Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara : Film Review

Simplistic but a very engaging film - this is my one line review of ZNMD. No extraordinary dialogues, no extraordinary sequences either. One can easily connect to the characters and the situations they are in. That is the precise reason why it has set the cash registers ringing at the box office.

Crux: Three friends (Hritik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akthar) are on a bachelor road trip in Spain. In the three week long trip, how they discover themselves forms the crux of the story. Not to forget the fun part along which keeps your funny bone tickling.

Picture Courtesy : nowrunning.com

Screenplay : Seems like bollywood has moved on with its stereotypes. There is more talk through gestures. Less dialogues give more time for the viewers for the introspection of a scene. Even in introducing - deep sea diving, sky diving and bull run, which is somewhat alien to the Indian audience, Zoya has consciously not put the rules or the jargon which might have made the film boring.

Conquering Fears : On a philosophical note too film scores high. Conquering one's fears, looking for meaning in life - if it sounds too heavy to digest now, well, you will not feel the same after you have seen the movie.

Exotic locations in Spain add to the richness of the movie. On the whole, it is a well made movie. A definite watch for all.

3 cheers to Rajkumar Hirani

Rajkumar Hirani impresses once again but this time with Aamir. Drifting away from Sanjay Datt and Munnabhai, he gives us a visual treat. Though based on Chetan Bhagat's Five Point Someone, Hirani has adapted the story well to suit the sensibilities of the film audience. So, if you have read the book, you will enjoy seeing the fictional characters - Alok, Hari and Ryan come to life, though with different names - Raju(Sharman Joshi), Farhan(R Madhavan) and Rancho(Aamir Khan). And if you haven't read the book, never mind, you will enjoy the movie too(your mind free of predicting next scenes!).

Best thing about Rajkumar Hirani's movies is the humorous way of conveying serious matters. That we have seen in Munnabhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots is no different. Most part of the movie makes you jump out of your seats and laugh out loud. But there are also scenes which makes you bring your hands closer for an applause.

Picture Courtesy : bollywoodhungama.com

If Munnabhai MBBS asked the doctors to be more humane in their treatment to patients, 3 Idiots asks us to be thoughtful when making career choices and do not succumb to pressures from various quarters. If we are not passionate about engineering and choose it, we will become those reluctant engineers. For Aamir, I thought this is an extension of what he had conveyed in Taare Zameen Par - one should follow his heart and excel in the work he loves. Film also mocks the education system, which sets a rat race among the students for jobs.

We can also spot some more similarities with Munnabhai MBBS. All Is Well mantra is to 3 Idiots, what Jadu Ki Jhappi was to Munnabhai MBBS. Prof.Viru Sahasrbuddhe(Boman Irani) reminds you of Dr.J.Asthana of Munnabhai MBBS and Rancho(Aamir) appears as a gentle version of Munna(Sanjay Datt). In this film, Hirani has retained the term Imperial in college name - Imperial College of Engineering just as in Imperial Institute of Medical Sciences in Munnabhai MBBS. One more thing I noticed in this movie is how well the director has connected the minute details in the film. I dont want to the give the details of the same as you will definitely find this out while watching the movie.

This movie may not herald a revolution in India in terms of career selection but defintiely will provide some food for thought for those parents who have only 2 career choices for their kids - Medicine or Engineering. Must watch for all age groups. Worth every rupee.

Recommended Reading :
5 Things I liked about 5 Point Someone
Munna Shines Again(review of Lage Raho Munnabhai)

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani : Movie Review

A comedy movie, as projected by the posters of the movie, Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani lives upto the expectations. Movie is fast paced and never seems boring. Rajkumar Santoshi is aware that primarily it is a comedy movie and he puts limited emotional scenes and it gels well. Few scenes here, may remind you of the great comedy movie of the 90s - Andaz Apna Apna.

Plot : Prem(Ranbir Kapoor) is the president of Happy Club of the town, which he runs along with his jobless friends. The motto of the Happy Club is to keep the people of the town happy. His gang of men also help in uniting the lovers, when faced opposition from their parents. Jennifer(Katrina Kaif), who initially mistakes Prem for a kidnapper, later becomes his good friend. He does everything to win over her - turns into a non-vegetarian from being a pure-vegetarian, finds himself a job, does his work sincerely, keeps aside time for his family to get himself the tag of achcha ladka from Jennifer! But all this goes in vein as Jennifer is in love with Rahul(Upen Patel).

Picture Courtesy : BollywoodHungama.com

In the meantime, Jennifer's parents are adamant on marrying her to someone else. But Prem comes to Jenni's rescue as the befitting president of Happy Club! But there are complications as Rahul's parents are also against him marrying Jenni. Will Jenni marry Rahul? What will be Prem's fate? To know answers to these questions watch the movie.

