Film Review: GABBAR IS BACK

A full-scale entertainer!

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Shruti Hassan, Suman Talwar, Sunil Grover
Director: Krish
Editor: Rajesh G. Pandey

I loved the promos and had been waiting to catch this one as soon as I could. Venkat had already seen it a couple of days back. So, it was Vinny and me who went to PVR Cinemas @ Sion (Yeah, it’s Cinemax no more) for the 8.10 pm show on Thursday.

The Film

“Gabbar” is the name Professor Aditya (Akshay Kumar) of National College fame gives himself when he’s out to get fraudulent government officers. Gabbar manages to kidnap 10 District Tahsildars. After three days, nine are let out and one is found hung in the middle of the road from a high point. Gabbar sends the police a CD, where he has recorded the reason ‘why’. All ten of the Tahsildars are extremely corrupt and Gabbar has killed the worst of the lot. Thus begins Gabbar’s terror strikes against corruption. Soon, everyone is petrified of taking bribe, at least in that particular department where Gabbar has struck.

There is one well-educated constable called Hawaldar Sadhuram (Sunil Grover) who’s relegated to driving the police officers around – only because he couldn’t afford the bribe to become a sub-inspector. When strongly discouraged by his seniors, he takes leave from work and sets out to find out who Gabbar is.

Aditya happens to meet Shruti (Shruti Hassan) by chance when she’s helping a pregnant woman get to hospital. She’s a lawyer and soon the two are in love. While Gabbar does his best to clean up the corrupt government departments, Aditya comes across a private hospital that fleeces patients mercilessly. Gabbar sets out to deal with the doctors only to catch the attention of business tycoon Patil (Suman Talwar).

I am not going to say much more about the film here. Yeah, there is more.

My Perception

As I mentioned above, I loved the promos and had to watch the film. And I must say that I wasn’t disappointed. Akshay Kumar has a new look – older and mature. It suits him perfectly. His acting skills have improved tremendously and he makes an excellent action star. He’s performed his role as Professor Aditya and Gabbar too well.

Kareena Kapoor in her brief role as Aditya’s wife looks gorgeous. She’s good though there is not much of an opportunity for her to act. Shruti Hassan looks lovely as well and plays the part of a bubbly lawyer well. I must say that she has improved a lot since the days of Luck.

It’s Sunil Grover as Hawaldar Sadhuram who takes the second prize for acting in this film. He’s too good with both his expression and dialogue delivery. Kudos!

Suman Talwar used to be a hero in Tamil films a few decades ago. Recently, he is taken to portray the bad guy in movies. He makes for a good villain. Chitrangada Singh sizzles in an item number that has been filmed very well.

Special Congratulations to Rajesh G. Pandey for editing the film to perfection! There was not one second wastage as the scenes flew from one to another, keeping it crisp and tight, running for 2 hours and 10 minutes.

After all this, I need to mention that Gabbar Is Back is a remake of the Tamil film Ramanaa (2002)

VERDICT: If you are fond of seeing good triumphing over evil, you will love this one.

*Silly
**Shaky
***Smart
****Snazzy
*****Super

Film Review: GORI TERE PYAAR MEIN

Gori Tere Pyaar Mein

I wish the film had been crisper with less or no songs and a tight edit

Cast: Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Nizhalgal Ravi
Director: Punit Malhotra

Venkat and I were keen to see this movie and could only go this Thursday – a week after its release. We both enjoyed the film.

THE STORY

Sriram Venkat (Imran Khan) is a happy-go-lucky architect who works for his father. The Tam-Bram family lives in Bangalore. Sriram’s father is quite tired of asking him to be more responsible. That’s when the parents decide to get him married. They arrange a match with Vasudha (Shraddha Kapoor). Vasudha tells him in private that she is in love with someone else and requests Sriram to reject her. He in turn tells her to talk to her parents as he does not want to say ‘no’ to the alliance and earn his father’s wrath. The couple gets engaged. In flashback, Sriram talks to Vasudha about his broken relationship with Diya (Kareena Kapoor). Sriram’s perception changes as he talks more and more about Diya. And then he decides to run away from his own wedding…..

