Film Review: BANG BANG

You can watch Bang Bang for the mind-blowing action 

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Katrina Kaif, Jimmy Shergill, Jaaved Jaffrey, Danny Denzongpa, Pawan Malhotra
Director: Siddharth Anand

Even though Bang Bang didn’t receive raving reviews, Venkat and I were keen to see it and went to Cinemax for the Sunday evening show. How could we miss the Hrithik-Katrina starrer! We did not regret it.

THE STORY

Viren Nanda (Jimmy Shergill) is an army officer who goes to London to get terrorist Omar Zafar (Danny Denzongpa) extradited to India. Omar’s associate Hamid Gul (Jaaved Jaffrey) storms the London prison to help the former escape. Omar kills Viren on the spot. Omar and Hamid decide to terrorise India by getting someone to steal the Kohinoor Diamond from London. Enter Rajveer (Hrithik Roshan) who manages to do the impossible by stealing the diamond. But he refuses to hand it over to Omar’s goons as they act tough. On the run, he meets Harleen (Katrina Kaif) in Shimla. Harleen doesn’t have a boyfriend and likes Rajveer when she meets him, unaware that he is a jewel thief. Rajveer drugs her and takes her along with him as he runs around the globe, away from both the police and Omar’s men. Why would he want the Kohinoor Diamond if not to sell it to Omar? Is he what he appears to be? Will Harleen be able to get together with Rajveer? You need to watch the film to find out.

MY PERCEPTION

The film is a copy of Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz starrer Knight and Day and is an out and out masala flick. Leave your brain back at home and just enjoy it for the fun and frolic along with intense action. 

Hrithik Roshan looks handsome with fantastic eight-pack abs. But he does look old and tired. That could be the result of his surgery and intense working out. Felt quite sorry for the guy actually.

Katrina Kaif as Harleen is pure eye-candy with not much scope for acting. She’s sailed through the film. 

Danny Dengzongpa, Jimmy Shergill, Pawan Malhotra and the others have good roles and have all performed well. 

Jaaved Jaafrey looks awesome with a tattoo on his throat and makes an excellent villain as Hamid Gul. Kudos!

I am still not able to wrap my head around the story that says Rajveer drugs Harleen and takes her around the world right from the spot where he meets her. Isn’t there something called the ‘Passport’ and then the ‘Visa’ for someone to travel out of the country? This is why I told you to leave your brain at home. No one warned me and I had taken mine along to the film. 

VERDICT: You can watch Bang Bang for the mind-blowing action 

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

Film Review: MERE BROTHER KI DULHAN

A special congratulations to Ritesh Soni for editing the film so well!


Cast: Imran Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ali Zafar, Tara D’Souza
Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Having seen the attractive promos, we decided to go to the film on Day One of its release. The theatre was packed, of course. Thanks to the manager Mr. Rakesh at Cinemax Sion, we managed to get tickets for the 10 pm show on Friday.

THE STORY: Luv (Ali Zafar) lives in London and has been having an affair with Piali (Tara D’Souza) since five years. The two of them break up after a quarrel and Luv decides that he wants to get married to a girl from India. He calls up his brother Kush (Imran Khan) who works as an assistant director in Bollywood. Luv persuades Kush to find him a bride and that’s how Kush lands up looking for ‘Mere Brother Ki Dulhan’. After running through a number of suitable girls, he hones in on Dimple (Katrina Kaif) and feels she is the best for his brother. Luv and Dimple meet over skype and approve of each other. Wedding preparations happen in a frenzy and Kush and Dimple end up spending a lot of time with each other getting things organised. And then… the two of them realize that they are in love. Watch the film to see the obvious ending.

MY PERCEPTION: The film was a fun-watch from beginning till end. I love romances and Yash Raj Films are famous for the same, even though some of their films bombed at the box office and were painful to watch. This one was bang-on with good direction and better editing.

Imran Khan was very good in his role as Kush and I hope this will be a continuing trend, as I feel the actor keeps sliding back to bad acting sometimes. Congrats!