Kahani is not so ajab as you might have seen this type of triangular love stories before but definitely the comedy element is ghazab and that proves poora paisa vasool! Funny dialogues for most part of the film keeps audience in good homour. Few comedy sequences are - Stammering by Ranbir and Katrina, when they get emotional. But this creates funny misunderstandings! Salman Khan does a cameo and the best part here is when Ranbir hesitatingly introduces Katrina as his girl friend, Salman says why are you acting as if you are introducing my girl friend as yours! Prem turns into a non-vegetarian without knowing Jenni is a pure vegetarian! Prem's confession to Lord Jesus in broken English also tickles your funny bone. Comedy of errors in the party, when Prem is eager to dance with Jenni sets a laugh riot. Beautiful landscapes of Ooty, where the major portion of the film was shot, are a treat to watch. Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif make up a good onscreen pair. Fight sequence which is at the final part of the movie seems dragged. Climax of the movie well dealt, though in an unusual way. On the whole, this film is a complete entertainer. So, surely make up your time to watch it.

Ghajini - Film Review

For all those media hype and publicity by Aamir, Ghajini does not disappoint for most part. A perfectionist he is and the Khan lives upto it - a tonsured head, a eight-pack body and a matching act. On the whole, film stands out for amazing performances by the lead actors, Aamir Khan and Asin, the southern sensation.

Sanjay Singhania(Aamir Khan), CEO of Airvoice, is suffering from a mental disorder, where in he remembers about anything for only 15 minutes. And, why he is in such a state is a different story altogether. To manage with his inability, he makes notes about everything he encounters daily, takes photographs of whoever he is in touch everyday and also, he is on mission to find his enemy Ghajini and kill him. Kalpana(Asin), his love is dead and needless to say that Ghajini is responsible for that. How Sanjay accomplishes his mission is rest of the story. Jia Khan, a MBBS student helps Sanjay on his way.

Picture Source : nowrunning.com

What's Good: Aamir excels in his potrayal as always and that is the precise reason why he takes up only one movie every year. His body language perfectly suits the role. Asin, as a cheerful youngster impresses everybody. More than Aamir, it is Asin who steals the show with her stellar performance. Well, worth watch for Aamir fans and also for who want out-of-the-mill film stories. A R Rehman at his best in songs - Tu Meri Adhuri Pyaas Pyaas, Behka Behka. Exotic locations for song sequence are treat to watch. Also, hats off to the camera work too!

What's Not So Good: Asin's introductory song in the movie looks as if it has been stuffed into the movie sequence! Film could have been done without the song and Asin histrionics. Also, climax is a slight disappointment as the much dragged climax may remind you of the 80s film era!

This and That: Following was the SMS I received yesterday about Ghajini :- Describe Aamir Khan in GHAJINI - A man without hard disk, only cache memory and high speed processor! Of course, this message was forwarded by a software engineer.

Will There Be 'A Wednesday'?

Few films leave their mark in the sands of time and 'A Wednesday' is one of them. A gripping story and top class performances by two senior actors in bollywood. No hero but the film is still a winner. Neeraj Pandey's directoral venture keeps you glued to your seats for about 1 hour 45 minutes. A Wednesday is the story of a common man who is fed up of frequent terror attacks and wants to get rid of the evil in his own way and also wants to send a clear message to the bureaucratic system in the country. Anupam Kher delivers his best as Prakash Rathod, Police Commissioner of Mumbai and so does Naseeruddin Shah as the anonymous caller who calls him. Naseeruddin Shah represents millions of our country men who as common men, have to bear the consequences of terrorist attacks. Angst of common man against the system which takes more than a decade to punish the culprits behind bomb blasts represents the current scenario in India.
Film depicts all the situations which surrounds a bomb blast - how easily one places the bomb in the police headquarters, how the news hungry media exploits the situation when terrorist sends them the message of possible attack and in turn helps the terrorists to see the aftermath of their actions live on tv, how a redtape bureaucratic system like ours fails protect its own citizens in the time of need, how easily one makes judgements about a person knowing his religion and the list goes on. Neeraj has also handled the sensitive issue of religion well as seen from the fact that even at the end of the film, anonymous caller does not reveal his name or identity as people draw conclusions about his actions based upon his name which reveals his religion.

Script has been handled well and there is never a dull moment in a thriller of a movie. New story line and its connection to the real world, impresses and provokes thought at the same time. Jimmy Shergil has donned the rough and tough role as inspector Arif khan, something new for him. Tamasha news aired nowadays by '24 hour news channels' and the telemarketing call by a credit card company to Prakash Rathod in middle of a crisis may make brief comic reliefs in an otherwise serious movie. In the end the only words I can say here are - 'this film is a must watch for all'.

Can Kannada Cinema be the ambassador for the language?

