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Tag: Film Review

  • ‘Hero:’ A poor clone

    ‘Hero:’ A poor clone

    MUMBAI: The myth that stars can make a film work makes producers resort to gimmicks like sequels or a remake of an old hit. While a sequel may work at times, though not as well as the original, remakes are a big risk because not only is it near impossible to recreate a classic but even the audience, the ambience and other aspects change every few years. And, to think that the original Hero is over three decades old.

    Hero brings together two star kids, Sooraj Pancholi (son of Aditya Pancholi) and Athiya Shetty (daughter of Suniel Shetty). It has been produced by Salman Khan, the reigning superstar, along with Subhash Ghai, the maker of the original Hero (1983). 

    The film starts on the same lines as the original: Sooraj is a goon, generally referred to by all as goonda and not hero. He has been assigned the job of kidnaping Athiya, the daughter of IGP Tigmanshu Dhulia. Dhulia is an honest cop who has arrested Aditya Pancholi for the murder of a journalist. Aditya is behind bars and sure to be convicted since Dhulia has all the evidence needed. Aditya, having tried all possible means to influence Dhulia, including bribery, decides that kidnapping Dhulia’s daughter is the only way left to arm-twist him. 

    Sooraj owes much to Aditya, his foster father, who he treats like his own father. He complies with Aditya’s wishes and kidnaps Athiya and moves to a shack in a snowy valley along with his buddies. He poses as a cop assigned by her father to protect her and take her far away because of a threat to her life from Aditya. Athiya and Sooraj are no strangers to each other. Earlier in the film, mighty Sooraj has saved Athiya from her ex-boyfriend by felling him a few punches at a nightclub when he was harassing her. 

    Now that she thinks he is a cop employed by her father especially to protect her, she falls in love with him before you can say ASAP! While some romancing, singing, and revelry happen, it is time for Dhulia and his cops to catch up with the couple. However, Sooraj being the hero, outperforms numerous automatic-gun-wielding cops and Athiya’s brother, Sharad Kelkar, chasing them in a chopper. He jumps a broken bridge across a gorge on his bike. They don’t make it to the other side but fall into the gorge and are presumed dead! 

    Aditya is being taken to court and, for some reason, Sooraj and Athiya are also around when a police constable triggers a bomb. The audience doesn’t know why. This is the point where the film goes haywire beyond salvation. With a lot of cross firing, a lot of junior artistes die while all relevant characters always come out unscathed! The cops survive this bomb blast, as do Dhulia, Kelkar, Aditya, Sooraj and Athiya. While Aditya escapes, Sooraj is arrested and sentenced to two years imprisonment. On the other hand, Athiya is dispatched off to Paris to learn dancing!

    Post-jail and Paris, the romance continues. Just when the story seems to come to a dead-end, the makers parachute in a new villain out of nowhere. His credentials are that he is a gambler of high stakes beyond his capacity, owing crores to a don (who later turns out to be Aditya himself) and can flex his muscles too, the prime requirement for film roles today. 

    There is no story now as the film proceeds on whims and fancies and manages only to get on the viewers’ nerves. While a lot in the film is unpredictable being illogical, the climax is utterly predictable. 

    To compare this film to the original Hero would be sacrilege. This is a poorly scripted and unimaginatively directed film. While the original had a talent bank in its star cast, this one has mostly unknown faces.

    Musical score is no patch on the original version, even though music was a reason in most part for its success. Editing is slack. Dialogue is mundane. Action is good but only as good as every other film nowadays. Sooraj will need time to be accepted; this is not the film promising him that. Athiya could prove a better model. Aditya is okay as usual. Dhulia who keeps calling Sooraj a goonda, in fact, looks more like one. Kelkar suffers from an undefined character. Chetan Hansraj plays what Manek Irani played in old days; his job is only to be bashed up by the hero every time he confronts him.

    Hero is a poor remake and though the opening shows had a fair number of footfalls, there are also instances of the viewers walking out halfway through. The prospects in toto look bad.

    Producers: Salman Khan, Subhash Ghai

    Director: Nikhil Advani

    Cast: Sooraj Pancholi, Athiya Shetty, Aditya Pancholi, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Sharad Kelkar

  • ‘Bangistan’: Just a whimper

    ‘Bangistan’: Just a whimper

    MUMBAI: When a comedy is attempted in Hindi films, one is very sceptical, since we don’t have decent writers in general, let alone humour writers. And, in a scenario where there are no writers for comedy, the inspiration needs to come from other sources, a la foreign films. 

    Bangistan has been ‘inspired’ by a British film titled Four Lions, a crisp comedy about four UK-based wannabe jihadists.

    The land of Bangistan is divided into two parts, North and South, representing Muslim and Hindu dominance, respectively. While Riteish Deshmukh belongs to a jihadi family in North, sports a longish beard and does his worshipping as required, he is also educated and works for a call centre using an English pseudonym. However, when one client calls finds out he is actually a Muslim, he abuses and calls him a terrorist. Riteish is disheartened and gives up his job. 

    Pulkit Samrat represents South Bangistan. He is a staunch devotee of a religious head-cum-political leader who heads a party called Maa Ka Dal. Elections are round the corner and this guru-cum-politico needs some riots, which are not happening thanks to a Hindu and a Muslim religious head, Shiv Subramaniyam and Tom Alter, who preach harmony and peace. 

    There is an international peace conference, which is due to be held in Krakow, Poland, where religious heads of all sorts will gather (there are 4200 religions in the world, it seems). The jihadis and South Bangistan guru-politician may have different ideologies but in this case they think alike. Both want to bomb the conference through suicide bombers. One can’t figure out how a bombing in distant Poland will help a local, small-time politician win an election nor as to how it will help a nondescript jihadi family. And neither side wants to claim credit since the jihadis sends their volunteer as a Hindu while the guru- politician sends his man as a Muslim to blame the incident on Muslims. 

