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Tag: Sanjay Mishra

  • Anaarkali Of Aarah: Worth a look

    MUMBAI: Just when one was expecting a week of lack-lustre films especially as some small filmmaker is releasing his or her work, comes a surprise that reinforces faith in good cinema.
     
    Usually, region-centric films are all about violence and local Bahubalis. The gang wars, corrupt politician/police and so on. Anaarkali of Aarah puts a Bahubali in the second place and the limelight is totally on a local dancer woman who earns her living by entertaining townsfolk and those highly placed with her traditional lewd dances and suggestive lyric typical to the area.

    Swara Bhaskar has taken to dancing from her mother. The film has background of gun-totting, trigger happy, lawless Bihar and so when alcohol combines with eroticism of any kind, a gun goes off. Swara has seen her mother being shot dead for no reason by an influential man at one such dancing session. It was considered to be a manly thing to do for creating fear among townsfolk.

    Having learnt the ropes while watching her mother, Swara knows nothing else but to follow her mother’s profession, dance to entertain and titillate. Endowed with a powerful voice and all the dance moves that can drive her viewers crazy, she has become a super star of her locality. When she passes on the road, the traffic stops, so to say. As Aarah has only human traffic, the crowds drop what they are doing and gape at her.

    This time, Swara has been asked to perform at a function organised by the police. The function is open to public and the chief guest is a man close the state Chief Minister and the Vice Chancellor of the local university, Sanjai Mishra, a much respected man in the area. He drinks on the sly to keep his clean image, and is a closet debauch.

    While Swara is dancing at the function, the devil in Mishra comes out of the closet. Drunk till the gills, he climbs the stage, joins the dancing and almost rapes her in public view. Swara ends the scene with a tight slap on Mishra’s face.

    The film now runs short of ideas and gets into a rut as Mishra and the local cop try with all their might against her including an attempt on her life till, finally, she is forced to flee to Delhi. Considering Swara has been projected as a strong willed woman, the parts while she is in Delhi are a bit against her character while also being tame for the viewer.

    The climax, though not new, is made effective by the actors involved and one leaves the cinema with a positive word for the film.

    Anaarkali of Aarah, though a regional theme, is a well thought of script and can be identifiable with a woman’s situation all over. It is a well-conceived and executed film by writer-director Avinash Das. The film is well endowed with Bihari situational longs with double-meaning lyrics which keep the story going. The film needs some editing in its second half of scenes of Swara indulging in self-pity. Dialogue are in tune with the theme, bold but not vulgar.

    What, finally really lifts the film are the performances by the artistes. While the protagonist Swara Bhaskar and the antagonist Sanjai Sharma are outstanding, with Swara excelling, and every other actor on the screen lives his/her role.

    Worth a watch but lack of face value will keep Anaarkali of Aarah down.

    Producers: Priya Kapur, Sandip Kapur.

    Director: Avinash Das.

    Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Sanjay Mishra, Pankaj Tripathi.
     
    Phillauri: Soulless!

    Phillauri bases its story around various superstitions rampantly followed by people and their solutions, as defined by the pundits, which neutralise ill effects borne out of superstitions. There are stories about a girl marrying a sword, a tree, a dog and so on. The idea being, if one’s first marriage has to fail, let it be with a dog or a tree. (Marriage with a sword represented its owner in his absence.)

    There are some who grew up with the popular comic character, Casper The Friendly Ghost. As films go, with a ghost as a character one recalls Mani Kaul’s Duvidha (1973) as one such film based in Rajasthan. The film though a sleep inducer, was later adapted by Amol Palekar as Paheli with Shah Rukh Khan in lead as well as the producer.

    There were other films like Chamatkar and Bhootnath franchise based on ghost stories.
    Phillauri is meant to be a comedy blended with romance using superstition as the prop. Suraj Sharma (Life Of Pi) is on way to India from Canada to marry his childhood love, Mehreen Pirzada.
    But, Suraj is a Manglik, one whose married life is affected due to ill effects of the planet Mars. To ward off this problem, the astrologers have a suggestion. Accordingly, Suraj is married off to a tree which is later chopped off.

    Unknown to Suraj, the tree was home to the soul of Anushka Sharma for many decades. Now she hovers around Suraj as a ghost. He is scared of her but eventually comes to terms with her presence.

    The soul of Anushka came to the tree and has a back story about her unrequited love with Diljit Dosanjh. Anushka was drawn to poetry writing and music and Diljit being a singer, love happens.
    The film traverses between past and present as it narrates both stories. What happens is, while the present is fun to an extent, the past hinders the pace.

    Balancing past and present stories has been tried earlier but has not accounted for smooth narration. The idea, similar to the English movie Corpse Bride, an animated film of 2005, manages a few light moments and drags as it fails to make audiences sit for a long duration as it stretches to 137 minutes. The film’s music sounds soulful in the film. Cinematography and special effects are good, especially the way Anushka’s ghost is presented. The film uses Punjabi language extensively while also going for a Punjabi ambience similar to Vicky Donor (2012).
    Anushka Sharma lives up to her role. Diljit Dosanjh is good in a brief role. Suraj Sharma is very good. Mehreen Pirzada is okay.

    Phillauri is too slow, and universal appeal and the weak opening are its setbacks.

    Producers: Anushka Sharma, Karmesh Sharma, Fox Star Studios.

    Director: Anshai Lal.

    Cast: Anushka Sharma, Diljit Dosanjh, Suraj Sharma.

  • Baaghi: A Rebel For Love – one for the masses; Shortcut Safari is Short cut to suffering

    Baaghi: A Rebel For Love – one for the masses; Shortcut Safari is Short cut to suffering

    Baaghi is an action romance film. Sajid Nadiadwala makes sure his films are entertainers and don’t leave the masses out.  Like all love stories, two guys want the same girl. Since the girl loves only one of them, the other guy becomes the villain in the plot. The film bears similarities to the Indonesian production, The Raid: Redemption and is a remake of the Telugu movie Varsham.

