The Movie Buff speaks -1

My comments on few of the movies I have watched recently:

Dangerous Ishq

There was much hype about this movie as the "Karisma Kapoor come back movie". As she said in an interview this might be the first time that she has done such a role, but ofcourse there is nothing new in the theme. I never expected much from a Mukesh Butt movie anyways, so I am not dissappointed! Karisma looks great, but that is the only thing I liked in the movie. The story revolves around past lives and past life regression as they call it. I didnt like the way the actor gets hallucinations of her past life. That was lacking a flow. Karisma's character helps in an investigation in the present life by taking clues from the past life.But, I don't understand what she is doing in every frame accompanying the police! 

In short, the movie is an utter waste of time, don't even think about it! Ms Kapoor should have chosen a better movie to come back.

Ishaqzaade 

I truly loved this one. Though there is nothing amazingly new in the plot, (Hindu boy Muslim girl love story in the backdrop of  politics in Alwar, spiced up by a little double cross and vengeance and love ) there is freshness in the movie. May be because of Parineeti Chopra and Arjun Kapoor. Both have done a nice job, but surely, Parineeti's work overshadows everything else. The strength and the roughness her character portrays really stands out. I liked the music too. A different genre of love story from the YRF arsenal, but this one is really worth all the praise. I liked the fast pace the movie has. All the violence and shor-sharaba induced a  feeling of listening to hard rock!

This is not a must watch movie , like the ones below, but this will not disappoint you.

Kahaani

This is one of the most beautiful movies I have seen in recent times. Simply loved the plot and the manner of story telling. Vidya's performance is truly applaudable, but I would give more credits to its writer, Advaita Kala.The climax really bowled me over. It has that slight taste of a Hollywood recipe, but that's forgivable! :)

Yes, it reminded me of Jason Bourne, though the kahaani of Kahaani is totally different.

Ofcourse, this movie is worth a watch. 

22Female Kottayam

These days the malayalam film industry has been doing a lot of experimentation. The film makers are developing a lot of youth targeted movies. In a time when most of the super-star movies fail to impress the audience, movies like 22FK and Traffic with a simple starcast holds the audience spell bound. It is the newness of the themes and the unconventional story telling that I liked in both these movies.

Once again, the plot of 22FK is something that cannot be guessed before hand. The climax is one of the best. On watching the climax, I was like, Yes! that is what had to be done! :)

Once again it reminded me of Sydney sheldon novels, nevertheless, I enjoyed it because I didn't expect this adaptation in a malayalam movie. 

This movie is definitely worth a watch.

DON 2 - Booom!!!

SRK and Farhan Akhthar have gravely disappointed an ardent fan, of both Mr. Khan and Don!!!

The much awaited sequel to the block buster DON let me down terribly. Neither the story line nor the songs are worth the wait. Don could have done much better than basking in the glory of the old tracks and the old punchline! I was expecting much heavier dialogues and breath catching suspense!! 

The makers have completely forgotten the lineage of the movie.

SRK s looks are pathetic and his attempts to deliver the punch in the dialogues are quiet evident. I thought the makers of the movie were trying to give the Indian answer to Hollywood!!! And what do I get to watch, a  few sequences from MI2? 

Dejavu... 

SRK appeared to be falling back on his romantic track!! Don and romantic, I would'nt want that, that's not the genre of the movie, yaar!!! 

Dilwale Don Officer Dulhaniya Le jayenge. 

And what does the Don do when he is not prison-breaking or fighting thugs,  give that smirking smile!!!! 

The entire movie is laced with the smile. I would have loved to see SRK smile like that wickedly had the plot been equally impressive. 

Seriously, the movie could have done much better than promoting SRK's brands. The director of course tried Hollywood style film making except that he forgot James Bond movies only give a glimpse of the Omega watches. Here, every time someone checks the time(and they did that quite frequently), Tag heur came up. And was there no other car available, that too in Germany!!!! Hyundai???? Definitely business!!!!

