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Category: Reviews

  • YRF’s ‘Dawaat-E-Ishq’ and ‘Bewakoofiyan’ to release next year

    YRF’s ‘Dawaat-E-Ishq’ and ‘Bewakoofiyan’ to release next year

    After the success of Shuddh Desi Romance, Yash Raj Films will keep the trend of romance going in 2014 too with Kill Dill, Gunday among many others.

     

    The film starring Ayushmann, Sonam, Rishi Kapoor has been titled Bewakoofian. It is based on a slice-of-life Delhi comedy where a strong and passionate love of two youngsters is opposed by a bureaucrat father.

     

    YRF’s yet another romantic film will see a fresh pair of Aditya Roy Kapur and Parineeti Chopra romancing on screen. This film has been titled Daawat – E – Ishq.

     

    While both the films have been written by Habib Faisal, Bewakoofian is directed by Nupur Asthana and is set to release on 14 March 2014. The latter Daawat-E-Ishq will be directed by Habib and is set to release on 9 May 2014.

  • Besharam to get the widest release with 3,600 screens

    Besharam to get the widest release with 3,600 screens

    Shahrukh and Deepika starrer Chennai Express set a record by booking 3,500 screens in India. And now Ranbir Kapoor’s much awaited film Besharam is set to create a new record by releasing in 3,600 screens in India, leaving Chennai Express behind in the race.

     

    This will make Ranbir Kapoor’s comedy action drama the biggest release in Bollywood till date.

     

    However, Reliance Entertainment distributor head Utpal Acharya is slightly disappointed since they were looking out for 4,000 screens but the Telugu movie Attarintiki Daredi which has already released had already gained popularity in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and other southern states.

     

    Besharam is slated to hit the big screens on a Wednesday i.e 2 October and will also star Ranbir’s parents – Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor along with Pallavi Sharda playing the female lead.

  • ‘Warning’: Nothing to be scared of

    ‘Warning’: Nothing to be scared of

    Warning is an attempt to make something different in that it chooses an underwater theme with 3D effects. However, trying to be different does not amount to being original. Thus, the film borrows heavily from an English film, Open Water 2: Adrift.

    A bunch of friends decide to go mid-sea for a break and celebrate their reunion. These seven friends decide to go for a swim and sure enough all of them jump into the sea leaving only a year old toddler aboard. While they are having fun they don’t realise they have no way of getting back on the yacht because, in their joyous mood, they have forgotten to lower the ladder to board the yacht again.

    When they realise, they try to devise ways to climb back while they ward off sharks and struggle to stay afloat. Meanwhile, the little baby is alone on the yacht and crying. As would happen in any reunion, the past incidents catch up with the group. Past enmity too resurfaces. To add some tense moments, one of the girls forced to jump into the water suffers from aqua-phobia.

    There is no suspense in the film as such except how many will be sacrificed while efforts are being made to climb back aboard and how many will make it out alive. In fact, the film takes recourse to the original source in plotting its sequence of events.

    Producer: Anubhav Sinha, Parag Sanghvi, Sunil A Lulla.
    Director: Gurmeet Singh.
    Cast: Santosh Barmola, Suzana Rodrigues, Manjari Fadnis, Varun Sharma, Jitin Gulati, Sumit Suri, MadhurimaTuli.

    The film is well endowed with good photography and background score but despite a readymade subject and 3D effects to play with, it is the treatment that is seen to be wanting. The film fails to scare or even cause anxiety in any sequence. Performances range from average to passable.

    Warning 3D will prove to be one of those also ran films.

  • Kangna’s Rajjo set to release with Ramleela

    Kangna’s Rajjo set to release with Ramleela

    The most talked about musical dramas are now set to clash. Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Ram Leela’, the promo of which has already been unveiled was set to enjoy a solo release in the coming festive season. However, now Kangna Ranaut starrer ‘Rajjo’ is too releasing on the same date.

     

    On the clash of dates, makers of Rajjo says,“ However once the final cut of the ‘Rajjo’ was seen by people concerned, there was an added sense of confidence. It was felt that the originally decided date would be just right to set the stage for ‘Rajjo’ v/s ‘Leela’,”.

     

    With so much effort put in to make delightful film the director of ‘Rajjo’ Vishwas Patil says: “I was waiting for an apt time to bring the film. Even though the main character Kangna (or Rajjo) plays a Mujra wali in the film, it isn’t somber or depressing by any means”.