    Tiger Shroff, a Delhi lad, is on his way to Kerala to join a martial arts institution. He is a wayward guy and being sent here to be disciplined. On the train, he meets Shraddha Kapoor who is travelling to meet her grandmother. Both are attracted instantly and, in Kerala, their love blossoms further.

    The master at the institution is an accomplished martial arts exponent. A strict disciplinarian, he is much respected. His son, Sudheer Babu, excels in martial art and uses his might to terrorize people. He sees Shraddha and falls for her and wants to marry her at any cost. Sparks fly between Sudheer and Tiger.

    Shraddha’s father, Sunil Grover, is an opportunist and when offered a bagful of money, he agrees to marry off Shraddha with Sudheer. To separate her from Tiger, he concocts a story which Shraddha believes but is still not willing to marry Sudheer.

    Sudheer’s father, the master of the institution, cautions Sudheer not to come between two lovers and marry where he decides on the girl. Sudheer has no scruples and poisons his farther, there being no other way to get him out of his way. He then shifts his operations to Thailand in a ten storey building. While Shraddha is kept on the top floor, the other nine are like layers of shields for her with armed and qualified fighters.

    Tiger has left Kerala and is living a normal life when Grover approaches him. Shraddha has been abducted and he offers Tiger money to find her. Tiger needs the money for the treatment of a small child he has adopted while living with another student at the Institution.

    Now wasting time to find Sudheer, he enters the ring to fight a no holds barred bout of a fight with a regular winner and knocks him out in one kick. The bout is being watched on a close circuit camera and his plan works. Now, Sudheer’s men are after him.

    After some more fights and chases, Tiger is assumed dead. But, Shraddha is sure he will come to rescue her. And he does. After negotiating the nine floors full of goons, he is finally face to face with Sudheer. He seems to have learnt some secrets of hand to hand combat which Sudheer missed.

    The story is typical and the direction is apt. What makes the film interesting is the fresh casting and action. Considering this is only his second film, the audience response to Tiger’s entry and during action scenes is tremendous. He and petite Shraddha make a good pair. Grover is good in light scenes and as scheming father. Sudheer is menacing enough for Tiger’s winning look hard-fought.

    Considering this is a romantic film, it needed a couple of chartbusters but has only one song, Sab tera…which appeals.  The cinematography is good.

    Baaghi is a single screen entertainer after a long gap, besides having appeal for young viewers and is set to be a decent earner.

    Producer: Sajid Nadiawdwala.

    Director: Sabbir Khan.

    Cast: Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor, Sudheer Babu, Sunil Grover, Sanjay Mishra.

    Shortcut Safaari..Short cut to suffering

    Amitabha Singh, the producer and cinematographer associated with some award winning films has turned to direction with Shortcut Safaari. His earlier association with a children’s film was Chillar Party as a cinematographer. He worked as a DOP on Khosla Ka Ghosla and was the producer (with NFDC) of the national award winning Gujarati film, The Good Road, India’s nomination to the Oscars. But, direction is another ball game altogether.

    A group of school kids belonging to the nature society of a school are taken on a day out to a nature park to learn firsthand the gift that we have in the form of nature and all that it breeds. The tour done, the kids are divided on return trip in three small vans. The teacher in charge is keener on keeping her date with her beau, ditches her students and hitchhikes on the pillion of her man.

    While the students in two vans depart, the third one takes a little longer with a couple of students arguing over sitting arrangements. When they are on the road finally, the kids see a higher HP car overtake them and their fragile egos incite their driver to overtake that car. The driver hardly seems to have control on his small van but takes the challenge. He takes a shortcut, drives recklessly and lands up in a jungle. His van has bumped into a tree.

    The driver needs help and leaves the kids to find a help in nearby village!! Promising to return soon, he leaves the students alone to fend for themselves. What follows is an ordeal on the viewer. The driver has vanished. The students spend the night in the van but the night is eventful as funny looking, animated hyenas, leopard etc. visit them, dance on their van and vanish! The students, despite their exposure to nature and coming as they do from high end school, think hyenas are dogs and the leopard is a cat! So much for education!!

    The students, fight among themselves, sing and dance and roam the jungle to find a way out. So far, there seems to be not a soul around except a caricature of a leopard. But, as the film progresses, the jungle suddenly seems over populated. There are a couple of buffoons, supposed to provide comic relief, with toy guns who want to kill the sole leopard so that the jungle can be turned into real estate bonanza! Mall and all that!!

    The film flashes Jimmy Shergill as its lead actor and you wonder where he is? Finally, he does show up in a dress weirder than that any self-styled baba ever wore. He seems to be the self-appointed keeper of the forest.

    Shortcut Safaari is a film with no sense for script, let alone on for a film catering to children. The direction matches the script and is full of inconsistencies including the students cast showing varying ages. The jungle life and the few animals depicted are a joke with poor animation. Its songs are good. The editor has no scope here; he could have chopped the whole film if permitted. Some kids act well, some don’t. All others playing parents and teacher are non-actors, nor do they bother to act.

    Shortcut Safaari is a children oriented film from which children are better off kept away.

    Producer: Xebec Films Pvt. Ltd., Kashyap A Shah, Amigos Fin-o- tainment.

    Director: Amitabha Singh.

    Cast: Aashi Rawal, Sharvil Patel, Mann Patel, Deah Tandon, Ugam Khetani, Stuti Dwivedi, Hardil Kanabar, Jimmy Sheirgill.