This question has been in mind for quite some time now. There have been lots of debates on the issue of language. I was thinking how Hindi as a language has spread all over India. I don’t think all who speak Hindi will be well versed in reading and writing the language. But that does not stop anybody to start conversing in Hindi in almost any part of India. What is the ingredient then for largest speaking language in India to find its foothold? Yes, here I am talking of the Hindi cinema or Bollywood which has played a larger role in spreading the language. Though learning Hindi as third language in schools in most states has helped its cause to some extent, it is the charisma of Hindi films which make it easy for any person to learn and speak the language. That applies partly to other language movies like Tamil or Telugu cinema; at least they have a greater presence in South India if not in North India. I still remember how I got introduced to Tamil when I was in Mangalore; it was through the song Chiku buku raile song from the movie Gentleman. Kaadalan, Roja, Bombay were next in line to cast their spell. People also say they learn the language by watching movies.

Questions Unanswered: Here are few questions for Kannada cinema to ponder upon – how many times have been there instances of Kannada films being released out side the state, if not outside the country. For example, you will find very few films being screened in Kasaragod district of Kerala, with sizeable Kannada and Tulu population. Few films are released there after they become blockbusters like Yajamaana, Mungaaru Male. Big cities like Mumbai, Pune and Chennai too have good number of Kannadigas and what about border districts of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where Kannada is spoken. Why can’t we screen our films there? In Bangalore, a cosmopolitan city, there are shows of 6 different language films everyday. Can’t we screen Kannada movies in places where there is a significant presence of Kannadigas? Tamil and Telugu films travel to places where there is little presence of Tamilians, Telugus or not even that. Marketing would have made sure that it reaches places unheard of in mainstream media. Can we have the same marketing for namma Kannada films too?Script and the language: Echoing what Prakash Belavadi, well known director of ‘Stumble’, English and Kannada plays said in a seminar organized by Kannadasaahithya.com, we Kannadigas are lot more emotional about the script we follow. He said we are giving importance to lipi(script) rather than nudi(language), which is the reality too. Have you observed that Hindi ad punch lines are always written English? Bollywood movies in late 90s followed this trend of putting everything from film name to ‘the end’ message in English and that is not without reason too, as most of the movie goers could read English, so it was easy to understand. Can we have the similar thing for Kannada cinema? Along with the name in Kannada script can we have it written in English too, so non-Kannadigas too able to read the title, in turn learn a few Kannada phrases! Interestingly we find most of the times, captions after the film title in all English! Big hoardings in Bangalore now have Kannada written in English sometimes. If only they could be more meaningful it would serve the purpose. I am making it clear that it is not to replace the beautiful Kannada script but it is a temporary solution to ‘don’t know Kannada’ problem.

Recent Developments: Few days back, I was asked by one of my non-Kannadiga colleagues to translate ‘Ninnindale’ song from the movie,‘Milana’ to English. Good things are always appreciated devoid of language barriers. ‘Beduvanu Varavannu’ from 'Jogi',’Anisuthido Yaako Indu’ from ‘Mungaaru Male’ and most recently ‘Jinke Marina’ from ‘Nanda loves Nanditha’ was liked by every Bangalorean no matter whether he was a Kannadiga or not. Well, FM stations sudden rush to play Kannada songs also played its part here. Having said all that we have to make more good movies and market lesser popular but technically good movies, one Mungaaru Male or one Duniya is not enough to make a huge difference. Firstly filmmakers have to come out of their Bangalore centered approach while making films. There should be good marketing strategies to explore new markets and in turn spreading the language of the land.

Passing Note: Well known faces in film world like Maniratnam, Anil Kapoor(debut as director and hero respectively in Pallavi Anupallavi) and Juhi Chawla (debut in Premaloka) started their film careers in Kannada cinema.

Regards
Raveesh

This article also got published on Churumuri

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na - Film Review

A boy and a girl, best friends and they are not in love but only till they realize the other way. Simple story but fresh treatment has given the newcomer movie the fillip to success. Love story of Aditi and Jai is told by their friends to their new friend, making it a third person narration. Bits and pieces of story told by them keeps the movie in good pace.

Plot: Aditi (Genelia) and Jai(Imran Khan) are best friends in college. Whereas Aditi is known for her fights with almost everyone for the silliest of reasons, Jai is someone who strictly follows Gandhian principles, no ladai no pitai with anybody. Jai is always with Aditi in her craziest hobbies like performing last rites for her dead cat! Even the parents at both sides think Aditi and Jai are in love and ask them to marry which both turn down outrightly. Also, both Aditi and Jai owe each other to find a right match for them. Jai finds Meghna first and Aditi finds Sushanth next. In the company of Meghna, Jai’s number of calls to Aditi drop. Aditi senses Jai is not always with her now and once Sushanth comes into picture, Jai realizes the same. How the non violent Jai becomes warrior Jai Singh Rathore, true to his name typical of a man which Aditi always dreamt and of course how both realize their love for each other and confess it is rest of the story.What to look out for: Genelia is back in her ‘Boys’ film Harini look, typical of a teenager. Imran and Genelia make cute new couple in the tinsel town. Simple yet punch dialogues makes the film lot more closer to the heart. One instance would be of Amit, Aditi’s brother, with whom Aditi always quarrel with. Aditi asks why he started hating her and her friends. To convince her that she was all the time busy with her friends ignoring him, which made him hate her, he asks her to name her friends at different times for which she lists many but when asked about his own friends she remembers none. Then he tells he was always there only her friends were closer to her than him. Cameos by Arbaaz Khan, Sohail Khan tickle your funny bone whenever they are on screen! Jai’s punch on the face of Sushanth in return to his slapping Aditi becomes the wish of film audience, considering the earlier seedha saadha Jai. Well, in the climax when Jai had to stop Aditi from flying to US, he breaches security norms at the Mumbai Airport to enter the waiting hall, alarm is raised and police try to catch hold of the ‘terrorist’ unlike in the old movies where lovers ignore all the norms in world at the end of the film!

