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Currently this blog contains movie review, previews, film recommendation lists (Top 10 by genre, Top 10 by year etc.), while my other blog “Review Room” contains general Bollywood related articles, Hollywood movie reviews, book reviews, opinion pieces and posts of a general nature. I have been contemplating bringing all the movie related stuff under one roof, or one blog (so to speak), so I will be moving all the filmi stuff (Bollywood and Hollywood) from “Review Room” to this one, and making that a purely “general-stuff” blog, and this one focussed on films and filmy news. What that means for you as reader is additional :

- Hollywood reviews, such as this and this
- “Newsy” articles/opinion pieces relating to the film industry such as this and this
- Frequent and fresh blog posts !

Onwards and upwords, sayeth the Blogger !

Rating : Above average (3.85/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2008
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Neeraj Pandey
Cast : Anupam Kher, Naseeruddin Shah, Jimmy Shergill, Aamir Baashir, Deepal Shaw
Kid rating : PG13


A WEDNESDAY : SMART, SUSPENSE-FILLED DRAMA

“A Wednesday” is a small budget movie. Yes, it does star Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah, but is a plain, rather stark drama, without the usual song-dance-melodrama routines. So it didn’t get released in the theater here in my city; it probably didn’t make commercial sense, and I, for lack of a better alternative, saw it on DVD.

This film hinges on 4 main characters, 3 of them policemen. Anupam Kher plays Police Superintendent Prakash Rathod, while Aamir Bashir plays Inspector Jai Singh, and Jimmy shergill Inspector Arif Khan. The three are honest, able police officers, doing their duty diligently. One fine day, they receive a call from an unknown person who threatens to place bombs around the city and kill innocents if certain terrorists, currently in police custody, are not handed over to him. The cops are in a fix, because letting the terrorists go back to their compatriots is an untenable option, but so is allowing the bombing of citizenry. Their only hope of preventing disaster is finding this mystery man before he can do damage . . .

This is an unusual drama for a Bollywood film, because it totally lacks masala - no romantic angle, no dances/item numbers, or the sheen of expensive cinematography. It is a straight-up drama focusing on the characters and the story. While the story is an attention-grabber, and the pace of the film brisk, the direction is just about adequate, and the editing, at times, a bit abrupt. There are also moments in the film, where the director/script-writer went over-board trying to be edgy, and then the dialogues seemed a little unreal/clichéd.

However the film cannot be faulted on its cast. Anupam Kher and Naseeruddin Shah need no introductions. They carry the weight of the film, and quite rightly so – their performances are flawless. Shergill suits his character – that of a young, angry, violence-prone officer, while Bashir brings credibility to his calm, composed character. Deepal Shaw (remember her from the music videos ?) has too small a role, as a journalist, to be of any consequence.

On the whole, an interesting, smart, suspense-filled drama which keeps one guessing, this one is very much worth your time. If I could fault it, I’d fault it on the technical aspects (like editing, and a screenplay which seemed amateurish at times), and on trying too hard to “get with it”. However, considering the fact that we have not very many movies of this genre, and these are generally not commercial successes, the director and producer must be lauded on bringing such a worthy product to screen.

Kidwise : This one is relatively clean film, but gets a PG13 rating for it’s adult theme, and violence.

Films like this : If you liked this film, you will probably also like :

- Sehar
- Shool
- Dil pe mat le yaar

Tags : A Wednesday reviews, A Wednesday movie reviews, A Wednesday film reviews

Rating : Excellent (4.5/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Pankaj Advani
Cast : Anupam Kher, Kaykay Menon, Rimi Sen, Chunky Pandey, Yashpal Sharma, Manoj Pahwa, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Hemant Pandey, Jahangir Khan, Veerendra Saxena, Shri Vallabh Vyas, Rahul Dev
Kid rating : PG-13


SANKAT CITY : A RARE, TRUE COMEDY !

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here.

“Sankat City” reminds me of a Wodehouse-ian novel; a bunch of odd-ball characters cocooned in their own little spheres of influence, setting forth a chain of events that promises much mirth and laughter. The city, of course, is Mumbai, and in it’s criminal citizenry it includes car-thief Guru (Menon) and his associates Ganpat (Prabhavalkar), and Sharafat (Shrivallabh Vyas). Also peopling Sankat City is small-time con-woman Mona (Rimi) , businessman Pachisia (Yashpal Sharma), film producer Gogi Kukreja (Pahwa), and his lead actor Sikandar Khan (Chunky Pandey).