Ali Zafar was excellent. I thought he was very good in his Bollywood debut, Tere Bin Laden. He was even better in this one with his sharply honed acting skills. Kudos!

Hmm… Katrina Kaif! Well, the young lady has come a long, long way. She was simply amazing. She’s lovely, sexy and now, she can act too and very well at that. It was her film throughout even though the guys were good.

The music by Sohail Sen was catchy and fitted well with the film. The songs were good and my favourite was Naache re naache Madhubala. I heard on Star News that the song was not choreographed. It was very nice and Katrina has proved that if she can do a Sheila ki jawani, she can be equally good at dancing to Madhubala too. Simply loved it!

The story was cute and the film was well-directed both thanks to Ali Abbas Zafar.  A special congratulations to Ritesh Soni for editing the film so well! It was a tight fit running for 2 hours and 20 minutes and kept the audience entertained throughout with absolutely no excesses.

VERDICT: A fun-watch romance, just my cup of tea!

RATING: **** Snazzy

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

Film Review: ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA

Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, Kalki Koechlin
Director: Zoya Akhtar

THE STORY: Kabir (Abhay Deol) proposes marriage to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin) and they get engaged much to the thrill of both sets of parents. His best friend Imraan (Farhan Akhtar) goes to the engagement while a third friend Arjun (Hrithik Roshan), living in London, does not attend.

As the film moves on, we get to understand that the Three Musketeers – as the friends are called – have grown up together and are extremely close. Kabir is a millionaire working for his family’s construction business; Imraan works as copywriter for an advertising agency and Arjun wheels and deals at the London Stock Exchange.

The three men plan a holiday in Spain before Kabir gets back home to tie the knot with Natasha. You need to see the film to find out how the holiday changes their lives forever.

MY PERCEPTION: You need to decide whether you want to read from here on as there might be a few spoilers. If you have not seen the film and plan to do so, this is the point you STOP READING.

The movie takes off on a light note with the first half full of witty dialogues that keep the audience laughing away. Thank you Farhan Akhtar for the clean language – it was an absolute relief after Delhi Belly (no offence to that film, of course).

The characters are amazingly sketched. Kabir is all funny and a great tease. But he is a different man in his fiancée’s presence. We realize later that he is not in love with Natasha but has been kind of steam-rollered into making a proposal of marriage. While he is loyal to her, he also takes life quite lightly. Imagine his shock when he finds out that Natasha believes that marriage is so serious that she is ready to give up her career as an Interior Decorator and make him her sole purpose in life. It takes the effort of both his friends and a 3-week holiday away from her for Kabir to get his priorities right. Abhay Deol has delivered one more hit.

Imraan works as a copywriter, and also writes poetry. He is very angry with his mother (Deepti Naval) for not having told him who his real father is. He had believed his mother’s husband to be his father and had been too close to him until his death. He finds out that Salman (Naseeruddin Shah) is his father after the foster one dies. Shocked that his mother could keep this from him, he stays away from her. Later, meeting Salman in person in Spain makes him value his mother better. The meeting between Salman and Imraan shook up not just the latter, but me too. While Salman’s behavior does not fall in with what we believe to be humanitarian values, it’s wholly acceptable from his point of view. “You did ask for the truth,” he says and we catch on. Imraan’s tears touch you very powerfully at this point. Later, when he apologises to Arjun for taking away his girlfriend years ago, you can see the healing take place as the ‘sorry’ is from the heart. Farhan Akhtar Rocks!

Arjun eats, sleeps and breathes money. He has always led life from the poor side of town and he wants to make it BIG before retiring at 40, he insists. He wheels and deals at the stock market and refuses to stop working even during the holiday. It takes Laila (Katrina Kaif) and her deep-sea diving instructions to make Arjun take a new outlook on life. Arjun does not swim as he is afraid. His friends pressure him into joining them on the deep-sea diving adventure and Kabir insists that not knowing swimming is no excuse. Left with no choice, Arjun let’s go of the fierce control that he has over his life for the first time. And learns to live as a result! He sheds tears after the amazing experience under the sea. Hrithik Roshan – what to say? After watching Kites, I had sort of given up on the actor. The film was so disappointing in all ways. I did not watch Guzaarish as I am not a fan of Sanjay Leela Bansali’s work.

