Saturday, May 21, 2005
Eyes Eyes
Naina
If our filmmakers have to rip off foreign films, why not pick better ones? Naina, directed by first timer Shripal Morakhia, uses Korean horror flick Jian Gui (The Eye), as its source. Though it is technically superior to most horror films made in Mumbai, it is ultimately too predictable and formulaic.
Using the ridiculous premise—rightly objected to by eye doctors—that transplanted body parts carry something of their original owners, the blind Naina (Urmila Matondkar) starts getting scary visions when she receives a corneal transplant. (Isn’t it the norm to use just one cornea per person? And with a shortage of eye donors in India, why would healthy corneas be sent to a recipient in the UK? But put questions aside….)
The horror tap is turned on full force as Naina starts seeing dead people, gets the power to predict death and also terrifying nightmares. Her doctor, Sameer (Anuj Sawhney) thinks that the sudden gift of sight is causing her mental disturbances.
The first half of the film uses standard horror tricks, creepy cadavers, startling sound effects and a wildly screaming Naina; the second half when she goes to Bhuj to solve the mystery gets the story moving towards the big climax, which turns out to be grand in execution but disappointing in content.
In many places, director Morakhia revels, rather sadistically in sickening the audience, rather than frightening them – or why the grisly visuals of charred corpses and such?
Still, Naina is gripping in most part, and quite a good debut effort. Urmila Matondkar is undoubtedly Bollywood’s scream queen – it takes guts to keep doing such roles, especially since all those facial contortions are most unflattering. Anuj Sawhney is a good-looking prop. None of the other actors have much scope. Horror film buffs would go for this one.
Nazar
The fact that publicity stunts do not always result in ticket sales, is proved by the half empty theatre for Soni Razdan’s Nazar. Pakistani actress Meera got a lot of media mileage out of alleged threats by fundamentalists in her country for a non-existent kiss in the film, and for her self-appointed title of Pakistan’s Aishwarya Rai…. didn’t work with Indian audiences.
A bit of The Eyes of Laura Mars, a dash of Jian Gui (The Eye), but the end result is a tired horror thriller, which Meera is unable to pull off by herself.
She plays Divya, a singer, who stops on a lonely street to help a wounded girl and next thing she knows, she is getting visions of bar dancers being murdered by a serial killer. The gritty cop Sujata (Koel Purie) assigned to the case thinks Meera is mad, but her long-haired cohort Rohan (Ashmit Patel), thinks there’s ESP at work and might lead to the killer.
Divya’s doctor (Aly Khan), already rather taken in by her, throws tantrums but can’t stop the romance between her and the cop. When a female tantric (Neena Gupta) and an old whore (Sarita Joshi, terrific in just one scene), give Meera clues as to where the story is headed, the audience can’t wait to get it over with and get out.
This sort of thing, not fresh or particularly entertaining to begin with, might work up to a point, if the female doing all the running, eye-popping and screaming is suitably helpless and can win audience sympathy. Not only does Meera fail in the looks department (despite the layers of make-up), she is a very bad actress and graceless dancer.
The only one whose performance counts for anything in Nazar is Koel Purie, despite the lisp and ugly red lipstick. The songs in most Bhatt films are chartbusters, but here Anu Malik’s music is a let down too.
Razdan tries very hard to pile on the gore—scalpels flash, blood spurts all over the place, but frankly it’s all quite boring. The identity of the killer does come as a surprise, but along with it a politically correct ‘moral’ is a bit much to take.
Shabnam Mousi
Based on the true story of a eunuch’s political rise in Madhya Pradesh, Yogesh Bharadwaj’s Shabnam Mousi is a good attempt to deal with an offbeat subject. But a little less bombast and more sensitivity would have been better for the cause – which is to tell people that eunuchs should be treated as human beings.
Ashutosh Rana does a fine job as the hijra who stands for the triumph of the human spirit. Except for a couple of films like Sadak and Tamanna, eunuchs are usually mocked and derided in films and Rana makes sure his performance does not turn the character into a caricature.
If our filmmakers have to rip off foreign films, why not pick better ones? Naina, directed by first timer Shripal Morakhia, uses Korean horror flick Jian Gui (The Eye), as its source. Though it is technically superior to most horror films made in Mumbai, it is ultimately too predictable and formulaic.
Using the ridiculous premise—rightly objected to by eye doctors—that transplanted body parts carry something of their original owners, the blind Naina (Urmila Matondkar) starts getting scary visions when she receives a corneal transplant. (Isn’t it the norm to use just one cornea per person? And with a shortage of eye donors in India, why would healthy corneas be sent to a recipient in the UK? But put questions aside….)
The horror tap is turned on full force as Naina starts seeing dead people, gets the power to predict death and also terrifying nightmares. Her doctor, Sameer (Anuj Sawhney) thinks that the sudden gift of sight is causing her mental disturbances.