What could have been done better: Amar Singh Rathore’s(Naseeruddin Shah) portrait talking to Savitri Rathore, Jai’s mother to make ‘his son’ the real Rathore, the warrior appears funny for one or two times but after that it becomes boring. Some of the sequences for best friendship seems clichés. Depicting the third guy as bad in a love triangle or quadrilateral as it has been done in most of the films earlier continues here too. Aditi’s boy friend Sushanth is depicted so, which eventually breaks their engagement.

Striking the right chord: Good lyrics and equally good music. Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi Me Yunhi Koi Achcha Lagtha Hai has some simple yet powerful words to touch your heart and Pappu Can't Dance Saala is definitely for the party numbers. Of course, these are the two songs which will be in your mind when you come out of the movie hall.

This and That: Long forgotten, Kitu Gidwani as mother of Meghna, Jai’s girlfriend appears for a brief moment in the film. Had last seen her as Geeta Biswas in Shaktimaan, serial in Doordarshan. In his dreams, Jai finds one warrior, riding a horse, resembling Zorro whom he discovers in the end. Mera tujhse hai pehle ka naata koi…Yunhi nahi dil lubhaatha koi… Jaane tu ya jaane na… Maane tu ya maane na… is a song from the film Aa Gale Lag Ja, from which this film derives its title from and it is also the song which Jai says he would be singing for his dream girl. Needless to say that he ultimately sings that one for Aditi.

Regards
Raveesh

Sunday – Hindi Film Review

“What if one day went missing from your life?” ask the posters of this Hindi movie, Sunday, a suspense thriller. Rightly so, first half of the film puts you into some puzzling situations. But rather dull second half takes the excitement out, though not fully.

Highlights of the movie:

• Comic relief from the jodi of two best comedians in Bollywood now – Arshad Warsi, whose presence in the entire film arouses laughter and then there is Irfaan Khan, the most versatile actor presently.
• First half of the movie filled with some good comedy scenes and some mysteries in the story, which remain unsolved.
• Stuffed with some unnecessary song and fight sequences.
• Ajay Devagan’s role as a bully, seems he has been stereotyped with such roles after Golmaal.
• Second half in which answers to your puzzling questions comes quite easily without much twist.

Picture Courtesy : www.webindia123.com

Plot begins with the murder of a girl in Delhi, with finger of suspicion pointing too many. Rajvir Randhava (Ajay Devagan) is a cop and Seher Thapar (Ayesha Takia) is a dubbing artist in an animation movie company, who lends her voice to some interesting animation characters. Seher keeps forgetting things and this time it is a whole day, Sunday. Arshad Warsi, who plays a taxi driver, keeps asking Seher to pay the rent claiming she had hired his taxi. But Seher fails to recognize him. Irfaan Khan, who is a drama artist, keeps chanting bhoot whenever he sees Seher. She is also frequently attacked by a gang, whose leader has a stop-n-play, girlish voice which is another attempt to arouse laughter. Rajvir, who falls in love with Seher, solves the mystery behind all these happenings, quite expectedly. Ajay Devagan has continued his bullying role in several films now with this role quite similar to the one he played in Masti. Ayesha Takia looks gorgeous throughout the movie. But real highlight of the movie is the duo of Arshad and Irfaan who outdo each other in making the audience laugh.

Though first half of the movie keeps you guessing about what the story is all about, second half reveals the secrets quiet easily. Story is not run of the mill and can be given a watch for the new things it presents.

Regards,
Raveesh

Aishwarya Rai Speaking in Tulu

Found this video on youtube in which Bollywood/Hindi cinema(whichever you feel appropriate) queen Aishwarya Rai speaks in Tulu, her mother tongue, in Kannada Rajyotsava function in Mumbai held on November 14,2007. Aishwarya Rai, who was born in Mangalore, later moved to Mumbai with her parents. At a time when one forgets his/her roots once he/she attains success in life, Aishwarya Rai is an exception.