MY PERCEPTION

As I have mentioned in other film reviews, Imran Khan can act at times. Luckily, this is one of those films. He has done a very good job of playing the character of a guy who lives on the surface who later moves on to discover himself. Nice one, Imran!

Kareena Kapoor looks gorgeous in her role as Diya and she has also acted very well. There was a time a few years ago when I used to dread watching her films. She has come a long long way. Great work, Kareena!

Shraddha Kapoor’s role is quite small and does not have much scope. She was okay with what there was.

The story is good and the lack of violence was what I liked most about the film. Despite there being opportunities for a few fight sequences, the movie makers have steered clear of them. I am so glad for one. The concept is good and quite forward thinking. But I wish the film had been crisper with less or no songs and a tight edit. That would have kept the audience hooked. And that is probably the reason why the theatres did not run full despite the film being good.

A couple of bloopers that I could not help but notice as I am a Tam-Bram myself – a Tamil bride does not dress in a silk full skirt and synthetic half sari for her wedding. The bridegroom gets all set for Kasi Yaathirai (a trip to Kasi to give up the life of a family man) wearing his slippers – not barefoot like Imran. As he decides to go away, the bride’s father requests him to return promising a beautiful wife in the form of his own daughter. The older guy washes the groom’s feet AFTER he has been persuaded to cancel his trip to Kasi. And NOBODY eggs the bridegroom on to run away. The scene appeared quite stupid to me.

VERDICT: It’s worth a see definitely, especially if you like romance.

RANKING: ***Smart

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: AGENT VINOD

The Desi James Bond is most definitely worth a watch

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Ravi Kissen, Kareena Kapoor, Ram Kapoor, Prem Chopra, Gulshan Grover, Adil Hussain
Director: Sriram Raghavan

Venkat was very keen to watch this film on the day of its release. After a long time, all four of us could go for this one together. As usual, I have to thank Cinemax Sion for organizing the tickets at short notice.

THE STORY:

A nuclear bomb that could destroy everything within a 10 km radius has been created in Russia. It is up for auction and criminals are desperate to get their hands on it. Agent Vinod (Saif Ali Khan) works for RAW, India’s intelligence agency. He is sent on a mission to save the world.

Vinod takes off across Afghanistan, St. Petersburg, Morocco, New Delhi and a few other places, chasing criminals. Into the fray jumps Ruby Mendes (Kareena Kapoor). But is she friend or foe? Watch the film to find out what’s happening.

MY PERCEPTION:

Well, as you can see, I have mentioned very little of the story as it is barely 24 hours since the film’s release.

First of all, Congratulations to Saif Ali Khan on producing this excellent film! His acting has got to yet another level and Saif has done a great job of the desi James Bond. I would say that it’s not very fair to compare this film with James Bond, but everyone is automatically doing just that. Even considering that, Agent Vinod is a very good film.

Kareena Kapoor has a good role and she has executed that perfectly. Kudos!

Ram Kapoor has done an excellent job of his very short role as a mafia don based in Russia. Prem Chopra was very good as the criminal based in Morocco.

While Ravi Kissen, Rajat Kapoor and Gulshan Grover had minuscule roles, the characters fitted in very well with the flow of the film.

The music does not distract you from the film in any way and blends well. In fact, the drum beat that was used throughout formed a perfect background score. Simply loved it!

Adil Hussain as the Colonel was a class apart. I had seen this actor playing Vidya Balan’s husband in Ishqiya. He makes a cool villain.

The film has it all – a clear-cut plot, slick action, a savvy hero, a stylish heroine, villains galore, song, dance, foreign locations and more. The cinematography was excellent.

More importantly, the film runs for 2 hours and 40 minutes but still manages to keep the audience hooked. And that is something! The film moves quite fast and the director deserves a special Kudos for that one. Keep up the good work, Sriram Raghavan!