However the person who makes the world go around (at least in Sankat City) is ruthless mob-boss Faujdaar (Kher). And why ? Because everyone borrows money from him. Whether it’s Pachisia who’s in the doghouse because he has only a few days to pay back his loan, or Kukreja who must borrow to buy land for his dream studio, they are all in debt and mortal fear of Faujdaar.

The plot, which I will not describe in detail, revolves around large lost sums of money. The money belongs to Faujdaar, and Guru and Mona who don’t have it, must scheme their way around the mobster and his violence-loving henchman Lovely (Jahangir Khan). Suffice it to say that the journey to get out from under Faujdaar’s thumb is fraught with mishaps (for them) and humor (for us) given that they associate with rather quaint, quirky characters.

This film has a succinct storyline, and by that I mean that Advani, who has also written the film doesn’t waste facts – something very rare in Bollywood. If we as audience are given information on a person or an event, that information is brought into play later. Advani also brings great detail and nuance in the development of each character. Every character has a great quirk – Guru, a sneaky thief loves fishes (as pets), Faujdaar has a thing for South-Indian, voluptuous bombshells, and looks upto only one person, his Guru Swamiji (Saxena). Swamiji also has a fetish – he loves bathing with young men.

It also does not hurt that the film has an excellent cast. In fact it is quite pleasant to see a lot of good television artistes in this film, like the cast of “Office Office” – Manoj Pahwa, Sanjay Mishra and Hemant Pandey. There is ofcourse stalwart Anupam Kher, who brings to screen a delightful rendition of a Himachali mobster, complete with typical accent. Rimi Sen, quite unexpectedly, flexes her acting muscles. Playing a Bengali siren, with a penchant for making off with the loot, she looks and acts the part. The woman has talent and I look forward to seeing her in meatier roles.

Advani directs beautifully, tieing up all the lose ends neatly, and produces a lovely, comedic caper. Highly recommended.

Kidwise : This film is almost clean; it has references to prostitution and a scene of a woman in undress. There are however "adult" nuances which may not be suitable for a younger child – hence the PG-13 rating.

Films like this : If you liked this film, you will probably also like :

- Jaane bhi do yaaron
- Chashm-e-buddoor
- Khosla ka ghosla

Rating : Above average (3.9/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2008
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Danny Boyle
Cast : Dev Patel, Freida Pinto, Irfan Khan, Anil Kapoor, Saurabh Shukla
Kid rating : PG


SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE : HOPE IN THE SLUMS

Technorati tag : Review Slumdog Millionaire

I only had the vaguest inkling of the story of “Slumdog millionaire”, having carefully not read any of the reviews. So, when it started out, brutally enough in a police lock-up with the protagonist Jamaal (Patel) being tortured, it seemed to be quite far away from the shiny small-screen glamour of “Kaun banega crorepati”, the game show which supposedly played a major part in the film. However, SM, as I discovered, was woven between the past and the present, taking us through Jamaal’s few hours of television fame, his subsequent police incarceration, and his past life as an orphan in Mumbai.

Jamaal has had the good fortune of being selected as a contestant on “Kaun banega crorepati (India’s version of “Who wants to be a millionaire”). A humble chai-wala, with no formal education, Jamaal still manages to answer all the questions which are thrown at him. When the game breaks for the day, the show’s influential host Prem (Kapoor), unable to believe that Jamaal is not cheating at the game, gets him whisked away by the police. During the police interrogation, we get to know Jamaal’s story, and the fact that Jamaal is on the show to get in touch with his lady-love Latika.

SM is a pretty upbeat film. It starts off amidst wretched poverty, showing very starkly the underbelly of great, shining India. And I, being desi and all, and watching SM in a very mainstream cinema theatre in a very American city, am squirming in my seat, thinking this is another of those films milking poor, exotic India for a shot at the Oscars. Although, really, it’s not.