     

    The release date of a film was decided as 15 November after a lot of brain storming. ‘Rajjo’ would incidentally be arriving just 12 days after the release of ‘Krrish 3’ (3rd November) in which Kangna would be seen kicking butt.

     

    About the film Kangna seem confident, she says “‘Rajjo’ is really close to my heart and I am glad it is being released this festive season. As for competition with other films, there would be one every week in any case. I am sure my producers are taking a good call and it comes from the trust and confidence they have in the product. I am particularly proud of the film and my work. The film is special and it will fetch an audience of it’s own. I strongly believe in director Vishwas Patil and music director Uttam Singh. Once you see the promos, which would be out very soon, you would know what I mean.” There is no doubt that the actress has put in a tremendous about of hard work into the film, lets hope in works in her favour.

     

    Rajjo is produced by Four Pillar Films starring Kangana Ranaut, Paras Arora, Prakash Raj, Mahesh Manjrekar and Jaya Prada.

  • Grand Masti reaches Rs 64.7 crore; Phata Poster opens poorly with Rs 19.5 crore

    Grand Masti reaches Rs 64.7 crore; Phata Poster opens poorly with Rs 19.5 crore

    Phata Poster Nikhla Hero, starring Shahid Kapoor and Ileana D’Cruz, which had opened to poor response, could not improve much over the weekend. The film has managed to collect Rs 19.5 crore for its opening weekend.

     

    The Lunch Box starring Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui has cashed in on all the positive reports and good word of mouth as the figures almost doubled on Saturday and tripled on Sunday over its opening day collections to record an impressive Rs 6.25 crore for its first weekend.

     

    Grand Masti the sequel to the 2004 Masti directed by Indra Kumar did excellent first week business as the masses and the youth took to the film. The film had to depend on domestic collections mainly to cover itself as not much is expected from overseas or satellite. The film has gone onto collect Rs 64.7 crore for the first week.

     

    Horror Story the Vikram Bhatt scripted screamer has collected Rs 4.6 crore in its first week.

     

    John Day starring Naseeruddin Shah, Randeep Hooda, Taran Bajaj and Harsh Chhaya has failed badly.

     

    Shuddh Desi Romance sustained very well; the Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra, Rishi Kapoor and Vaani Kapoor starrer’s two week total is Rs 45.25 crore.
    Zanjeer has failed miserably. The film has managed a mere Rs 20 lakh for its second week to take its two week total to Rs 13.95 crore.

     

    Satyagraha the political drama from Prakash Jha has added Rs 1.5 crore in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 60.1 crore.

     

    Madras Café has collected Rs 75 lakh in its fourth week to take its four week total to Rs 41.4 crore.

     

    Chennai Express has collected Rs 45 lakh in its sixth week thus taking its six week tally to 200.95 crore.

  • ‘Water’ to be the opening film at 4th Jagran Film Festival

    ‘Water’ to be the opening film at 4th Jagran Film Festival

    The 4th edition of the Jagran Film Festival, Mumbai 2013 will begin with the film Water and will be screened on 24 September at Fun Republic in Andheri, Mumbai. Water is a 120 minute feature film born out of a unique Israeli-Palestinian cinematic cooperation. Produced by the Film and Television department of the Tel Aviv University in association with Tu Vas Voir, the project Water is made in HD, colour. Yael Perlov had initiated this project and is also the artistic director of Water. Its original version is in Arabic, Hebrew, and English.

     

    Taking complete artistic freedom, in 2012, a small group of Israeli and Palestinian filmmakers directed a feature film that explored a strong unifying subject – Water. Besides being a highly poetic and pastoral subject, Water is also a very political and violent subject with respect to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Water is about two conflicting populations, which couldn’t overcome the prejudice and political intimidations, but ultimately finds a platform for a unique collaboration, in the form of this feature film. This is one of the reasons why Water is so special.

     

    Cinema always has the ability to penetrate forbidden zones and Water exemplifies that. It has made all of us realise that we all yearn for a solution to this long-going on conflict. Several Directors have interpreted this subject in their own creative way, which together has given shape to Water.

     

    The film, a unique piece of art has been screened at various international film festivals, Venice International Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, Mostra International de Cine de Sa? Paulo, Brazil, Stockholm International Film Festival, Swedenand many others. This is the Asian Premiere of the film.

