Sharing: MY VIEWS ON #SALMANVERDICT

A penitentiary in olden days was created for a criminal to be isolated, giving him a chance to do penance so that he corrects his ways. Over the past few centuries, prison has become a place of incarceration that makes the inmates worse than what they were before they went in. I wonder what the purpose of a judicial system is, which keeps supposed criminals behind bars, allowing them to fester in boredom with a high probability of making them more dangerous to the public when they get released. Well, that’s one aspect.

Then there are the hardcore criminals – read industrialists, government employees, politicians and the like; self-proclaimed dons; paid assassins; etc – who roam freely in the country. I am not sure if imprisoning them is exactly the answer to the problem. But then again, their roaming the country as free citizens is definitely not a solution. And how do they get away with it? By bribing, of course! (On an aside, Gabbar Is Back is a movie worth watching).

Talking of movies, do you remember Rajesh Khanna’s famous film Dushman (1972)? He plays a lorry driver who kills the earning member of a poor family when he drives his lorry in a drunken stupor. When he’s taken to court, the dead man’s father (I think) asks the judge of what use will it be if the killer is sentenced to prison for some years? Will that help the dead man’s family survive? That’s when the judge comes up with a landmark judgement. That the murderer (Rajesh Khanna) should earn money and take care of the deceased’s family for the number of years he was supposed to have been imprisoned. Over the next few years, a lot of healing happens between the family and the lorry driver until they finally forgive him. Now, that is what I would call a great solution to a bad situation.

Now, getting to our Sallu Bhai, I don’t think there is a doubt in anyone’s mind that he was the one who drove the car and killed those people. That he drove the car after drinking was “wrong”. That he ran the car over people and killed them was a grave mistake, but still a mistake. It’s definitely not something that he set out to do deliberately. While the case has been going on, Salman Khan has turned around a lot. There is his Being Human Foundation and a number of other acts of philanthropy that make life easier for a lot of people. Some might say that a few good acts do not compensate for one bad act. But why not? I don’t think the man would have been very comfortable with his conscience after the death of all those people. He has definitely done a number of good deeds to set that right in his own way. Yes, those will not bring those people back to life. Then again, Salman Khan languishing in jail isn’t going to bring them back either.

Does it make sense to put the actor behind bars? It’s not as if he’s a hardened criminal. There are many of those running around free and our judicial system seems to be doing nothing about those people. While, if Salman Khan is free, the film industry stands to make a lot of money, in turn helping the lives of many of those who are dependent on Bollywood. And there are those families who have received a lot of financial help from the Bollywood star. They stand to benefit too. And I am sure there will be more such people whose lives he will make better with his monetary backing.

Hence I, for one, vote that our society will gain more with Salman Khan continuing with his regular life than his going to prison for 5-10 years. Any of you willing to join me?

#SalmanBailOrJail

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

Film Review: Salman Khan's DABANGG

Cast: Salman Khan, Arbaaz Khan, Vinod Khanna, Sonu Sood, Dimple Kapadia, Sonakshi Sinha
Director: Abinav Kashyap 
 
It was Ganpati Utsav as well as Eid when we went for this film. The theatre was packed and all of us were eager to watch Salman’s latest movie. It has also been released at a time when films have been either low profile or bombing (eg.: We are Family) on a regular basis. That could also have been a reason for the packed theatre. Then again the raving reviews – in Mumbai Mirror, for example, could have been the reason.

The Story: The film opens with the young Chulbul Pandey complaining to his mother (Dimple Kapadia). He is her child by her first husband who had died when Chulbul was barely two years old. Her second husband Pandey (Vinod Khanna) is totally stingy and any expenses he makes are for their son Makki. Chulbul (Salman Khan) grows up with a lot of anger and jealousy for both his stepfather and stepbrother. He adores his mother. While Chulbul becomes a police officer, albeit corrupt, Makki is good for nothing. Chulbul beats up thieves and takes away their loot. While he does use the money for himself, he also helps everyone around him. He jokingly calls himself Robin Hood Pandey.

Makki is in love and as the girl’s father is poor, he steals money from Chulbul to give to the old man so that the stingy Senior Pandey would agree to the wedding. But before things could be taken further, their mother dies and Chulbul is thrown out of his home.

Trouble comes to Chulbul in the form of the evil Cheedi Singh (Sonu Sood) while love blooms for Rajo (Sonakshi Sinha). The rest of the film is all about Chulbul defeating the villain and getting together with the love of his life. Watch the film to see whether his relationship with the other Pandeys gets healed or no.

My Perception: Salman Khan has given a lovely performance. He is his old self in this avatar as Chulbul Pandey and entertains the viewers with his antics. He has lost quite a bit of fat, especially since his debauched look in Wanted. He has done a commendable job – fight sequences, dialogues, song and dance and romance.

Dimple Kapadia was simply amazing, even while her role was not too big. Vinod Khanna and Arbaaz Khan have fulfilled their parts well.

Sonu Sood was excellent in the role of villain. His expressions were just perfect for his role. A special mention has to be made for a couple of scenes – the song sequence by Malaika Arora Khan and the one where he insults Arbaaz Khan.

Newcomer Sonakshi Sinha has done a very good job of her role as Rajo. I was not too impressed with her in the promos. But she is excellent in the film.

Verdict: Most definitely worth a watch, especially if you are a Salman fan.

Rating: ***

* 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: WANTED

Cast: Salman Khan, Ayesha Takia, Vinod Khanna, Prakash Raj, Mahesh Manjrekar
Director: Prabhu Deva

Well, what to say – it’s better late than never. I know it’s almost a month since the release of this Salman Khan starrer. But what the hell, I saw it after I heard so much of praise for the film from some of my friends. I played it safe.

Radhe (Salman Khan) is a loafer who also doubles as an assassin. He belongs to no group and plays for himself. He is always ready to kill for money. The higher the bidder, the more enthusiastic is Radhe. He is clear that he will never touch women or children. Into this highly-principled man’s life comes Jahnvi (Ayesha Takia), a beautiful young lady working for a call centre. She lives with her widowed mother and young brother. Jahnvi is from a middle-class background and she falls for the handsome uneducated Radhe. But she is shocked to find out how violent he is. Whether the two of them will get together and why Radhe is what he is forms the rest of the plot.

From the promos that I had seen on television, I was convinced the film would be too violent for me. That is why I refused to go near a theatre during the release. There is quite a bit of violence, but nothing that you cannot take. The film is woven with a lot of comedy and that was the best part. That’s when I realised that many of the Bollywood flicks have enforced comedy that runs parallel to the main plot. This copy of the Tamil flick Pokiri has excellent comedy and the timing is just awesome. This could make all the difference to a film.

Like, even the villain, played by Prakash Raj, has many funny moments. Not that they make him seem ridiculous or any the less dangerous. That was the best part of it. Salman Khan’s comeback is definitely worth a watch. He plays the role of a guy who must be in his thirties and he has done it so well. Welcome back, Salman!

Ayesha Takia was cute and plump and she could act too – in that order. Prakash Raj was awesome and Vinod Khanna was good. Mahesh Manjrekar as the bad police man has done his role so well that you want to kill him with your bare hands. Kudos!

Verdict: Definitely worth a watch. If it is too late to find the film in theatres near you, I am sure the DVD will be out soon.

Rating: ****

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