VERDICT: What are you waiting for? Catch the next show

RATING: **** Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: EK MAIN AUR EKK TU

Has Bollywood finally arrived!!!!!!!!!! A simple, short film with not too many songs

Cast: Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, Ratna Pathak Shah, Ram Kapoor
Director: Shakun Batra

I know it’s been a while since I wrote film reviews. While I could not write a review for Rockstar as I left for Chennai some hours later, I did not feel like talking about Don 2 and Agneepath as the violence in both films almost did me in.

Seeing the promos for Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu had put me off watching the film totally. My husband was not keen either. But I noticed that Mumbai Mirror had given it four stars. I did not read the review as I did not want to know the story, etc. I waited the week out for Vini to be free to watch it with me today. Am I glad I went!

THE STORY: Rahul Kapoor (Imran Khan) is the only child of his parents (Boman Irani & Ratna Pathak Shah). He has led a repressed life from childhood and his life has been chalked out completely by his parents. Rahul has accepted his way of life without fighting it. He lives in Las Vegas while working for a big firm. Unfortunately for him, he loses his job due to recession. But Rahul is unable to admit the fact to his parents who are actually visiting with him at that point. He pretends that everything is hunky dory until they leave. Soon after, he decides to go to a psychiatrist and his path crosses with Riana’s (Kareena Kapoor). Almost 27 to his 25, Riana has a tremendous impact on Rahul’s life. She is the exact opposite of what he is. And thus begins the romance…..

MY PERCEPTION: The film is simply superb with just two songs that do not distract you away from the script. Do not go by the promos. They don’t give you a clue about how the film actually is. And better still, the film runs for just about an hour and 40 minutes. Can you believe that?

I just loved the story and was very happy with the ending. It is not just one more romance from Karan Johar and Ronnie Screwvala. Ok, I just realized my mistake. I did not know that Ronnie Screwvala was one of the producers. I would have watched the film without any hesitation if I had. And I also need to congratulate debut director Shakun Batra. Way to go, man!

I am never sure whether Imran Khan is a good actor or bad. I suppose he is both depending on his director. Well, the actor did very well in this film. Kudos!

Kareena Kapoor was also excellent in her role as Riana. Keep up the good work, Kareena.

Boman Irani and Ratna Pathak Shah as Imran’s abominable parents did great work of their roles.

VERDICT: A fun watch with an unexpected but perfect ending. I would say a must watch if you like light films.

RATING: **** Snazzy

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Just giving a brief verdict on the other films that I watched but did not write about…

ROCKSTAR ***** Super
Ranbir Kapoor rocked as the hero. I would go so far as to say that Ranbir has proved that he is the best in all four generations of the Kapoor Khaandaan. The music was amazing and the editing simply superb. AR Rahman deserved all the awards in the world for this one. I am proud to be walking the earth in the same times at this gentleman. Mohit Chauhan’s voice is liquid gold.  Need I say more?

DON 2 ** Shaky
The one question that I wanted to ask SRK after watching this one was “why this kolaveri kolaveri kolaveri da?” I am amazed that Farhan Akhtar made this film. Over and above that, SRK received the Zee Critics Award for Best Actor for his performance in this film. Wonder how much he paid for that one? Mr. Khan, please take a sabbatical of may be 2-3 years and come back to filmdom with a fresh outlook. Happy holidays!

AGNEEPATH **** Snazzy
I still did not want to write a review. Hrithik Roshan proved yet again what an excellent actor he is. Sanjay Dutt was a class apart. I don’t think I have ever seen Rishi Kapoor play a negative role. He was simply superb! But the first prize I will give to Kanika Tiwari who played Hrithik’s sister. She was so cute and acted so well, despite talking very less. As you can see, I have not mentioned Priyanka Chopra – well, she is not worth a mention here.

Film Review: RA-ONE

I think it's high time that SRK accepts his age and tries to create special roles to suit him - something in the lines of Chak De. This film is all hype and no show

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Dalip Tahil, Shahana Goswami, Armaan Verma
Director: Anubhav Sinha

I had a very bad feeling about this one from Red Chillies Entertainment as the films produced by SRK’s company have only one thing going – SRK starring in them. And most of the time, even that does not help. Anyway, I went to see it because my daughter and husband were keen to go. And that's how we caught the 10.30 pm show on Diwali.