  • Lunch Box: A beautiful food for thought

    Lunch Box: A beautiful food for thought

    The famous ‘Dabbawalas’ of Mumbai were accorded Six Sigma performance rating by the prestigious American business publication Forbes Global. That means that only one in a 16 million deliveries goes wrong. There have been films made on romance due to a wrong number called, following blank calls, on chats and emails. Lunch Box derives its story from that one-in-16-million mistake that a ‘Dabbawala’ makes: a mistaken delivery of a tiffin.

    Producer: Guneet Monga, Anurag Kashyap, Arun Rungachari.
    Director: Ritesh Batra.
    Cast: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Bharati Achrekar.

     

    Irrfan Khan is a widowed Catholic man living in a Mumbai suburb. He leads the morose life of a government servant commuting on the crowded local trains to the office and back home with cigarettes being his only companions. He has been working for 35 years with a perfect record and has decided to take premature retirement and settle down in the city of Nasik. He is serving his notice period and has been asked to train a new recruit, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, before he leaves. That is when a ‘dabbawala’ delivers to him a ‘dabba’ which does not only look richer than his in packaging but also contains tasty, aromatic homemade food which is a feast, compared to the insipid food provided by his caterer every day. Irrfan makes it a point to meet his caterer on the way home to thank him and tell him to keep up this quality of cooking.

    Nimrat Kaur is a housewife and a mother of small girl. She loves to add to her expertise in cooking with a little help from an aunty a floor above her, Bharati Achrekar, who loves to share her ideas. It has been a few years since her marriage and she tries to live up the adage, ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. She cooks a new menu everyday expecting praise from her husband every evening. This time, her tiffin has reached Irrfan. He sends a chit saying that the food was very good but there was too much salt, to which she replies the next day by putting too much chilli.

     

    The exchange of notes becomes a regular feature. Irrfan’s life becomes a little more exciting as he looks forward to lunch everyday, as much for a note from her as for the food. As for Nimrat, she has just realised her husband is having an affair and is hardly ever at home and this distraction helps buffer the shock. Irrfan, who is a loner who never interacts with anybody either in office or where he lives, has come to life. He even starts entertaining Nawazuddin, tries to teach him the work and, eventually, also lets him join for and share his lunch. In fact, Nawazuddin, who is an orphan, becomes his only confidante while he becomes his guardian at his Nikah.

     

    Irrfan and Nimrat’s notes grow from one-liners to full pages and soon two pages. Soon they think there has been enough of ‘letterbaazi’ and decide to meet instead.

     

    Lunch Box is built on small budget and thin theme but it is the sidetracks that fill it out. Not only does it depict a middleclass Mumbai lifestyle and its lifeline, the local trains, but also the disorganised government offices and their lifeless, robotic staff. But most of all it brings to life on screen the much celebrated 5,000-strong ‘dabbawalas’ workforce which one notices only when foreign guests like Prince Charles or Richard Branson visit them or when foreign TV channels cover them. The journey of the ‘dabba’ from collection in the morning until return in the evening becomes a part of the story. Until the justified culmination is to be reached, the film is a light watch with a subtle but unmissable humour, which is all the more effective because of Irrfan’s pokerfaced mouthing of the lines. Nawazuddin is a perfect foil to Irrfan and he is even developing a bit of suave personality with success. Nimrat is natural. The ‘dabbawalas’, the celebrities that they have become are never conscious of the camera. Bharati Achrekar only lands her voice as aunty without showing her persona but is effective.

     

    Phata Poster Nikhla Hero: A comedy of errors

     
    Producers: Ramesh Taurani.
    Director: Rajkumar Santoshi.
    Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Ileana DCruz, Padmini Kolhapure, Saurabh Shukla, Darshan Jariwala, Zakir Hussain, Sanjay Mishra, Rana Jung Bahadur, Salman Khan (Cemeo), Nargis Fakhri (Item number).

     

    New filmmakers with no big stars or budgets at their disposal are coming up with novel themes and many are succeeding. Yet makers with established names and bigger budgets don’t take such risks: their insecurity and lack of creative confidence doesn’t allow them to try something off the beaten path. Hence Rajkumar Santoshi decides to look to the past to find a ‘fresh’ entertainer. Unfortunately, he picks a mundane B-grade story and tries to give it a Manmohan Desai approach by adding a mother’s emotions, a runaway father and a villain’s den full of fools and so on to come up with a not so entertaining farce.