The first half of the film uses standard horror tricks, creepy cadavers, startling sound effects and a wildly screaming Naina; the second half when she goes to Bhuj to solve the mystery gets the story moving towards the big climax, which turns out to be grand in execution but disappointing in content.
In many places, director Morakhia revels, rather sadistically in sickening the audience, rather than frightening them – or why the grisly visuals of charred corpses and such?
Still, Naina is gripping in most part, and quite a good debut effort. Urmila Matondkar is undoubtedly Bollywood’s scream queen – it takes guts to keep doing such roles, especially since all those facial contortions are most unflattering. Anuj Sawhney is a good-looking prop. None of the other actors have much scope. Horror film buffs would go for this one.
Nazar
The fact that publicity stunts do not always result in ticket sales, is proved by the half empty theatre for Soni Razdan’s Nazar. Pakistani actress Meera got a lot of media mileage out of alleged threats by fundamentalists in her country for a non-existent kiss in the film, and for her self-appointed title of Pakistan’s Aishwarya Rai…. didn’t work with Indian audiences.
A bit of The Eyes of Laura Mars, a dash of Jian Gui (The Eye), but the end result is a tired horror thriller, which Meera is unable to pull off by herself.
She plays Divya, a singer, who stops on a lonely street to help a wounded girl and next thing she knows, she is getting visions of bar dancers being murdered by a serial killer. The gritty cop Sujata (Koel Purie) assigned to the case thinks Meera is mad, but her long-haired cohort Rohan (Ashmit Patel), thinks there’s ESP at work and might lead to the killer.
Divya’s doctor (Aly Khan), already rather taken in by her, throws tantrums but can’t stop the romance between her and the cop. When a female tantric (Neena Gupta) and an old whore (Sarita Joshi, terrific in just one scene), give Meera clues as to where the story is headed, the audience can’t wait to get it over with and get out.
This sort of thing, not fresh or particularly entertaining to begin with, might work up to a point, if the female doing all the running, eye-popping and screaming is suitably helpless and can win audience sympathy. Not only does Meera fail in the looks department (despite the layers of make-up), she is a very bad actress and graceless dancer.
The only one whose performance counts for anything in Nazar is Koel Purie, despite the lisp and ugly red lipstick. The songs in most Bhatt films are chartbusters, but here Anu Malik’s music is a let down too.
Razdan tries very hard to pile on the gore—scalpels flash, blood spurts all over the place, but frankly it’s all quite boring. The identity of the killer does come as a surprise, but along with it a politically correct ‘moral’ is a bit much to take.
Shabnam Mousi
Based on the true story of a eunuch’s political rise in Madhya Pradesh, Yogesh Bharadwaj’s Shabnam Mousi is a good attempt to deal with an offbeat subject. But a little less bombast and more sensitivity would have been better for the cause – which is to tell people that eunuchs should be treated as human beings.
Ashutosh Rana does a fine job as the hijra who stands for the triumph of the human spirit. Except for a couple of films like Sadak and Tamanna, eunuchs are usually mocked and derided in films and Rana makes sure his performance does not turn the character into a caricature.
Labels: Cinemaah
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
JBSN & Netaji
Jo Bole So Nihaal
Rahul Rawail’s latest Jo Bole So Nihaal, gives those habitual protestors something to howl about. The hero is a Sikh of such breathtaking stupidity, that he gives all Sardars a bad name. The villain is a Catholic, so evil that he plants bombs all over the world, confesses every Sunday and then murders the priest!
Nobody in the world knows what the mercenary Romeo (Kamaal Khan) looks like, except his moll (Nupur Mehta), but he has a chance encounter with an idiot policeman Nihaal Singh (Sunny Deol) in a Punjab village. He gives the cop a fake sob story and escapes; Nihaal is disgraced and dismissed from the force for his faux pas. So Nihaal wants to nab the terrorist and bring him to the village to clear his name. Luckily, he is the only man to have seen Romeo, so the FBI takes him to America to help them trace the criminal.
Now, a batty cop (aren’t there any basic IQ requirements to get a police job in Punjab?), who does not know the language is let loose in New York with such sidekicks as a severely under-dressed bimbo FBI officer (Shilpi Sharma), and a couple of lisping relatives, one of whom pronounces ‘F’ as ‘S’ and vice versa. Whoever thought up this one must have a puerile sense of humour!
The FBI (who go about with ‘FBI’ emblazoned on the backs of their jackets) are such a bunch of nitwits, that when Nihaal is lost because he does not remember the name of his hotel, they don’t think of calling his cell phone, which his grandmother (Surekha Sikri) does from the village public phone booth. And when a car blows up in the middle of the city with a bomb meant for Martha Stewart (really!), nobody bats an eyelid.
Nihaal is such a moron, that he catches Romeo and lets him go because the FBI won’t let him take the terrorist to India. His naïve reasoning being that if “Wahe guru” wills it, he’ll find Romeo again and smuggle him out of the US. The scriptwriter certainly wills several meetings between Nihaal and Romeo, so the film goes on and on, till you can’t take Nihaal’s childish antics any more.