Here is the translation of what she spoke in Tulu on that day - "Thank you all for welcoming me with your love and affection. I could not attend this function all these years because of my busy schedules. This year, organizers had informed my father about the function, 4 months in advance. I thought this is the best occasion to attend along with my husband. Definitely this programme would have been recorded. I would carry a cassette / CD of this function and show it to my husband. He was telling how children gave a good cultural programme today, showcasing our culture."

Also Read,

Tulu Cinema at 35

Jab We Met - Film Review

Already there is a talk of Jab We Met making most of the void created by two most awaited films of the year Om Shanti Om and Saawariya and rightly so, this film has the freshness we expect of the new films released.

Film starts in a train with the leading pair of the film meeting there. Geet (Kareena) is flamboyant, talkative girl who believes in living life to the fullest. Contrasting to this Aditya Kashyap (Shahid) is exactly opposite. Though Aditya caught in his own problems and tries to avoid Geet when she starts a conversation, Geet is not one of those who give up easily. Circumstances lead Aditya to accompany Geet to her home in Bhatinda. But Geet has other plans to elope with Anshuman whom she had met when she was in Mumbai.

Aditya in the company of Geet transforms from a sadist to a positive thinker resembling Geet herself! Aditya assists Geet in escaping from her home to Manali to meet Anshuman. Aditya is a completely changed man now! He successfully handles his company well and turns it into a profit making one. But the story takes a twist when one of Geet’s relatives approaches Aditya thinking Geet had eloped with him. Aditya promises them that he will bring back Geet within ten days. But when he meets Anshuman in Manali, he is hurt when he learns that he too does not know where Geet is. Anshuman had rejected Geet when Geet asked him to marry her.

Aditya finds Geet in Shimla and convinces her to come back to home. Meanwhile Anshuman realizes his mistake and owes to face the situation along with her back home in Bhatinda. But when Aditya, Geet and Anshuman reach Geet’s home everyone there thinks that Aditya and Geet are couple and treat them so. Geet when tries to tell the truth she cannot. In the end, Geet realizes her true love in Aditya and they live happily ever after.

Highlights of the film are the refreshing dialogues and awesome on-screen chemistry between Shahid and Kareena. Also, equally worth mentioning is the stunning scenic beauty of Manali and Himalyan mountain range. Worth watching if you have not watched this film before and if you had watched, I don’t think you will not say no to the second watching. Some unnecessary songs may bore some who don’t like dance and song sequences for a brief moment. Anyway ‘Poochona Poocho Mujhe’ song has been topping the numbers even after the release of Om Shanti Om and Saawariya. Punjabis are known for their ambience and hospitality and that is rightly depicted in the film. If you are planning and confused which film to go this weekend this is the one I would suggest.

Regards,
Raveesh

Om Shanti Om - Film Review

What can you say about a film which acknowledges the guest appearances of 31 stars and casts duplicates of some other? That surely must be a spoof, and it is! That is the tale of the latest venture from SRK: Om Shanti Om. Much of the fame for this movie came through marketing of the film in various ways or rather the hype created by the media, latest being or at least what is said in the media ‘SRK promoting this film by being present in the on going cricket series between India and Pakistan’!

If only it fits to this genre of a spoof film, it would have been better. But this also tries to accommodate the usual Hindi film success formula and presents an old story in a new book! Reincarnation drama which was churned and adapted to several films has made its comeback again with this film. Subhash Ghai’s Karz’s traces are evident. In second film of her career Deepika Padukone has announced her arrival on the big stage (Deepika Padukone had debuted in Upendra starrer Kannada film Aishwarya last year).

Farah Khan has tried to recreate the 70s era in the first half of the film but without much success. But some of the dialogues she had picked from old Hindi films make some of the funny moments of the film. Film begins with 70s era and a love story between star Shanti Priya (Deepika) and a junior artist Om Prakash Makhija (SRK). But this comes to an abrupt end when Om learns that Shanti is already married to producer Mukesh Mehra (Arjun Rampal). But Mukesh kills Shanti and Om, in his ambition to become the biggest producer in the industry. But Om is reborn again as Om Kapoor, the son of yesteryear super star Rajesh Kapoor. Circumstances lead Om to accept his previous birth and he decides to take revenge against Mukesh who is now a big producer in Hollywood. Om tries to make Mukesh to accept his sins and give peace to the soul of Shanti and no need to tell that he succeeds in that! Highlights of the film are: some catchy, foot tapping songs, some silly and some good funny sequences, some times over acting by the lead characters.

But the film fails to live up to the expectations of the created by the hype surrounding it. Anyway if you want to see a time-pass film, this can be one of the choices you can make. An average film you can surely pass it off.

Regards,
Raveesh

New Menu

Confused by the title? This is referring to the bollywood flick, Bheja Fry, which stands different from the rest. Even the movie duration is short being less than 90 minutes where in some movies run for more than 4 hours in bollywood testing the patience of movie audience. Here the entire story revolves around 5-6 characters and no songs, no dance sequences, of course.