     

    Shahid Kapur is being brought up to be an honest policeman by his mother, Padmini Kolhapure. But Shahid has different plans for himself: he aspires to be a film hero and, like the Khans, wants to establish his own brand, the Vishwas Rao label which is his screen name. Every time Padmini sends him for police academy tests, he makes sure he fails. This time, he goes for a test to Mumbai and ends up at a strugglers’ hotel (many of which existed in Mumbai suburbs in 1960s and ’70s) where many others like him are lodged. The veteran is Sanjay Mishra, who did not amount to anything himself. He takes Shahid to film director, Tinu Anand, who is looking to cast a negative character. Shahid impresses him by putting on an act, the kind seen in just about all films of wannabe actors. He is cast immediately and is required to wear a police inspector’s dress.

     

    Every time Shahid is in police dress, Ileana D’Cruz happens to need police help and manages to bump into him. She is a journalist and a self-styled social worker who runs to the police station with so many complaints that the cops have named her Complaint Kajal. By the second such escapade, romance blossoms. Somehow, word reaches Padmini that her son has become a policeman and she decides to visit him in Mumbai to see her son in uniform. Now the only way for Shahid is to keep wearing the uniform till Padmini is with him.

     

    The villain, Saurabh Shukla, operates from a night club which gives Shahid scope to show his already famous dancing prowess. Somehow or the other, Shahid is present in uniform wherever there is trouble taking place and saves the situation. Neither the ACP, Darshan Jariwala, nor the corrupt cop, Zakir Hussain, in cahoots with Saurabh, has any clue who this inspector is, who is solving crimes singlehandedly!

     

    It is time for mother’s sentiment to come in play; Padmini comes to know her son is not a real policeman and just a bit actor. Obviously, she is devastated as she had a reason behind her ambition of making him into a cop, an honest one at that. She faints and is taken to hospital from where she lands straight into villain’s hands. Not yet, but finally the film ends.

     

    The film does not follow a taut script but rather pieces together gags and incidents and hence lacks flow. The director gives the film a bit of Manmohan Desai and a bit of Kundan Shah (Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro), both with ordinary results. The film has some good tunes and Shahid adds to the USP of those dancing kinds. Photography is fair. Editing is not up to mark. Action is well composed. The film is a Shahid vehicle all the way. Ilena is pretty and does a good job. Jariwala along with Saurabh, Mishra and Hussain raise laughs. Padmini makes an apt mother to Shahid.

     

    Phata Poster Nikhla Hero has not been received well and lacks on entertainment too.

  • Grand Masti gets a whooping Rs 39.8 crore opening

    Grand Masti gets a whooping Rs 39.8 crore opening

    Grand Masti has a terrific weekend raking in a big moolah at the box office. The film, with huge support from single screens, has collected Rs 39.8 crore for its opening weekend. This is a sequel to the previous adult comedy Masti and the three friends are back together and this time they are coming together at their college reunion. The film stars Ritesh Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani and Vivek Oberoi.

     

    John Day has not been able to make a mark despite Naseeruddin Shah leading the cast. The film has managed to collect just about Rs 1.7crore for the first weekend.

     

    Horror Story, a grossly under publicised film, has managed to cross the Rs two crore mark in its first three days.

     

    Shuddh Desi Romance has had a good first week. A pleasant love story with a contemporary theme of live-in couple scared to commit through the institution of marriage, the film has collected Rs 35.7 crore for its first week.

     

    Zanjeer, much in news because of its copyrights controversy involving the writers of the original version and the production house, Prakash Mehra Productions, has turned out to be a damp squib, having collected just Rs 13.75 crore.

     

    Satyagraha, which failed to stir up the box office and collected Rs 51.7 crore in its first week, has added Rs 6.9 crore in its second week to take its two week total to Rs 58.6 crore.

     

    Madras Café has collected Rs 1.1 crore in its third week to take its three week tally to Rs 40.65 crore.

     

    Channai Express has added Rs 1.1 crore in its fifth week thus taking its six week total to Rs 200.5 crore.

