Film Review: BESHARAM

Besharam is too mild a gaali for the makers of this film

The film had terrible reviews and Venkat refused to go. Vinny, Viggy and I booked for a morning show on Saturday at PVR Cinemas in Phoenix Market City at Kurla. The highlight of the morning was the nearly empty mall and PVR Cinemas.

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Pallavi Sharda, Rishi Kapoor, Neetu Kapoor, Javed Jaffrey, Amitosh Nagpal
Director: Abhinav Kashyap

THE STORY

The film is set in Delhi. Babli (Ranbir Kapoor) and his sidekick Titu (Amitosh Nagpal) are car thieves. There is a reason for it. They are both orphans who are not educated. They have no knowledge of right and wrong. They steal cars, sell them and give the money to the orphanage where they live with a dozen other kids of various ages.

Chulbul (Rishi Kapoor) and Bulbul (Neetu Kapoor) work for the police department and are married to each other. Bheem Singh (Javed Jaffrey) is a ruthless criminal who deals in ‘hawala’ transactions. He kills first and talks later.

Tara Sharma (Pallavi Sharda) lives with her widowed mother. She’s well educated and works for an MNC. She has expensive tastes and owns a Mercedes car.

Watch the film to see what happens when Babli from the wrong side of the tracks falls for Tara AND steals her car unaware that it belongs to the woman he loves.

MY PERCEPTION

 Well, please don’t take my suggestion seriously and go to watch the film. At least, don’t waste good money in going to a theatre to do so. The film is bound to arrive in the small screen in maybe a month or two. You can always shut your TV off the moment you are bored.

Okay, I did not run away from the theatre and that was for one reason – Ranbir Kapoor. The other reason was Javed Jaffrey.

Now let me get all the positive points together. There isn’t much, of course.

Ranbir Kapoor is a superb actor and he has done total justice to the role. Javed Jaffrey’s get-up was nothing short of fabulous and he has done his part extremely well. Newcomer Pallavi Sharda looks cute and she can act. Amitosh Nagpal as Babli’s sidekick is very good.

The film was simply awful! There was a song every few minutes and they were not good at all – neither the music nor the scenes. They were each one of them pure torture.

There was nothing to the story and the film was made quite badly. What’s with the loo scenes, I wonder! Rishi Kapoor has been doing so well in his second series. I don’t want to pay good money to see how he uses the toilet. Ugh!

The fight sequences were too prolonged and the comic timing – if there was one – was quite bad. Himani Shivpuri is such a good actress. She was totally wasted in Besharam.

Besharam is too mild a gaali for the makers of this film. Do I say more?

VERDICT: Watch it at your own risk!

RATING: ** (Shaky)

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

Film Review: SHUDDH DESI ROMANCE

They had a fabulous combination of actors and still managed to botch up the film. That needs talent, I am sure! 

Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Parineeti Chopra, Rishi Kapoor, Vaani Kapoor
Director: Maneesh Sharma

I thought Shuddh Desi Romance was the tagline and kept searching for the name of the film for a while before I realised that that was the movie title. I was keen to see it as it is starring Parineeti Chopra and Sushant Singh Rajput. Vini was also keen on seeing it and we managed to catch it along with a friend a week later on Friday, the 13th at 11 pm at Cinemax Sion at one of the mini theatres.

THE STORY

Raghuram aka Raghu (Sushant Singh Rajput) gets cold feet at his wedding to Tara (Vaani Kapoor) and runs away just before tying the knot. There is a reason to it. He meets Gayatri (Parineeti Chopra) on his way to the wedding and feels the instant chemistry.

Later, he meets Gayatri again a couple of weeks later. Soon, they are living together. After some time, they decide to get married. Again, Raghu is nervous at the mandap, but this time it is Gayatri who runs away.

There’s more, but I will not bore you with it. If you still feel you would not mind watching the film, you can catch it at the theatres. If not, there’s always the idiot box where you can see it a couple of months down the line.