THE STORY: Shekhar Subramaniam (Shah Rukh Khan) works for a video gaming company called Barron Industries run by Dalip Tahil. Jenny (Shahana Goswami) is a co-worker and so is Jackie Chan (Tom Wu). Shekhar is a South Indian (Tamil) who is married to Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) and their son is preteen Prateek (Armaan Verma).

Prateek is a typical school kid who is impressed by mighty villains. He quite dislikes his father’s nerdy nature and tries to be ‘cool’ most of the time. When the boss demands that a new video game be created, Shekhar goes on to create a game that has a dominant villain – Ra-One – who is undefeatable. This is done at his son’s suggestion and soon Prateek is enamoured by both the game and his father’s skills.

Unfortunately, Ra-One has the power to re-invent himself and is keen to get out of the game and kill Lucifier – the nickname that Prateek uses to play the game. He does just that and soon Shekhar is killed.

Not knowing the actual situation, Sonia decides to move to India to their family home along with Prateek.

Watch the film to see what happens when Ra-One decides to follow Lucifer (Prateek) to India and kill him.

MY PERCEPTION: On the positive side, the animation was just fantastic. That’s about it.

SRK comes up with different hair-styles – each one of them sucks. His make-up and act as a Tamilian was simply horrible. I felt it more so because I am myself a Tamilian. His hair-style was stupid, his accent was dumb and whatever.

SRK as G-One was better. He did well. But the sad part was there was too much masala, making the whole presentation a mix-up of cuisines ending up in a mess, if you know what I mean.

Kareena Kapoor was good and the song Chammak Challo was very good. Armaan Verma did well in his role as Prateek.

Arjun Rampal was good as the villain although his part was minuscule. He looked hot with his head shaved off. Considering that he does not have a great range to his expressions, the role fitted him perfectly with one vengeful expression throughout the shot.

I can relate to a film that begins at A and ends with Zee with a lot of incidents thrown in between. This one started at A and took off in many different directions before falling plop on its face at Zee.

I don’t have a clue about making films, but my hand itched to take over at so many points where I would have handled the sequences way differently than they actually were.

The 3-D was pretty non-existent. In fact, a couple of days before Diwali, I had read somewhere that the 3-D effort was not taking off. Hence, I wanted to watch a 2-D version. But there were none available at Cinemax Sion. Maybe nowhere!

If I wore the glasses, I could see 2 images in most of the scenes. If I took them off, I saw 4 images. A quaint experience, indeed! But at what cost!

Rajnikant popping into the film for a 1-minute sequence as Chitti was nothing short of ridiculous. It just had nothing to do with the film. And the superhero looked quite ill. Why the director or producer never noticed that one, amazes me.

You cannot quite call it a kids’ film with the kind of dance sequences, fight sequences and dialogues on ‘condom’. It was not entertaining enough for adults. And after all this, Shah Rukh Khan plans to impress the world population. That’s some gall!

VERDICT: Yet another waste of money for me, folks! This time, I don’t even have the excuse that it was worth it for SRK’s sake.

RATING: ** Shaky

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Film Review: BODYGUARD

Pack up your logical mind and leave it behind before going to the film


Cast: Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Raj Babbar, Sharat Saxena, Hazel Keech
Director: Siddique

I like watching Salman Khan flicks. I was keen to see this one but none of my family or friends was interested in watching this one. That’s when I decided to go on my own.

THE STORY: Sartaj Rana (Raj Babbar) is a wealthy man with a lot of enemies. His bodyguard, Balwant Singh, is killed while protecting Sartaj Rana. Rana manages to save his pregnant wife who gives birth to Lovely Singh (Salman Khan). Lovely grows up to become a bodyguard too and is extremely loyal to Rana. Rana employs him as bodyguard for his daughter Divya (Kareena Kapoor). Divya falls in love with him while he reveres her. Along with her friend Maya (Hazel Keech), Divya plays a prank on Lovely. She calls him from an unregistered number and with a false name Chaya, she insists that she is in love with him. Lovely Singh falls in love with the voice on the phone. Watch the film to see what happens when Divya comes to realize that Lovely is too loyal to Rana and will never agree to wed his daughter.