  • John Day: Some thrills, some gore

    John Day: Some thrills, some gore

    New directors often choose to make their place in the film industry the hard way. They tend to experiment but to do that, one not only needs solid work on the script but also total conviction and confidence. The trick is also in knowing ones limits with experiment.

    Producers: K Asif, Anjum Rizvi, Aatef A Khan.
    Direction: Ahishor Solomon.
    Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Randeep Hooda, Shernaz Patel, Sharat Saxena, Vipin Sharma, Elena Kazan, Makrand Deshpande, Bharat Dabholkar, Anant Mahadevan.

     

    Naseeruddin Shah and Shernaz Patel is a loving couple living with their adopted daughter. Then things suddenly start going wrong with them. Their daughter goes out with her boyfriend on the pretext of going out for a school project. They land up at a huge empty property far from crowds which is full of shrubs.  They go for a dip in the lake on the property. Her friend is still in the lake as she returns to the shack they are put up in, when the whole property along with the shack goes up in flames.

     

    The grief is great on the couple, especially Shernaz who, even after two years since the incident has not come out of it. Shah has got busy again with his job as a bank manager. That is when another tragedy strikes the family. Shernaz is kept hostage at her home by a thug whose partner has gone to the bank to rob it. Reluctantly, Shah hands over the keys for the sake of safety of his wife. But the goon has different plans; he hits Shernaz with a hammer even as his partner clears out all the bank lockers. Shernaz does not die. Worse, she goes into a vegetative state and is in no condition to help with the search for the culprits.

     

    This is only the beginning of Shah’s problems though he is not aware of it. The coin drops only when a bank customer, Elena Kazan, comes to the bank to claim her papers back from the locker. The file she describes has Casablanca marked over it. Shah realises that the property where his daughter died was, in fact, called Casablanca. Shah now has a reason to believe that his daughter’s death was not an accident. He decides to start his own personal investigation.

     

    Kazan takes the file to Randeep Hooda, a suspended ACP, she also happens to be his mole. To Hooda’s surprise, the folder is the same he was looking for but the papers inside are missing. Hooda is a cop turned criminal. He blames the world for everything that has gone wrong with his life.He was an orphan who was exploited by the orphanage keeper and sodomised when he was nine. Hooda now plays up both sides of dons, one in Mumbai (Sharat Saxena) and the other in Dubai though both are sworn enemies. The Casablanca papers relate to the very property where Shah’s daughter died. The property is sought by both the dons and the Dubai don has promised Hooda Rs 50 crore if the papers are handed over to him. Hooda belives that the papers have gone with rest of the loot that the bank robbers took.

     

    Now, Hooda and Shah both are looking for the thieves. As expected, their paths are bound to cross but Shah manages to be one step ahead of Hooda most of the time. Gradually, Shah cracks the secrets and decides to finish all those who ruined his world.

     

    On and off, the film resorts to violence and some scenes have been made explicitly gory; the idea is to make Hooda’s character devilish and soulless. Unfortunately, the director fails to control his script and the ‘experiment’ seems to slip out of his grasp. A lot is taken for granted and illogical things happen to make the latter parts confusing. The mostly outdoor film has been shot well. Background score is effective. Performance wise, Shah excels. Hooda has his limitations as his character is one shade. Saxena and Shernaz are good. Vipin Sharma impresses. Bharat Dabholkar, Anant Mahadevan and Makrand Deshpande make cameos.

    John Day has gory scenes and an inconsistent second half going against its chances at the box office.

     

    Grand Masti: ABCD of sex
    Producers: Ashok Thakeria, Indra Kumar.
    Direction: : Indra Kumar.
    Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Vivek Oberoi, Aftab Shivdasani.

     

    This may be a money-making formula but it sure isn’t cinema. Gather a bunch of not-in-demand actors (the term actors is used loosely because they are the only recognisable faces in the film), give a ‘break’ to as many new, aspiring starlets since they don’t matter anyway except they are willing to play along in a all the vulgarity that is dished out and let loose two and half hours of crassness backed by lewd gestures (acting is not part of the scheme here).

     

    Director Indra Kumar always exhibited the traits of a wannabe Dada Kondke when he made Gujarati films,which thrived due to the Gujarat government’s 100 per cent entertainment tax exemption policy. But Kondke at least tried garnishing his vulgarity under a veil of double meaning. Indra Kumar starts off his Grand Masti with cheap and gaudy titles in the fashion of 1960s and 70s films and then never looks back. It is cheap (in making) and vulgar and crass in its content. So much so that the next few rapes that happen in the country should probably be credited to this film.