Look at the way Don has fallen!!! He has no good dushman either!! All he is doing is fighting local goons and the police!! When I saw the first shot of the European drug cartel meetings, my expectations were sky rocketing. Later when Don made his entry in the uncivilized looks, I kept consoling myself,hoping for a better tomorrow!!! Only the hope remained!!! 

The only thing good about the movie was it's beautiful locations and picturisations, otherwise there is nothing new. Ofcourse the Don k dushaman punchline and the Don track were good. So was the last sequence where Don sets of the explosion with his watch!! But there is nothing new in them!! I have already seen them. 

Hope SRK gives at least half the attention to his career as he gives to his business!!!! 

Having said all this,  my favorite shot in the movie is the last one where Don rides his bike over the bridge!!!

Raajneeti

Raajneeti is a good movie.

A change from the stereotype bollywood.

But, with Prakash Jha , one has to expect that. All credit goes to him for weaving the archetype Indian political Saga around the Mahabharatha backdrop. He has brilliantly etched out the characters by taking points from both these epics. The Pandavas and the Kauravas, Krishna, Draupadi and Karna reincarnates on the celluloid with a tinge of the traits of politicians we can identify with.

The next shower of bouquets naturally goes to the exemplary star cast.

For veterans like Nana Patekar and Naseerudheen Shah, there is nothing more to prove.

One is simply held back by their performance everytime and this time is no exception. Nana was simply superb. The character being subtly exertive, I would say. As for Naseerudheen Shah, the cameo was too short.

We are used to powerhouse performances by Manoj bajpayee and Ajay Devgan and the audience is not disappointed this time too.

Katrina had little much to do. Perhaps the director just found her apt for the Sonia Gandhi outlook and expected her to be the crowd puller considering her status today in the industry.

This is yet another movie which has explored the potentials of the actor within Arjun Rampal.

I liked his character for two reasons. One the one hand he is the angry young politician and on the other a very innocent and loving family man. And Arjun has portrayed both these traits only too well. The affection between him and Ranbeer is so palpable.

And finally, for the showstealer. Who else but Ranbeer kapoor. As they call him,'The outsider'!

His character is too thrilling, with way too many shades. His expressions,his looks,just the ultimate.The silent mastermind who designs all the plots, who pulls all the strings.

All in all, a great movie

Old Wine in Mexican Bottle!!

Las vegas casinos, a well toned Hrithik and a Mexican beauty, other than these the plot and the story is too familiar. But I must admit, the picturization is too hollywood and the movie gives an overall Hollywood feel. Hrithik Roshan looks awesome.The dance sequence is brilliant though it reminded me a bit of the Bourbon ad featuring Hrithik.

It is obvious who the target audience are. Every Bollywood movie these days is aimed at International audience but they all have an element of Indianness in them. In Kites, I guess it is limited to a few Indian actors and a song or two.I guess Kites would require subtitling in Hindi.

Overall treatment of the movie is good, but there is no substance in the story. Too familiar for us,I'd say. The plot is the same. May be a variant of Qayamat se qayamat tak set in US and Mexico!!!

I got the same feeling like the one I get watching the Garam Masala Version of Boeing Boeing!!!

But atleast Priyadarsham admits he Remade them!!

MNIK

The movie is an answer to all those who think SRK emotes too much and KJo can work only on romance.
Well,being smitten over and over by SRK is not a new experience for me.
As always he is the best,but I won't speak much about it.(Too overwhelmed that I hardly have any words ;-) )
Let me take this opportunity to express how I feel at having been able to watch such a great movie,not only for SRK,the SRK-KAJOL-KJO trio pack,but greatly for the huge message the movie portrays.

Reloaded!!!!

I knew it was suicidal, but still we went for it.

As somebody aptly summed it up,

The music Plays...

Mohanlal Walks...

Mohanlal kills somebody...

Music Plays....

Mohanlal Walks to the aircraft..

Villian comes in a yatch..