But Hrithik Roshan was simply amazing in this film. He is sizzling hooooooootttt for one thing. He emotes beautifully. I suppose Hrithik’s acting skills depends a lot on the director. As the snooty man who is interested more in money than anything else, as the one reduced to tears after deep-sea diving and later the one who crosses over into ‘living life’, Hrithik was simply awesome. Kudos Hrithik!

Katrina Kaif as Laila was very good in her role. You can see that she has worked hard on improving her acting skills and she is getting better and better at it. Of course, she still has some way to go. Congratulations Katrina!

Kalki Koechlin as Natasha was excellent in her role. Way to go Kalki!

The music by Shankar Ehsaan Loy was just perfect for the film. Most of the songs were in the background and a fitting accolade to the meandering roads of Spain as our heroes travel through the country. The ‘senorita’ song and dance sequence was lovely and all the three heroes of the film who have given their voices for the song have performed well. It was Farhan’s voice that stood out amongst the three.

The cinematography was wonderful and it was a pleasure seeing Spain from the film’s angle. The tomatina festival and the bull-race were well-portrayed.

Congratulations Zoya Akhtar for delivering a lovely movie!

VERDICT: If you love life, you will not miss this one. Absolute fun in the first half, the second half sets you thinking very deeply.

RATING: **** Snazzy
(I did not give full 5 stars as I felt that the movie could have been a tighter fit with half an hour less of it)

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

Film Review: Tees Maar Khan

Sheila Ki Jawani!

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Katrina Kaif, Rajiv & Raghu Ram
Director: Farah Khan
Rating: Minus * Fully Faltoo (I don’t give negative ratings. But this film deserves one)

My husband was keen to see this film on the day of its release and since I also love watching films, I joined him. Vignesh accompanied us as he was free. That’s how we landed up at Cinemax Sion for the 11 pm show on Friday night.

The Story: Is there one? Ok, will give it a try.

Tabreez Khan aka Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar) is a con artist. He roams the world and makes big money while his mother believes that he is a movie director. He is in love with Anya Khan (Katrina Kaif) who aspires to become an actress. That’s when she dances to the famous song, ‘Sheila ki jawani’ – the only light (please note that I am not saying highlight) of the film.

The CBI gets their hold on TMK, only he manages to escape, don’t you dare ask me how. Later, he goes 50-50 on a deal with Siamese twins (Rajiv & Raghu Ram) who are thieves in their right too. TMK makes use of actor Athish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna) and about 200 villagers to rob a non-stop train that is carrying Rs. 500-crore worth of loot. You should see the film to believe the horror that unfolds. Only this film does not belong to the ‘horror’ genre and I would have stayed clear of it if that had been the case.

My Perception: Akhay Kumar has finally come out of his dumb phase and has done a better role than his last few films. Farah Khan has managed to make Katrina Kaif dance to her tunes and how! Katina has done a superb job of dancing to ‘Sheila ki jawani’. Those are the only points worth talking about.

The story by Shirish Kunder is too dumb for words. Rajiv-Raghu duo did their act well - but isn’t there something called intelligent humour? Maybe Farah Khan and her brother Sajid Khan are unaware of its existence. They keep spoofing other flicks so much that there is just nothing creative in their works. I suppose we cannot blame them if we are foolish enough to go see their films paying 200 bucks for one ticket.

I wanted to get up and slap Athish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna) when he kept screaming for an Oscar to begin with and later just screeching his head off. That was one sick character. Akshaye Khanna might not be the best of actors, but I never knew he was so bad. Then there was the headless ghost episode that was so disconnected with the story. What purpose it served, I know not.

