Film Review: COCKTAIL

A timepass romantic tri-tangle!

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Boman Irani, Dimple Kapadia, Diana Penty
Director: Homi Adajania

Venkat, Vinitha and I caught the film at Cinemax Sion on the second day of its release as we were quite impressed with the promos.

THE STORY

The film is set in London where Veronica (Deepika Padukone) works hard and plays harder. She is a professional photographer. After one of her rave parties, Veronica sees Meera (Diana Penty) crying her eyes out in the washroom. She takes Meera home to find out that the latter is married to Kunal (Randeep Hooda) who is a fraud. Meera does not have anyone else to turn to and accepts Veronica’s invitation to live in her apartment. Meera takes up a job as a graphic designer. 

Gautam (Saif Ali Khan) is a software engineer who had recently moved base to London. The Casanova hits it off immediately with Veronica and moves into her apartment and directly into her bedroom. The three of them remain friendly while Meera is a mite wary of Gautam’s flirtatious nature.

Randhir (Boman Irani) is Gautam’s maternal uncle who proudly takes responsibility for making his nephew a ladies’ man. Gautam’s mother Kavita (Dimple Kapadia) thinks badly of her brother but believes that her son is Mr. Perfect. She’s keen to see Gautam married and lands up in London suddenly.

Without thinking, Gautam introduces the traditional Meera as the woman he loves while Veronica watches on in amusement. Kavita is quite impressed with Meera and insists on going with the three flatmates on a holiday to Cape Town. While Meera and Gautam pretend to be in love, Veronica spends a lot of time with Kavita and is touched by her motherly love. Having had no affectionate family, she begins to dream of marrying Gautam.

Gautam is shocked at this turn of events. He had never thought beyond an affair with Veronica. Things get worse when the Casanova falls in love with the innocent Meera and she returns his feelings. The two of them see a totally different side to the fun-loving Veronica when she finds out that her best friends are in love with each other.

Things turn quite dark after that, especially when Veronica has a near-fatal accident. Watch the film to see who gets Gautam.

MY PERCEPTION

Saif Ali Khan is superhot and sails through his role. I suppose it is child play for him by now, having done a few similar ones. Considering that he is 42, it’s a wonder that he is able to get away with the role of a man in his early thirties. And believe me, he’s good!

Boman Irani and Dimple Kapadia have executed their roles perfectly.

Newcomer Diana Penty as Meera is very good, especially considering that it is her debut role. Her acting skills are truly appreciated.

Deepika Padukone – somehow despite hearing a lot of criticisms about the actor, I feel she is very good. Having said that, I need to point out that she keeps repeating her party girl role too often – Love Aaj Kal; Karthik Calling Karthik; Break Ke Baad and how many else that I have not seen, I don’t know. It looks that she has been doing the same role again and again, getting a little better after each performance. Well, considering that this is her latest, she has done the best party girl role so far. It has extended to give forth to an easygoing Veronica who evolves into one with a bad temper as her hurt comes to the fore. Deepika has given a great performance!

VERDICT: The film is very light and a fun-watch.

RATING: *** 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: AARAKSHAN

What went wrong, Mr. Prakash Jha? Did you lose interest towards the end or what?

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Tanvi Azmi, Prateik, Manoj Bajpai, Darshan Zaveri, Hema Malini
Director: Prakash Jha

THE STORY: Deepak Kumar (Saif Ali Khan) is the son of a widow who earns a living by ironing clothes. He has worked hard through school and has gained entrance into college all thanks to Prabhakar Anand (Amitabh Bachchan), the principal of the most popular educational institution in Bhopal. Deepak is on his way to do his PhD in the USA. Anand’s daughter Poorbi (Deepika Padukone) is also studying in the same college and she and Deepak are in love. Their best friend is Sushant (Prateik), the son of one of the trustees of the college.

Prabhakar Anand believes that education should be made available to one and all. That’s the very reason his college is the most popular in the district since 35 years. Trouble begins when a minister’s nephew, with just 52.07% in Std. XII, is adamant about getting a seat at the college. Everything snowballs out of control when the minister approaches Mithilesh Singh (Manoj Bajpai), a lecturer whose main source of income is from his private coaching classes.

Things get from bad to worse when Anand resigns from his post as principal and later finds that he has lost his home too. Unfazed, he goes on to prove to everyone that his way of educating everyone is the only way to be. Watch the film to see how he manages to do that with his family’s support.

MY PERCEPTION: Amitabh Bachchan gets better and better at acting, if such a thing were possible. He has given a stupendous performance as Principal Prabhakar Anand. Tanvi Azmi – have missed the actor since her last performance as Anupam Kher’s wife in Darr. She is a very good actress and I am surprised that we never saw her in any film all these years.

Deepika Padukone has come a long way and has given a good performance. Congrats Deepika!

Saif Ali Khan was excellent. Kudos! Prateik was good in his role even though it was quite brief.

Manoj Bajpai – why do we see so less of this actor? I simply hated his character and the meanest of the mean look in his eyes. Isn’t that how a villain should be? He was too good and was the perfect villain to Amitabh’s protagonist. The other producers and directors need to wake up and realize what they are missing.

The subject was great and the problem and solution perfectly created. All that said, the film was just tooooooo looooooooong. Where was the editor? Gone to sleep midway or what? And then he suddenly woke up and chopped off a huge slice of the film at the end – yeah, the end was too abrupt.

The movie ran for about 2 hrs and 45 minutes. It should have been just 2 hrs and maybe another 15 minutes at the most. The music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy was good but just did not fit in. They could have done without it. Every scene was prolonged and dragged out. Then, suddenly, in the end, just when the bulldozers were about to strike, Hemamalini walks in and a few seconds later, everything’s hunky dory. What went wrong, Mr. Prakash Jha? Did you lose interest towards the end or what?

VERDICT: You can see it, I suppose

RATING: **1/2 (Better than shaky, less than smart)

* 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