This is the story of a man who invites one of his new found ‘talents’ to a dinner party every Friday and will have pleasure in making fun of their talent (but without talents realizing this, as he argues) and he confesses this as his only stress buster. But this time the story is different. The so invited guest ends up being a trouble for the host himself. Stupidities displayed by the guest leads the host to problematic situations. In trying to solve these problematic situations, the ‘talented’ guest digs up more troubles. Humorous dialogues and some good performances by the protagonists get your attention more often. One particular expression to note in the film was TGIF – Thank God Its Friday!! And a victorious laugh of Vinay Pathak after saying this.

Worth watch if you are planning to see a movie out of the mill. I would like to mention here Khosla Ka Ghosla which got good response last year, was different and had Vinay Pathak in a role who helps a middle class family to get their land from the real estate mafia. Now we have forerunners for comedian role along with Paresh Rawal, Boman Irani and others in Hindi Cinema.

Lyrics Or Music ?

New post after a long long time. Hope you like it !!!

This is very contentious issue to answer. The question here is when a song be it a film song or other becomes a hit, whether it is because of its music or its lyrics?

There are songs written exclusively for the music(most of the times when tune is from any other language hit film song). So here lyrics is compromised at the cost of music or tune. But most of the times those songs are going to become hits. One of the classical examples is tamil film Kadhalan being remade in Hindi as Hum Se Hai Muqabla. There lyrics were not upto the mark set by yesteryear hindi lyricists. Latest addition to this is Jane Do Na song from Amitabh Bachchan starrer Cheeni Kum whose tune is similar to Jothe Jotheyali song from Shankar Nag starrer kannada film Geetha (music by Ilayaraja in both cases).

Nowadays well written lyrics is hard to find in film songs. But there are exceptions. Songs from kannada film Mungaaru Male are unique blend of good lyrics and equally good music. Anisuthide Yaako Indu has almost become the State Anthem of Karnataka with its huge popularity across the state.

But most of the times I feel a song becomes a instant hit because of its music. But wait, these songs which tend to become instant hits purely because of its music usually tends to have a short life span. People tend to forget these songs once a new song with better music takes over. This is mostly the case with songs with loud music. But not with the songs with good lyrics and of course light music. That is the reason I feel old songs still enjoy the popularity as before with their excellent lyrics. Can you ever forget songs from Hindi films like Dil, Saajan, Sholey, Aaraadhana or Kannada films like Kasthuri Nivaasa, Nyaayave Devaru, Gandhada Gudi, Amruthavarshini?

What is your say on this?

Regards
Raveesh

In The Time Of Change…

Again the time for comparisions. News of Kaun Banega Karodpathi 3(KBC 3) being up next on STAR’s agenda has been doing rounds for quite some time now. And this time host is different, King Khan of Bollywood. Big B’s success as TV show host from the previous two parts of KBC is evident. With his charisma having a magical effect still on the audience as well as the contestants, Shah Rukh Khan’s task is deemed to be a tough one. Already Radio One 94.3 has started comical series ‘KBC Ki Paathshaala’ on air with SRK getting tips from AB.

When an actor, host establishes a niche for himself in the mind of the audience and it is hard for the other person, if any, to get into the shoes of the originator. You just can’t get away with comparisions between the two which are inevitable. Thus when we think of KBC, Big B is always there in mind. This is even true with characters played by the actors. Sometimes the role played by actors becomes so popular that they become synonymous with their roles. For India, I think Nitish Bharadwaj who played the role of Lord Krishna in TV serial Mahabharath is the invisible god personified. After that, so many mythological TV serials have been there with Lord Krishna being one of the characters but it is hard to accept him in place of Nitish. Ditto the role of Swamy played by Manjunath in the TV serial Malgudi Days directed by Shankar Nag who is the perfect face for those who are looking for the visual picture of Swamy while reading RK Narayan’s Malgudi Days. And in recent times how can one forget the hugely popular role of Circuit played by Arshad Warsi in Munna Bhai MBBS and Lage Raho Munna Bhai. After that you don’t want to see any one else playing the role of Swamy or Circuit. Can we say it for the James Bond as well with new bond Daniel Craig not being well received in place of Pierce Brosnan?

Early advantage is always there. And when the character or role is played by the actor successfully, it becomes the bench mark for the rest to follow. That is what has happened in the KBC case. Audience expects the role to be better enacted than the previous one. Most of the times audience resist even the slightest change in the role and that is why most of the times sequels with role played by a different actor fails. But what I feel in the KBC case is that in SRK’s case, he should be left alone to don the role in his own way with his own charisma and not simply emulate anyone else.

What are your thoughts on it? Put them in your comments.

Hrithik’s Dhoom. . .

What happens when big star cast is combined with exotic locations in the world, high end electronic gadgets and some illogical sequences? – You get a film like Dhoom 2. Frankly speaking its earlier version may not score against the latter’s extravagant sets and some wonderful locations but surely it will score high in the logical quotient than this one.