MY PERCEPTION: Pack up your logical mind and leave it behind before going to the film. Lovely Singh falling in love with a caller on the phone; Divya accepting that she cannot marry her bodyguard and sending her friend Maya to rescue him from her father’s henchman; Maya deciding out of the blue that she is in love with Lovely; the two of them getting married with Lovely believing Maya to be Chaya; Maya writing down Divya’s love story and her own deception in a diary and leaving it for her 8-year-old son to read – no logic, no sense. I was so reminded of an old Tamil saying that my grandmother used to utter – kadhaikku kannunda, kadhunda? Does a story have eyes or ears? That just applies to this one – no rhyme or reason. And this film has been made in Malayalam, then Tamil (Vijay-Asin starrer by the same name) and now in Hindi – Siddique has a lot of guts, what else!

Salman Khan was in his element with his six-pack abs, fight-sequences and song-dance sequences.

Kareena Kapoor looked beautiful – I mean really beautiful for a change. She has also done well in her role as Divya, what was possible to do that is.

The songs were good, nothing great.

The best part was that the film was just 2 hours long. Thank God for small mercies!

VERDICT: If you are a Salman Khan fan, then you will see it like I just did. Nothing else to it!

RATING: ** Shaky

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super

Sharing: SHAHID BACK-TO-BACK

Last night it was the Shahid Kapoor-Vidya Balan starrer Kismat Konnection on Zee Cinema. While browsing channels, we landed here as there was nothing more interesting. We (my family) had already watched the film and decided to see it again for want of anything better to do. While criticising Vidya for her dressing sense (more like the lack of it) and her shabby hairstyle, we were enjoying Shahid and Vishal’s antics on screen when advertisements kept interrupting the film.

Fed up, my daughter connected the DVD and we continued to watch the film from were we left off on Zee Cinema. The billiards game was on and that’s why we were hooked. We went on to see the movie completely continuing to compliment Shahid while trashing Vidya Balan. While she is an excellent actor, the woman needs to take a lot more care about her appearance.
'Arre, just look in the bloody mirror before you step in front of the camera!' Anyone looking at her can see that the hair style, make-up and clothes are all wrong. I thought that probably the rats had taken a few bites at her tresses before she began the film – it looked that bad.

Despite the kind of ridiculous concept, we watched the film as very rarely do Vinitha and I give up in the middle of movies as we would rather see it till the end. Shahid was suave, smart and just walked through the film as if it was his birthright. The songs were a pleasure to listen too and we enjoyed Shahid’s dancing. I don’t even want to discuss Vidya’s chaniya choli during her engagement – the constricted top left me breathless, literally. I was holding my chest, feeling the pressure of her clothes on my heart.

Vinitha and I did not stop with Kismat Konnection. We went on to watch Jab We Met.

I have never caught this at the theatres and have always watched it in bits and pieces. Every time I catch the film at home, I see another piece of jigsaw falling in place. In the same way yesterday, I saw the film till the last half an hour was left. I did not want to see Geet’s personality take a dukbhari turn. I preferred to see Kareena’s over-the-top performance as the talkative Geet. The film was a total fun watch with Shahid beginning as a very serious businessman who is heartbroken over the love-of-his-life getting married to someone else. Later, in the company of Geet, Aditya transforms into a cheerful person who can see the lighter side of life.

The dialogues are all extremely well-written and the song and dance was just awesome. Overall, the film is extremely well put together and the two of us really enjoyed catching it on video. Having had our dinner at 9.30pm, it was time for a late night snack and it was Maggi-time at 2am.

An absolutely fun-filled Friday night, thanks to Shahid Kapoor!

Film Review: 3 IDIOTS share the last laugh!

