Showing posts with label Movie Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie Reviews. Show all posts
A rich, care-free Delhi girl who zips the town in her yellow Beetle car, sports trendy designer labels, parties hard, wears pretty hats for the Sunday polo matches and yes, also visits poor animal rights centre like a perfect rich-socialite thinks she is good at conjuring up hearts together and thinks match making as social service. Between all these, she and her best friend the petite Pinky (Iris Dubey) thinks they may have to be single forever. A whole khandan in designer dresses – papa, mausi, chacha, didi, jiju, jiju’s brother, jiju’s new beta, chacha’s son from first marriage, a distant cousin from Haryana, a rich heir who is in love with Aisha makes the life complete in Aisha’s world. Who is the hero in this inner coterie? Its Jiju’s brother, Arjun Burman (Abhay Deol) who also happens to be childhood friend of Aisha and who is at constant loggerheads with Aisha. Arjun is against Aisha’s way of interfering in others life and cooking their life. Meanwhile he dates his NRI colleague and friend Aarti (Lisa Haydon). In a sea of events unfolding partly in an expected manner, Aisha discovers her fault line and finds her true love calling in a Romeo Juliet way.
Aisha is like Page 3. All glitz glamor and high society. There is nothing middle class about the movie, saving Anand Tiwari who appears as Saurabh who has a huge crush over Shefali (Amrita Puri), the distant cousin of Aisha. The movie could have been very well a brand ambassador for many a high fashion items in India.
Music composed by Amit Trivedi is a big plus point and so is the cinematography. Aisha is producer papa Anil Kapoor’s gift to his beti. The movie revolves around Sonam, her world and her choice with all the designer labels to accompany.
Aisha is like Page 3. All glitz glamor and high society. There is nothing middle class about the movie, saving Anand Tiwari who appears as Saurabh who has a huge crush over Shefali (Amrita Puri), the distant cousin of Aisha. The movie could have been very well a brand ambassador for many a high fashion items in India.
Music composed by Amit Trivedi is a big plus point and so is the cinematography. Aisha is producer papa Anil Kapoor’s gift to his beti. The movie revolves around Sonam, her world and her choice with all the designer labels to accompany.
Verdict: When I watched the movie, I was the only guy in the entire row flanked by rows of giggling girls – that says it all. Aisha is a sweet movie, though not perfect but will definitely make you smile. Makes a good popcorn time for this weekend.
Rahul Dholakia’s ‘Lamhaa’ is an ambitious attempt, trying to bring to fore the multifaceted conundrum that the Kashmir crisis is. For the most part it is quite a realistic depiction of the various issues that plague Kashmir. The film, probably deliberately, is more like a documentary than a cohesive narrative that unfolds to tell a compelling story.
Kashmiriyat, the catalytic role that ISI plays in the valley, the vested interests of the Indian and Pakistani governments in keeping the issue alive, the plight of Kashmiri pandits, the atrocities by the security personnel, the trials suffered by the widows and orphans caught in the midst of all this and foremost, the systematic brainwashing of young and vulnerable minds to join the ‘holy’ Jehad – Dholakia attempts to address all these issues in this film. Given that Kashmir cannot be understood from a limited perspective and any portrayal of this contentious issue needs a holistic approach, Dholakia fails to provide a comprehensive narrative.
It’s a persuasive tale, how the issue of Kashmir has become more of a business proposition and a story of political one-upmanship for those in power. Caught in the crossfire of political rhetoric and unabated militancy are ordinary lives struggling to come out of the shadow of terror. But somewhere it falls short of becoming that one defining film on Kashmir that tells a complete untold story.
The cast doesn’t disappoint with Sanjay Dutt, Bipasha Basu and Anupam Kher delivering their parts with conviction. Kunal Kapoor is decent except his attempted fiery and provocative speeches that fall flat and sound totally unconvincing and filmy. Some characters with their frightening beards seem like lame stereotypes that we could have done without.
The songs are just thrown in without any attempt to weave it into the narrative. The experimentation with the camera movements and editing didn’t quite seem to have the desired effect; in fact, I found it quite disconcerting initially.
To give him his due, it’s a commendable effort but the climax doesn’t quite pay off. Like I said, in his attempt to address varied issues at the same time, the plot doesn’t quite tie in everything with together at the end. I was left wanting for more and looking for some kind of closure while I watched the end credits on screen.