    The Muslim candidate in the guise of a Hindu is Riteish while the Hindu posing as a Muslim is Pulkit. Both end up at the same Polish airport at the same time. While Pulkit is a freewheeling guy, Riteish, though feigning to be a Hindu is a hard-core Muslim at heart. When he sees Muslims, including Pulkit, being taken away from the immigration queue for a thorough search, Riteish reacts as to why only Muslims are considered terrorists. This stand of his continues through the film. 

    Both check-in to a same accommodation, which is supposed to be the cheapest in town at 200 Zloty. Their rooms are separated only by a ceiling with a huge hole. Both have already become friends at the airport (which is the undoing of this film among many other things). As the film progresses, the two bond like childhood friends instead of playing a game of one-upmanship a la Spy vs. Spy (famous MAD magazine strip).

    The rest is not worth telling as the film goes from banal to juvenile. The original, Four Lions was a mere 97 minute while this one stretches to 124 minutes for no reason! 

    The scripting is immature and direction complies (the director, Karan Anshuman, is a former film critic). There is no help from songs and only one song shows money spent with a group of dancers. Dialogue is mediocre. So are editing and background score. 

    While Riteish underplays, Pulkit shines. Jacqueline Fernandez gets about two and half scenes and a song.

    Bangistan is a mess of a film with no hope at the box office. 

    Producers: Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani

    Director: Karan Anshuman

    Cast: Riteish Deshmukh, Pulkit Samrat, Jacqueline Fernandez, Zachary Coffin, Shiv Subramaniyam, Tom Alter, Arya Babbar

    ‘Jaanisaar’: Lifeless

    In his career spanning almost four decades as a filmmaker, Muzaffar Ali has attempted a total of seven films and has four released films to his credit. His debut with Gaman was impressive and the film that earned him laurels was Umrao Jaan. Both boasted of immortal music in lyric and songs. Ali tried to take up a social cause with Aagman, a film about exploitation of UP sugarcane farmers of Awadh, which did not quite work. Umrao Jaan was about that region and now, Ali’s latest, Jaanisaar is also about Awadh. 

    The story goes back to what is now called the first war of independence, in 1857. Among those killed by the British in this war were the mother and father of Imran Abbas. The British and Queen Victoria select Abbas to train him, educate him in Britain to make his a pucca sahib so he does not become another rebel leader like his father! 

    Abbas is now grown up and back in India with a British mindset, to the extent that he even thinks his father was a traitor and served his British masters. He has been brainwashed. He has no issues with that since he plans to do the same. Abbas’s maternal grandfather, Dalip Tahil is taking care of the state while he is away. When he realises that Abbas is totally angrez, he decides to instill some local language and culture in him. To this end, he sends him to a kotha run by Beena Kak where Abbas falls in love with one of the dancers, Pernia Qureshi. It seems to be a norm in Ali’s films, if not in Awadh, for royals to fall in love with tawaifs. Pernia falls in love too without any preamble.

    While, Abbas and Pernia are busy romancing, the shots are called by the local British agent, Carl Wharton, who treats his wife like dirt and the only way he enjoys his sex is through sadomachism, his imagination being limited to almost strangling his wife in the process. She in turn, enjoys leering at Indian royals. Carl, the sadist, loves to kill people and collect his victims’ finger as a souvenir. This has nothing to do with the main plot except to suggest how bad the British were to no effect.

    Abbas’ grand father plots to separate Abbas and Pernia. Some futile emotional scenes follow and both are back together again after Abbas finds her in the care of Muzzafar Ali, who is also a rebel and colleague of his father in the war of independence and a mentor of Pernia, who has been training in some sort of lathi wielding. Ali, Abbas and Pernia decide to take the war to Carl’s door through, which they think they will destroy the British Raj.

    The climax ends in a Wild West sequence where Carl is riding on a train when the duo and Ali along with his gang decide to ambush him. 

    As far as story, script, direction are concerned, this film is a total let down. Even a newspaper report would be more interesting than this 124-minute torturous saga. If music was the heart and soul of Gaman (Jaidev) and Umrao Jaan (Khayyam), here Ali takes it upon himself to compose songs, and it is just another drawback. In nutshell, there is nothing working for this film.

    There is nothing to performances as well since they are all bad, except, to an extent, Kak, who makes an effort. Most don’t even fit the roles assigned. 

    Jaanisaar is poor in all respects and will find it hard to attract the audience.

    Producer: Meera Ali

    Director: Muzaffar Ali

    Cast: Imraan Abbas, Pernia Qureshi, Dalip Tahil, Carl Wharton, Beena Kak, Muzaffar Ali

  • ‘Drishyam:’ A dull affair

    ‘Drishyam:’ A dull affair

    MUMBAI: Drishyam belongs to a genre, which is tried very seldom. It is a thriller involving two families and, hence, can be termed a family thriller. The film can be likened to 36 Ghante (1974), inspired by Desperate Hours or Kanoon Kya Karega (1984), which in turn was a lift from Cape Fear (1964) and such.

    The film was first made in Malayalam as Drishyam (2013) following the success and acclaim and awards, it was remade in Telugu as Drushyam in (2014) followed by a Tamil remake as Papanasam (2015).

    The advantage of making Drishyam, despite it being a film for limited audience, is that it has a script that can be made very economically which the makers do while also cutting down on costs with its casting of non-celebrity performers. The fact that the film needs only two or three locations further curtail the making costs.

    Ajay is an uneducated (4th fail) orphan who grows up doing odd jobs to finally start his own video cable network in a small town in Goa. Married with two daughters, one of whom is adopted, he is totally devoted to his family and their wellbeing. He would sacrifice his life for their sake if it came to that. As much as he may love his family, his love for movies comes first and he even stays back in his office to watch movies all night. While watching movies, his reactions are that of a typical front-bench audience. Yes, and that effect continues when he watches a Sunny Leone movie; he immediately wants to go home to his wife, Shriya Saran.