Rawail, appearing himself as a snowy haired “Al Fateh” boss, has had a run of bad luck at the box-office (after a greatly promising start with films like Betaab and Arjun), and this big-budget action flick might just grab the masses. However, one did expect better from him, since there are Hollywood hits like Crocodile Dundee and Rush Hour for inspiration.
The film has some good action sequences, a bit of comedy—though Sunny Deol hams through it and one can imagine the role fitting Govinda in his heyday like a glove. Other minuses are the tepid music score, nondescript female leads, weak villain and too much dependence on Sunny Deol, who does carry the film on his muscular shoulders, but is slightly overage to be cast as “innocent”. “Man on a mission” he may be, however, “cute” is not the word one would use to describe Sunny.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose The Forgotten Hero
A character as adventurous and dramatic as Subhas Chandra Bose needed a biopic deserving of his stature (there was one made in 1966 by Heman Gupta); and you are glad it’s Shyam Benegal doing the honours. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose The Forgotten Hero is historically correct, and gives the leader his rightful place in the pantheon of Indian heroes.
Despite the needless protest that has arisen over a minor issue (was he married or not?), Benegal’s film is dignified and stays clear of controversy, without actually leaving out any details of the extraordinary life – his differences with Gandhi, for instance, his meeting with Hitler or even his failures.
The film, divided into three parts—concentrates on the last five years of Netaji’s life, mainly from the time he escapes from India under the noses of the British, travels through Afghanistan to Germany, from there to Japan in a submarine; his taking over the Indian National Army and fighting the British forces; his exit from Saigon in the ill-fated plane that crashed.
It’s a lot to pack in, even in a film that runs into 222 minutes, and makes for riveting viewing—though the pace varies from thriller like briskness to a documentary-like crawl. However, as can be expected from a Benegal film, the storytelling is always interesting (scripted by Shama Zaidi and Atul Tiwari) and unlike his earlier films, the scale is magnificent (just excuse the computer generated planes!)
Sachin Khedekar makes a convincing Netaji, but it’s also nice to see the Benegal ensemble of actors in full attendance – Rajit Kapur, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Divya Dutta, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Lalit Tiwari, Shri Vallabh Vyas, Ravi Jhankal, along with Rajpal Yadav, Sonu Sood, Tom Alter and Kelly Dorji plus some foreign actors.
Javed Akhtar’s appropriate lyrics set to AR Rahman’s rousing score, Rajan Kothari’s skilled camerawork, the contributions of art director Samir Chanda, costume designer Pia Benegal and make-up man expert Vikram Gaikwad towards a film that is a rewarding watch –don’t expect conventional entertainment, though.
Rahul Rawail’s latest Jo Bole So Nihaal, gives those habitual protestors something to howl about. The hero is a Sikh of such breathtaking stupidity, that he gives all Sardars a bad name. The villain is a Catholic, so evil that he plants bombs all over the world, confesses every Sunday and then murders the priest!
Nobody in the world knows what the mercenary Romeo (Kamaal Khan) looks like, except his moll (Nupur Mehta), but he has a chance encounter with an idiot policeman Nihaal Singh (Sunny Deol) in a Punjab village. He gives the cop a fake sob story and escapes; Nihaal is disgraced and dismissed from the force for his faux pas. So Nihaal wants to nab the terrorist and bring him to the village to clear his name. Luckily, he is the only man to have seen Romeo, so the FBI takes him to America to help them trace the criminal.
Now, a batty cop (aren’t there any basic IQ requirements to get a police job in Punjab?), who does not know the language is let loose in New York with such sidekicks as a severely under-dressed bimbo FBI officer (Shilpi Sharma), and a couple of lisping relatives, one of whom pronounces ‘F’ as ‘S’ and vice versa. Whoever thought up this one must have a puerile sense of humour!
The FBI (who go about with ‘FBI’ emblazoned on the backs of their jackets) are such a bunch of nitwits, that when Nihaal is lost because he does not remember the name of his hotel, they don’t think of calling his cell phone, which his grandmother (Surekha Sikri) does from the village public phone booth. And when a car blows up in the middle of the city with a bomb meant for Martha Stewart (really!), nobody bats an eyelid.
Nihaal is such a moron, that he catches Romeo and lets him go because the FBI won’t let him take the terrorist to India. His naïve reasoning being that if “Wahe guru” wills it, he’ll find Romeo again and smuggle him out of the US. The scriptwriter certainly wills several meetings between Nihaal and Romeo, so the film goes on and on, till you can’t take Nihaal’s childish antics any more.
Rawail, appearing himself as a snowy haired “Al Fateh” boss, has had a run of bad luck at the box-office (after a greatly promising start with films like Betaab and Arjun), and this big-budget action flick might just grab the masses. However, one did expect better from him, since there are Hollywood hits like Crocodile Dundee and Rush Hour for inspiration.