MY PERCEPTION

The film is actually made from a short story – I am sure – that has been expanded into a film that runs for 2 hours and 20 minutes. The same sequences and dialogues repeat over and over. If the film had been any slower, a snail would have beaten it at the race.

I could so relate to the concept of the fear of permanence of marriage in today's youngsters. It is a huge commitment and quite difficult to face when you want to feel free.

They had a fabulous combination of actors – Parineeti Chopra, Sushant Singh Rajput, Rishi Kapoor and Vaani Kapoor – and still managed to botch up the film. That needs talent, I am sure.

Parineeti Chopra was excellent in the role of Gayatri – a woman living by herself, running through boyfriends as she is disappointed with them, every time. She’s independent and fun-loving. She is not able to relate to marriage, as in a permanent commitment.

I saw Sushant Singh Rajput in Kai Po Che. While I did not like the film, the actor was good in it. He’s handsome and dashing and can act very well. The chemistry between Parineeti and Sushant sizzles. Their eye expressions are definitely worth a watch.

Newcomer Vaani Kapoor is quite good, considering that it’s her first film. Her character Tara is also interesting, quite cheerful and could not care less whatever happens.

Rishi Kapoor literally glows in the character of Goyal, a marriage contractor. His second innings in Bollywood promises to be even better than his earlier stint.

Then why did I not like the film?

I couldn’t stand it, in fact. With all these features, the presentation was terrible. It’s like you have the right ingredients to prepare a dish and it fails because of overcooking. The film deserved to be 40 minutes long. There was only that much story and dialogues in it. The rest of the time, everything was repeated. I am sure you get what I mean.

I realised why the theatres are crowded even one week later. A lot of cheapskates land up there to watch the smooching scenes and making lewd comments throughout. There were at least three such guys in front of us and it was obvious that they were not watching the film for the first time. It was just too irritating for words.

I am glad that we could go only to the mini theatre where the ticket costs Rs. 150 per person instead of the usual Rs. 250. But still I feel the film was not worth it.

VERDICT: Watch it at your own risk!

RATING: ** Shaky

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

Film Review: LOVE AAJ KAL

I had understood that the title meant Love Nowadays. Only on seeing the film did I realise that it means Love Today and Yesterday.

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna
Director: Imtiaz Ali

Jai (Saif Ali Khan) is based in London and dreams of working for Golden Gate Bridge Co. in San Francisco. Meera (Deepika Padukone) lives and works in London too and dreams of going back to India and restore the heritage buildings. The two meet and vibe wonderfully from the word Go. They have a great relationship and never speak of marriage. And then one day, Meera leaves for India to fulfil her dreams. Jai and Meera continue their friendship over the distance. But what is there between them?

Then there is the other love story from 1960s Punjab that is interwoven with the present day scenario. Veer Paaji (Rishi Kapoor) runs a restaurant in London. He talks about his love life in a flash back to Jai. The young Veer (Saif Ali Khan) is in love with Harleen (a Brazilian model, no less), a girl from his town. In those days, it needed a helluva lot of courage to express one’s love. And this is a problem that Veer faces while loving Harleen from a distance. The rest of the film goes to show whether the two sets of lovebirds get to tie the knot or no.

Saif Ali Khan has given a terrific performance as chatterbox Jai and the quiet Veer. He has come a very long way and has matured into a great actor.

Deepika Padukone has arrived. While her 100-watt-smile had always been attractive, the woman has got tremendous acting talent. She is absolutely subtle while her eyes speak volumes.

The on-screen chemistry between the two main actors dazzles.

One can very well relate to the story as it is so much a reality whether it is the 1960s or the first decade of the 21st century.

The film has been extremely well directed with the present and the past blended so beautifully that the viewer is never once confused or irritated with the scenes switch back and forth. The editing is perfect with no loose ends while the movie is compactly fitted into a little over two hours.

Verdict: Go for it folks. It’s absolutely worth a watch.
Rating: ****

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