    Ajay’s daughter, Ishita Dutta, has been shortlisted by her school to go on a camp for students from various schools. Here, another boy at the camp shoots her video while she is taking a bath. He starts blackmailing her and would delete the video only if she would let him have sex with her. He tells her to be prepared for him that night. All the pleading of Ishita fails to work as the boy is determined to have his way. When Shriya walks in to the outhouse to find his daughter with the boy and realises what is happening, she too pleads with the boy. His condition is that he would delete the video and spare Ishita if Shriya complies with his wishes instead.

    While attempting to get the cell phone out of his hand Ishita picks up a rod to hit the boy on his hand but ends up fatally hitting him on his head. It is a rainy night but mother and daughter decide to get rid of the body instantly and bury it in a compost ditch dug by Ajay. Ajay has a habit of putting his landline off the hook so that his movie watching is not disturbed. The two have to wait till he returns.

    It is only after this stage that the film starts generating some interest as Ajay gets rid of the boy’s car and dispatches his cell phone to faraway places by dumping it on a transport carrier so that it could not be traced.

    Now, not waiting for the car or cell to be discovered, he starts building alibis for himself and his family and also trains his wife and daughters to face the interrogation, which, he is sure, will be inevitable. After all, he may not be literate but the films he watches all night long have taught him a lot and it comes handy now in a kind of reverse version of Slumdog Millionaire.

    Not long after, the boy’s car is found in a lake and the wheels start moving. The entire state police force is employed to find out details for, after all, a spoilt brat he may be, but he was the son of the director general of the state police, Tabu.

    Ajay takes two days off with his family to create alibis involving totally unrelated people to the case: a restaurant owner, a bus conductor, a cinema projector operator etc and also makes his presence recorded at a bank ATM on the day the incident happened.

    Finally, what points a finger at Ajay is a local cop who hates him and is keen to get back at him. He claims he saw Ajay drive away in the yellow car belonging to the missing boy. The family is summoned in Tabu’s presence. However, Ajay can prove his innocence as all witnesses created by him vouch for his being at their places respectively on the day of the incident. As a senior cop Tabu’s instincts tell her that what was going on was too good to be true but then, it also strikes her that the alibis were cleverly manipulated as an afterthought. But, Tabu’s belief can’t stand in court and she decides to use third degree to elicit a confession.

    This is the last and interesting part, which is the final twist to the story bringing the film to a satisfactory end.

    For a thriller, the film is too long drawn at 163 minutes. The first half is almost static just establishing Ajay’s two priorities: his family and his films. Though the direction good, the fact remains that the film has been made in three other languages earlier. There is nothing in the name of distractions or relief and, really, nobody of interest in the cast except Ajay; rest being unknown or little known faces. Even the so-called villain is a nondescript policeman; no strong villain, no strong hero. The songs are in the background and not of popular appeal. Editing needed to be much crisper. Dialogue is routine. Background score is good. Photography is apt.

    It is a film about performances and on that count, most of the actors do well. Ajay, the vengeful cop Kamlesh Sawant, and the girl playing his younger daughter Mrinal Jadhav, excel. Ajay does not have to either show his muscles or raise a fist. Shriya and Ishita are good. Tabu playing the tough cop is okay. Rajat Kapoor is ornamental.

    Drishyam has a limited appeal for a select audience with patience, which one is bound to have after paying high admission rates at high-end multiplexes, which is where Drishyam can expect to find its audience to some extent.

    Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Abhishek Pathak.

    Director: Nishikant Kamath.

    Cast: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shriya Saran, Rajat Kapoor, Ishita Dutta, Kamlesh Sawant, Mrinal Jadhav.

  • ‘Masaan:’ Limited appeal

    ‘Masaan:’ Limited appeal

    MUMBAI: Now this one is a film truly reflecting the real India. The Manikarnika Ghat at the Banaras is said to be so sacrosanct for the cremation of a deceased Hindu that it is said to guarantee eternal Nirvana, a short cut to heaven notwithstanding how one lived the life or the sins committed!

    The characters, at least the main male protagonist’s life revolves around this holy crematorium site and hence the title. Otherwise, the film is about two love stories, one nipped in the bud and the other one just when it has ripened. The stories of two star-crossed lovers traverse parallel on the banks of River Ganges in Banaras also to find their culmination on the banks of Ganges, but in another town, Allahabad on this river flowing over 2500 km plus across India and Bangladesh.

    Richa Chadda is at an age when she is easily attracted to a fellow student at her academy, grows fond of him and agrees to give herself to him. They check into a shady lodge to give vent to their pent up sexual urges when the cops barge in. There is no bar on consensual sex between two adults but not knowing the basic law, carries a high price. Also, there is the fear of losing face. The couple is caught in the act. The boy in this case fears shame and family reprisal, locks himself in the washroom and kills himself. The cop on the spot threatens Richa with abetment to suicide case despite the cause of suicide being the police.

    On Richa’s part, it was a natural calling of a girl in her upper teens but the top cop takes to blackmailing her father, Sanjai Mishra: the price tag is Rs 3 lakh. Manikarnika Ghat is known for its Hindu last rites as cremation here sets the soul free of the deceased. Mishra makes a living out of selling accessories needed for the ritual, making about Rs 10,000 a month. The income of the household shrinks further as Richa is forced to leave her job thanks to taunts and jibes from her fellow workers about her deed. Another job and still the same problem. Her reputation precedes her. The whole world runs her down and her father, Mishra, leads the bunch.

    Then there is Vicky Kaushal. He belongs to a family, which makes a living out of burning dead bodies on the ghat. It is a family business. Vicky is studying engineering but in his spare time, also helps his folk cremate dead bodies. The work is rather gory and heartless as the ritual says a burning body’s skull needs to be hit hard seven times with a pole to crack it so that the dead person’s soul attains heaven.

    Then Kaushal falls in love. The girl, Shweta Tripathi, is an upper cast Gupta, from the Agrawal trader’s family. The love blossoms notwithstanding social taboos despite both sides knowing the barriers. But, finally, before social taboos can interfere, fate does. Kaushal and Shweta are parted.