Songs galore. The music was good and probably created a distraction from the lack of a theme.

Verdict: This is probably the dumbest movie that I saw in 2010.

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

Film Review: RAAJNEETI: POLITICS... AND BEYOND

Cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Ajay Devgan, Arjun Rampal, Ranbir Kapoor, Nana Patekar, Manoj Bajpai, Darshan Jariwala, Katrina Kaif, Sarah Thompson Kane, Nikhila Trikha

Director: Prakash Jha

I managed to see the film along with my family on the day of its release. The multiplex theatre was packed – after so long. And it was obvious from the audience reaction that the movie was very much worth a see.

THE STORY: As the tagline suggests, the movie is beyond politics. I have read somewhere that all the plots and stories around the world are but based on seven unique plots. Every story that has ever been created has been recycled from one of these. Well, this one is based on the biggest Indian epic, The Mahabharata. Veerendra aka Veer (Manoj Bajpai) plays the role of Duryodhana while he befriends the Dalit head Suraj (Ajay Devgan) who had been abandoned by his unmarried mother and brought up by the political family’s driver. You guessed it – he is Karna. The Pratap family of Pandavas include Prithvi (Arjun Rampal) and Samar (Ranbir Kapoor). While Veer is desperate to head the political party practically run by the family, the Prataps oppose him at every point. Gopal (Nana Patekar) happens to be Prithvi and Samar’s Mama - depicting the role of Lord Krishna. The war between the two sides brings about a nasty end to most of the characters while the widowed Indu (Katrina Kaif) who had been married to Prithvi becomes the Chief Minister. Samar goes back to the USA to complete his PhD as he had never been interested in politicking.

OUR PERCEPTION: Everything was absolutely grand - the story, the direction, the editing, the acting, the sequences, the cinematography and what not. You could not afford to get distracted even for a couple of seconds if you don’t want to miss something important, and everything is. The story flow is absolutely gripping and keeps you glued to the screen. The editing is absolutely tight with not one single excess shot. Kudos to the director and editor! The music is left in the background with just one small song that fits in well.

Naseeruddin Shah had a small role and he did quite well.

Nana Patekar as Mama Brij Gopal was simply amazing. I have heard him rattle off a lot of dialogues speedily in many of his films, both as good man and bad man. But in Raajneeti, his silences speak volumes. Impressive!

Arjun Rampal has finally arrived. A director has used him correctly and he has performed extremely well in his role as Prithvi, the politician. Prithvi is a combination of great looks, education, ambition and a streak of meanness that is not overpowering. His need to revenge has been portrayed in such a subtle fashion as one gets to see the result of his violent nature rather than the actual fight sequences. Awesome work, Arjun!

Ajay Devgan was good, nothing exceptional nor anything that he has not done before. His performance has been consistently good and he was excellent as Suraj.

We are seeing Manoj Bajpai in Bollywood after a long time. I thought that his film career had taken a downward spiral after he became an overnight hit in Ram Gopal Verma’s Satya. One could catch glimpses of Viku Mhatre in Raajneeti. Good show!

Katrina Kaif’s acting career has been soaring in Bollywood. But this film is definitely a turning point. She has stepped above her glam roles and has done some serious acting here. She has also worked on her Hindi and it shows. A great effort with stunning results, Katrina!

I always like to keep the best for the last. Yeah, that’s right – Ranbir Kapoor as Samar. The versatile actor is growing by leaps and bounds. It is really not necessary that it is all in the genes. We have seen a number of Kapoors flop too. But this Kapoor has got into the right profession, it seems. The range of emotions that he could portray and the subtlety with which he handles his role are simply amazing. One specific scene that touched me was when he sheds quiet tears looking at his father’s dead body, his lips quivering as his manliness does not allow him to cry out aloud while he is absolutely shaken that his father had been murdered. Keep up the wonderful work, Ranbir!