It does make me uncomfortable, watching poor, naked children wallowing in filth, begging at the cross-roads, playing next to large garbage dumps, in one of the largest slums of a bustling, rich, cosmopolitan city in the country of my birth (Ah, where are those dreams of being the next Shanghai ? Maybe an adequate sewage system first ?). It is one thing to travel back to India and feel desperate poverty all around you; it’s everywhere. But is quite another, to see it splashed across a wide-screen, in urban America, surrounded by relatively wealthy Americans, for whom definitions of poverty are quite different than those encountered in the Third World. It makes me uncomfortable, because it’s my dirty laundry hung out to dry, for the world to see, celebrate and toast as cinematic greatness at the Golden Globes, at the Sundance festival, at the Oscars. But it is what it is, I tell myself. They show it because it does exist. You encounter many such poor Jamaals on Indian streets.

The film now, it travels question by question. In flashback mode, it takes us through Jamaal’s interrogation at the Mumbai police station, and reveals his life story, bit by bit, as Jamaal tells the inspector (Irfan Khan) how he knows the answer to each question asked on the show. Dev Patel as Jamaal, is quite effective, except for the American accent he sports – it’s not really, really obvious, but you can tell. Freida Pinto, as fellow-orphan Latika, is much more believable, and so is the actor who plays Jamaal’s brother. Anil Kapoor comes across as a sneering TV show host, being ever so subtly snide about Jamaal’s poverty-stricken roots. Having watched Bacchan and SRK being extremely polite and amiable hosts, in the actual TV show “Kaun banega crorepati”, I’m a little surprised that Anil Kapoor’s character has such obvious class hang-ups.

As I said, the film starts with a cold, hard look at poverty, and the life of the poor; Jamaal and Salim are poor orphans of a Muslim slum. They are smart, and “jugadu” as street-kids are and their young life is strewn with escapes; escaping from the police, escaping from the beggar mafia, escaping from the railway ticket collector. As they work their way up with age and time, they separate. And getting onto “Who wants to be a millionaire” is Jamaal’s attempt at finding his loved ones again.

So, yes, SM starts off depressingly, but soon develops into a wistful love story. It’s very hopeful, what with the ascent of a slum boy to the millionaire’s chair. And it’s not that Jamaal is “made” smart by the script; he is a smart kid. An intelligent, smart kid born indigent. And he hopes, and he dreams of meeting Latika again, against all odds.

And, yes, the script and direction is strong, the story is interesting and well-told, and the actors deserve applause. The film takes you through many emotions, but above all, and what drew me in, is that this is a simple film. It’s basic, no additional flounces or frippery (except that Bollywood style closing) and it appears to be passionate. Made from the heart.

Love Aaj Kal is, you guessed it, love today versus love yesterday. And, of course I don’t exactly mean yesterday, but yesteryear, as in 2 love stories, both starring Saif Ali Khan. Khan who has also turned producer with this film, and launched Illuminati films, expresses love doubly here. Saif is love-struck, once as old-fashioned Sardar Veer, who having once sighted the girl of his dreams Harleen Kaur, waits in silence just to catch another glimpse of her, and the second time as a modern young man of today Jai, who thinks he has it good with Meera (Padukone) but is willing to find out if there are other fish in the sea.

Yup, it’s back to the fields of Punjab, folks, to see Saif Ali Khan, atop a bicycle wooing the girl in the cycle rickshaw. The new girl who plays Harleen, looks quite the part, demure as girls were then (?), eyes downcast, and gazes averted. For the trendy, and those who want the “in-thing”, you have another helping of Saif mixed with Deepika’s sparkly good looks.



Romance rocks (in) Bollywood. Has rocked for several decades now, if you look at the amount of romantic films made every year. Recently the trend has been changing, and we have been fortunate enough to see non-romance themed films too, but the masses swoon in the name of romance. Boy meets girl. Girl smitten, boy smitten, throw in a few “villains” – and voila ! You have your average 1980s and 90s romance. Also a super-duper hit formula by the way, so let’s not look down our noses at it.

Imtiaz Ali is a director who has been very successful with romantic films. From his first film, “Socha na tha” which starred then newcomer Ayesha Takia and our silver-screen Devdas Abhay Deol, to his 2006 hit “Jab we met” Ali has delivered each time. In this age of Facebook and Twitter, where you receive hazaaron requestes of “friendship” and people can “poke” you , and scrap on your “wall” , and you are free to IM or chat, his films are always served with a twist, and manage to bridge the age old idea of staid love with the zingy youthfulness of modern and “internet-age” romance.