Music plays...

Mohanlal Kicks...

and Sagar Alias Jackie goes on....

The Original movie'Irupathaam noottand'had only one villian. Since this time Suresh Gopi disagreed to play villain,the director had to cast others and the sequel has 5 or 6 villians.

One SG == 6 villians,or so my brother, perhaps the one and only SureshGopi fan, claims.;-)

Some of the few things I could not understand.

(Theoretically, there should be no questions in a story, so what should be the case when there is no story at all?????)

1) Why is Mohanlal speaking Hindi to dubai police

2) Why does Jagathy give mohanlal's dubai number to shobhana and say it is international roaming???

3) What happened to the lorry and its driver who hit bhavana's car.(I really thought one of our villians were in action)

..............
These are a few differences me and my brother could find between SAJ and BigB

1)The former has Lal and the latter Mammotty. So the walking sequences are a bit prolonged in the former.(ALmost all the other scenes, actors and props are the same, except for a Hummer, the aircraft and the sniper)

2)Mammootty uses a Safari in Big B but Mohanlal goes around in a Hummer in this one

Even the beats of the song "Vennilave" had a faint hint of "muthumazha" of Big B.

The only good thing about SAJ was Lal's taklu Bodyguard But unfortunately he gets killed and in the entire movie he doesnt have even a single dialogue. ;-(

2 Harihar Nagar

They are Back, and How!!!

After a long time a real entertainer.

Gr8 Work Lal!!

When almost all the sequels were disappointing, 2HariharNagar not only lives upto the mark of its original but was able to provide the entertainment quotient which the current movies are lacking.

The Foursome (Appukuttan, Govindankutty,mahadevan and thomas kutty)had me in splits for the entire 2 and half hours.

BALCONY HOUSEFULL!!!

Last week while I was in calicut,I went for a movie.
I had been looking forward to watching it ever since i got a fwd mail about it. It is a malayalam movie about a group of young software engineers.Perhaps atleast the story of reel life software engineers wouldn't be as pathetic as real life!!!It was a total surprise to me that the movie had been released in theaters by the time i had come home(Unfortunately i didnt know it had released only a day before;-( . Unfortunate because getting tickts wouldn't be that easy)
I reached the theatre just half an hour befor the show.My sister's doubts of getting the tickets echoed in my ears as i stepped inside.
But wait!There was hardly anybody there. No big queue and crowd as I anticipated.
Now I am surely going to get the tickets.I was happy ;-).Only then did my eyes fell on the board kept at the counter.And those 2 words loomed in front of my eyes. BALCONY HOUSEFUL.
Sigh! I will have to wait till it comes in PVR.With a broken heart, I decided to return home.The 30Rs ticket seats were not a comfortable option for 2 girls.
That's when i heard that..
'Balcony , Balcony...'
A black ticketeer! Oh My God!!A criminal!What should I do?Run away from there?Pretend not to have seen taht guy??Or is it okay if i bought the tickets in black just this one time?But what if i am caught by police?Will I be jailed?And the humiliation that would follow??
I was scared.But the temptation to watch the movie was overwhelming.
He charged double the ticket fare.But,it would still work out cheaper for me compared to the rates at PVR.
I bought the tickets quickly.Took a slip from him and handed him the cash,without even checking the slip. The deal was over.I just wanted it to end soon.
I pocketed the slip, looked around making sure that no one had seen me.
It's only then i took a peak at the slip.And Lo! i had been fooled. That jerk had given me the reservation coupen for the next show.I had paid him double the money and been fooled.
More than the humiliation of being fooled, I was feeling bad about not being able to watch the movie.
I decded to try my luck at the counter . Initially the guy at the counter showed all his 'nakhraas'.
"Madame, its not possible..This is a coupen for the next show!!We dont have tickets"
and so and so and so..
But finally he agreed and i got the tickets..;-)
But wait!I thought the BALCONY was HOUSEFULL ;-)
Whatever! we watched the movie...