I have never been too fond of Prakash Jha’s films, finding them too violent for my taste. What tempted me to watch Raajneeti was the fantastic array of star cast. The violence is only in the background and not in the shedding of blood. There are no terrible fight sequences and it is way more subtle as only the vicious results are portrayed. Very glad about that! The film is totally gripping and does not even allow one time to think or predict the next scene. Not that everything was a surprise, but it is very rare that one gets to see such a tightly etched plot. Kudos to Mr. Jha!

Everything that is great need not be perfect. You need something to criticise. There is one such element here too. Suraj, Prithvi and Samar’s mother! Nikhila Trikha takes on the role of Kunti in Mahabharata. While she was doing alright when she did not have much talking to do, the moment she goes to ask Suraj to leave Veer and join his brothers, she falls flat on her face. Her expression and dialogue delivery sucks. A small black mark in an otherwise perfect film!

VERDICT: Paisa Vasool! Bollywood is back in action with this one.

RATING: **** ½ Snazzy Plus
* Silly

** Shaky

*** Smart

**** Snazzy

***** Super

Film Review: VEER Salman Khan

Cast: Salman Khan, Mithun Chakraborty, Jackie Shroff, Zarine Khan, Neena Gupta, Sohail Khan

Director: Anil Sharma

The Story:

The film is set in the 1860s when the British had established the English colony in India and hoped to take over the whole country. While many of the Indian kings including the ruler of Madhavgarh (Jackie Shroff) had taken the side of the British, the strong and rough Pindaris were keen to take a stand.

Prithvi Singh (Mithun Chakraborty) chops away the Madhavgarh king’s fore arm when he finds out that his tribe has been betrayed. The British cannons blow away a number of their men at this point. That’s when Prithvi swears to bring justice.

Twenty-five years later, Veer (Salman Khan), Prithvi’s son, is trained to take on the might of the British. Veer and his brother Punya (Sohail Khan) are sent to London to be educated. Veer meets Yashodhara (Zarine Khan) for the second time and gives his heart to her.

It is later that he finds out that Yashodhara is the daughter of his father Prithvi’s worst enemy and the Princess of Madhavgarh. The film goes on to show whether Prithvi is able to keep his promise to his tribesmen and whether Veer gets married to the love of his life.

Our Perception:
The film has been shot superbly, the cinematography nothing short of exotic. The historic scenes come to life in the many settings in the guise of the forts, the battlefields and the tribal get-togethers. The grandeur of colours and costumes are totally convincing.

The film is sure to bring joy to Salman fans. He has become quite fit and done total justice to the part of Veer. There were a few minutes that got me worried when the brothers land in London and Veer starts singing in the streets. At that point, I was quite sure that the film was going to the dogs. But luckily, it was but a dream sequence and the film picks of from there. Salman has already proved his prowess in romantic scenes in movies like Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hai Kaun? This is just another feather in his cap as he is subtlety personified in the romantic sequences.

Mithun Chakraborty is superb in his role as the tribal leader of the Pindaris and as Veer’s father. A special kudos to the veteran!

Sohail Khan’s acting is like a persistent fly that keeps irritating you however hard you try to ignore it or push it away. He does all his roles in exactly the same way, speaks in the same fashion and has the same expression. If he seriously believes that he is adding to the comedy quotient, he needs his head examined.

Zarine Khan – well, many of the reviews have insisted that she is fat or plump. Are people blind? If you tend to compare her to the pencil thin Katrina Kaif, yeah, Zarine might be called plump. But otherwise, she is quite alright. The young women of today are keen to have reed thin figures and are ready to starve themselves for the same. But here we are talking about history set 150 years ago. Zarine Khan looks very good in the part and she can act. I cannot say the same for Katrina Kaif even though she is extremely popular due more to her British accent. Zarine has a role that has very few words to say and she has to rely totally on her facial expression and she has played the part of Yashodhara really well.

