Friday, March 03, 2006
Teesri Aankh
Teesri Aankh—The Hidden Camera
Indians must be more enterprising than we think, if the world’s porn racket is run by a London desi, with the unlikely name of Sudana Pande. Thanks to him, London also seems to be overrun with armies of Indian thugs and more Indian cops than you’d find in a Mumbai police chowky.
Harry Baweja’s Teesri Aankh—The Hiddem Camera borrows its subject matter from the recently released Kalyug, which in turn was derived from 8mm—so this offering seems as old as a well worn hand-me-down.
Then to add to the déjà vu is Sunny Deol running wild—stopping speeding bikes with his hands, knocking down dozens of extras with one blow and giving eager mediapersons lectures on how to respect women.
But the film, with typical Bollywood hypocrisy talks of woman being “ma behen” while the camera caresses miles of bare flesh.
Mumbai cops want to bust the porn trade that targets unsuspecting women in hotels or changing rooms, so ACP Arjun (Deol) is sent to London to catch the kingpin Sudama (Mukesh Rishi).
Meanwhile Arjun’s fiancée (Neha Dhupia) has gone to London to participate in a dubious beauty contest and forced to do blue films. Instead of calling her fiance, the London cops or the Indian Embassy for help, she relies on Sudama’s deputies who want to overthrow him. She gets killed and the murder witnessed by mute girl Amu (Ameesha Patel).
Just when things are moving a bit with Arjun meeting Amu, the film goes into a lengthy flashback of Arjun’s crusade in India (giving the impression that the reels got mixed up!) against a corporator who runs the porn business.
The film just lurches from one fight to the next (why does Sunny Deol get guest appearance credit?) and one absurd situation to another. There are other characters (Ashish Chowdhary, Aarti Chhabria) around too, without much to do.
Indians must be more enterprising than we think, if the world’s porn racket is run by a London desi, with the unlikely name of Sudana Pande. Thanks to him, London also seems to be overrun with armies of Indian thugs and more Indian cops than you’d find in a Mumbai police chowky.
Harry Baweja’s Teesri Aankh—The Hiddem Camera borrows its subject matter from the recently released Kalyug, which in turn was derived from 8mm—so this offering seems as old as a well worn hand-me-down.
Then to add to the déjà vu is Sunny Deol running wild—stopping speeding bikes with his hands, knocking down dozens of extras with one blow and giving eager mediapersons lectures on how to respect women.
But the film, with typical Bollywood hypocrisy talks of woman being “ma behen” while the camera caresses miles of bare flesh.
Mumbai cops want to bust the porn trade that targets unsuspecting women in hotels or changing rooms, so ACP Arjun (Deol) is sent to London to catch the kingpin Sudama (Mukesh Rishi).
Meanwhile Arjun’s fiancée (Neha Dhupia) has gone to London to participate in a dubious beauty contest and forced to do blue films. Instead of calling her fiance, the London cops or the Indian Embassy for help, she relies on Sudama’s deputies who want to overthrow him. She gets killed and the murder witnessed by mute girl Amu (Ameesha Patel).
Just when things are moving a bit with Arjun meeting Amu, the film goes into a lengthy flashback of Arjun’s crusade in India (giving the impression that the reels got mixed up!) against a corporator who runs the porn business.
The film just lurches from one fight to the next (why does Sunny Deol get guest appearance credit?) and one absurd situation to another. There are other characters (Ashish Chowdhary, Aarti Chhabria) around too, without much to do.
Labels: Cinemaah
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Taxi & HTPH
Taxi No. 9211
The title of this Milan Luthria film –Taxi No 9211 (nau do gyarah, meaning to flee)—gives the impression, that it is a comedy. It has a few snatches of humour, but the Changing Lanes-inspired movie is about two ill-tempered guys going ballistic, and has all the entertainment value of a street ‘tamasha’ that usually follows an accident.
The eponymous taxi does not play much of a part in the story after providing the initial crash, which triggers off the mayhem in the lives of the two lead characters. It also ‘heals’ miraculously after being bust up—in one of the film’s numerous glitches-- and reappears for a short chase sequence.
Raghav Shastri (Nana Patekar) is the kind of prickly guy who can’t keep a job, so he tells his wife (Sonali Kulkarni—impressive) that he is an insurance agent while he drives a taxi, carefully steering away from his own area. Jai Mittal (John Abraham) is an arrogant rich guy in danger of losing his millions if he can’t produce his father’s will in court.
In a scenario perfectly plausible in Mumbai, Jai gets into Raghav’s cab (having crashed his own car in a drunken haze) and forces him to drive fast. The cab crashes into a car, there’s a fight, Jai leaves Raghav to deal with the chaos and the cops. Then he realizes that the key to vault holding the precious will fell in the cab. But Raghav is angry and won’t give it back.
