Movie Review::Talaash

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Talaash

An Aamir Khan movie release is quite a festival not only for his fans but also for all the cinegoers. Add to the starcast two of the most diverse actresses of modern Indian cinema and a director who wants to stake claim as an ardent story teller. Talaash is undoubtedly the most anticipated movie of the year post debacle of JTHJ. Often movies like Talaash which already have been hyped up by presence of a reclusive star like Aamir make things difficult for themselves in terms of expectations, but make no mistake here is a team which is pretty much sure of what it wants to present to its audience. Of-course I leave it to the audience as to what is their taste, the captivating story of 3 individuals or the heavily debatable climax.

Inspector Surjan Shekhawat(Khan) is put on a high profile case involving the death of a superstar. Though it looks like an open and shut case accident case, there are certain findings which push Surjan to the darkest streets of Mumbai’s underbelly where deceit, lies and betrayal rule the roost.Here he bumps into a prostitute Rozy(Kareena) who not only touches upon his weakest nerve(his dead son) but also gives him pointers to solve the case. On the other hand Surjan battles with his own self taking the blame for the unbearable loss and this battle causes a major rift in his marriage with Roshni(Rani Mukherjee in a de-glam avatar). Was it really a murder? Was Surjan really responsible for his son’s death?  And moreover will Surjan  find the answers to the questions which have chained his mind? To know it all…Watch Talaash!
It is Aamir Khan in each and every frame of the movie. He just displays all the possible human emotions with so much intensity that you must agree he is undoubtedly the best actor around.Watch him in the scene where finds out the leak in his dept and also the scene where he imagines the “If Only” sequences. He is simply top notch. Rani and Kareena enact their roles with much needed gravity and charm. Specially Kareena is brilliant in sequences with Aamir. Watch out for Aamir and Kareena in the scene where they meet for the first time. Nawazuddin Siddiqui displaying the Mazhar Khan antics(remember the movie Shaan?) is equally good. The songs fit very well in the narrative. Once the movie begins the haunting tune “Muskaanein Jhooti Hain” starts and  camera flashes upon the lives of prostitutes who are donning the glam suit, the grumpy pimps setting up their business and whole dark night life of Mumbai. It transports you to the world of Talaash and you stay there for the entire 2 hours. Reema Kagti gets it bang on there!
On a whole Talaash is a very well made film. It is smart, sensitive and moreover keeps you hooked on to your seats till the end. As I said before the climax will have its share of detractors but I genuinely feel the way story has been woven is worth appreciating. Thumbs up to Talaash! Watch it!!
-Ashwath
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Movie Review::Heroine

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Madhur Bhandarkar s style of film-making is straight forward. Take an industry(Bar, Corporate, ct Fashion). Dissect it stitch by stitch. Rope in an actress who desperately needs a solo hit(Tabu, Bipasha, Priyanka). Give them  98% of the screen space and scenes which give them scope to a play a role from a ruthless bitch to a lost queen. End result- Critics love the movie. Actress wins an award. Madhur starts searching for another industry. This is where my question comes in. In this whole chain where is the audience Mr.Bhandarkar? Do you think we can applaud everytime you create similar sequences in every movie of yours? Answer is a strong NO! Agreed I still give Heroine a thumbs up quite simply because of Kareena’s superlative act, but the movie is still well below my expectations.

The only slight difference which I feel with Heroine is that, it does not trace the rise and fall of actress(Like Corporate and Fashion). Instead it shows the desperate act of survival which the protagonist puts up for 2.5 hours aided with packets of cigarettes, varieties of alcohol and yeah loads of glycerine! Heroine tells us about Mahi Arora(Kareena)’s journey from a superstar who is on a decline to the untimely death of her film career. Plenty of character actors come on the screen and go out after having produced a gem of performance,read Ranvir Shorey, Shahana Goswami, Divya Dutta, Govind Namdeo. Along with them it also has some regular i-am-still-learning-to-act kind of “actors” like Arjun Rampal and Randeep Hooda.One thing which I really liked about the movie is that its made without any inhibitions. Be it showing how awards are traded, how movie offers are won, actors dominating Bollywood; all of these are shown with much gutso and it strikes you hard. Specially the instance where Sanjay Suri “edits” Kareena’s role after she refuses to “act” on his terms.
                                                     I would recommend Heroine only for 2 sets of people. 1.Die hard fans of Kareena. 2.People who have the habit of watching movies to just kill weekend. If you belong to the any other category then better stay at home and watch Kuch Kuch Hota Hai/K3G/KANK- I guarantee that atleast one of these would be playing on TV this weekend.:)
-Ashwath

Movie Review::Agent Vinod

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When I first heard the title Agent Vinod about 4 years ago, I remember scoffing at it saying it is going to be another would-be-shelved kind of an ambitious movie.It became even more apparent with the 2 names involved there- Saif Ali Khan and Sriram Raghavan.Agreed Sriram had shown us a different Saif in his outing Ek Hasina Thi but again with a title like  Agent Vinod, supposedly  the Bollywood’s trendiest spy movies -my belief became even more stronger with the continuous delays the movie had in its making.Finally today was the day I was seated in Screen 1 of Fame Shankarnag watching this movie touted to be Bollywoodish Bond movie! I expected it to be a Sriram Raghavan movie with a tinge of suave Saif Ali Khan but alas it turned out to be a Saif movie with glimpses of Sriram Raghavan in it.