The only problem with the film is that it has been released at the wrong time. There is a mood that plays with film goers. Today, the trend is more towards sci-fi, horror and violence. A romance or a historical one at that is bound to take a back-seat and will not be able to receive as good a response as it could have otherwise. A film-maker needs to keep the trend very much in mind before creating a movie.

Otherwise, the movie itself has been so well made, the editing just right. There were no dragged out sequences and the music was also very good.

To see or not to see: It’s worth a watch on the big screen if you a Salman fan or if you like history.

Rating: ***Smart

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

Film Review: AJAB PREM KI GHAZAB KAHANI

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif, Dharshan Jariwala, Smita Jaykar, Upen Patel

Director: Rajkumar Santoshi

The Story:
Prem (Ranbir Kapoor) is a high school dropout who hangs around with his friends at his Happy Club. The happy-go-lucky young man has no job and takes no responsibilities much to the disgust of his father Shankar Sharma (Darshan Jariwala). He is adored by his mother Shalini (Smita Jaykar). Prem and his friends do their best to bring lost lovers together. When Jenny (Katrina Kaif) moves into the neighbourhood, Prem falls for her at first sight. She befriends him despite the differences in their backgrounds – she is Christian while he is a Hindu Brahmin; she is well-qualified while he is 9th fail and so on. But very soon, Prem is heartbroken when he finds out that Jenny loves someone else. But being the Happy Club President that he is, he goes on to set her love story straight.

What I liked about the film:
It’s a cute film that makes you laugh non-stop. Despite being a no-brainer, it still manages to keep you in splits. Ranbir Kapoor has done a wonderful job and his acting skills grow by leaps and bounds. Katrina Kaif is her usual glam-doll angrezi self. Darshan Jariwala and Smita Jaykar as Ranbir’s parents have done an excellent job. It is very obvious that the full film has been shot in a studio but still is quite pleasing to the eye. It has a bit of everything – humour, drama, pathos, fight-scenes, villains with also a bit of spirituality thrown in the form of Jesus Christ making an appearance in the end.

What I did not like about the film:
Nothing, actually.

Verdict: If you are looking for a couple of hours of fun without asking too many questions, then you must watch it.

Rating: ****

* Silly

** Shaky

*** Smart

**** Snazzy

***** Super

Film Review: NEW YORK

Cast: John Abraham, Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Irrfan

Director: Kabir Khan

What the film is about: Omar Aijaz (Neil Nitin Mukesh) is a cab owner in Philadelphia. The FBI traces a consignment of AK-47s and explosives to his cab storage area and Omar is detained. While questioning him, Omar recalls his life ten years ago when he had been a fresher from India and joined the New York State University. There he had befriended Sameer Sheikh alias Sam (John Abraham) and Maya (Katrina Kaif). Omar falls for Maya but moves away when he finds out that she is in love with Sam. After ten years, the FBI wants Omar to help them nail Sam as a terrorist. Even as Omar insists that he has not been in touch with either of his friends since seven years, FBI Inspector Roshan (Irrfan - yeah, that's what the title says) finds a way for him to get back into their lives. Whether Sam is really a terrorist and whether Omar is of any help to the FBI goes on to form the rest of the story.

What we liked about New York: Neil's acting and Irrfan's dialogue delivery - not necessarily in that order. Neil is very expressive, especially his eyes and he has done his role with great subtlety with the nuances just perfectly turning out. Irrfan's style is his own and the dialogues seem to just slip out with the right bite and satire. John and Katrina had performed well and there is not much else to say about it. The camera work and sound effects were perfect. We have to mention the editing here. It was just right - not one extra scene or an extra dialogue and more importantly, not an extra song to drag the picture along.

What we did not like about New York: This is not a fault with the film itself. But we were startled when we realised that it was a terrorist flick. We were going to the multiplexes after more than three months and wanted to be entertained - with just some fun. And believing that the film is from the Yash Raj House, we expected just that. But the dark film came as quite a shock and not the best we would have chosen for a pleasant Saturday evening.

Rating: ***

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