The two guys then get into a furious chase, first to get what they want, then to spitefully mess up the other guy’s trip and finally to make amends. In the process, they learn their lessons and become better human beings.
Taxi No. 9211 is a fast-paced entertainer, with a compact running time that leaves little room for longueurs. Problem areas: lack of requisite amount of humour, an indifferent music score, and an unremarkable leading lady (Sameera Reddy) opposite John Abraham.
Nana Pateker and John Abraham-- as different as chalk and cheese in terms of appearance and acting styles—are well cast. They complement each other, and though the characters they play are not in the least amiable, they seem like people we know.
Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai
Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai would have looked outdated a decade ago, now the boring old love triangle seems as if it came from a long-forgotten era. Directed by Bunty Soorma who passed away during its making, the film was completed by Vikram Bhatt, but the material had nothing novel about it.
A blind village girl Durga (Ameesha Patel) falls in love with a city guy (Arjun Rampal), whom she calls “Babu” and never bothers to find out his real name—silly plot contrivance.
Babu or Rohit, gets her eyes operated on by a kindly surgeon (Kanwaljeet), but before she can see, he is killed by the villain (Parmeet Sethi). The doctor adopts Durga and takes her to Switzerland, where jaded rich dude Raj (Bobby Deol) falls in love with her and ardently woos the grieving woman till she agrees to marry him.
When they come back to Jaipur to wed, it is found that Rohit, who also happens to be Raj’s best friend, is alive and has just woken up from a coma and bout of amnesia. Of course, Durga has never seen him and does not know his name, so it takes a blackout for her discover that he is Babu. But he wants to sacrifice his love for the sake of his buddy…. you know the rest….
None of the three lead stars is a good actor, the music is ordinary and the film just about bearable if you can pretend it was made in the sixties and you are watching a rerun!
The title of this Milan Luthria film –Taxi No 9211 (nau do gyarah, meaning to flee)—gives the impression, that it is a comedy. It has a few snatches of humour, but the Changing Lanes-inspired movie is about two ill-tempered guys going ballistic, and has all the entertainment value of a street ‘tamasha’ that usually follows an accident.
The eponymous taxi does not play much of a part in the story after providing the initial crash, which triggers off the mayhem in the lives of the two lead characters. It also ‘heals’ miraculously after being bust up—in one of the film’s numerous glitches-- and reappears for a short chase sequence.
Raghav Shastri (Nana Patekar) is the kind of prickly guy who can’t keep a job, so he tells his wife (Sonali Kulkarni—impressive) that he is an insurance agent while he drives a taxi, carefully steering away from his own area. Jai Mittal (John Abraham) is an arrogant rich guy in danger of losing his millions if he can’t produce his father’s will in court.
In a scenario perfectly plausible in Mumbai, Jai gets into Raghav’s cab (having crashed his own car in a drunken haze) and forces him to drive fast. The cab crashes into a car, there’s a fight, Jai leaves Raghav to deal with the chaos and the cops. Then he realizes that the key to vault holding the precious will fell in the cab. But Raghav is angry and won’t give it back.
The two guys then get into a furious chase, first to get what they want, then to spitefully mess up the other guy’s trip and finally to make amends. In the process, they learn their lessons and become better human beings.
Taxi No. 9211 is a fast-paced entertainer, with a compact running time that leaves little room for longueurs. Problem areas: lack of requisite amount of humour, an indifferent music score, and an unremarkable leading lady (Sameera Reddy) opposite John Abraham.
Nana Pateker and John Abraham-- as different as chalk and cheese in terms of appearance and acting styles—are well cast. They complement each other, and though the characters they play are not in the least amiable, they seem like people we know.
Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai
Humko Tumse Pyaar Hai would have looked outdated a decade ago, now the boring old love triangle seems as if it came from a long-forgotten era. Directed by Bunty Soorma who passed away during its making, the film was completed by Vikram Bhatt, but the material had nothing novel about it.
A blind village girl Durga (Ameesha Patel) falls in love with a city guy (Arjun Rampal), whom she calls “Babu” and never bothers to find out his real name—silly plot contrivance.
Babu or Rohit, gets her eyes operated on by a kindly surgeon (Kanwaljeet), but before she can see, he is killed by the villain (Parmeet Sethi). The doctor adopts Durga and takes her to Switzerland, where jaded rich dude Raj (Bobby Deol) falls in love with her and ardently woos the grieving woman till she agrees to marry him.
When they come back to Jaipur to wed, it is found that Rohit, who also happens to be Raj’s best friend, is alive and has just woken up from a coma and bout of amnesia. Of course, Durga has never seen him and does not know his name, so it takes a blackout for her discover that he is Babu. But he wants to sacrifice his love for the sake of his buddy…. you know the rest….
None of the three lead stars is a good actor, the music is ordinary and the film just about bearable if you can pretend it was made in the sixties and you are watching a rerun!
Labels: Cinemaah