  • Baaghi: A Rebel For Love – one for the masses; Shortcut Safari is Short cut to suffering

    Baaghi: A Rebel For Love – one for the masses; Shortcut Safari is Short cut to suffering

    Baaghi is an action romance film. Sajid Nadiadwala makes sure his films are entertainers and don’t leave the masses out.  Like all love stories, two guys want the same girl. Since the girl loves only one of them, the other guy becomes the villain in the plot. The film bears similarities to the Indonesian production, The Raid: Redemption and is a remake of the Telugu movie Varsham.

    Tiger Shroff, a Delhi lad, is on his way to Kerala to join a martial arts institution. He is a wayward guy and being sent here to be disciplined. On the train, he meets Shraddha Kapoor who is travelling to meet her grandmother. Both are attracted instantly and, in Kerala, their love blossoms further.

    The master at the institution is an accomplished martial arts exponent. A strict disciplinarian, he is much respected. His son, Sudheer Babu, excels in martial art and uses his might to terrorize people. He sees Shraddha and falls for her and wants to marry her at any cost. Sparks fly between Sudheer and Tiger.

    Shraddha’s father, Sunil Grover, is an opportunist and when offered a bagful of money, he agrees to marry off Shraddha with Sudheer. To separate her from Tiger, he concocts a story which Shraddha believes but is still not willing to marry Sudheer.

    Sudheer’s father, the master of the institution, cautions Sudheer not to come between two lovers and marry where he decides on the girl. Sudheer has no scruples and poisons his farther, there being no other way to get him out of his way. He then shifts his operations to Thailand in a ten storey building. While Shraddha is kept on the top floor, the other nine are like layers of shields for her with armed and qualified fighters.

    Tiger has left Kerala and is living a normal life when Grover approaches him. Shraddha has been abducted and he offers Tiger money to find her. Tiger needs the money for the treatment of a small child he has adopted while living with another student at the Institution.

    Now wasting time to find Sudheer, he enters the ring to fight a no holds barred bout of a fight with a regular winner and knocks him out in one kick. The bout is being watched on a close circuit camera and his plan works. Now, Sudheer’s men are after him.

    After some more fights and chases, Tiger is assumed dead. But, Shraddha is sure he will come to rescue her. And he does. After negotiating the nine floors full of goons, he is finally face to face with Sudheer. He seems to have learnt some secrets of hand to hand combat which Sudheer missed.

    The story is typical and the direction is apt. What makes the film interesting is the fresh casting and action. Considering this is only his second film, the audience response to Tiger’s entry and during action scenes is tremendous. He and petite Shraddha make a good pair. Grover is good in light scenes and as scheming father. Sudheer is menacing enough for Tiger’s winning look hard-fought.

    Considering this is a romantic film, it needed a couple of chartbusters but has only one song, Sab tera…which appeals.  The cinematography is good.

    Baaghi is a single screen entertainer after a long gap, besides having appeal for young viewers and is set to be a decent earner.

    Producer: Sajid Nadiawdwala.

    Director: Sabbir Khan.

    Cast: Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor, Sudheer Babu, Sunil Grover, Sanjay Mishra.

    Shortcut Safaari..Short cut to suffering

    Amitabha Singh, the producer and cinematographer associated with some award winning films has turned to direction with Shortcut Safaari. His earlier association with a children’s film was Chillar Party as a cinematographer. He worked as a DOP on Khosla Ka Ghosla and was the producer (with NFDC) of the national award winning Gujarati film, The Good Road, India’s nomination to the Oscars. But, direction is another ball game altogether.

    A group of school kids belonging to the nature society of a school are taken on a day out to a nature park to learn firsthand the gift that we have in the form of nature and all that it breeds. The tour done, the kids are divided on return trip in three small vans. The teacher in charge is keener on keeping her date with her beau, ditches her students and hitchhikes on the pillion of her man.

    While the students in two vans depart, the third one takes a little longer with a couple of students arguing over sitting arrangements. When they are on the road finally, the kids see a higher HP car overtake them and their fragile egos incite their driver to overtake that car. The driver hardly seems to have control on his small van but takes the challenge. He takes a shortcut, drives recklessly and lands up in a jungle. His van has bumped into a tree.

    The driver needs help and leaves the kids to find a help in nearby village!! Promising to return soon, he leaves the students alone to fend for themselves. What follows is an ordeal on the viewer. The driver has vanished. The students spend the night in the van but the night is eventful as funny looking, animated hyenas, leopard etc. visit them, dance on their van and vanish! The students, despite their exposure to nature and coming as they do from high end school, think hyenas are dogs and the leopard is a cat! So much for education!!

    The students, fight among themselves, sing and dance and roam the jungle to find a way out. So far, there seems to be not a soul around except a caricature of a leopard. But, as the film progresses, the jungle suddenly seems over populated. There are a couple of buffoons, supposed to provide comic relief, with toy guns who want to kill the sole leopard so that the jungle can be turned into real estate bonanza! Mall and all that!!

    The film flashes Jimmy Shergill as its lead actor and you wonder where he is? Finally, he does show up in a dress weirder than that any self-styled baba ever wore. He seems to be the self-appointed keeper of the forest.

    Shortcut Safaari is a film with no sense for script, let alone on for a film catering to children. The direction matches the script and is full of inconsistencies including the students cast showing varying ages. The jungle life and the few animals depicted are a joke with poor animation. Its songs are good. The editor has no scope here; he could have chopped the whole film if permitted. Some kids act well, some don’t. All others playing parents and teacher are non-actors, nor do they bother to act.

    Shortcut Safaari is a children oriented film from which children are better off kept away.

    Producer: Xebec Films Pvt. Ltd., Kashyap A Shah, Amigos Fin-o- tainment.

    Director: Amitabha Singh.

    Cast: Aashi Rawal, Sharvil Patel, Mann Patel, Deah Tandon, Ugam Khetani, Stuti Dwivedi, Hardil Kanabar, Jimmy Sheirgill.