     

    There are three guys, Riteish Deshmukh, Aftab Shivdasani and Vivek Oberoi, doing their final year in college. In the college they pursue women as if they were fed on Viagra instead of milk as toddlers. It is not romance they seek, it is sex. In a quantum jump to five or six years after college, all three are married and one would think that their lust would have subsided by now. No, in a theme seen in many films before, these poor souls never get privacy with their spouses and are always left craving for some action.

     

    An opportunity comes their way when their college invites them for a reunion. Of course, the wives are too preoccupied to join them, opening the scope for three more girls willing to titillate and be part of the film. There are some imaginary seductions and there are some almost-there kinds but, it is a ‘clean’ Hindi film and the men must emerge clean and untouched at the end. Both parties realise their mistake and decide to mend their ways.

     

    For performance, the characters need to indulge in tomfoolery, which also takes some talent. Of the boys, Riteish does it the best; Aftab is passable while Vivek cuts a sorry picture in this department. Girls do what they are required to. Direction is okay. The gags are mostly reruns. Music has nothing much to write home about.

    Considering the opening response Grand Masti has got, this one seems to be working with the young lot despite or, probably, because of its vulgarity. However, its audience should soon dry up as this film, touted as Adult Comedy, is not the kind made for a family outing.

  • Shuddh Desi Romance: A confused love story

    Shuddh Desi Romance: A confused love story

    Shuddh Desi Romance in its theme is quite contrary to its title. There is nothing shuddh or desi about it. The film is more about current generation of urban youth who believe in relationships and live-in partners but no commitment as in a marriage.

     

    Producers: Aditya Chopra.

    Direction: Maneesh Sharma.

    Cast: Rishi Kapoor, Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra, Vaani Kapoor (Debut).

     

    Sushant Singh Rajput is on his way to tie the knot. His baraat reaches the town and place of his bride to be, Vaani Kapoor. The mood is joyous; guests in all their fineries are present. An elder or whatever one may call him from Rajput’s side is Rishi Kapoor, a wedding caterer who also fixes up fake baraatis. In fact, he does just about everything related to the event of a wedding. It is time for the final commitment as the groom and bride come face to face to garland each other. That is when Rajput gets cold feet and on the pretext of going to the loo, he vanishes. The bride to be orders a cold drink to get over the shock.

     

    In a way, the one responsible for Rajput’s decision was Parineeti Chopra who was part of his baraat and occupying a seat next to his in the baraat bus. He is attracted to her, instinctively kisses her and also learns to smoke from her. He is impressed by her way of life. She lives alone in Jaipur, pursues her studies and also teaches English at a ‘Speak English’ kind of class. She also joins Rishi Kapoor’s gang of fake baraatis to earn some extra cash. Both start dating and soon Rajput moves in with her.

     

    The duo’s life is full of fun, romance and sex and on one night under the influence of alcohol, they decide to marry. Rishi Kapoor makes the arrangements and it is time to exchange garlands. But, this time, it is Parineeti who suddenly wants to visit the loo. Rajput has been paid in his own coin as the bride takes the same route as he did earlier.

     

    Rajput is not destined to stay without a woman. The girl he deserted, Vaani, has shifted to Jaipur after he ditched her. As Rishi Kapoor lures Rajput into playing a fake baarati in one more wedding, Vaani is boarding the same bus headed for wedding venue for she is a cousin of the groom. She decides to make friendship with him with the idea of taking revenge for what he had done to her.  In the process she falls for Rajput who has quickly forgotten Parineeti and is now in love with Vaani.

     

    Life is beautiful for the couple when, in this film with baraats and weddings as background, there is one more wedding to attend for Rajput and Vaani. As expected, Parineeti is there too. The host at the wedding creates a situation whereby both get to be together for some time. Both realise they are still in love. But Rajput is now in a moral quandary: Vaani has been so nice to him and so much in love with him, he does not want to betray her.

     

    In a film where women are depicted as more surefooted and of strong will, the problem solves itself thanks to one of the two women in love. Rajput and Parineeti decide to give getting married another try and again Rishi Kapoor does the needful. He is very worried about the future of his business. If men and women stay together without marriage, that would ruin his business. Who runs to the loo this time? Well, the film advocates live-in relationships and that is how things settle.