Film begins ‘somewhere in the desert of Namibia’ with the robbery of Queen’s crown by one and only ‘A’. Whenever a theft is made by ‘A’ in any part of the world he leaves his infamous signature ‘A’. Hrithik’s entry is thus made grand by him jumping from a helicopter to the train down and robbing the crown by disguising as Queen herself! Not to forget the grand entry of Abhishek rescuing ever joking Ali.

When the case is handed over to super cop Jai Dixit he makes some progression (arithmetic/geometric progression??) out of the dates on which ‘A’ had done his thefts. To your amusement he would not have done a single robbery in India. But then you have explanation for that since he is not only a thief but an artist too!! And he wants to leave his mark as A – an ‘A’ formed by joining the places in the world where he had done his deeds and the horizontal line in A passes through Mumbai (like an equatorial line?!). Shonali Bose (Bipasha Basu) joins Jai Dixit in this ‘Catch Mr.A’ mission. But ‘A’ is unstoppable – he robs the diamond from Mumbai museum. After the theft in Mumbai museum, A happens to meet Sunhari (Aishwarya Rai) when she tries to use A’s name to rob historical sword kept in a historical fort. When she wants her to be his partner though initially A refuses finally accepts the offer and owes to make her his shadow and later his mirror!

As mentioned in the beginning film is full of illogical sequences. To narrate one of the illogical sequences – when Mr.A aka Aryan disguises him as a statue in the museum in Mumbai and uses a hi-tech gadget to steal the diamond placed in middle of the hall, no hidden camera was fitted in the museum and it is only guarded by security alone. Even when the diamond is stolen no alarm goes off (but now the original diamond is replaced by a fake one)!! And you will be treated with many such sequences.

Hrithik shines in every disguise he makes to outsmart the cops around the world - whether it is the Queen in Namibia or Cleaner/Statue/Joker in Mumbai or the Clown in Brazil. Playing baddie seems to be trend in bollywood with many heroes donning the role of villain. Hrithik does it here. SRK did it in Don and the Big B himself playing the role of Gabbar Singh in new version of Sholay.

Story takes a twist in the second half when the action shifts to Brazil. Now cop Shonali Bose has her twin sister Monali settled in Brazil (with not knowing one word in Hindi!!) where Jai and Ali stay. Sunhari plays double game with her helping Jai as well as promising her trust to Aryan. Here the scene where Sunhari and Aryan jump from high cliff as part of A’s training is well executed. When Aryan comes to know about betrayal of Sunhari, his Gabbar Singh style of interrogating her with one bullet in the gun and alternative turns to both to shoot the other is somewhat does not suit the situation considering the hi-tech image of Aryan built on the first of film.

If it was high-speed bikes stealing the show in John Abraham starrer Dhoom here you have many more but only in the climax you will find super bikes with Aryan and Sunhari trying to escape from the cops and Jai, Ali chasing them with super bikes.

If you are looking for some high time action and superb tourist locations then Dhoom 2 is a treat to watch. Second half of the film is shot entirely in Brazil. From hair style, hair color, costumes of the stars and of course the sets are too stylish to get eyes off it. No wonder this is going to be the next money spinner in bollywood with even after a week after its release in Bangalore people unable to get tickets. Interestingly most of the story involves only main five characters – Aryan, Sunhari, Jai, Ali, and Shonali/Monali.

And the ending turns out to be rather boring. Sunhari shoots Aryan in an attempt to prove that ‘koi kisi se itna pyaar kartha hai ki woh uski jaan le sake’. But after 6 months Aryan and Sunhari are found running a hotel in Fiji Islands only to be caught by Jai. Don’t ask me how Aryan was saved as it is not proved in the film anywhere. Aryan promptly hands over all his money to Jai – what a pity for hi-fi Mr.A!! And Jai leaves Sunhari and Aryan to live happily ever after.

All in all it is a total time pass film with visual treat of tourist locations, some cool action scenes and gizmos second only to James Bond gizmos.

Era of Remakes in Bollywood

Suddenly it is a trend catching up with the film makers in Mumbai. The age of remakes is now here. Devdas, Don, Umrao Jaan, Sholey and the list goes on. Though the box office results of these 'remade' films are not so encouraging still the experiments are going on.

Remade films are the flavour of the season with those extravagant sets and costumes overshadowing their original. But when a film is remade, the comparisions between the original and the remade is inevitable. And the result is that the newer one fails to impress the critics and even the audience to some extent (if they had seen the original earlier) in most occasions. Younger generation may be thrilled to see their favourite hero in a new role. But not for those who had seen the original. When I saw Don a week ago this was the case since I had seen the original Amitabh starrer. One has to be careful when choosing the leads for their remade version as today most of the actors in Bollywood are stereotyped for their typical roles. So it is hard to accept Shah Rukh as Don in place of Amitabh as SRK is most known for his romantic roles.