    Richa has accepted an ad hoc job with the railways and soon as her father’s Rs 3 lakh obligation is over, decides to move to Allahabad where she doesn’t expect her taint to follow. Meanwhile, Kaushal gets a job with the railways on probation. He too gets a posting at Allahabad. With empty hearts and heavy minds, both end up, symbolically, at the Allahabad Sangam, accept the mallha’s (boatman) pitch to take a boat ride and get talking. Two of a kind, sort of.

    The film has dark sides as well as some bright moments with a satisfactory end. The story is interesting and very earthy depicting a side of India, which is as ancient as it always has been and not likely to change soon so what if they are well versed with laptops and cell phones.

    First time director, Neeraj Ghaywan, who is also the writer with Varun Grover, makes sure everything about the scenario is realistic. The musical score is thematic and blends well with the proceedings. Cinematography is excellent.

    Such a film needs able performers and, to that end, the casting is perfect. Richa is totally in to her character. Mishra, as usual, lives up to his reputation given a good role. Shweta is perfect playing the pampered girl in love for the first time. Kaushal is a natural. The young boy, playing the help to Mishra, Nikhil Sahni, is promising. Rest are equally good.

    Masaan, having made its mark at the Cannes Film Festival with two awards: International Jury of Film Critics prize and Promising Future prize in the Un-Certain Regard section, will appeal to connoisseurs of cinema and its box office prospects will be limited to a few multiplexes and, to some extent, in UP.

    Producers: Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap, Guneet Monga, Vikramaditya Motwane, Shaan Vyas, Manish Mundra, Marie-Jeanne Pascal, Mélita Toscan du Plantier

    Director: Neeraj Ghaywan

    Cast: Richa Chaddha, Vicky Kaushal, Shweta Tripathi, Sanjai Mishra, Nikhil Sahni

  • ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’: Fair entertainer

    ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’: Fair entertainer

    MUMBAI: Most sequels are not even sequels; they are just another story taking advantage of the same title used by an earlier successful film. To that extent, Tanu Weds Manu Returns justifies its name, being a proper sequel to Tanu Weds Manu (2011).

     

    In the first film, Kangana Ranaut and R Madhavan were married after a long drama. Tanu (Ranaut) had two suitors, Madhavan and Jimmy Shergill, both of whom brought a baraat to her house. Shergill was the violent kind and even ready to shoot down Madhavan but later had a change of heart looking at Kangana’s preference.

     

    Of course, the writer and director have bent many rules, taken a lot of liberties wanting to live up to the original — but they have come up with a fairly entertaining fare.

     

    The first film ended on a happy note with Tanu marrying Manu. The sequel starts with realities of married life. It is four years since they married and the marriage has gone sour. The couple is in London. Madhavan, who is now a doctor(!), keeps busy while Kangana tries her hand at various activities including to run a cr?che but to no avail. Compared to her tomboyish life in her native Kanpur, she feels clamped and bored.

     

    The film opens with the couple landing up at a madhouse. And one thought visiting marriage counselors solved marital problems! Since they are at an asylum, a panel of experts sits with them as both exchange accusation. Finally, Madhavan becomes violent and the expert doctor admits him in the asylum.

     

    Kangana is on her way back to Kanpur, relieved she has got rid of Madhavan and can now be free again to get back to her old bold lifestyle. But, with a pang of guilt, she calls up Madhavan’s cousin, Deepak Dobriyal, to get Madhavan back from the asylum. Madhavan decides to return to India instead of staying back in London and carrying on with his practice. But he is morose. He still loves Kangana and expects that she will change her mind and come back to him.

     

    But, soon, Madhavan finds someone who can fill his void; Kangana 2, a Tanu lookalike in Kusum, a Haryanvi Kangana in dual role. Kangana 2 is an athlete who not only represents the University but the state too. Initially, he just thinks that she is Tanu and starts chasing her till he is almost beaten and lynched by a mob when Kangana 2 shouts foul. He saves himself in the nick of time showing her the picture of his wife and how both look alike.

     

    Soon a romance starts budding between the two. While Madhavan cultivates Kangana 2, Kangana 1 is busy catching up with her old flame, Shergill, and also uses a tricky paying guest law student in her house, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. Ayyub starts his friendship with Kangana 1 by addressing her as a sister but soon gets emotional about her. He even sends divorce papers to Madhavan on behalf of Kangana 1 without her knowledge. In due time, the divorce comes through.

     

    After crossing a lot of hurdles, Madhavan gets the approval of Kangana 2 and her family to agree to their marriage. That is when jealousy sets in and Kangana 1 reacts. After that, she sets out to win over Madhavan again.

     

    The comedy ends here and melodrama begins. While Kangana 1 tries to belittle everyone, when it comes to running down Kangana 2, she gets it back because the latter is much more qualified and endowed despite being from a village background. Their first encounter cuts Kangana 1 to size. The melodrama ends opting to re-establish the “so called” Indian values as love is rediscovered.

     

    Despite liberties taken, the script makes sure its entertainment quotient does not drop much. However, the end drama seems a little stretched. The director tries to stick to the basic idea of living up to being a worthy successor to the original; making Indian wedding films gives you a lot of stock content which is common to all films. The film manages to do so by about 75 per cent for after all, originals are always the best while in a sequel the surprise element is lost. Thankfully, the film does not go overboard by including songs and offers a couple of peppy numbers. The film is a few seconds over 120 minutes but can still do with a bit of trimming, especially towards the end. Photography is okay. Background score is effective at points.

     

    As for performances, it is a Kangana vehicle all along and offers her a rare opportunity to pit her against herself in two varied characters. While Kangana 1 is good as usual, Kangana 2 steals a definite march over her: she adapts to being a native Haryanvi villager totally in command of her situations. Madhavan, despite having limited scope, manages to hold his own. Shergill’s character of a perceived threat remains just that. He is a paper tiger with a soft heart. Dobriyal impresses. Swara Bhaskar, Eijaz Khan and Dipti Mishra are okay. Ayyub is good and so is Rajesh Sharma, as usual. The supporting cast contains of celebrated character artistes like Rajendra Gupta, K K Raina, Navni Parihar and Rajesh Sharma who all justify their roles.