Before I even begin to vent what an ordeal this movie watching experience was, I think it would be an excellent business proposition for multiplexes to have a pharmacy just next to the popcorn counter.
Coming to the film now, ‘Milenge Milenge’ looks like a film from the late ‘80s, ‘90s; given that it was five years in the making, the film is the most ridiculous, corny and unbelievable love story that you can come across. Why would anyone in their right mind want to even be a part of a film like this makes me question their sanity?
Basic premise: Kareena is a typical traditional “Indian girl” whose only aspiration in life is to get married, have children and see her husband off to work everyday. Her only condition a) He shouldn’t smoke b) He shouldn’t drink and c) He should never lie. After a tarot card reader tells her that she will meet her dream man on foreign shores, near a water body, at 7 o’clock in the morning, wearing multi-colored (exactly seven) clothes, Kareena waits for the prophecy to come true.
And believe it or not, as ‘destiny’ would have it and with a little bit of manipulation (from the hero, who falls in love with her the moment he sees her ephemeral sleeping face in the moonlight), she finds her Prince Charming playing the guitar on the seashore precisely at 7 am in the morning, wearing exactly what he is supposed to.
So where’s the conflict in the plot? Shahid, who looks like he hasn’t even grown facial hair yet, smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish and doesn’t even blink an eyelid before lying. It doesn’t take too long for then-not-size-zero Bebo to know that her Mr. Right is obviously all wrong but our hero is a changed man by then. She has none of it and in her bid to ‘test’ destiny, she figures out the most bizarre plot-contraptions possible to verify whether they are actually made for each other.
Post interval, we are suddenly fast forwarded to 3 years later, I don’t know if I missed a subtitle that said so but we are somehow informed about the elapsed time. By now, Bebo is engaged to marry this most frightening looking man and Shahid’s very loving father has announced his engagement to Aarti Chhabria without the groom’s consent.
So here we have this implausible situation the lovers have to overcome. They were in love for all of five days, they haven’t as much as seen or heard from each other in three years and they decide to give their love one last chance just a week before they are supposed to marry their respective significant others. (By this time I wanted to actually beg my friend who had accompanied me to the theatre to strangle me to death).
There is nothing more to be said, except that in the three years that had passed, time had stood still and Bebo’s dirty golden tresses hadn’t even faded a shade. Till interval I couldn’t figure out what was Shahid’s name in the film; for some absurd reason he is called Immy.
I can’t recollect one dialogue, one moment from the film that was pleasant. The less said about Himesh Reshammiya’s pre-surgery nasal playback singing and music the better. The director, Satish Kaushik’s cameo and blatant pandering to Muslim viewers’ sentiments (a standard device in movies of the ‘80s) made me cringe.
I will run out of synonyms but I still wouldn’t be able to completely convey how predictable, clichéd and implausible the film is. The least Boney Kapoor could have done for the audience who willfully subjected themselves to the torture of watching this film, was to have a kiosk just outside the theatre that doled out free Disprins.
Starring :- Abhishek Bachan , Aishwarya Rai Bachan , Vikram & Govinda !
Director :- Mani Ratnam
Music Director :- AR Rahman
Director :- Mani Ratnam
Music Director :- AR Rahman
‘Mani Ratnam directs his own version of the widely worshipped, great mythological epic, Ramayana.’ The statement alone was enough for alarmingly raising the curiosity levels both within the Industry and among the audience. But honestly, the promos as well as the music had put me in a dilemma. At one end, the movie looked like an abstract beautiful painting with African kind of soundtrack used in its background and at the other it clearly gave some strong signals of having an uninteresting and unfavorable execution.
Sadly, all my fears and doubts got confirmed right in the first hour of witnessing this modernized version of Ramayana, made by one of the greatest directors of Indian Film Industry, Mani Ratnam. In straight words, though RAAVAN undoubtedly remains one of the most magnificently shot movies of Indian Cinema, but at the same time it’s also unexpectedly the weakest movie till date from its reputed director.