The film has some good action sequences, a bit of comedy—though Sunny Deol hams through it and one can imagine the role fitting Govinda in his heyday like a glove. Other minuses are the tepid music score, nondescript female leads, weak villain and too much dependence on Sunny Deol, who does carry the film on his muscular shoulders, but is slightly overage to be cast as “innocent”. “Man on a mission” he may be, however, “cute” is not the word one would use to describe Sunny.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose The Forgotten Hero
A character as adventurous and dramatic as Subhas Chandra Bose needed a biopic deserving of his stature (there was one made in 1966 by Heman Gupta); and you are glad it’s Shyam Benegal doing the honours. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose The Forgotten Hero is historically correct, and gives the leader his rightful place in the pantheon of Indian heroes.
Despite the needless protest that has arisen over a minor issue (was he married or not?), Benegal’s film is dignified and stays clear of controversy, without actually leaving out any details of the extraordinary life – his differences with Gandhi, for instance, his meeting with Hitler or even his failures.
The film, divided into three parts—concentrates on the last five years of Netaji’s life, mainly from the time he escapes from India under the noses of the British, travels through Afghanistan to Germany, from there to Japan in a submarine; his taking over the Indian National Army and fighting the British forces; his exit from Saigon in the ill-fated plane that crashed.
It’s a lot to pack in, even in a film that runs into 222 minutes, and makes for riveting viewing—though the pace varies from thriller like briskness to a documentary-like crawl. However, as can be expected from a Benegal film, the storytelling is always interesting (scripted by Shama Zaidi and Atul Tiwari) and unlike his earlier films, the scale is magnificent (just excuse the computer generated planes!)
Sachin Khedekar makes a convincing Netaji, but it’s also nice to see the Benegal ensemble of actors in full attendance – Rajit Kapur, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Divya Dutta, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Ila Arun, Lalit Tiwari, Shri Vallabh Vyas, Ravi Jhankal, along with Rajpal Yadav, Sonu Sood, Tom Alter and Kelly Dorji plus some foreign actors.
Javed Akhtar’s appropriate lyrics set to AR Rahman’s rousing score, Rajan Kothari’s skilled camerawork, the contributions of art director Samir Chanda, costume designer Pia Benegal and make-up man expert Vikram Gaikwad towards a film that is a rewarding watch –don’t expect conventional entertainment, though.
Labels: Cinemaah
Kool and MAHH
Kya Kool Hain Hum
No matter how ‘cool’ one may be, and how tolerant of vulgarity in the name of freedom of speech, Sangeeth Sivan’s Kya Kool Hai Hum would count as one of the most disgustingly crass films of all time.
So okay, a comedy plot need not make sense if the action is brisk and the gags inventive, but do the writers have to descend to the gutters to get a few laugh? Doesn’t good taste count for anything? Maybe not with the ‘tapori’ audience, which patronized Masti. But this one is far filthier and completely junks family audiences and those with a sophisticated sense of humour.
Rahul (Tusshar Kapoor) and Karan (Riteish Deshmukh) are fashion designers, so impoverished that they can’t pay their rent, so they have to borrow clothes, gatecrash parties to eat and climb scaffolding to enter their flat.
By a misunderstanding to idiotic to relate, Rahul is mistaken for a serial killer, and a psychologist Dr Screwvala (Anupam Kher), places the violent Inspector Urmila Martodkar (Ishaa Koppikar) in his house, to try to catch him red handed. By another equally moronic misunderstanding, Karan falls in love with a transvestite (Bobby Darling), while a psychiatrist (Neha Dhupia) tries to cure him. More confusion prevails as Dr Scewvala’s wife (Shoma Anand) thinks her husband is cheating on her.
This could also have made for a frothy, innocent comedy, were it not for the crude dialogue and desperate gags like Dr Screwvala basing his treatment on coloured balls, which is the excuse to use the word constantly to get a few titters. All women in the film, even the walk-on types and the chorus dancers, go about half naked so that the camera can peer down their blouses and up their skirts.
Even if these pathetic attempts at humour are excused (except for a couple of really funny bits like a funeral pundit trying to conduct a marriage and mixing up mantras), what about the inordinate length and terrible performances? It looks as if the director relinquished control at some point, and let everyone do their own thing. Still, some dignity is expected from actors like Anupam Kher.
Main Aisa Hi Hoon
The most offensive thing about Harry Baweja’s I Am Sam rip-off is the theory that rich, bright, intelligent women can’t be happy, and that they need a retarded man to teach them the value of love.
While you are digesting this horrible piece of MCP crap, the rest of Main Aisa Ho Hoon is unfolding in its sacchariny, barf-worthy way. Baweja shamelessly lifts the not-so-great Hollywood original down to the hand-held camera, the coffee shop where the protagonist works, his retarded friends, reclusive neighbour (Lillete Dubey), kindly employer (Anjan Shrivastav) and the works. And he claims to have written and directed it, while Bhavani Iyer takes screenplay credit!
The film tries to tug furiously at heartstrings as it tries to establish that a man with the brain of a seven-year-old is capable of raising a child, because he loves her.