     

    Tanu Weds Manu Returns is a fair entertainer. However, the opening response being weak, it faces further hurdles of IPL match today and the finals on Sunday, which will affect it. Also, the film caters mainly to the multiplex audience, factors, which may limit its prospects.

     

    Producers: Krishika Lulla, Anand L Rai

     

    Director: Anand L Rai

     

    Cast: R Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill, Ejaz Khan, Swara Bhaskar, Deepak Dobriyal, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Rajendra Gupta, Navni Parihar, K K Raina, Dipti Mishra, Rajesh Sharma, Akash Dahiya 

  • ‘Gabbar Is Back’… Big deal!

    ‘Gabbar Is Back’… Big deal!

    MUMBAI: Gabbar Is Back is not old wine in new bottle. It is South Indian hooch bottled with a Hindi label. Contents remain the same. It is about a man on mission and in Indian films a hero is on mission when injustice has been done to his sister, mother or wife. Well, in rare cases brother or father too but that does not make the cause very effective.

    The film is based on 2002 Tamil film, Ramanna, later remade as Tagore in Telugu in 2003, Vishnu Sena in Kannada in 2005. The trouble with picking such old South films for remakes is that a lot of similar films with familiar scenes and sequences have filled the space in-between.

    Akshay Kumar runs what, one may call, his own concept of NGO. It is unlike any other NGO working to serve people. He is either a physics teacher or a physical trainer in a college. He is seen teaching his students mainly hand to hand combat so must be physical fitness and self-defence though the film describes it as physics. Akshay has been wronged. His pregnant wife, Kareena Kapoor, has been killed due to inferior quality building built by a powerful builder, Suman Talwar. The building, along with all surrounding buildings, cave in one go. However, the builder, has all the bureaucrats and politicians in his pocket because of the money power and the bribes he pays.

    Akshay lands up with all the evidence about corruption which led to inferior material and construction as well as reclaimed land unfit for construction where the buildings were built. The bureaucrats refuse to listen to him, the politician chides him and offers him the compensation of 50 lakh while the state had paid Rs 25 lakh. He is generous enough to pay for unborn child also. Talwar tries to kill Akshay with two hits on his neck and chest but film heroes don’t die so easily. Unwittingly, Talwar has set off a time bomb in angry Akshay. Meanwhile, Akshay is not all stone, he has found his lady love in Shruti Haasan and reciprocates her love.

    Akshay ropes in a number of volunteers from his college students; his college has a great reputation of turning out 100 per cent honest people. Akshay’s ‘NGO’ is tasked with finding corrupt government officials, kidnapping them and lynching one of them to set an example for the rest. The most corrupt is the one lynched since Akshay’s ‘NGO’ rates them all. Akshay, an aam aadmi assumes the pseudonym of Gabbar. The Akshay effect works, bureaucrats are scared of accepting bribes though they are not scared of disclosing their ill-gotten wealth for the sake of audience for Akshay to strike on them because people have already been informed about who is corrupt to what extent.

    After two such lynching, Akshay happens to be in a hospital where the doctors are busy devising new ways to loot people forgetting their Hippocratic Oath. He plants a dead body from a neighbouring government hospital with a plea to doctors to save him. The doctors put on a drama of efforts to save the already dead man. A sting is in order so that Akshay could bargain for a compensation for the dead man’s widow and her two daughters. The hospital belongs to the same man, Talwar. The cleansing of the bureaucracy film turns into a revenge story. The second half is devoted almost entirely to Akshay and Talwar wanting to get the better of other.

    As mentioned earlier, the subject of corruption, builder political nexus and such does not generate much interest anymore. It has been done to death in real-life media as well as films, especially in metros and satellite towns. Inferior construction, corruption and powerful builder lobby may have been happening even earlier, but B R Chopra’s Aadmi Aur Insaan, dealt with the subject as early as 1969, albeit with a lot of emotional angles packed in and still remained average.

    If the South versions were hit to inspire remakes, they must have been better scripted and directed.

    Akshay Kumar plays himself rather than Gabbar which he does film after film notwithstanding the fact that the film rests entirely on him since the film has a very economical supporting cast and the lead actress. This is a fact which has always limited Akshay’s box office draw to less than a 100 crore in most cases. Shruti is not a performer. Talwar tries his best but is not strong enough a villain for the cause for your hero is only as big as your villain is. Sunil Grover has a good role to play and he does well. The others, mainly cast as Mumbai police big wigs, are mere caricatures. Kareena Kapoor’s cameo is okay while the over made-up Chitrangda Singh in an item song actually looks bad.

    The direction is very tacky, script does not deem it necessary to explain assumptions by its characters. Photography is passable. Action is South films replay all along. Gabbar Is Back is mainly a single screen fare. Despite four days weekend (Friday being May Day holiday in some of the states) the film has a limited range.

     

    Producers: Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Sabeena Khan.

    Director: KIrsh.

    Cast: Akshay Kumar, Shruti Haasan, Jaideep Ahlawat, Suman Talwar, and in cameo Kareena Kapoor and Chitrangda Singh.

    ‘Sabki Bajegi Band’….Gupt Gyan better kept gupt!

    Sabki Bajegi Band slots itself in a new slot, it is a reality film. While trying to be a new genre, it also pokes fun at the formula of run of the mill Hindi potboilers. Keeping its potential in mind, the film is a one location, new faces attempt to keep the cost in control. That said, however, keeping the script and content in control fails most filmmakers.

    The film is mostly about a group of friends gathered sharing their personal life and experiences and secrets, mostly sex related. Obviously, the film seems to have been cleared before its new Chairman, Pahlaj Nihalani, took over as the film has profanities galore as well as intimate sex talk.