Starting straight from the kidnapping sequence, RAAVAN simply announces that it’s more going to be a visual treat for some selected viewers and not a complete entertainer for the masses. The project stands nowhere, when compared to the illustrious list of offerings from Mani Ratnam in the past. The director had everything at his disposal to come up with a brilliant adaptation of the divine scripture. Yet what he delivers is just a well shot version of the famous story which even doesn’t justify every character of the script in the much desired way. In fact a few godly names having a prominent role in the story are just showcased as some un-important people in the script with only a few scenes.
The biggest and the most un-responsible portrayal on the screen is of “Hanuman”, who in reality is the second largest worshipped character of Ramayana in the whole world after Rama & Sita. Very regrettably Mani Ratnam uses the talented Govinda in this role and only makes him jumps over the trees in the jungle as a funny creature. That was indeed not expected from a director of his caliber. Moreover, Govinda is there only for a few scenes and then just vanishes off the screen before the climax just like that. Why the director and his writers conceived this most loved and humble character of the epic in such a way remains questionable?
The other characters which get some real rough treatment are of “Surpanakha” and “Lakshman”. What would be your response if I reveal that in this fictional depiction of the story, Beera’s (Raavan’s) sister (Srupnakha) gets picked up from his marriage venue by Nikhil Driwedi (playing Lakshman), who is the right hand of Dev (A Police Officer playing Ram) and then the girl is raped by him along with other policemen in the Police Station itself. What a brutal way to bring up the “Lakshman-Srupnakha” episode of the Ramayana resulting in “Raavan abduction of Sita”.
Due to this horrifying episode with his sister at the Police Station, Beera kidnaps the Police Offical’s wife Ragini (Aishwarya playing Sita) and keeps her in his hiding for 14 days. And then the Police starts searching for them in the jungle with the help of “Sanjeevni” (Hanuman) played by Govinda. That’s the story as a whole followed by this new age version by Mani Ratnam. Further the movie also incorporates the Agni-Pariksha instance from the Ramayana, when after returning from Beera’s den, Dev asks Ragini to give a Poly Graph test to prove her truth (which looks quite silly and unimpressive).
Coming to the main performances of Ram, Sita, Lakshman and Raavan, all the four fall apart and are not able to make an impact of any sort. Vikram playing Ram doesn’t get any good scenes and his character remains the most underwritten one from the prominent four. So there is no Ram kind of impression left on the viewers and Vikram performs just fine in his assigned role. Aishwarya as Sita looks stunning even in her without make up looks which is indeed remarkable from the camera point of view. She tries hard to come up as the best in the movie and also succeeds in her attempt due to the weak projection of her rival character Raavan. But towards the end, the director makes her look confusing when she unexplainably returns to Beera after facing rejection from her Husband. No doubt this particular sequence in the movie was a result of some bad writing. Nikhil Driwedi as Lakshman is energetic and should feel blessed to be chosen by the master himself for a role.
Abhishek as Ravaan is good but that’s it. He is not at all exceptional as projected by all that pre-release hype created by the producers. The deliberately made famous great laughter of his can be found nowhere in the movie. Neither there is any typical dialogue delivery style adapted by him, contrary to the expectations. As a result he is not able to leave any terrifying impact on the viewers. He is just a bad man with a good heart in the movie and that’s all. Perhaps that is the main reason why RAAVAN doesn’t match up to its projected levels due to the lackluster portrayal of its lead character.
Another big drawback of this costly venture is its climax . The movie ends up with a simple attack on Beera and he dies without even fighting. The whole sequence of his final killing looks very easy and unconvincing. Moreover the question remains that why now Dev easily accepts his wife after Beera’s death, when she even had returned to Beera after his suspecting act.
On the music front, truly speaking I liked the arrangement part of A. R. Rahman’s music more than his compositions. The melody was only there in few numbers and the best one remains “Kata Kata” track with amazing beats and singing. Main Ratnam seems to have a soft corner for “A Marriage Song” in his movies as this reminded me of a similar song in his “Roja”. Background score is brilliant, aptly matching the gorgeous locations on the screen.
Now about the only best part of the movie which is it’s “Stunning Cinematography”. The green and unexplored locations of a forest range within mountains, is something never seen before on the Indian Screen. The Visual appeal of the movie is simply outstanding and unique. In real terms if you are a student of cinema or of cinematography then the movie has indeed got some textbook material on the subject and it’s a must see for all those interested in its technicality.