  • ‘Phantom:’ Will haunt empty cinema halls

    ‘Phantom:’ Will haunt empty cinema halls

    MUMBAI: Kabir Khan has made it his mission to deal with subjects related to India and Pakistan and their respective espionage agencies. If Ek Tha Tiger was about one-upmanship between two agencies in the field, Bajrangi Bhaijaan too involved ISI, the Pakistani agency, indirectly.

    His latest Phantom is about a disrobed army officer for his alleged cowardice so much so that even his proud ex-army man father would not talk to him.

    Phantom is about RAW (Research And Analyses Wing), the secret service agency of India, assigning a new recruit the mission to go to Pakistan and eliminate two of India’s biggest enemies, the terrorists, Hafeez Saeed and Zaki-ur- Rehman Lakhvi, the masterminds behind the 26/11 (2008) attacks on Mumbai, which killed 160 people and injured many.

    It may be recalled that D-Day, a very slick and thrilling film about RAW agents sent to Pakistan to either eliminate or bring alive Dawood Ibrahim from Karachi, was released in 2013 but fared poorly because, as much as people would have loved that to happen, such an adventure is just not there in our (Indian authorities’) genes.

    When the RAW discusses these terrorists, there is a suggestion that they send a team to liquidate them. When it is pointed out that the politicians won’t okay the idea, a suggestion is put forth that it could be a covert operation and politicians need not know about it. If the Americans could do it, why can’t we?

    Sadly, the short-sighted filmmakers and writers only know of US operation in Pakistan to assassinate Osama Bin Laden (made in to a film Zero Dark Thirty). The Israelis did it twice earlier, once when they rescued a planeload of Israel nationals held hostage in Idi Amin’s Uganda and later when 11 Israeli athletes were murdered during 1972 summer Olympics by a Palestine group and later Israel’s Mossad systematically singled out each of the perpetrators and killed them. 

    We got to dream of such operations and sell such a dream as a film. And, selling such dreams may be easy; their acceptance may not be.

    Saif Ali Khan is an army officer, who is fighting a sort of losing battle along with his troupe at the border as a hail of bullets is being fired at his bunk. He needs volunteers to venture out and attack the enemy head-on or do some such thing. Seeing that none of his men are in position to do that having been awake and fighting for three nights running, he decides to take it upon himself to venture out of his bunk. Barely has he moved a few hundred meters when his bunker is attacked by enemies killing all his men. 

    Being the only survivor and away from his bunker, he is deemed a deserter and a coward. He is court martialled and discharged. Dishonoured, he becomes a hermit, settling away from humanity, deep in snowy mountains. Out of sight, out of mind, RAW thinks he is the right person to do the job. Reluctant at first, Saif agrees only if to prove to his father that he is not a coward. 

    Saif starts his mission with a visit to UK where Katrina Kaif joins him on his mission. Initially, she is just supposed to identify a particular ISI agent to Saif for which, she claims, she gets paid 10,000 sterling pounds. 

    Director Kabir Khan has this fancy of shooting across foreign locations. So next, Saif heads to Chicago where he fakes a crime and gets arrested; his plan is to kill David Headley, who spied for Pakistan in India.

    Next, he moves on to the war-torn Syria for whatever reasons, sprays bullets all around, braves all the bullets sprayed at him and leaves enough marks for IAS to identify him! He tries to sell a story to ISI that he is a humiliated soldier from the Indian army who wants to join ISI and avenge his humiliation. When nobody buys his story, he walks into Pakistan anyway as Katrina seems to know her way around. Oh, yes, she does not mind the adventure though it is not a part of the 10,000 sterling pounds deal with the RAW.

    Saif goes around killing ’Nakhvi’ and sundry others till he finally catches up with ‘Hafeez Saeed.’ It is all a cakewalk for him so much so that you start doubting the intentions and commitment of the real RAW! But, you don’t because this film and its plots are more banal than a bunch of children playing Chor Police! It is as if, Lakhvi and Hafeez are waiting to be slaughtered by a RAW agent!

    Kabir likes to end his film on a high pitched patriotic note. So, here, Saif, a Muslim ex-army man, sacrifices his life for his country, India. Well? 

    The problem with Phantom is that though started early, it comes after a few similar films about counter espionage between RAW and ISI and, hence, no novelty value. What’s more, the script is amateurish and predictable. The direction is hackneyed and takes the viewer for granted. The film lacks in music, romance and whatever other ingredients one needs to make a film palatable. Even action and thrill expected out of such a film is at premium. 

    Saif and Katrina share no chemistry, in fact, Katrina’s character is not even defined. She seeks revenge from Pakistanis because they tried to destroy Hotel Taj Mahal, Mumbai, where her dad took her once a week for tea when she was a child! Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub is a new recruit at RAW and it is his idea to send Saif to Pakistan to kill the villains; he is brighter than all others at the RAW including its chief. So much for the most reputed secret service agency of India! 

    The film’s tagline reads: A story you wish were true. It can’t be, it is not the Indian way. But, as fiction too, Phantom is poor.

    Producers: Sajid Nadiadwala, Siddharth Roy Kapur

    Director: Kabir Khan

    Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub

    ‘Baankey Ki Crazy Baraat:’ This is not cinema!

    Some people seem to have resources but have no inkling of what to do with them. So they decide to make a film but, sadly, they seem to have no idea or knowhow of filmmaking either. The result is usually a film like Baankey Ki Crazy Baraat and such. 

    It seems like a bright idea for the makers to assemble a star cast of the ones who are usually given gap filler roles and regular commercial movies or, generally, feature in such films, which enrich them financially but not the film trade. So, this film brings together Sanjay Mishra, Rakesh Bedi, Rajpal Yadav and Vijay Raaz and lets them loose in front of the camera. Since there is no funny script on hand, they embark on farcical acts and gestures.