    There is this guy who aspires to make a film and as a run-up to that he decides to shoot the celeb friends of his gathered at a secluded venue. Everybody is invited to share their experiences, sex lives, sexual preferences and other truths. All these he shoots with a 3 pixel Handycam! He is the male protagonist who sort of sets the terms of the tone for the evening.

    There is a counterpart to this man, a woman who thinks she is an expert at deciphering the sexual traits or preferences of the men gathered. Her take is that if a man carries a floral patterned handkerchief or looks at his soiled shoes from backwards, he is gay. She also claims to have slept for a one lakh rupee assignment for an ad which turned her into a top model and thinks nothing of such compromises. In fact, she advocates them.

    As the 3 pixel camera rolls on, each member is made to reveal his/ her sexual life and none comes out clean. While the filming goes on, pairs are made and broken; romances break up and new romance replaces it.

    Pretending to be a contemporary youth film, the film reveals closet gay, bisexuals, virgins, open multiple partner relations, erectile dysfunctional and to cap it up also an HIV+ seeking love.

    The film has lot of similarity to the 2014 film, Me And Mr Right where friends end up revealing personal lives. As in that film, here too, the script is poor though the idea had the potential to be developed into something interesting. Direction is amateurish. Songs have no place and, thankfully, finds only symbolic footage. Rest of the aspects and performances are not worth mentioning.

    Sabki Bajegi Band is poor on all counts with zero prospects at the box office.

  • ‘Baby’…Not so cute!

    ‘Baby’…Not so cute!

    MUMBAI: If you have an action hero, the best thing to do is let him loose and make an anti-terrorist film like Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty. Baby is a film in the same mould. Director Neeraj Pandey’s best so far has been A Wednesday! That established him as a compact storyteller on screen. A Wednesday! had a runtim of 104 minutes. Unfortunately, Baby accounts for that much in just its second half (out of total duration of 156 minutes)!

    Espionage stories had their peak during the US-USSR cold war days; after that writers of such fiction have never found a formidable enough enemy for the US to write books on and, resultantly, there have been few movies on the theme.

    In Indian films, the recent trend has been to make films on the fight against terrorism. But many of these films lack weight as the terrorists have no face and, to add to that, the casting lets the idea down. While our hero is a super star, the villains chosen as the face of terrorism are mere caricatures. The same problem persists with Baby. The strong box office faces, Akshay Kumar and Danny Denzongpa, are with India while those on the other side are junior artistes.

    RAW is known to all. Ergo, those in power form an elite group of few officers, men and women, to work offline from the mainstream agencies and take on the terrorists and terrorist attacks in the offing before they happen. They call the team “Baby”. The star officer is Akshay. Like the trend set by 007 films and followed by most action films made lately, the tone is set with an action sequence: Akshay intervenes in a situation where one of his teammates is betrayed by another one. He can’t save his betrayed teammate nor can he liquidate the betrayer! So much for his elite tag! You know the film is going to falter more often as it progresses.

    Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Shital Bhatia.

    Director: Neeraj Pandey.

    Cast: Akshay Kumar, Danny Denzongpa, Tapsee Pannu, Rana Daggubati, Anupam Kher, Kay Kay Menon, Madhurima Tuli, Rasheed Naz.

    The elite anti-terrorist group’s elite agent, Akshay, embarks on various missions. He knows only to shoot and kill, so much so that because of his wild ways, no sensible colleague wants to work with him.

    Kay Kay Menon is a dreaded terrorist who is serving time behind bars. He wants to be out and that is his condition to his people before he cooperates with them with the information they want from him. He is freed in the same old-fashioned way: the police van which is ferrying him to some place is ambushed. Menon then heads to Saudi Arabia where he is raising funds for further terrorist activities. Accompanying him in a fortress like place is the major Pakistani terror group head, Rasheed Naz (supposed to depict the infamous Pakistani terrorist chief, Hafiz Saeed).

    Akshay, along with Rana Daggubati and Anupam Kher, embark on a mission to eliminate Kay Kay before he gives shape to his plans of terrorism in India. When they kill Kay Kay, they find Rasheed too, but instead of eliminating him, Akshay decides to take him to India as a trophy. This last plan to give him a total makeover and to smuggle him out of Saudi makes for some interesting viewing though it reminds of the film D Day where the agents smuggle Dawood (played by Rishi Kapoor) out of Pakistan.

    The film tries to cram in too much and loses sense of length; the film could have done without the family track of Akshay. Some scenes are stretched to create anxiety among viewers which they don’t. Directorially, the film falls far short of Pandey’s previous films, A Wednesday! and Special 26. Editing is slack. Music and romance find no place and the one song the film has could also have been done away with. Cinematography is very good. Background score is effective in places.

    Akshay dominates the film and it is a role tailormade for him; he does very well. Danny makes his presence felt merely with his expression in the absence of anything substantial to do. Tapsee Pannu is impressive in a brief role. Rana’s can best be described as a cameo appearance. Anupam Kher as a computer wizard does not quite convince. Rasheed makes an impact as the fanatic. Kay Kay is okay in a brief role.

    Baby, coming as it does in the wake of Ek Tha Tiger and Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, has nothing new to offer; also it falls short of the director’s earlier films. The film has more verbal footage rather than action which can be a put off for many including single screen audience. The film has a three-day weekend with Monday being Republic Day holiday to make the most of, though the opening response has been below par. All said, its box office prospects are limited.

     

    ‘Dolly Ki Doli’….Doli nahi uthi!

     

    Producers: Malaika Arora Khan, Arbaaz Khan.

    Director: Abhishek Dogra.

    Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Rajkumar Rao, Pulkit Samrat, Varun Sharma, Rajesh Sharma, Manoj Joshi, Archana Puran Singh, Rajendra Kala and cameos by Malaika Arora Khan and Saif Ali Khan.

    Cases of men posing as prospective grooms, marrying and vanishing with the bride’s jewellery and other belongings are a dime a dozen and reported regularly in newspapers. Dolly Ki Doli jumps on the idea and turns it around so that a woman does this vanishing act instead.

