deliver to his wishes. This is supposed to indicate that the case detection was manipulated and the authorities were hell bent on zeroing in on the murdered girl’s parents. 

    Irrfan, who lives a troubled married life, goes back to his wife Tabu; she is his only solace. 

    The case reports finally go to the ministry where both Irrfan’s and the new chief’s conclusions are debated. The conclusion is that the case should be closed since there is nothing except circumstantial evidence against the parents. The court, however, refuses to accept the closure report and rules that the case be carried on!

    The film starts on a dull note. It picks up momentum only once Irrfan enters the scene actively to handle the case. The confrontation between the two sides of the investigation agency is interesting. Actually, this could have been a 100 minute film, very crisp. But, then, the director is trying to tackle three versions of the same case. 

    Meghna Gulzar has matured as a director in this, her third attempt. Glitches are few. Scripting is good, especially the idea of the three versions. The music has mainly on-screen utility. The saviour of the film is the casting of Irrfan without whom it would have been lifeless. 

    Talvar has a one watch appeal for elite multiplex cinegoers. Its commercial prospects are fair.

    Producers: Vineet Jain, Vishal Bhardwaj

    Director: Meghna Gulzar

    Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Konkona Sen Sharma, Neeraj Kabi, Sohum Shah

  • ‘Katti Batti:’ Dead loss!

    ‘Katti Batti:’ Dead loss!

    Katti Batti is an attempt to make a contemporary film about love at first sight and the couple deciding to get in to a live-in relationship. If a movie on a live-in relationship is new generation, the germ of the story and the treatment meted out to the film are so old-fashioned, it desensitises your mind and feelings.

    Imran Khan is a student of architecture in Ahmedabad. He is supposed to be a scholar type and to that end the makers add thick-rimmed black spectacles to his look. While walking through the college common passages, he spots some colourful paper birds landing around him. He looks around to see Kangana Ranaut as the maker of the flight of birds. She gestures to say that she is doing it out of boredom in her classroom. While Imran has his name inscribed on his school kit, Kangana has a tattoo printed near her ankle pointing to the anklets she wears to convey that her name is Payal! That establishes she is a trendy girl of today, while he is old school.

    However, Imran is not all that old school for he readily opts for a live-in relationship with Kangana. Imran becomes instantly possessive of her and has a fight with Vivaan Bhatena, a college toughie because he teased his girlfriend aka Kangana. To his chagrin, Kangana informs that the fight was because he happened to be her ex-boyfriend whom she dropped like a hot potato two days after meeting Imran. Imran has a friend who seems to have been pasted on him with Fevicol! At home, at college, at work, so much so that their sexual preferences are questioned. Well, this is the trivia that dominates the contents of this film. 

    Imran and his friends are the star architects of their office with a boss who is a caricature of a South Indian loudmouth, with decibel levels that breaks the sound barrier. In this office, you never see anybody working, let alone looking like architects. Either they are flirting, sleeping around or fighting around office fixtures.

    After spending five years as partners, Imran and Kangana part ways, which Imran celebrates by guzzling down four bottles of phenyl. Constant fights were the reason for them parting. The couple decides to smoke a peace pipe with a break in Goa but end up having a fight just before boarding the flight. Imran turns back leaving Kangana alone and that is the last he sees of her. She has vanished, is incommunicado and none of her friends are willing to help Imran find her. So you spend an hour-long yawn trip with Imran trying to find her, sobbing all the way in regret of losing her. 

    That is about two hours into the film when the filmmakers decide to tell you what this film was all about! Which, in today’s media and social network era, just about everybody seems to know already. 

    The scripting, direction, music – songs as well as background score and editing are not worth discussing. While Kangana is burdened with an ill-conceived characterisation that can’t salvage an inch of the film, Imran proves to be a liability. Rest are inconsequential. 

    Katti Batti has disaster written all over it. The period from Ganesh festival to Diwali was never considered the right period to release a film, except for those which carried no hope.

    Producer: Siddharth Roy Kapur

    Director: Nikhil Advani

    Cast: Imran Khan, Kangana Ranaut, Vivaan Bhatena

    ‘Meeruthiya Gangsters:’ What a waste!

    The movies on UP and Bihar gangs are forced down the audiences’ throat despite regular rejections. The problem is that the audience does not care for a local small-town loser who unwittingly tastes success in a crime and becomes a regular gangster when the real-life one comes from the metros of India!