     

    The film has just four main characters in Rishi Kapoor, Rajput, Parineeti and Vaani in a shorter role compared to others. Rishi Kapoor plays one more different character with his usual aplomb. Rajput plays the uncertain youth living life on day-to-day basis and vulnerable to romance with ease. Parineeti is impressive and adds to her reputation as a confident performer. Vaani has a pleasant demeanour and smiles her way through a brief but a relevant role very well.

     

    Direction is good keeping an easy pace and generally keeping a pleasant atmosphere in the film. However, some trimming could have helped. The film has a couple of peppy numbers. Shot at some populated town locations and some scenic Rajasthan outdoors, it makes for pleasant viewing.

     

    Shuddh Desi Romance aims at contemporary youth as a lot many identify with the theme. Having opened well at both, single screens as well as multiplexes, this economically produced, digitally-released (no physical prints) film is sure to reap reasonably rich dividends.

     

    Zanjeer: A complete mockery of a classic

    Producers: Reliance Entertainment, Puneet Prakash Mehra, Sumeet Prakash Mehra.

    Direction: : Apoorva Lakhia.

    Cast: Ramcharan, Priyanka Chopra, Prakash Raj.

     

    While budgets have gone up to multi-crores, content has dried up. At their peak, Salim-Javed assured an interesting script though all the films they wrote could not become Zanjeer, Deewaar or Trishul. They got equal billing in the titles and made writers respectable in the industry. There were half a dozen other writers who were household names. Today, one can’t think of any script writer whose film people look forward to. Once in a while, one comes across a writer’s triumph in films like Dirty Picture, Kahaani, Vicky Donor or Oh My God! But, usually these turn out to be one-off affairs. The result is either remakes of South film, sequels or remakes of old hits. Agreed, one can’t better an old classic but can’t one refrain from slaughtering it?

     

    Ramcharan is a police officer in Hyderabad who does not believe in going by the rule book and believes in instant solutions. To showcase that, the film starts with Ramcharan bashing up a political protester who had blocked all the traffic on a main road for a couple of hours. This earns him his 17th transfer and he is despatched to Mumbai where he is welcomed by the commissioner of police with a warning to hold back his anger. So far so good, here onwards starts the piecemeal destruction of the original.

     

    A district collector on his way home with a toy for his little son happens to see fuel adulteration activities happening openly. He decides to click pictures with his cell phone as a proof. The goons notice him and burn him to death. Priyanka Chopra watches the incident and calls up the police. Chopra is an NRI from the US and is in town for a couple of days only to attend the wedding of her Facebook friend. She is asked to identify the dead body which she does and decides to return to the US. On the way to the airport, her vehicle is smashed by a truck with the purpose of killing her. Why should that be done when she is going back for good? In any case, the car she was in is burnt along with her money and passport. Ram Charan offers her shelter at his home.

     

    As if some button was clicked, Priyanka instantly falls in love with Ramcharan. He has a past which haunts him in his sleep. He dreams of a huge knife-wielding horse rider in a hood with a tattoo on his forearm. Also, his parents were murdered when they come out of a restaurant after celebrating his eighth birthday. Brought up by his policeman uncle, he also joins the force when he is grown up.

     

    There is no secret about who the culprit is behind the oil mafia who, obviously, turns out to be the killer behind his parents’ death. Meanwhile, Ram Charan is suspended from the force for killing a criminal in his custody with third degree torture. He is now free to go after the villain, Prakash Raj, as he does not have to follow the limitations of a policeman. There are a couple of one-upmanship scenes after which the inevitable climax fight follows as the villain is meted out a suitable death.

     

    Zanjeer is a totally botched up script and the stars also join the director to make a total mess of it. Ramcharan is good in action scenes but otherwise acts like any filmy cop, showing no passion or pain as he carries the burden of his parents’ death and the mystery man riding a horse. Priyanka puts on a juvenile act; what was she trying, playing a cute moppet? Prakash Raj plays his usual comic villain. So much so that without titles or co-stars in the frame it could be any of his films one is watching. Music is in overdose with just the first half having as many as six songs. Editing needed to be taut.

     

    Zanjeer fares poorly if compared to the original 1973 Zanjeer, this version is a sacrilege.