Neel (Ajay Devgan, trying so hard, it’s painful to watch), has a kid by a vagrant hippie Maya (Esha Deol, better than usual), who is actually a poor little rich girl whose daddy in London doesn’t care about her. This is Baweja’s own little invention which doesn’t work, because it doesn’t give a credible reason for why a girl who is ostensibly happy with Neel and his surrogate family, would leave and commit suicide.
When the child Gungun (Rucha Vaidya) ) is seven, her crusty grandfather (Anupam Kher) arrives, lawyer (Vikram Gokhale) in tow, to demand custody of the child. Neel pesters busy lawyer Neeti (Sushmita Sen, attempting a Michelle Pfeiffer and getting nowhere) into taking the case. In the course of the tedious court battle, Neeti realizes that she is a bad mother because she is too busy to play games with her son, and that she would perhaps be better off waiting tables in a coffee shop like Neel, her ideal of love. He is the kind of guy for whom the whole of Shimla turns up holding placards-- which would have been believable if one saw sympathy towards mentally challenged people all around us.
Main Aisa Hi Hoon has all the failings of the original plus plenty of its own. It is not enough to take a cute kid, several adults trying hard to be cuter and create a supposedly wholesome, utterly fake world.
No matter how ‘cool’ one may be, and how tolerant of vulgarity in the name of freedom of speech, Sangeeth Sivan’s Kya Kool Hai Hum would count as one of the most disgustingly crass films of all time.
So okay, a comedy plot need not make sense if the action is brisk and the gags inventive, but do the writers have to descend to the gutters to get a few laugh? Doesn’t good taste count for anything? Maybe not with the ‘tapori’ audience, which patronized Masti. But this one is far filthier and completely junks family audiences and those with a sophisticated sense of humour.
Rahul (Tusshar Kapoor) and Karan (Riteish Deshmukh) are fashion designers, so impoverished that they can’t pay their rent, so they have to borrow clothes, gatecrash parties to eat and climb scaffolding to enter their flat.
By a misunderstanding to idiotic to relate, Rahul is mistaken for a serial killer, and a psychologist Dr Screwvala (Anupam Kher), places the violent Inspector Urmila Martodkar (Ishaa Koppikar) in his house, to try to catch him red handed. By another equally moronic misunderstanding, Karan falls in love with a transvestite (Bobby Darling), while a psychiatrist (Neha Dhupia) tries to cure him. More confusion prevails as Dr Scewvala’s wife (Shoma Anand) thinks her husband is cheating on her.
This could also have made for a frothy, innocent comedy, were it not for the crude dialogue and desperate gags like Dr Screwvala basing his treatment on coloured balls, which is the excuse to use the word constantly to get a few titters. All women in the film, even the walk-on types and the chorus dancers, go about half naked so that the camera can peer down their blouses and up their skirts.
Even if these pathetic attempts at humour are excused (except for a couple of really funny bits like a funeral pundit trying to conduct a marriage and mixing up mantras), what about the inordinate length and terrible performances? It looks as if the director relinquished control at some point, and let everyone do their own thing. Still, some dignity is expected from actors like Anupam Kher.
Main Aisa Hi Hoon
The most offensive thing about Harry Baweja’s I Am Sam rip-off is the theory that rich, bright, intelligent women can’t be happy, and that they need a retarded man to teach them the value of love.
While you are digesting this horrible piece of MCP crap, the rest of Main Aisa Ho Hoon is unfolding in its sacchariny, barf-worthy way. Baweja shamelessly lifts the not-so-great Hollywood original down to the hand-held camera, the coffee shop where the protagonist works, his retarded friends, reclusive neighbour (Lillete Dubey), kindly employer (Anjan Shrivastav) and the works. And he claims to have written and directed it, while Bhavani Iyer takes screenplay credit!
The film tries to tug furiously at heartstrings as it tries to establish that a man with the brain of a seven-year-old is capable of raising a child, because he loves her.
Neel (Ajay Devgan, trying so hard, it’s painful to watch), has a kid by a vagrant hippie Maya (Esha Deol, better than usual), who is actually a poor little rich girl whose daddy in London doesn’t care about her. This is Baweja’s own little invention which doesn’t work, because it doesn’t give a credible reason for why a girl who is ostensibly happy with Neel and his surrogate family, would leave and commit suicide.
When the child Gungun (Rucha Vaidya) ) is seven, her crusty grandfather (Anupam Kher) arrives, lawyer (Vikram Gokhale) in tow, to demand custody of the child. Neel pesters busy lawyer Neeti (Sushmita Sen, attempting a Michelle Pfeiffer and getting nowhere) into taking the case. In the course of the tedious court battle, Neeti realizes that she is a bad mother because she is too busy to play games with her son, and that she would perhaps be better off waiting tables in a coffee shop like Neel, her ideal of love. He is the kind of guy for whom the whole of Shimla turns up holding placards-- which would have been believable if one saw sympathy towards mentally challenged people all around us.