    Some people may even need to Google where Meeruth (now Meerut) is! One of the best films ever made on these local gangs wasSaher (2005) starring Arshad Warsi but that also failed. What we have here is a film with an utterly senseless story to tell.

    There are six college buddies of irrelevant pedigree as far as Hindi cinema is concerned. They look anything but college-going youth. However, anything goes when you are spinning a story about such a state as UP. The boys seek a job in a big private company for which they are needed to pay Rs 75,000 per head. There is some company in Meerut, which agrees to hire them en masse and promises all of them big posts along with big pay packages! But, they have no means of raising such a huge sum so they take to looting. The first victim is the very bar where this broke gang keeps guzzling beer. 

    Besides the bribe per head, they are also expected to entertain the boss of the company with a party, which means imported booze and a girl to go with it. After meeting the demands of the boss to be, the guys soon realise that the boss and the middleman have both conned them. They take the middleman as a hostage and demand ransom from his family. When they succeed, they decide to make this their regular business.

    The guys may all look unkempt and thug-like but the girls they court would give the South Delhi disco crowd a complex! The gang now looks for bigger targets for ransom. They choose a company’s CA where the girlfriend of one of the gangsters works. Here starts the old belief that when a woman enters a scene, a bunch of friends will soon be divided. 

    The next big heist is planned. The target this time is the crorepati boss of the girl in the gang. His kidnap is too big for the UP cops to ignore. Enter Rahul Dev, a Dirty Harry kind of cop who believes neither in wearing a uniform nor discipline. The rest is utter bull, which one wonders if even UPites would identify with!

    The film is poor in all respects. It has no script worth its name, poor direction with jerks and unexplained scenes aplenty. Musical score sounds like a picnic medley. Performances are stagy. Editing is non-existent. Production values are poor and a lot of liberty is taken with location as you don’t know whether the action is taking place in Meerut, Noida, Dehradun or Mumbai.

    Meeruthiya Gangster is a total waste of time. 

    Producers: Prashant Tiwari, Prateek Tiwari, Shoeb Ahmed

    Director: Zeishan Quadri

    Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Rahul Dev, Brijendra Kala and others

    ‘MSG2: The Messenger:’ A selfie

    Late last evening while returning from PVR Juhu, I met three lads and two girls sporting the Gurmet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insaan (GRRSJI) T-shirts. They wanted to know how to get to CST (VT) to be able to catch a train to Kaylan, which is another town on the outskirts of Mumbai! I told them to take some transport to Sion, which is closer to Kalyan by miles and more approachable than the CST.  But, while they waited for a bus or something, they discussed fare comparison between a bus and a rickshaw. 

    This group was ‘imported’ from Karnal in Punjab and carried the smell of sarson ka tel (mustard oil), applied to body after bath as a routine where they came from. I got used to the smell after a while. They had come to PVR, Juhu all the way from Kalyan to find out if their net booking tickets could be collected a day before. Well, all they had to do was just show the reference of the booking on their cell phone and they could get in. 

    This lot was the typical GRRSJI devotees, who volunteered to ‘throng’ the 75 screens booked by the Guru in Mumbai (though the thronging crowd had to be transported to Mumbai from Karnal, in fact a village nearby Karnal.)

    There you have the story of GRRJI’s foray into filmmaking.

    This time, in the sequel, GRRSJI plays the Superman once again. This time, he recounts his year spent with an Adivasi lot (tribal) who used to roam naked and had no touch with the modern world. GRRJI has a job on his hand. He needs to bring them in touch with the realities. He teaches them to dress, build schools for them, also hospitals and other amnesties albeit, after destroying the traditional evil adivasi leaders who control their lives.

    GRRSJI has superpowers, he overcomes all villains; changes the lot of tribals and comes back happily to his base preparing for his next sequel.

    As I was enlightened by his five followers, MSG1 was completed in 67 days while this one took just 47 days! In the first instalment GRRSJI handled 17 technical departments like story, action and music. His followers are waiting to count how many more he has mastered this time. 

    GRRSJI has his own funds, own marketing (last time PVR did it for him; this time he stayed back in Mumbai at a suburban seven star to find some ‘reputed’ corporate house to do the needful). But, one thing is sure, he also transports in his own audience with a Mumbai sightseeing as a bonus for another 10 days, which he promises, Mumbai like nobody else ever seen before!

    Producer and everything else: GRRSJI.