    Rajpal (Baaneky) is getting older and no girl is willing to marry him. He is not quite a girl’s idea of a man she would like to spend her life with. He is ordinary looking, is not quite smart and is rejected wherever his marriage proposal is taken. Rajpal is a desperate man now and, on their part, his family members are sad for him. However, not for long as they send a proposal for Rajpal but with a picture of some other lad. The girl’s family approves of it. 

    The idea is to bring a bride home after which Rajpal can replace the man who married the bride, Tia Bajpai in this case. The comedy is supposed to be during the baraat reaching the wedding venue and till they return with the bride. The fall guy who is made to play Baankey aka groom is Satyajeet Dubey. His father owes money to Bedi and Sanjay and he agrees to pose as a groom on the promise of his father’s debts being written off. 

    As the baraat charade goes on and, finally, the time for tying the knot is due, the bride to be and the groom to be, Tia and Satyajeet, have already fallen in love and have also sung a dream song!

    The wedding is done with and the baraat returns home. To her surprise, Tia finds Rajpal gearing up to celebrate the first night with her instead of the man she married, Satyajeet. 

    This is a poorly thought up film slated for a poor fate.

    Producer: Anita Mani

    Director: Aijaz Khan

    Cast: Sanjay Mishra, Rakesh Bedi, Gulshan Grover, Vijay Raaz, Satyajeet Dubey, Tia Bajpai

    ‘Kaun Kitney Paani Mein:’ Made to sink

    Kaun Kitney Paani Mein could well be a story out of Chandamama magazine or Panchtantra! It verges on a children’s story with a moral at the end.

    The film starts in a feudal background when the local Rajas had lost their kingdoms but their subjects still worshipped them, never daring to look up the Raja in the eye and serve him like a slave. This is about a king of a small fiefdom where there are two kinds of people, the royals and the subjects who are treated as untouchables, inhuman. Their only job is to serve the king and plough for him with almost nil returns. If the king’s subject dare fall in love with his daughter, both are killed so what if the girl is the king’s own blood? 

    The times have changed, the raja in ‘thorn’ is Saurabh Shukla. His ancestors never thought about the welfare of their people and spent life in indulgence. They used to get ample rain being on an upper terrain but never thought of building lakes, wells or ways to store water. All their monsoon water would flow down to the town of the people the rajas looked down upon who were smart enough to build reservoirs. 

    Saurabh, the raja, starts his mornings with a whiskey. He has limited options: he can either add water to his drink, wash after using the toilet or gargle. There is never enough water for a bath. Saurabh is stoned broke. He plans to sell his land as well as villages but without water, there is no buyer. 

    Kunal Kapoor, Saurabh’s son, studying away in a city comes visiting. He has been living on borrowed money because Saurabh has no money to send to him. His ambition of going to the UK for further studies is also in jeopardy.

    While Saurabh’s area is defined as Upri, the other one is known as Bairi. Bairi has no raja but the people have their leader in Gulshan Grover who aspires to become an MLA soon. His area is well cared for and has ample water as well as skills. Gulshan has a daughter, Radhika Apte, who is well-versed with needs of the people being a graduate from an agri university. 

    Saurabh thinks of the only way out from his miseries and that is for Kunal to go seduce Gulshan’s daughter and make her pregnant! That way, his people can get some water. As it would happen, however, a romance blossoms between Saurabh’s son, Kunal, and Gulshan’s daughter, Radhika. Gulshan’s political ambitions get a brain in Kunal.

    This is not really a subject for either the national audience or for the purpose of entertainment and could easily have been made into a regional film. Shot between a few locations with no props, it is the kind of film woven around a rural audience and theme that there is no identification for the rest. 

    In such a film, it makes little sense to talk of performances or other aspects. For, finally, it is all a waste.

    Kaun KItney Paani Mein is another film flushed down the lost cause list.

    Producer: Nila Madhab Panda

    Director: NIla Madhab Panda

    Cast: Kunal Kapoor, Radhika Apte, Saurabh Shukla, Gulshan Grover

  • Sixth Jagran Film Festival to open with ‘Masaan’

    Sixth Jagran Film Festival to open with ‘Masaan’

    MUMBAI: With India’s high profile entry in Cannes Film Festival Masaan directed by Neeraj Ghaywan and starring Sanjay Mishra, Richa Chaddha and Shweta Tiwary, the sixth edition of Jagran Film Festival is ready to take off starting 1 July.

     

    Winner of two prestigious awards the FIPRESCI, International Jury of Film Critics prize and Promising Future prize in the Un Certain Regard section, Masaan has received wide critical acclaim globally.

     

    While Variety’s Jay Weissberg writes, “A ‘Promising Future’ prize in Cannes should help this narratively challenged drama of two families trapped in the strictures of India’s rigid caste system.”

     

    Hollywood Reporter’s Deborsh Young describes it as “India’s modern and traditional sides face off in two interlocking love stories.”

     

    A collaborative effort of Phantom Films, Drishyam, Macassar Productions, Pathe, Sikhya Entertainment and Arte Cinema, France,  Masaan will be presented on 1 July, 2015 evening by Ghaywan and the star cast of the film to the festival delegates personally. 

     

    Cannes Film Festival’s strategic consultant Manoj Srivastava said, “It’s a matter of pride to open the festival with such a prestigious and worthy film. Masaan is just the beginning; the festival has a lot in store for film delegates this year which would be revealed over the next few days.”

     

    The Film Festival begins in New Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditoria and will present a wide ranging Indian and foreign cinema with specially curated sections on thematic lines. Masaan an official entry in the Festival will compete for the Indian Showcase Awards.

  • ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’….Missing audience

    ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha’….Missing audience

    MUMBAI: Dum Laga Ke Haisha is very unlike a Yash Raj Films product. It gives you nothing of that finesse most of their films boast of. What’s more, Bhumi Pednekar, who makes her debut with this film, is not the kind who can become a heartthrob of young men. She is not the traditional slim, stylish, chiffon clad actress Yash Raj women are identified with. Also, unlike most of their films, this one is about a traditional middleclass family based in a small town Haridwar of mid 1990s.