    Sonam Kapoor has a ‘family’ which is always on the lookout for a suitor for her. The boys found for her are usually average, not much to look at and not really well-placed in jobs or on the social ladder. Sonam to them would look like a fairy! The ‘family’ consists of Manoj Joshi (posing as her father) with others posing as her brother, mother, grandmother, a family photographer and a pandit who decides on the earliest wedding muhurat.

    The newspaper matrimonial are scanned, a suitable sucker is shortlisted and an approach made. Soon, after gauging up the prospective victim family’s resources, an early wedding date is fixed. The wedding done, it is time for honeymoon but Sonam would always have some reason to stall it: ekadashi vrat or woman’s problem and so on. However, honeymoon or not, she would do the traditional offering of a glass of milk, not only to her ‘husband’ but also to rest in the family. With everybody around rendered unconscious, the house would be wiped clean of all its valuables and the bride and her ‘family’ would vanish into thin air.

    Sonam’s first victim is Rajkumar Rao, the son of a Haryanvi sugarcane planter. Then follows a montage of numerous victims until it is time to bring in Varun Sharma, a lad whose family paid a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to get him a 50, 000 a month job in an IT company! But, to her ire, Sonam is rejected by Varun’s mother, Archana Puran Singh. Sonam’s ego is hurt and she decides to pursue the boy and make him revolt against his mother! The plan works. The wedding takes place, followed by cleaning out of closets. But, somehow, the script fits in a problem for Sonam as somehow her earlier husband, Rajkumar drops in at this wedding.

    Why did Sonam take to cheating people? The writer and director think it is time to add a thrilling third angle to the goings-on. There is a dashing kind of cop on her trail now. The cop, Pulkit Samrat, was not at all interested in taking up such a petty case but he changes his mind once he looks at the picture of the girl whose police file is titled ‘Looteri Dulhan’. It seems she is the love of his life who he ditched.

    A decoy is planted for Sonam and her ‘family’. The royal prince of a Rajasthan kingdom of yore pastes posters in the town seeking a bride! The family is lured and meet up with the prince, Saif Ali Khan. The game is over for the ‘family’ as it is confronted by all three, Rajkumar, Varun as well as Pulkit. Some more situations follow before the charade comes to an end.

    Finding an idea is fine but what needs talent is to turn it in to a taut and plausible script that a director just needs to convert on celluloid. But, even with a 98-minute run time, Dolly Ki Doli has no spark anywhere. The comedy is forced and the artistes fail to carry the film on their own, given mediocre direction and little by way of script. The film has one hummable track in Mere naina kafir hogaye.. Comedy falls flat most of the time.

    Dolly Ki Doli is a nonstarter.

  • Shaukeens …Not for a film shaukeen

    Shaukeens …Not for a film shaukeen

    Shaukeens is inspired from the 1982 film, Basu Chatterjee’s successful film Shaukeen, starring Ashok Kumar, Utpal Dutt and A K Hangal. They are replaced here by Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor and Piyush Mishra. The original had Mithun Chakraborty and Rati Agnihotri as romantic attractions. Their replacements here are Akshay Kumar and Lisa Haydon. Shaukeen was remade in Telugu as Prema Pichollu with Chiranjeevi and others in 1983.

    Producers: Murad Khetani, Ashwin Varde.
    Director: Abhishek Sharma.
    Cast: Anupam Kher, Annu Kapoor, Piyush Mishra, Lisa Haydon, Rati Agnihotri and in cameos Abhishek Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor, Dimple Kapadia, Suniel Shetty and, in a special appearance, Akshay Kumar.

    The actual theme, though with a different ending and with the approach of a thriller rather than a comedy was The Fan Club, a 1974 novel by Irving Wallace, made into a film the same year. Here an actress is kidnapped by a few men. In Shaukeen and Shaukeens, three old men, referred to in India as thirkee/lecherous men, bored with their daily routine, embark on a holiday with the express purpose of finding some sex.
    Kher, Kapoor and Mishra are deprived of sex for different reasons. Kher’s wife has turned full time religious and sex is taboo for her; Mishra’s wife is dead while Kapoor could not marry the woman he loved and, hence, has no sex life. Best they get is to ogle at young girls at morning exercise groups. This proves to be even more frustrating even as their attempts independent of each other fail.
    Having had enough, Kapoor comes up with an idea. Since they are well known in Delhi where they are based, they decide to land up in Bangkok. But the very mention of Bangkok is opposed by the two men with families, Kher and Mishra, as whatever the reason, Bangkok in the family and friends circle would create talks. They decide on Mauritius where they learn Akshay Kumar is slated to shoot his next film.

    They are lucky to get a house to themselves in Mauritius as the owner, Lisa Haydon, has decided to rent it out while she is away. The trio’s first night out at a club is a failure. But, to their surprise there is Lisa sleeping in the lawn; her programme got cancelled at the last minute.

    Haydon is a bindass, carefree girl and a self-proclaimed designer who makes a pendant out of a frog’s eye and glares for Akshay from her nails! Her carefree attitude is taken by the three men as an open invitation. They put their efforts into scoring with Haydon, collectively as well as individually.

    While these three are chasing Haydon, Akshay Kumar is in Mauritius for a film shoot. Haydon is a big fan of Akshay and she proposes that whoever of the three takes her to meet Akshay will get whatever he asks for from her. Kher manages first followed by Kapoor by which time has had enough of her.

    Mishra’s attempt is the last straw. A drunk Akshay (he is a closet alcoholic) is on stage at an Indian community event, bursts out in anger.

    Sadly, Shaukeens is a poorly adapted version of the original. Nothing about it looks natural: the way they behave or the way they try to court Haydon. The comedy is either absent or banal, making one laugh at the attempts to create comedy instead of the comedy itself. Direction is routine and lacking imagination. Music is poor. Not a very long film, but even at 135 minutes it offers much scope for further editing. Performance wise, while Kher and Mishra are routine, Kapoor is a little better. So much so that Akshay Kumar emerges the best of the male cast. Haydon is a wrong choice.