Cast: Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi, Kareena Kapoor, Boman Irani, Omi Vaidya
Director: Rajkumar Hirani

The film is loosely based on Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone or so I heard. I have yet to read the novel to relate to this.

The Story: Farhan Qureshi (Madhavan) stops an Air India flight by feigning a heart attack. He wants to rush to meet Rancho (Aamir Khan), his college buddy. He calls Raju (Sharman Joshi), another friend, and rushes to meet Rancho whom they have not heard from over the past few years. The two friends rush to the top of the college tower only to meet Chatur Ramalingam aka Silencer (Omi Vaidya), the smart-aleck they used to hate. It has been ten years since college and Silencer wants to show off his success. When threatened, he offers to take Farhan and Raju in search of Rancho. A large part of the rest of the film is shown in flashback over their college days and the balance in their search for Rancho. How they find him and what Rancho has become forms the end of the plot.

In the end it was the 3 Idiots who share the last laugh!

Our Perception: The film has been very well made with the plot keeping you fixed to your seats despite being three hours long. A couple of songs may have been avoided. Aamir has done an excellent job, but then so have Sharman and Madhavan. Boman Irani as Veeru Sahasrabudhe aka Virus has done a super job. His make-up and lisping have gone a long way in ensuring that the role is not the same as that of Dr, Asthana in Munnabhai MBBS. Kareena was okay as Pia. I would award the first prize to Omi Vaidya as Chatur Ramalingam. The guy was just fantastic – he did not seem to act but to walk through his role.

By the time this blog is up, most of the Mumbai population must have seen the film at least once or twice. I am glad in a way as I can go ahead and write anything about the film without spoiling anyone’s fun.

The delivery scene was over-the-top but then again, truth can be stranger then fiction.

Most of the people I know thought the movie was damned funny. I agree to a point. But beyond that, I would say, it was a very thought-provoking film and I cried quite a bit in a few scenes. Especially the one when a student plays the guitar wishing that he could live life once again with different choices. It was heartbreaking to see it more because it is so true in today’s society. I have seen so many youngsters forced to study subjects that they never want to. Worse is not being allowed to pursue the career that one adores. I sincerely wish that people would not just see the jokes but look beyond to what, I am sure, the director was trying to say.

Education for the sake of learning VS getting marks is a subject close to my heart. I am glad that more people will become aware of this after seeing Aamir Khan saying it on screen. Another one that touched the heart was when Rancho explains ‘machine’ in simple language while Silencer rattles off a book definition and the teacher’s reactions to both. Totally realistic!

I only wish that the ragging had not been shown as if it is the best that could happen to one at college. The scene also was very similar to the one in Munnabhai MBBS. I was under the impression that this is not permitted in colleges nowadays.

The best scene was probably the speech given in Hindi by Silencer. It was just hilarious. I have copy-pasted the speech for your reading pleasure, thanks to my friend Diti.

Adarniya sabhapati mahodaya …atithi vishesh shikshan mantri shri R D tripati [tripathi] ji ..maanyaniya shikshagan aur mere piyaaare [pyare] sahpatiyo [sahapathiyon] …aaj agar I.C.E aasmaan ki bulaaandiyo [bulandiyon] ko chhu raahaa [raha] hai ..to uska shreya sirrf [sirf] ekinsaan [ek insaan] ko jaataahai [jata hai] shri veerusahastra buddhe ..give him a a big hand ..he is a great guy really .. Peechle buttis saal se inhone nirantar is college mein balatkar [balaatkaar ] pe balatkar kiye ..umeed hai aagey bee [bhi] karte rahege [rahenge] ..hamine to aashcharya hota hai ki ek insaan apne jeevan kaal mein itni balatkar kaisi kar sakta hai …inhone kadi tapaasya se apne aapko is kaabil bunaya [banaya] hai ..waqt ka sahi upyog ghante ka purna istemaal koi inse seeke [seekhe] ..seeke inse seeke ….aaj hum sab chaatra yaha hai ..kal desh videsh mein fail [faael] jayenge ..waadaa hai aapse jis desh mein honge waha balatkar karenge I.C.E ka naam roshan karenge …dika [dikha] denge sabko jo balatkar Karne ki shamtaa yaha ke chaatro mein hai wo sansaar ke kisi chaatro mein nahiii ….No other chaatra No other chaatra Adarniya mantraji namashkar aapne is sansthaan ko wo chees di jiski hamein sakht zaroorat thi ...sstunn ..stunn hota sabi [sab hi] ke paas hai ..sab chupa ke rakte hai ..detaa koi nai …aapne apna stun is balatkari purush ke haat mein diya hai…ab dekiye yeh kaisa iska upyog karta hai.. Sloke..... Utamamm dadh dhadhattt padam…….. madhyam padam thuchuk thuchuk…….. khanishtham thudthudiiiy padam…….. sursuria pran khatkam..!!!!