But to be realistic, RAAVAN remains a masterpiece only for a tiny section of the viewers who essentially are part of the trade only. Its technical excellence is of least importance for the common man who is mainly looking for some great entertainment in return for his hard earned money. So, go for it only if you are interested in that part of the movie experience and don’t expect anything else this time from the brand name of Main Ratnam.
Rating : 1.5 / 5
Sadly, all my fears and doubts got confirmed right in the first hour of witnessing this modernized version of Ramayana, made by one of the greatest directors of Indian Film Industry, Mani Ratnam. In straight words, though RAAVAN undoubtedly remains one of the most magnificently shot movies of Indian Cinema, but at the same time it’s also unexpectedly the weakest movie till date from its reputed director.
Starting straight from the kidnapping sequence, RAAVAN simply announces that it’s more going to be a visual treat for some selected viewers and not a complete entertainer for the masses. The project stands nowhere, when compared to the illustrious list of offerings from Mani Ratnam in the past. The director had everything at his disposal to come up with a brilliant adaptation of the divine scripture. Yet what he delivers is just a well shot version of the famous story which even doesn’t justify every character of the script in the much desired way. In fact a few godly names having a prominent role in the story are just showcased as some un-important people in the script with only a few scenes.
The biggest and the most un-responsible portrayal on the screen is of “Hanuman”, who in reality is the second largest worshipped character of Ramayana in the whole world after Rama & Sita. Very regrettably Mani Ratnam uses the talented Govinda in this role and only makes him jumps over the trees in the jungle as a funny creature. That was indeed not expected from a director of his caliber. Moreover, Govinda is there only for a few scenes and then just vanishes off the screen before the climax just like that. Why the director and his writers conceived this most loved and humble character of the epic in such a way remains questionable?
The other characters which get some real rough treatment are of “Surpanakha” and “Lakshman”. What would be your response if I reveal that in this fictional depiction of the story, Beera’s (Raavan’s) sister (Srupnakha) gets picked up from his marriage venue by Nikhil Driwedi (playing Lakshman), who is the right hand of Dev (A Police Officer playing Ram) and then the girl is raped by him along with other policemen in the Police Station itself. What a brutal way to bring up the “Lakshman-Srupnakha” episode of the Ramayana resulting in “Raavan abduction of Sita”.
Due to this horrifying episode with his sister at the Police Station, Beera kidnaps the Police Offical’s wife Ragini (Aishwarya playing Sita) and keeps her in his hiding for 14 days. And then the Police starts searching for them in the jungle with the help of “Sanjeevni” (Hanuman) played by Govinda. That’s the story as a whole followed by this new age version by Mani Ratnam. Further the movie also incorporates the Agni-Pariksha instance from the Ramayana, when after returning from Beera’s den, Dev asks Ragini to give a Poly Graph test to prove her truth (which looks quite silly and unimpressive).
Coming to the main performances of Ram, Sita, Lakshman and Raavan, all the four fall apart and are not able to make an impact of any sort. Vikram playing Ram doesn’t get any good scenes and his character remains the most underwritten one from the prominent four. So there is no Ram kind of impression left on the viewers and Vikram performs just fine in his assigned role. Aishwarya as Sita looks stunning even in her without make up looks which is indeed remarkable from the camera point of view. She tries hard to come up as the best in the movie and also succeeds in her attempt due to the weak projection of her rival character Raavan. But towards the end, the director makes her look confusing when she unexplainably returns to Beera after facing rejection from her Husband. No doubt this particular sequence in the movie was a result of some bad writing. Nikhil Driwedi as Lakshman is energetic and should feel blessed to be chosen by the master himself for a role.
Abhishek as Ravaan is good but that’s it. He is not at all exceptional as projected by all that pre-release hype created by the producers. The deliberately made famous great laughter of his can be found nowhere in the movie. Neither there is any typical dialogue delivery style adapted by him, contrary to the expectations. As a result he is not able to leave any terrifying impact on the viewers. He is just a bad man with a good heart in the movie and that’s all. Perhaps that is the main reason why RAAVAN doesn’t match up to its projected levels due to the lackluster portrayal of its lead character.