Generally the films in an era are inspired by the socio-economic condition of the nation at that time. So can you imagine a movie like Coolie which starred angry man of that time Amitabh remade today? At that time nation was in the phase of industrialization and labour unions. So the film suited those circumstances and was well appreciated. But not now. Next in the pipeline of remade films is Sholey. Dont know how the audience will accept this seemingly misadventure with Big B who played Jai in the original playing the bad man Gabbar Singh here!! This week released Umrao Jaan also met with the same fate as other remakes with critics.

In the case of remakes with the plot already known to the viewers the film cast is under severe inspection as there is a comparision between the two versions. In my opinion when you are about to make a remake it should be a basic idea from the original with the film story relevant to today's scenario. With the media blowing the remade films out of proportion naturally the expectations are also high. Atleast till the movie is released film makers should not reveal it as a remake. But there is a catch here, you are about get to lot of publicity and hype if it is a projected as a remake right from day one. So there is a thin line between the two. So it should be a fine balance between retaining your fresh ideas, not merely copying from the original and living up to the expectations. As they say rather than remake, 'inspiration' is a better word.

But one question still remains unanswered. Does the era of remakes indicate the absence of fresh ideas? This is the question that is yet to be answered by the filmmakers.

Mr.Amitabh Bachchan is now Dr.Amitabh Bachchan with the Delhi University awarding him honorary doctorate. Congratulations Dr.Amitabh Bachchan.

Regards
Raveesh

Munna Shines Again

Bole tho ek dum jhakkas. September 11, 2006 marks the 100th anniversary of Satyagraha started by Mahatma Gandhiji in South Africa way back in 1906. So this film Lage Raho Munna Bhai comes at a right juncture to remind all of us of the long forgotten Gandhiyan principles of Truth and Non-voilence.

Interestingly, this film is not a sequel to the earlier Munna Bhai MBBS as many of us thought. Other sequel released this year was Phir Herapheri, sequel of Herapheri, which was not up to the mark set by its prequel as it is the case with most of the sequels. One more sequel was Krrish, sequel to hugely hit Koi Mil Gaya. But this film Lage Raho Munna Bhai breaks the jinx that sequels do not perform well than its prequel(Ironically it is not a sequel and only the concept in the prequel has been carry forwarded).

Here the Bhai with a golden heart comes in a new avtaar of history professor. If it was healing doctor Munna in Munna Bhai MBBS, here he is preaching Satya aur Ahimsa, in the footsteps of Mahatma. The plot starts with the kidnapping of the Corporation official much in the same light as in Munna Bhai MBBS, but with a different plan. Well begun is half done. Thab se shuru hotha hai dil kholke hasne ka silsila jo film ke aakhir thak chaltha rehtha hai.

If you are convinced that Munna Bhai MBBS was the best comedy film ever made in Mumbai, think again, Lage Raho Munna Bhai(LRMB) is set to break all the records. As with the other big budget films of the year LRMB boosted of first several shows in Mumbai being entirely booked before the release itself. So I take pride in the fact that I saw the movie two days after release i.e on Sunday itself. Story unfolds as Munna is in love with the RJ Jahnvi (Good Mornnnnnning Mumbai, as she greets her audience every morning). Munna wins the quiz organized by the Radio Channel on October 2 based on Mahatma with the help of the professors caught by him and gets a chance to meet Jahnvi and go on air. Again for the professors he has prizes if they answer the questions first. There in the studio he introduces himself as professor of history. So he is invited by Jahnvi to her home to give lecture on Mahatma. Munna now goes to Gandhi Library to study about Mahatma and gets into chemical locha to see the Mahatma everywhere in Mumbai and what follows after that is a tale of Munna walking on the footsteps of Mahatma. There is never a dull moment in the film. To be frank you may miss some of the jokes cracked when you start laughing for the first one. Such is the impact that the whole theatre will be indulged in laugh riot.

Film tells the principles of truth and non-voilence in a much acceptable manner. Be it be the confession of Munna to Jhanvi or the facing bribe problem in a govt office by retired teacher or the problem with the neighbour's nuisances. Worth a watch for every film goer. I am now planning to go for this movie for the second time.

On the other side I felt some of the dialogues were repeated from the Munna Bhai MBBS. Like when Munna goes to the Gandhi library circuit says padhai me dhyann de bhai, tension nahin lena ka. Or when circuit and munna decide to leave for the village, Munna asks what will you do in the village. For that circuit says main gaon jaavunga tho bail kya karegi?.

When Munna Bhai MBBS was made, it was remade in Kannada(with Upendra as Uppi Dada MBBS) , Telugu(with Chiranjeevi as Shankar Dada MBBS) and Tamil(with Kamal Hasan as Vasool Raja MBBS). Will Lage Raho Munna Bhai be remade in regional languages? Lets wait and watch.

What I feel is that when everyone comes out of the theatre after seeing the movie one is sure to have tilted a little for the Gandhiyan principles. Lage Raho Munna Bhai.