Main Aisa Hi Hoon has all the failings of the original plus plenty of its own. It is not enough to take a cute kid, several adults trying hard to be cuter and create a supposedly wholesome, utterly fake world.
Labels: Cinemaah
Kaal & KKPK
Kaal
It’s a regulation horror flick, not the kind that should have got producers Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar delirious with excitement.
Writer-director Soham has reportedly worked with Ram Gopal Varma and Karan Johar before making Kaal— it seems, he has been more influenced by the Bhoot and Vaastu Shastra kind of films from the Varma camp than the sweetness-and-light Johar romances.
A fabulous Shah Rukh-Malaika Arora ‘item’ number accompanying the credits, and Kaal plunges right into Orbit National Park, where a man-eating tiger has been causing havoc. National Geographic sends wildlife expert Krish (John Abraham makes a sexy bare-chested entry with a python wrapped around him!) and his photographer girlfriend (Esha Deol) to Orbit.
Another group of friends Dev (Vivek Oberoi), his girlfriend (Lara Dutta), and two friends (you need to have tiger fodder) land up in the jungle too.
Krish, Dev and gang have to hook up because both their car break down. They hire into a battered open jeep and enter the forest. Soon enough, people around them start getting mauled. Landslides prevent them from leaving the forest, till a mysterious black-clad man called Kali (Ajay Devgan) offers to help them.
The killings, however, go on and the film ends with a tame climax, that leaves room for a sequel.
A loose and implausible plot (even by the stretchable logic of the horror genre), several loopholes and ill-defined characters mar the film (with ideas borrowed from Wrong Turn, Blair Witch Project and a bit from The Ghost and the Darkness), but it hits bull’s eye in the technical departments.
Even though the topography inexplicably shifts from dry bush to lush forest, the film has a superb visual quality (Santosh Thundiyil). The sound (Dwarak Warrier) and background music (Salim Sulaiman) add to the ‘creepy’ quotient of the film.
Soham sets up some really scary scenes, but on the whole the story doesn’t hold. People utter platitudes about ‘khatarnak’ jungles and the destruction of animal habitats, but the way the film goes, you can’t even take its ‘Protect Wildlife’ message seriously. The characters just don’t come alive; and why on earth do women in films get up in the middle of the night to fetch water from a spooky well, when they’ve just been warned against it? Why would half a dozen people try to cross a flimsy wooden bridge in a jeep instead of walking across it? Throughout the film, people are begging to be killed, not a trait that gets them sympathy.
Ajay Devgan and John Abraham keep interest in the film alive to some extent, while Vivek Oberoi battles, unsuccessfully, with his badly written part. The two girls—most inappropriately dressed in minis and bikini tops)— contribute more irritation than glamour to Kaal.
Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen
Today, Preity Zinta would cringe if she saw Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen. It obviously belongs to the time Govinda was still managing to draw some of his fans with David Dhawan imitation comedies.
Today when the Govinda magic in films is waning, this old Harmesh Malhotra film comes out, bringing no credit to anyone. Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen is almost a one-man comedy act, with Govinda playing a street-smart Bihari who manages to outwit two dons (Kader Khan-Prem Chopra).
The warring dons have been ordered by their boss (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) to get their children married so that they will be forced to behave. Raja (Govinda) lands up at Preity’s (Zinta) house, pretending to be the man she is to marry. He wins her over, charms her father, and even manages to keep the con going when the real fiancé (Mohnish Bahl) appears.
Loud comedy, crazy characters and silly gags abound. Everybody tries so hard to get laughs that a few scenes do turn out funny, but there is a tired, worn-out, been-there-done-that feel to the film, that makes it so unappealing.
It’s a regulation horror flick, not the kind that should have got producers Shah Rukh Khan and Karan Johar delirious with excitement.
Writer-director Soham has reportedly worked with Ram Gopal Varma and Karan Johar before making Kaal— it seems, he has been more influenced by the Bhoot and Vaastu Shastra kind of films from the Varma camp than the sweetness-and-light Johar romances.
A fabulous Shah Rukh-Malaika Arora ‘item’ number accompanying the credits, and Kaal plunges right into Orbit National Park, where a man-eating tiger has been causing havoc. National Geographic sends wildlife expert Krish (John Abraham makes a sexy bare-chested entry with a python wrapped around him!) and his photographer girlfriend (Esha Deol) to Orbit.
Another group of friends Dev (Vivek Oberoi), his girlfriend (Lara Dutta), and two friends (you need to have tiger fodder) land up in the jungle too.
Krish, Dev and gang have to hook up because both their car break down. They hire into a battered open jeep and enter the forest. Soon enough, people around them start getting mauled. Landslides prevent them from leaving the forest, till a mysterious black-clad man called Kali (Ajay Devgan) offers to help them.
The killings, however, go on and the film ends with a tame climax, that leaves room for a sequel.
A loose and implausible plot (even by the stretchable logic of the horror genre), several loopholes and ill-defined characters mar the film (with ideas borrowed from Wrong Turn, Blair Witch Project and a bit from The Ghost and the Darkness), but it hits bull’s eye in the technical departments.