    Ayushmann Khurrana, the only son of Sanjay Mishra, looks after the family tape recording shop but is a zero when it comes to studies and is deficient in English. He is a huge Kumar Sanu fan. He is shy and terrified of his dominating father. His father has decided it is time to get him married and the match is found in Bhumi, a fat chubby girl who loves to dance and never wears clothes that match. However, she is better qualified and ready to become a teacher.

    The marriage is performed notwithstanding Khurrana’s reluctance. The first night draws a blank and Bhumi starts working on attracting Khurrana towards her. Her first stop is a lingerie shop. Let alone loving her, Khurrana is even ashamed of the fact that she is his wife. But Bhumi is determined and not the kind to take taunts and insults as she gives it back to Khurrana’s aunt and also ends up slapping Khurrana when she hears him insult her behind her back. Bhumi has had enough and is ready to return to her parents.

    Producer: Manish Sharma

    Director: Sharat Kataria

    Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar, Sanjay Mishra

    The dual continues as both miss no opportunity to make each other conscious of their problems. There is a scene where she plays the tape with a song to provoke Khurrana and he on his part comes out of bathroom with soap all over him to play another song to give it back to her. This turns out to be a medley of old songs. And there are times when Khurrana finds it tough to balance his scooter with Bhumi on the pillion.

    The story may not find identification with today’s audience initially but its simplicity may finally touch them. The director makes sure he keeps it as simple and maintains its old-fashioned native flavour. However, one thing that stands out as an eyesore is Khurrana’s dressing; there is nothing native about it as his costumes are dandy. Anu Malik stages a comeback and with him come some sensible lyrics and soulful tunes in ‘Moh moh ke dhage….’ As Kumar Sanu gives other two songs, ‘Dard karaara…’and ‘Tu’ the ‘90s feeling. The dialogue has subtle humour. The film is 111 minutes long and becomes more lively post interval.

    Khurrana is good in a subdued role. Bhumi is impressive. Sanjay Mishra, as usual, stands out. The rest are good as supporting cast.

    Though watchable, Dum Laga Ke Haisha has not been given due publicity and has opened poorly with very little chance of catching up.

     

    ‘Ab Tak Chhappan 2’.. Ab tak enough!

    Ab Tak Chhappan 2 as the title suggests is a sequel to Ab Tak Chhappan, released 11 years back to the day (27 February, 2004). This also suggests that the sequel has come too late as the theme of specialist police shooters, called encounter specialists, has passed its expiry date and is no more relevant. Also, so many bullets have been fired since by all and sundry (good as well as bad) that a gun-toting cop is no longer exciting.

    Nana Patekar is encounter specialist Sadhu Agashe, is facing court cases for unsanctioned killings of criminals. He is happy whiling away his time fishing, making meals for his teenaged son and playing marbles in his native village somewhere in Goa. The criminals have resurfaced and there is chaos in the city of Mumbai. The ex-commissioner, Mohan Agashe, is summoned by CM Dilip Prabhavalkar and HM Vikram Gokhale, during whose tenure as police chief the encounter specialist team was formed and underworld reined in.

    Agashe suggests Nana be brought back even as two other senior cops, Ashutosh Rana and Govind Namdeo, disagree with the idea. For his part, Nana too is reluctant despite an offer to withdraw all litigation against him. However, his son convinces him finally to go back since he is a cop and not a fisherman.

    Producers: Raju Chadha

    Director: Aejaz Gulab

    Cast: Nana Pateka, Gul Panag, Mohan Agashe, Govind Namdev, Raj Zutshi, Vikram Gokhale, Ashutosh Rana

    So Nana is back heading the force with a very resistant Rana as an enemy within. It is business as usual as Nana goes on a shooting spree, killing a goon first and then telling the viewers about the deceased. They are just dummies. But, the joke is about the two dons who rule over Mumbai underworld; one is a suave, computer-wiz Raj Zutshi, holed up somewhere abroad because he is scared of his rival, a nondescript actor, who may just pass off as a street side gunda, least of all a big time don!

    As has been reported often, these specialists also work on behest of dons and that happens in this story too as it did in the earlier version 11 years back. Nothing is new. Nana’s wife was shot dead in part one, this time his son falls to the villains’ bullets. That is the final push he needs.

    However, there is an effort to salvage the already sunk plot; this is not just another cop story, there is a twist though a very predictable one from reel one. There is a greedy politician pulling strings.

    Ab Tak Chhappan 2 is built on a wrong premise: just about everything about it is misconceived. The script is run of the mill and the direction is copy book; nothing original or inspirational. Camera angles are corny. Thankfully, there are no songs and the background score is okay. Despite a tolerable 105-minute duration, the film gives the feeling of being lengthy; some crisp editing could have brought it down to maybe 90 minutes.

    Dialogue is very tacky. There is no scope for performances and Nana sticks to being Nana. So do Rana and Namdeo, who stick to their routine. Gul Panag, whose character is forced in, is a misfit and miscast. Prabhavalkar has little to make an impact. The only actor who makes his presence felt is Gokhale.

    Ab Tak Chhappan 2 has had a miserable opening and may find it hard to last the week.

     

  • ‘Kick’ …Get a kick out of it!

    ‘Kick’ …Get a kick out of it!

    MUMBAI: Other films may have done more business at the box office but 2009’sWanted created a new slot for Salman Khan; that of a walking talking killing machine, a Superman (but without his sartorial taste of wearing his underwear over his pants). Being a Hindi film hero, he also has to simultaneously carry out the tougher job of maintaining and placating a girlfriend, and sing and dance with her in garish club sets. Ever since Wanted, films are made for Salman to fit in that same mold which assures success. The planned Eid release, something which now seems like a fixed slot for Salman starrer, adding hugely to the film’s prospects.