Another big drawback of this costly venture is its climax . The movie ends up with a simple attack on Beera and he dies without even fighting. The whole sequence of his final killing looks very easy and unconvincing. Moreover the question remains that why now Dev easily accepts his wife after Beera’s death, when she even had returned to Beera after his suspecting act.
On the music front, truly speaking I liked the arrangement part of A. R. Rahman’s music more than his compositions. The melody was only there in few numbers and the best one remains “Kata Kata” track with amazing beats and singing. Main Ratnam seems to have a soft corner for “A Marriage Song” in his movies as this reminded me of a similar song in his “Roja”. Background score is brilliant, aptly matching the gorgeous locations on the screen.
Now about the only best part of the movie which is it’s “Stunning Cinematography”. The green and unexplored locations of a forest range within mountains, is something never seen before on the Indian Screen. The Visual appeal of the movie is simply outstanding and unique. In real terms if you are a student of cinema or of cinematography then the movie has indeed got some textbook material on the subject and it’s a must see for all those interested in its technicality.
But to be realistic, RAAVAN remains a masterpiece only for a tiny section of the viewers who essentially are part of the trade only. Its technical excellence is of least importance for the common man who is mainly looking for some great entertainment in return for his hard earned money. So, go for it only if you are interested in that part of the movie experience and don’t expect anything else this time from the brand name of Main Ratnam.
Rating : 1.5 / 5
Starring :- Hrithink Roshan , barbara Mori , Kangana Ranaut !!
The much awaited and annoyingly very much delayed movie finally hits flies into the movie halls. My eagerness took a beating twice when I could not attend the Thursday preview and when I took the First show of the Friday; I was told the show is cancelled since there was some issue in releasing the movie in Bangalore. Luckily with police security beefed up, I got the tickets for the noon show. With expectations flying high, did kites fly miles high too ? Well read on further.
J (Hrithik Roshan) is a dancer, Dances For Passing Time in Las Vegas who also does marriage of convenience with illegal immigrants who wants permanent citizenship That is Green Car And their by makes extra bucks. He aspires big and like many chasing dreams in Las Vegas awaits his lucky charm. The luck comes in the form of Gina (Kangana Ranaut) daughter of powerful, rich Casanova Bob (Kabir Bedi). She falls in love with J and J decides to pretend to love her and marry her all for the huge wealth she inherits. During the engagement ceremony of Gina’s brother Tony with Natasha (Barbara Mori), he falls in love with her. Natasha happens to be the same Linda, a Spanish speaking Mexican illegal immigrant whom he marries once for convenience for her citizenship. From here follows a story of finding true love and the haunting after-effects.
The movie begins with J falling off from a wagon train with bullet injuries and the workers rescuing him. From there the movie oscillates into flashbacks and J’s search for Linda. Kites does not have any extra-ordinary story, the Hindi/English speaking J and the Spanish speaking Linda reminds of Kamal Hasan and Rati Agnihotri of Ek Duje Ke Liye but what makes Kites still fly is the packaging. There is no unwanted glamorization, slapstick cheap comedy but the movie looks rich. The New Mexican locations are carefully selected and captivate us in the screen with some amazing cinematography by Ayananka Bose.
Much has been talked about the chemistry of Hrithik and Barbar Mori and it is there in the screen for you to see. Hrithik is unbelievably handsome with his Greek God like body and green eyes and Barbara looks lovely, sprightly. Together they compliment well each other.
There are some very enjoyable scene like when Hrithik asks Barbara on the night before her marriage day with Tony, if she really loves Tony and the answer she gives in return. Along with this the movie also has some pretty bollywoodish silly scenes like the Casanova and his son giving a gun to J and egging him to kill a man who cheated in their casino and the shootout in an inn between cops and cow-boy styled thieves. Even the climax shoot out in rain la Max Payne style was not befitting the movie.
Youngistan Verdict:- The story is ordinary but the way the Roshans and Anurag basu has presented as a whole package is extraordinary and wonderful. When you watch the movie with the massive hype weighing in your mind, you might be slightly disappointed but Hrithik Roshan and Barbara Mori holds the movie soar high helped with a good production quality. I would recommend you to watch but shed the baggage of hype and expectations.
Tag Line :- Kites Dint Fly High !! Lol
Movie Rating :-
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