Even though the topography inexplicably shifts from dry bush to lush forest, the film has a superb visual quality (Santosh Thundiyil). The sound (Dwarak Warrier) and background music (Salim Sulaiman) add to the ‘creepy’ quotient of the film.
Soham sets up some really scary scenes, but on the whole the story doesn’t hold. People utter platitudes about ‘khatarnak’ jungles and the destruction of animal habitats, but the way the film goes, you can’t even take its ‘Protect Wildlife’ message seriously. The characters just don’t come alive; and why on earth do women in films get up in the middle of the night to fetch water from a spooky well, when they’ve just been warned against it? Why would half a dozen people try to cross a flimsy wooden bridge in a jeep instead of walking across it? Throughout the film, people are begging to be killed, not a trait that gets them sympathy.
Ajay Devgan and John Abraham keep interest in the film alive to some extent, while Vivek Oberoi battles, unsuccessfully, with his badly written part. The two girls—most inappropriately dressed in minis and bikini tops)— contribute more irritation than glamour to Kaal.
Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen
Today, Preity Zinta would cringe if she saw Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen. It obviously belongs to the time Govinda was still managing to draw some of his fans with David Dhawan imitation comedies.
Today when the Govinda magic in films is waning, this old Harmesh Malhotra film comes out, bringing no credit to anyone. Khullam Khulla Pyaar Karen is almost a one-man comedy act, with Govinda playing a street-smart Bihari who manages to outwit two dons (Kader Khan-Prem Chopra).
The warring dons have been ordered by their boss (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) to get their children married so that they will be forced to behave. Raja (Govinda) lands up at Preity’s (Zinta) house, pretending to be the man she is to marry. He wins her over, charms her father, and even manages to keep the con going when the real fiancé (Mohnish Bahl) appears.
Loud comedy, crazy characters and silly gags abound. Everybody tries so hard to get laughs that a few scenes do turn out funny, but there is a tired, worn-out, been-there-done-that feel to the film, that makes it so unappealing.
Labels: Cinemaah
Waqt and Dreams
Waqt: The Race Against Time
Though one did have expectations from Vipul Amrutlal Shah after the fairly gripping Aankhen, it’s not he but Amitabh Bachchan who lets one down. It’s not that his performance is not up to the mark – it invariably is—but that he should even be excited with this mediocre melodrama, when there is no dearth of offers for him.
Based on a Gujarati play, Waqt: The Race Against Time is an outdated family drama with artificially created conflicts and embarrassingly desperate attempts at tear jerking. Not to mention the pathetic comedy track involving a dim-witted servant (Rajpal Yadav)—this character being a stock jester in Gujarati theatre—and a boastful eccentric played by Boman Irani (who manages to salvage the role with his comic flair.)
Ishwar Thakur (Amitabh Bachchan) has spoilt his son Aditya (Akshay Kumar) rotten. So instead of looking after his father’s toy business, he squanders money and wants to be a film star. The mother’s (Shefali Shah) warnings fall on deaf ears, till drastic measures are needed to reform Aditya. Ishwar has cancer and has a few months to live, so within that time, he wants his son to shoulder the responsibility of his wife (Priyanka Chopra) and unborn son (that it might be a daughter doesn’t occur to anyone, such is the inbuilt patriarchy of this genre of cinema).
Aditya is not told about the cancer with the flimsy excuse that it will shatter him. Instead, Ishwar throws him out of the house without a cent. To feed his pregnant wife, Aditya has to resort to doing dangerous stunts in films. The guy, supposedly an MBA, can’t find any other work to do?
The climax is cringe-making, as a wheezing Ishwar is taken to the venue where Aditya is about to win a talent contest, and its time for a soppy speech and a prolonged death scene.
For Amitabh Bachchan the role is no big deal, Shefali Shah (too young to play Akshay’s mother) does the rona-dhona as required. Akshay Kumar turns on the faucet too, but he is not cut out for these roles. Priyanka’s bland part could have been done by any actress. A couple of songs, like the Holi number, are well choreographed and shot, but the music is not good enough.
Loud sets, garish costumes, over-the-top scenes and forced humour mar Shah’s effort to please the kind of audience that made films like Baghbaan click. Who knows, the four-hankie brigade might even take to this film, but as socials go, one has seen better films in the past. Plus television thrives on domestic discord, though with stars like Amitabh and Akshay and a generous budget, the scale of Waqt is much bigger.
Dreams: Sapne Sach Honge
Aashish Chanana had his shot at stardom way back in the late eighties and resurfaced how as producer, writer, director and lead actor of Dreams Sapne Sach Honge.
In the acting department, Chanana takes his inspiration from Rajesh Khanna, and a director, he aspires to be Guru Dutt, attempting a modern-day Kaagaz Ke Phool, and not getting anywhere close.