    Salman is on a mission; he needs to find a person who, he thinks, is responsible for a certain crime despite being in high position in politics. Meanwhile, he notices Jacqueline Fernandez, a psychiatrist, when she is wearing horn-rimmed glasses and looks like a nerd—though she changes to tiny dresses when she is ready to romance and dance the jig with the hero.

    Impressed with Salman and very much in love with him, Jacqueline ‘s love story with Salman is not quite convincing and uses up most of the first half offering nothing except a few songs on the viewer. Then, Salman is taunted by Jacqueline about his monetary status. He vows to spend his time on making money and turns into a contemporary Robin Hood. It is another matter that a little later his cause for raising money is a small kid suffering from cancer. He makes raising monies for children needing medical attention his life’s mission.

    There is a little girl who is dying of cancer and, unable to meet the expenses of her operation, her parents commit suicide. Salman takes up the cause of that child and approaches the big shots of the town for help. One of the big shots (and a minister), Nawazuddin Siddiqi, along with a bunch of his sycophants, makes the mistake of insulting him by donating Rs 100 while he needs Rs 11 lakh for the child’s survival. That is a reason enough for Salman to eliminate the gang of Nawazuddin one after the other.

    Producer: Sajid Nadiadwala.

    Director: Sajid Nadiadwala.

    Cast: Salman Khan, Jacqueline Fernandez, Randeep Hooda, Nawazuddin Siddiqi, Mithun Chakraborty, Saurabh Shukla, Vipin Sharma, Sanjay Mishra, Archana Puran Singh, Kavin Dave, Sumona Chakravarti and an item number by Nargis Fakhri.

    Meanwhile, the action has shifted to Poland and an Indian cop, Randeep Hooda, is following Salman’s tracks. He is willing and ready to shoot Salman but never does so when Salman is around him because he comes in the guise of a friend, Devi Lal while the thief Hooda is chasing is called Devil (al)!. While Salman and Hooda play cops and robbers, a lot of Nawazuddin henchman millionaires back in India are being robbed. Nawazuddin is exasperated and desperate to find the culprit and add his death to his reputation.

    The film turns into a caper as Salman carries out a number of heists in varied ways maintaining his humour all the while. These missions are serious business for Salman and his romance with Jacqueline has been called off, while Hooda, who has come to Warsaw chasing Salman, happens to be her family friend and it is left to her to look after him. A sort of triangle is formed. Though predictable and seen earlier, now the sequence is such that Salman is hunting for Nawazuddin and Hooda is hunting for Salman the Devil. These are the parts that make Kick interesting as would be expected from a Salman action thriller.

    The script, as should be apparent, is a bit messy .There is nothing solid happening in the first half except a romance without chemistry. All the action is in the second half where there are some sudden jumps and locations unexplained. You don’t know whether you are in Delhi or Europe, whether one is in past or in present as the things unwind. Sajid Nadiadwala’s foray into direction considering these glitches in the script is satisfactory. What matters is that it will go down in the record books as ‘A super hit on debut’ for him. The film has competent cinematography by Ayananka Bose. The film’s music is not up to the mark and adds to the tedium of the first part. The one song which has popular appeal is ‘Jumme ki raat…’ Dialogue has the usual Salman one liners laced with humour.

    The film belongs to Salman Khan all the way and he is in full form. Randeep Hooda comes in a different role and justifies it. Nawazuddin as a maniacal villain, the kind you see in a Bond film or a super hero film, may not come across as strong enough against Salman but looks sinister enough to be slayed. Jacqueline is okay. Mithun Chakraborty as Salman’s father complements him well. Kavin Dave and Sumona Chakravarti lead the supporting cast of able actors like Saurabh Shukla, Vipin Sharma, Sanjay Mishra and Archana Puran Singh.  

    Kick has taken a thundering opening despite coming on the last Friday of Ramzan and Kavad processions in the North as a Maha Shivratri ritual. The film is expected to break first day records and enjoy a ‘10 day weekend’ at the box office and creating more records.

  • Bhootnath Returns…….Ghost Samaritan

    Bhootnath Returns…….Ghost Samaritan

    MUMBAI: It has become a trend for a film to end with a threat of a sequel. Good or bad or outright disastrous, most films leave open the possibility. That is like hoping to build a high rise on a weak foundation since most of these films promising sequels are flops. In that event, what led to the sequel to Bhootnath which was rejected in cinemas though it did better on TV and DVD circuits? Whatever the inspiration, here goes:

    Bhootnath, Amitabh Bachchan, has been referred back to ghost land like a bounced cheque since he has failed to scare people on his first outing with earthlings. Ghosts laugh at him because of his failure to scare humans. Amitabh has eons before he can return to earth as a human and he feels belittled at this treatment by fellow ghosts. He asks the boss of ghost land to give him one more chance to go back and successfully scare people. After all, scaring living beings is what ghosts are supposed to do!I know as much about ghosts as ghosts know about me but this is what the film professes.

    Back on earth, Amitabh uses his ghostly powers to scare some kids playing cricket in a deserted place. The kids are not the kind to believe in ghosts, let alone be scared of one. He comes across a kid, Parth Bhalerao, who can see him and is not scared of him since he does not believe Amitabh to be a ghost; the kid is street smart.  A street smart kid led to Amitabh’s failure on his last trip on earth but, this time, the kid and the ghost both decide to use each others’ strengths.

    Producers: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Chopra, Renu Ravi Chopra.

    Direction: Nitesh Tiwari.

    Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Parth Bhalerao, Boman Irani, Usha Jadhav, Sanjay Mishra, Brijendra Kala, Usha Nadkarni.