Well saying so let me dissect the movie and let me do it stitch by stitch.Agent Vinod boasts of a simple story told in a very complicated way.There are characters who appear on the screen to get killed.Infact there is either a bullet fired or a person killed in every scene(I remember Rambo 4 had something similar).The plot is very predictable and to show it woefully unfold on screen it takes excruciating 2.5 hours.Be it the ISI connection, be it the involvement of “influential” people from within, come on Bollywood! we have seen it all.Only person who does justice to this movie is Saif with his uber cool lines and a panache for everything he does on screen whether it is proving to Prem Chopra  that he just saw his dead mother in the house or blasting a Taliban camp in Afghanistan.He eases into the role as he often does these days. About Kareena,what has happen to her?Post 3 Idiots she has been doing movies which dont really give her any scope whatsoever be it Golmaal 3, Bodyguard or Ra.one.This might be one of her most forgettable roles where she fumbles even in the simplest of scenes where she needs to deliver few dialogues.Add to it the extra pounds she s gained, she looks painful on screen.Talented actors like Ram Kapoor, Prem Chopra and Rajat Kapoor are thoroughly wasted.Music, well there are 3 songs in the movie, 2 of them are straight rip offs from other songs and 1 one of them is so bad that it makes us notice how bad Kareena does a mujra rather than anything else in the movie.

I would give Agent Vinod 1 out of 5 stars.More than a spy movie its a just a movie where the crew wanted to have a bit of tour around the world and so they decided to shoot it across the world in countries not only like Russia,Morroco, Pakistan but also Lativia and Somalia! The movie might end up raking good cash at Box Office(So did Bodyguard) but in my opinion its just another flawed attempt by Bollywood to be different.
Final Verdict- Kahaani another time YES! Agent Vinod once- Resounding NO! Colossal failure in my eyes!!

Movie Review::Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu

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This week’s movie is Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu.Even without me explicitly mentioning it I am sure that everyone one would know that it is one of those movies which is a “typical” romantic-comedy; one of those churned out aplenty by Bollywood.Before its release what makes it stand out from the rest is its star-value and more importantly the production house behind it which in recent past has delivered quite a number of hits.Along with that it also has 2 stars who had a decent run at the BO last year and are very keen to keep that trend this year also.
When the first theatrical promo of Ek Main Aur Ekk Tu was released everyone assumed it to be “inspired” by What Happens in Vegas but NO; I recently watched What Happens in Vegas and can assure you that both the themes do not match each other.But the big question is “Does the movie work?”.I would say “IF” your in a mood for a bindass weekend with friends..or hoping to make a candyfloss romantic date celebrating Valentine’s Day..then this IS the movie you need to book your tickets for.But for people who have ample appetite only for quality/sensible/realistic cinema please avoid the movie.Only thing which you are likely to relate to in the movie is coming-of-age of the protagonist like in case of Jab We Met and Wake Up Sid.Performance wise it is quite deft with Imran playing himself again and Kareena playing almost herself on lines of JWM to perfection.No surprises in there.What I believe stands out is the Imran-Kareena pairing.Chemistry is fresh(Taking into account she is 2 yrs older than him in the movie).Music is strictly average with few hummable tracks.Vegas is captured quite superbly by the camera.Also a word about the direction by Shakun Batra.Though he has safe quite a genre and impeccable release date for his movie; I believe he has the potential to come up with much more experimental kind of movies.
I would rate the movie 2.5 to 3 on 5 given that there is each one of us who can relate to some part in the movie be it Imran under-achiever thinking or Kareena “I will still be bindass attitude” which makes us laugh and also post the movie think about it.Not sure of how all the sections of the audience would take this movie; specially the ending but yes to some extent the makers justify the end which they penned for this movie.A light hearted watch for rom-com/desi-movie lovers.
-Ashwath

Movie Review::Ra.One!

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When I was a kid and used to watch Superhero movies(i wasn a great fan of those and watched very few) I used to always think, like how the superhero saved New York and Washington when Statue of Liberty and White House were trembling who would save CST in Mumbai if it was coming down.Days and years passed and I finally realized that superheroes were REALLY not my cup of tea.Although I believed Krissh was a fine movie it still did not make me take desi superheroes seriously!

This is where Ra.one steps up.Directed by Anubhav Sinha and “managed” by Shah Rukh Khan; Ra.one is a delightful entertainer which has the same age old formula of good vs evil but has its own perception which makes it work.SRK has his formulae of winning the audience like other 2 Khans; be it Salman s street smart acts or Aamir s different thematic avatars.In Ra.one too SRK does what he always does the best.A simple dialogue, a simple scene enacted in his “own”way.Add to this a novel plot in backdrop and some mind boggling special effects which Hindi cinema has never seen till date, it becomes a perfect potboiler to watch this Diwali.

Ra.one tells us the story like many other Hollywood movies what happens when technology starts having its own intelligence.A game comes alive and so do the characters in it.Though it might seem in-digestive to cope up with the story line, whats interesting to see is how its woven into a script.If we can believe a spider bite and gene transformations in human; Ra.one is definitely on the ranks to make itself stand out amongst other superhero movies.There are few scenes in the movie which truly leave an impact:-

1.Watch out for the scene when SRK tries to tell his son why he gave the money off to the thief without a fight.
2.Scene when Ra.one comes alive
3.Conversation between Kareena and SRK and
4.The final confrontation between the characters.

The child Armaan Verma who plays the role of SRK s kid does a brilliant job even when stands beside veterans like Kareena and SRK.Kareena adds the glam quotient perfectly required to a movie like this; watch out for her when she explains her thesis of gaalis as why there are only “Maa-ki’s” and “Behen Ki’s” and not “Bhai Ki’s” and “Baap-Ki’s”.Arjun Rampal is good as it requires him to show just one expression throughout the movie and also he appears quite late in the movie.On the flip side movie gets a bit dramatic in the second hour after the first hour is high on steam.

All in all, if want to continue your cheering after the India’s 5-0 rout over England, Ra.One appears to be best candidate in line!

 

Ashwath