He plays Shekhar, a successful filmmaker, who is smitten by the tragedy of a girl he meets by chance and wants to make an offbeat film on her story, which involves monstrous parents and an escape from a life worse then hell. He even casts the melancholy Pooja (Neha Pendse) in the lead role and falls in love with her, though another sexy actress (Arzoo Gowitrikar) is chasing him.
Everybody advises Shekhar against this suicidal step of making such a film with a new girl – though glimpses of the under-production films look anything but offbeat. When nobody gives him finance, he mortgages his house to complete the film. It turns out to be a hit, and he now has to fight off her greedy parents and rapacious secretary to get to her. Though why her desire for a career should come in the way of marriage to the director in today’s day and age is not clear—any number of married actresses continue with their careers.
The film is a tedious piece of self-indulgence that tests a hapless viewer’s tolerance to the extreme, going on and on long after the logical climax has taken place.
The story belongs to the fifties, and Chanana doesn’t even get details of the film industry’s functioning right. He’s not too bad as an actor, though not talented or charismatic enough to be in every frame. The screechy Neha Pendse, trying to ape Urmila Matondkar is not ‘heroine’ material at all.
Though one did have expectations from Vipul Amrutlal Shah after the fairly gripping Aankhen, it’s not he but Amitabh Bachchan who lets one down. It’s not that his performance is not up to the mark – it invariably is—but that he should even be excited with this mediocre melodrama, when there is no dearth of offers for him.
Based on a Gujarati play, Waqt: The Race Against Time is an outdated family drama with artificially created conflicts and embarrassingly desperate attempts at tear jerking. Not to mention the pathetic comedy track involving a dim-witted servant (Rajpal Yadav)—this character being a stock jester in Gujarati theatre—and a boastful eccentric played by Boman Irani (who manages to salvage the role with his comic flair.)
Ishwar Thakur (Amitabh Bachchan) has spoilt his son Aditya (Akshay Kumar) rotten. So instead of looking after his father’s toy business, he squanders money and wants to be a film star. The mother’s (Shefali Shah) warnings fall on deaf ears, till drastic measures are needed to reform Aditya. Ishwar has cancer and has a few months to live, so within that time, he wants his son to shoulder the responsibility of his wife (Priyanka Chopra) and unborn son (that it might be a daughter doesn’t occur to anyone, such is the inbuilt patriarchy of this genre of cinema).
Aditya is not told about the cancer with the flimsy excuse that it will shatter him. Instead, Ishwar throws him out of the house without a cent. To feed his pregnant wife, Aditya has to resort to doing dangerous stunts in films. The guy, supposedly an MBA, can’t find any other work to do?
The climax is cringe-making, as a wheezing Ishwar is taken to the venue where Aditya is about to win a talent contest, and its time for a soppy speech and a prolonged death scene.
For Amitabh Bachchan the role is no big deal, Shefali Shah (too young to play Akshay’s mother) does the rona-dhona as required. Akshay Kumar turns on the faucet too, but he is not cut out for these roles. Priyanka’s bland part could have been done by any actress. A couple of songs, like the Holi number, are well choreographed and shot, but the music is not good enough.
Loud sets, garish costumes, over-the-top scenes and forced humour mar Shah’s effort to please the kind of audience that made films like Baghbaan click. Who knows, the four-hankie brigade might even take to this film, but as socials go, one has seen better films in the past. Plus television thrives on domestic discord, though with stars like Amitabh and Akshay and a generous budget, the scale of Waqt is much bigger.
Dreams: Sapne Sach Honge
Aashish Chanana had his shot at stardom way back in the late eighties and resurfaced how as producer, writer, director and lead actor of Dreams Sapne Sach Honge.
In the acting department, Chanana takes his inspiration from Rajesh Khanna, and a director, he aspires to be Guru Dutt, attempting a modern-day Kaagaz Ke Phool, and not getting anywhere close.
He plays Shekhar, a successful filmmaker, who is smitten by the tragedy of a girl he meets by chance and wants to make an offbeat film on her story, which involves monstrous parents and an escape from a life worse then hell. He even casts the melancholy Pooja (Neha Pendse) in the lead role and falls in love with her, though another sexy actress (Arzoo Gowitrikar) is chasing him.
Everybody advises Shekhar against this suicidal step of making such a film with a new girl – though glimpses of the under-production films look anything but offbeat. When nobody gives him finance, he mortgages his house to complete the film. It turns out to be a hit, and he now has to fight off her greedy parents and rapacious secretary to get to her. Though why her desire for a career should come in the way of marriage to the director in today’s day and age is not clear—any number of married actresses continue with their careers.
The film is a tedious piece of self-indulgence that tests a hapless viewer’s tolerance to the extreme, going on and on long after the logical climax has taken place.
The story belongs to the fifties, and Chanana doesn’t even get details of the film industry’s functioning right. He’s not too bad as an actor, though not talented or charismatic enough to be in every frame. The screechy Neha Pendse, trying to ape Urmila Matondkar is not ‘heroine’ material at all.
Labels: Cinemaah