    Shaukeens fails to entertain. Having opened to poor response, it faces tough time ahead.

    Rang Rasiya ……Of colours and women shapes

    Producer: Deepa Sahi, Anand Mahendroo.
    Director: Ketan Mehta.
    Cast: Randeep Hooda, Nandana Sen, Paresh Rawal.

     

    Rang Rasiya is based on the life of the renowned Indian artist and painter of the 19th Century, Raja Ravi Varma, who went on to become a legend. Born in Kerala, Varma was a painter trained in the basics of art followed by water painting and then oil painting by three different masters. He was driven out of his native Kerala by the local ruler for adding the prefix Raja to his name. But he was backed by the ruler of Mysore, who was also his patron, and his paintings adorn the Mysore Palace till date.

    The film version is an adaptation of a novel, Raja Ravi Varma, written by Ranjit Desai. It is a novel and not a life account of Varma and, hence, the film too has a commercial film-like approach. And, it turns out to be more about women and romances in Varma’s life and that is what is expected to attract the moviegoer. After, all painting and painters find their followers at art galleries not in cinema halls.
    Lying in cans since 2008 for want of censor clearance, the film was screened at various film festivals. It has only now finally got an Indian release. Married with five children, Varma, played by Randeep Hooda, has a glad eye for pretty women and admired their bodies; he was an eternal lover. His sexual encounters with women would be dream sequences, otherwise, for a common man. A flirt who uses women for his artistic inspiration as well as for what they are. Finally comes a woman, Nandana Sen, who he soon becomes passionate about.
    Not taking Varma seriously, she eventually becomes his model and lover. He has found a new inspiration only to be vehemently opposed by the self-styled custodians of culture and traditions. From being dragged to court to being blamed for the plague epidemic in Mumbai, he faces it all.

    Varma takes his art and admiration for the female further as he gives faces and form to Hindu gods and goddesses and paints their pictures, and sets up his own lithographic printing press to print and distribute these pictures free of cost to lakhs of people including those not allowed into temples. He provides a God/Goddess to every home. His one admirable act was to financially help the father of Indian cinema, Dada Saheb Phalke with his first film project.

    Ketan Mehta is a fine and sensitive director but here his priorities seem mixed up between depicting the life of one of the most renowned artist and his sex life. Rather than romance, the film and characters seem to thrive on lust. Hooda looks too hard faced to depict Varma. Girls are just okay.

    Biopics are not a very popular genre even about our recent heroes while this one is about one from a long past few can identify with, making the film a commercial liability.
     

     

  • Singham Returns…Half a Singham!

    Singham Returns…Half a Singham!

    MUMBAI: Sequels are usually a means of using the brand equity of the title of a successful film. Singham Returns is one more such example. Ajay Devgn is still a cop who can fell half a dozen goons with one blow. Well, he has to, since the goons come in droves of fifty or more. But while that remains the same, the rest has changed because most Hindi filmmakers take the audience for granted while making a sequel.

    Devgn, a defiant and honest cop, who has been transferred to Mumbai from his Goa post in Singham (while in reality, such cops are transferred out of Mumbai!). Since he is Singham, he remains constant, while all including the villains as well as his wife to be too (!) have changed. Actually, the film has no space for a female lead but that would be a great risk according to Indian films’ unwritten regulations.

    Devgn is in comfortable company. His school teacher, Anupam Kher, leads a ruling political party, albeit in keeping with the recent trend of a coalition with another party. Kher’s party has Mahesh Manjrekar as the CM while his coalition partner is Zakir Hussain, whose strings are pulled by a swami, Aloke Gupte. Being Guru Kher’s disciple, Manjrekar and Devgn are both on the right side of the law while Hussain, under the auspice of the swami, is corruption personified and, obviously, possesses a criminal mind-set. It is a formula that has been working for decades; a swami and a seedy politician have always made a great combination for villainy.

    As things go, Devgn has the backing of all concerned: his school senior, the CM Manjrekar; their common school guru Kher; the police commissioner, Sharat Saxena; as well as the all of 40,000 odd cops of Mumbai!

    Everybody knows that the villains are Gupte and Hussain but the law needs proof. That is what the whole film is about. 142 minutes of finding proof against two not-so-sinister or convincing villains, Hussain and Gupte. So, finally, the film amounts to one-upmanship between the villains and Devgn. It goes on and on as the judiciary needs proof and police being what it is supposed to be, can’t protect its only witness. The villains win all the way until, finally, the law keepers become outlaws to liquidate the villains. They march in their sponsored banians to the villains den in just about the most clap trap scene in the film.

    The problem with Singham Returns is that it is an oft repeated story about a swami and a corrupt politician pitted against an honest establishment represented by a cop. What is more, it is poorly scripted. The film starts with the super cop, Devgn and a youth brigade riding fast bikes. That is rather tame. The script is so predictable, it could be any honest cop vs corrupt politician. Rohit Shetty’s direction without his blowing up cars does not amount to much really. The film has four music directors and eight lyricists on it credits but no song worth a mention!  Dialogue is okay at times. While the film needs some more trimming, the positive factor is its photography, especially aerial shots of Mumbai.

    As for performances, nobody really needs to act in this film. Devgn with his puffed up cheeks does what he does on regular basis: throw punches. Kareena Kapoor has no role really and just pouts her way through. Kher is his usual self. While Gupte overacts as the swami, Hussain is the only one who is convincing. Dayanand Shetty, the Daya of the TV serial CID does what he does in the serial; act as a mighty cop and breaks down doors; he is effective. Rest in the cast are incidental.

    On the whole, Singham Returns is a high priced routine film with only salvation being its four day weekend starting with the Independence Day holiday on Friday and ending with the Janmashtami holiday on Monday. Much appreciated earlier version, Singham, had barely managed to make it to 100 crore mark. While this film needs to do twice as much, it will fall much short of that mark.