    It seems the area where Partho lives, Dharavi, is the most neglected and deprived in Mumbai. Bhootnath decides to make his return to the earth at Dharavi, his bad luck! Soon Parth teaches the ghost the game of using each other. While Parth uses Amitabh to first help scare the convent school gang of cricket players and get into their league, Amitabh, in return, earns secrecy about his being and the fact that he is not all that scary a ghost. With a little help from Parth, Amitabh becomes a good neighbourly ghost helping people get their due justice. It is all fun so far but it is also time to introduce the villain.

    Boman Irani is an ex-local goon turned politician and has been ruling the area assembly seat for the last three terms. His is a reign of terror, corruption and exploitation. His voters abhor him but also vote for him. Nobody would contest an election against him and, finally, it is left to Amitabh to do it. The law is silent on weather a dead man can contest an election and his lawyer, Sanjay Mishra, asserts as such. So, it is an electoral fight between Amitabh and Boman. This is where the film loses its purpose and direction and, mainly, its target audience: the kids it is aimed at.

    The film entertains with its witty one liners delivered by Parth but, once the election issue is introduced, it becomes another film altogether. The light moments vanish and moralising lectures take their place, which is boring. On that count, the script loses its purpose. Direction is fair with quite a few liberties taken. There is no scope for songs except for sermonising kinds. Cinematography is good. Dialogue is well penned. The film has sourced a few of its actors from Marathi films. Parth is impressive. Usha Jadhav as his mother is very good. Amitabh Bachchan is his usual self, one who does not have to act to convey his part. Boman Irani goes a bit overboard at times. Sanjay Mishra and Brijendra Kala are good as always. Shah Rukh Khan and Ranbir Kapoor make brief cameos to no effect.

    On the whole, the problem with Bhootnath Returns is that it turns out to be a children’s film with an adult theme coming as it does in the multiplex era where waiting for a DVD works out more economical than sending kids to cinema halls (as has been proved by the performance of Bhootnath on this count).

  • Chhod na yaar… this is not comedy

    Chhod na yaar… this is not comedy

    War Chhod Na Yaar is an attempt at making a war comedy. We don’t make too many war films and a comedy at that; this is the first such attempt at cross-pollination. Since a comedy will need one of the two countries involved as stupid and since it can’t be India or the Indian army, it is the Pakistani army which will have to look inefficient and stupid. It also shows Pakistan as being totally dependent on Chinese arms which are not effective.

    A wire fence separates sandy terrain with the Indian army on one side, led by Sharman Joshi, and a bunch of ragtag Pakistani army soldiers on the other, led by Sanjay Mishra and Javed Jaaferi. At nights, both Sharman and Javed meet at the fencing and play cards, with Sharman always carrying a bottle of alcohol as a gift for his Pakistani counterpart. The army on both sides also play antakshari across the wires. However, the playing sessions, antakshari and bonhomie are not going to last as a Pakistani minister manipulated by the Chinese and an Indian minister under influence of an American politician (both played by Dalip Tahil) are planning a war between both the countries. The Pakistani general, Manoj Pahwa, has little interest in what his minister is indulging in and is addicted to a game on his cell phone.

    The Indian minister takes Soha Ali Khan, a TV reporter, to the border post under Sharman’s command, where she can shoot his speech which he wants her to telecast the day war starts to make it look as if the minister braved the war and visited the soldiers on the border. The Pakistani minister chooses to send his message shot in a studio but makes it look like he is on border. It is all about the politicians creating tensions though the public may not want it. Even the soldiers don’t want war and want to coexist in peace.

     

    Producer: AOPL Entertainment P Ltd.
    Director: Faraz Haider.
    Cast: Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, Javed Jaaferi, Dalip Tahil, Sanjay Mishra, Mukul Dev, Manoj Pahwa.

    While Soha and Sharman share romantic vibes, she also thinks that as a media person, she can make the world aware of the people’s feelings on both sides which may force politicians to backtrack, bringing an end to the war. A bunch of young people also exchange notes with their friends across the border through social networks. Soha crosses the fence with the help of Javed and interviews Pakistani soldiers, she also interviews the Indian side and asks her channel to telecast live the whole story from the minister confiding in her about the war to the views of the army on both sides.

    Comedy has not been the forte of Hindi makers and War Chhod Na Yaar also falls short on being an outright comedy. There are some funny scenes but consistency is missing. There is also repetition. For example, Pahwa and the Chinese leader do the same thing throughout and can’t be expected to be entertaining every time they appear. Also, the end part becomes boring when sermonising begins. Direction is fair. The film has a hummable number in Main jagu aksar….Cinematography is good.

    War Chhod Na Yaar not only lacks in face value but its release period is also not conducive to good box office results.

  • Anshul Sharma helming sequel of Phas Gaye Re Obama

    Anshul Sharma helming sequel of Phas Gaye Re Obama

    MUMBAI: The second part (yet untitled) of Ashok Pandey‘s critically-acclaimed film Phas Gaye Re Obama is being helmed by Anshul Sharma. He replaces Subhash Kapoor who directed the original.

    Confirming the news, producer Ashoke Pandey said, “Without giving away the plot at this early juncture, I would like to say that the story revolves around issues we face in day-to-day life, quite similar to what you have seen before. While Phas Gaye Re Obama was a satire on how the ripple effect of a recession hit America was felt in rural India too, the sequel too will be a satire on similar lines.”

    Sharma, who had earlier worked as an associate director to Kapoor Pandey, said: “Yes, Anshul Sharma is directing the film. We had to come to this decision because Subhash is busy with something else right now and our timings didn‘t match.”

    The original had Rajat Kapoor, Neha Dhupia, Sanjay Mishra, Manu Rishi and Amole Gupte in the lead roles. The sequel has retained almost all the entire cast from the original except for Dhupia and Kapoor.

    The film, 50 per cent complete, is expected to hit the theatres in summer 2012.