Verdict: Definitely worth a watch. I went for a late night show and was wide awake throughout the film.

Rating: ****Snazzy

* Silly

** Shaky

*** Smart

**** Snazzy

***** Super

Film Review: KAMBAKKHT ISHQ

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Akshay Kumar, Akshay Kumar, Kareena Kapoor, Aftab Shivdasani, Amrita Arora, Sylvester Stallone, Denise Richards, Javed Jaffrey, Kirron Kher, Boman Irani
Director: Sabbir Khan
What Kambakkht Ishq is all about: Viraj (Akshay Kumar) is a stuntman in Hollywood and is a regular stud. His brother Lucky (Aftab Shivdasani) gets married to Kamini (Amrita Arora) much to her friend Simrita’s (Kareena Kapoor) disgust. Viraj does not approve of Lucky’s wedding either. He believes in the motto ‘love them and leave them’. The rest of the film is about the sparks flying between Viraj and Simrita. You need not exactly watch this Bollywood flick to find out whether they get together.
What we liked about Kambakkht Ishq: Akshay gets hotter and better as he gets older. The stunt scenes that he is taking part in have been shot excellently. And the actor has done very well. Comedy, emotion, flirting, whatever – Akshay walks through with total ease.
What we did not like about Kambakht Ishq: The first thing that caught my attention is that the film is a straight rip-off from Kamal Haasan’s Tamil film Pammal K. Sambandam. I only wish that the comedy was as good, but no such luck. Taking a basic outline and working a new story around it is even understandable. But the whole story is a copy.
Kareena – well, the actress looks HOT! But besides that even as she has performed her role well, she is just too intense. Subtlety is definitely not her forte.
Javed Jaffrey has two and a half scenes and he has performed very well. They could have definitely made better use of him. Boman Irani is in a ‘blink and miss’ role. What’s happening? I can’t but recall Akshay Kumar and his editing scissors – may be they are not a joke after all. Again, Kirron Kher – such a versatile actress as she has proved over and over again – is in such a small role that has no impact at all. It gives her no chance to test her acting skills. Just anybody could have done an Aunt Dolly. Come on, this is Kirron Kher – what a waste!
If you want to go ‘gaga’ over Hollywood, the Star Walk of Fame, Beverly Hills, etc. this may not be the film for you. They show very small glimpses of these. There is one award function for stunt actors and the scenes showing the Hollywood stars are obvious video shots from Oscars and other award shows. I only wish they had taken shots from older award functions as Angelina Jolie’s huge emerald earrings from the latest Oscars are still to be erased from people’s memories.
Sylvester Stallone looks old, ugly and sags all over. I don’t understand what the excitement is all about. Denise Richards also looks too old and not quite second heroine material. Makes one wonder whether these Hollywood one-time biggies paid to be a part of this Bollywood flick.
The Censor Board has become quite lax or had gone to sleep while certifying this film. The amount of bad language used is tremendous – bitch, bastard, balls, etc. We still watch late night TV shows with words lesser than this silenced.
Verdict: If you are an Akshay Kumar fan, go for it.
Rating: **

* Silly
** Shaky
*** Smart
**** Snazzy
***** Super