A promising and enthusiastic starcast, a good director and some very catchy music, this film promises to be the Desi film of the Summer. This will be in a theater near you, the 31st of July ! See you there, first day, first show !

P.S. : I've been trying to embed a high quality trailer of the film here, but the good quality ones up at youtube are posted by user "erosentertainment" and embedding is disabled by request. This means that any blogger (like moi) cannot embed the trailer while plugging the film. Are the marketing folks retarded ? It's like - want free publicity - er . . . No, Thanks !

Note : The edited version of this review appears at Planet Bollywood, here.
Rating : Above average (3.9/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 15 minutes
Director : Krishna D.K., Raj Nidimoru
Cast : Kunal Khemu, Cyrus Broacha, Mahesh Manjrekar, Soha Ali Khan, Simone Singh, Boman Irani, Vinod Khanna, Sudesh Berry
Kid rating : G


99 (Ninety-nine) : Not exactly cricket, but wins the game anyway !

Technorati tag : Review 99

Who doesn’t love a movie about bumbling crooks ? Especially if it is well-made, has what seems to be an original story-line and some actual humor, yeah ? I do, for one. And 99 struck me as entertaining and a tad “Pulp Fiction”-ish, because it’s got these bizarre characters with their fetishes and quirks. The more the merrier – that’s the motto and it succeeds pretty well.

Sachin (Kunal Khemu, who’s gotten cleaned up and clean-shaven), and Zaramud (Cyrus Broacha) are small-time conmen who when they damage another crook AGM’s car, must work for him, and end up helping him extract payments from recalcitrant loan-seekers. Thus they meet Rahul (Boman Irani), a salaried professional with the gambling itch. Now Rahul is into betting on cricket matches because he believes them to be fixed, and persuades the duo that he can predict and win. Now the threesome (actually foursome, if you include lady-love Pooja(Soha Ali Khan)) must outwit AGM, and other assorted villains to grab some moolah, bet with it and win. Sound impossible ? Think again !

Khemu who’s always appeared in small-time, if entertaining films, delivers yet again. As Sachin, the almost yuppie, good-looking, well-built con-man with a heart of gold, he is quite likeable, and not hard to root for. Cyrus Broacha, MTV VJ, and the film’s resident fat-man is quite another story. Broacha has trouble emoting, and his punch-lines are off. The only time I found him funny was when he walked straight into a pole and fell unconscious. He was funnier out.

Mahesh Manjrekar as AGM, the technologically challenged crime-boss is spot-on. And funny. There is one scene, where the Mumbaikar AGM comes to Delhi and gets into a taxi. The taxi doesn’t have a meter, and AGM is quite perturbed. “What kind of city is this ! The taxis don’t have meters !”, he remarks quite agitated. And while my recanting this anecdote might seem flat, please watch this in person for maximum effect.

Another actor who’s new and very effective is Amit Mistry, who plays Kuber, a crook (the film’s teeming with them) who’s lent Rahul money and comes knocking to recover it. Now Kuber, who’s well, a little puny, always lugs around his henchman. This hulking giant of a man, could probably eat our hero Sachin for breakfast and not burp. He is innocuously named Dimple – a sly dig at Punjabi Delhites who have a penchant for naming their muscular children Chintu, Bubbly, Sweety and the like.

Pretty Simone Singh plays Jahnavi, Irani’s estranged wife (she’s firmly ensconced at her mother’s flat), and Soha Ali Khan play’s a hotel manager and Sachin’s paramour. While Khan’s role is not as minor as Singh’s they both don’t sway the story either way. What does sway the film, and keep it afloat is it’s subtle humor, much of it derived from the comparison between our two favorite cities – Bombay and Delhi (i.e.; have you heard the gag about Pooja and Neha ?). Nicely done, and with much affection.

This film is well-directed and spry-spirited. From an enthusiastic and often athletic cast (watch Khemu and Broacha run circles around their enemies) to glib, humorous dialogues, and meaty, well-defined characters, this one is an all-around winner.

Parents : This is a relatively clean film, and one which your kids (and you) might enjoy. Hard to believe, I know, but an actual family entertainer – Whoopee !

If you liked this film, you might also enjoy :

- Chashm-e-buddoor
- Maalamal Weekly
- Jaane bhi do yaaron

Rating : Below average (2.5/5)
Genre : Suspense/Action/Thriller
Year : 2009
Running time : 2 hours 30 minutes
Director : Soham Shah
Cast : Imran Khan, Shruti Hassan, Danny Denzongpa, Sunjay Dutt, Ram Kishen, Mithun Chakraborty, Chitrashi Rawat
Kid rating : PG-13

LUCK : THE 80s DONE WRONG !


I am so glad that Hindi cinema has changed for the better. Where once the old formulas of romance and dhishum-dhishum ruled we now have films which take on un-conventional (for desi audiences) subjects, like murder mysteries (Manorama six feet under), personal angst-causing tales (Main meri patni aur woh) or even thoughtful romances (the recent Love Aaj Kal). So, it's kind of a major let-down to see a film like "Luck", with it's almost caricaturish villains, cryptic, loaded dialogues (do real villains really have the time to compose talk like that ?) and odes to mindless (and ridiculous) violence.

The film's plot centers on "lucky" people. Almost all the main characters are lucky people, a fact noticed by "luck-trader" Musa bhai (Sanjay Dutt). Ram Mehra (Imran), Ayesha (Shruti), ex-jailbird Raghav (Ram Kisshen), Major Jabbar Pratap Singh (Mithun), Short-cut (Chitrashi Rawat) are considered lucky and happen to be desperate for money. Musa along with his henchman Lakhan Tamang (Danny) rounds up these people and persuades them to enter a life-and-death game with a high payout. If they survive they get the loot. If they don't - well, dead men don't talk, much less ask for their share.

There are lots of things wrong with this film. Firstly, the casting - Imran Khan is the spitting image of Mr. Goody-2-Shoes, so why cast him as an aggresive, possibly negative character ? He might work (and I'm just speculating here) in a film like "Johnny Gaddar" or in a "Khosla ka Ghosla", but in a movie where there is no dearth of menacing faces, he doesn't stand a chance. Then there is Chitrashi Rawat, who plays a camel jockey. Now I've got to hand it to her, for her short stature she has a large swagger. She's a decent actress, but where's the personality ? Ram Kisshen is paisa-vasool though; his sneering I-know-something-you-don't attitude works quite well here. Sunjay Dutt is in his "bhai"-wala avatar, so it's all dark glasses and glowering glances from him. And Danny is Danny and Mithun is Mithun - predictable and boring.

And now for the debutante of the week (or not) Shruti Hassan, Kamal Hassan and Sarika's daughter. I was pretty curious to see her in action, because (and I'm probably dating myself here) I remember reading about Kamal Hassan's controversial break-up with first wife Vani Ganapathy - Vani castigated the affair in print (Filmfare et. al.), slapped Sarika, the works. One is therefore naturally curious to see how the product of that union turned out. Shruti looks a lot like her mother, tall, graceful, slim and svelte and dances well. She can't emote though, which if she's inherited her acting genes from her parents, might improve with time.

"Luck" tries to be a "thriller", but also has the obligatory romance-dance routines. There is also the "desi" emotional pull - Ram has a Maa to please, and army-man Singh has an ailing wife. This is a mish-mash of all things masala, with nothing done right. Directorial focus is a thing unknown here and the script, merely a tool to thread together the item numbers with the inane stunts. All that said, if I had to choose the worst thing about this movie, I’d say the dialogues were atrocious – and Danny had the major chunk of the worst ones. The songs might be the only silver lining - and it's a mighty thin lining at that; I quite liked "Jee Le".

The director Soham Shah also directed the very forgettable "Kaal", so it's not like I was expecting quality here, but "Luck" turned out to be ghastlier than expected. It starts off OK, but morphs pretty quickly into a C-grade film. Verdict : Keep away.

Kid-wise : This earns itself a PG-13 rating, for the violence and glorification of the "bhai"/criminal types.

Tags : Movie Review Luck, Review Luck, Luck Review, Luck Movie Review, Luck film review