Khoya Khoya Chand - Movie Review Saturday, December 8, 2007

TOI Review -
YOU'VE seen the technicolour '70s in Bollywood, just a few weeks ago, in Farha Khan's Om Shanti Om . Time to go back another decade or so in a sepia-tinted time machine which takes you to the more angst-ridden '50s and the getting-happy '60s.

This time, director Sudhir Mishra opts for a more serious tone - compared to Farha's rumbustious humour. This is one befitting the era he tries to re-capture on celluloid: the age of Guru Dutt, Sahir, Madhubala, Waheeda and Raj Kapoor, when both reel and real life unspooled behind a smoke-screen.

Ironically, those were the more liberal years when screen goddesses were irreverent towards traditional morality and lived life on their own terms. Hence the importance of a character like Sudhir Mishra's unconventional '50s-'60s diva who lived and loved and lost, all on her own terms.

So far so good. Mishra, who gave us the memorable document on the '70s student movement , Hazaron Khawhishen Aisi , begins on the right note.

The film opens in the haze of the film studios of the 1950s when Nikhat, a struggling, exploited dancer (Soha Ali) dreams of breaking into the limelight as an actress of import.

She is spotted preening in the background by the superstar, Prem Kumar (Rajat Kapoor) who takes no time to replace the reigning queen (Sonya Jehan) with this young, talented, mercurial waif who walks into his life with equal ease, only to end up as his heartbroken mistress.

The tragedy-struck girl is rescued by and upcoming writer, Zafar (Shiney Ahuja) who has his own demons - a troubled relationship with his father - to chase. And so you end up with two star-crossed lovers who are hell-bent on destroying themselves, and each other, simply because life has never been easy for them.

The background is perfect, the cinematography is arresting, the music (Shatanu Moitra) has a glorious retro tone and the performances (Soha, Rajat, Shiney, Vinay Pathak) are riveting. But the narrative keeps dipping and dipping, leaving the film to hang on as a mere string of montages, rather than a gripping story that transcends its characters. Here, the paper-thin story, ironically lets down the characters too.

And the loosely-edited second half leaves you fidgeting in your seat, ever so often. Somehow, the director has failed to create the magnificent passion that makes a relationship extraordinary...something that may have matched up to the underlying myth of Guru Dutt's ardour for his leading lady or Madhubala's dare-devil defiance to life and death.

Aaja Nachle Movie Review Friday, November 30, 2007

TOI Movie Review - 2 and half Star

THE dhak-dhak diva returns, alas, minus the dhak-dhak . Surely, this was hardly a comeback vehicle for Bollywood's biggest female star, who once posed a challenge at the hustings to all the male superstars. Maybe, Madhuri thought this was `decent' enough, befitting her new status as suburban wife and mother. But for the viewers, it's an ekdum thanda reprisal of her screen career, minus all passion, romance and the adrenalin-thump that was almost always associated with her. Think Dil , Beta , Ram Lakhan , Khalnayak , Saajan , Dil To Paagal Hai ...

But let's be honest. The fault does not lie so much with Madhuri -- she's still riveting, despite her aging beauty -- as with the lack lustre script and the unconvincing narration. Madhuri, now a mom of a tween, returns from America to small town India to rebuild a decrepit theatre in memory of her departed guru (Darshan Zariwala). The theatre is in dire straits and would soon be demolished to give way to a glitzy mall on the behest of the local politician (Akshaye Khanna), unless the messiah-turned-mom turns on the arclights once again, but with local support. Local support? The usual suspects which include the goonda (Kunal), the tomboy (Konkona), the scared wife (Divya Dutta), the devdas who pines for the diva (Ranvir Shorey), the stodgy sarkari afsar and all the other `types'. Naturally, the NRI missus manages to put up a grand spectacle, after many hiccups and somehow brings husbands closer to wives, boyfriends closer to girlfriends, politicians closer to causes...All with her jaadu ki smiley!

Every little twist and turn of the meandering plot is predictable. Every character is a stereotype. The romance between Konkona and Kunal who play Laila and Majnu in the musical is minus all sparks and the music (Salim-Suleiman) of this film, ironically a musical, is insipid and forgettable. What remains is just a promise that the magic of Madhuri still lives. All it needs to explode again is a magical scrip

Goal Movie Review

GOAL is a simple story that packs not just the sport, but also dabbles with issues like racism and fanaticism associated with this sport. Issues that Westerners can relate to more than Indians, especially racial discrimination.

As a film, GOAL has its share of highs and lows. If the first hour is strictly okay, the pendulum swings in its favour in the second hour -- in the last 20 minutes, to be precise. The sport succeeds in arousing patriotic feelings, besides involving the viewer in the fight-to-finish finale.
Both John and Arshad are the 'Men of the Match'. John is a revelation. Wrongly dubbed as a clotheshorse in his earlier films, he hits a goal in GOAL. John lends the right texture to his character. He not only looks right for the part, but also plays the sport like a pro. GOAL should occupy the top slot in his body of work!

Arshad Warsi is superb. An incredibly talented actor whose versatility speaks volumes. Cast in a sober, serious role this time, Arshad enacts the part with as much ease as he portrayed Circuit. Bipasha Basu may not have a lengthy role, but she adds zing to the goings-on as and when she appears. Her love story with John is really cute.

Boman Irani is top notch. Note his roar at the intermission point or the uneasiness he displays whenever his team locks horns with the rivals on field. It's a flawless performance. Raj Zutshi is first-rate. Dalip Tahil carries the venomous part well. The actor enacting the role of Arshad's wife does a commendable job.

On the whole, DHAN DHANA DHAN GOAL has an ordinary first hour, but the post-interval portions, especially the exhilarating climax, makes up for everything. At the box-office, the producers [UTV] have already recovered the cost of production from various sales and in-film advertising. The theatrical business will only add to the booty, considering the film has the merits to work with moviegoers. Another factor that goes in its favour -- and it's an important one -- is the fact that the moviegoers haven’t seen a new release post-Diwali. That should reap dhan for DHAN DHANA DHAN GOAL.

Om Shanti Om rocks; Saawariya fails to induce!

IT’S OVER more than a week now since the year’s most awaited films were screened all over the world. While Om Shanti Om (OSO) rocked the box office with record sales, Saawariya failed to induce people to make it a blockbuster. One can easily say after watching both the movies that Om Shanti Om is better than the latter but in reality both the movies can’t be compared. Is there a comparison between the two?

If the youth in Lucknow can give an overview on the popularity of the two films, they find Om Shanti Om a typical movie masala released in total Bollywood ishtyle, while Saawariya, according to them is just more than a love story and the only credit Sanjay Leela Bhansali should get is that he introduced two promising newcomers. He is no doubt a director whose legacy of successful films continues.

The two films were released last week in 50 shows together in the four multiplexes and cinema halls in Lucknow last week.

“To me OSO is a better entertainer”, said Prashant while coming out of Waves multiplex. Similar was the view of Neha and interestingly the duo had seen both the movies one after another show at the multiplex.

Tavishi had more liking for the love story in Saawariya but she felt when it comes to entertainment, Om Shanti Om has an edge.

Among youth, there is hardly anyone who has missed the two films during the week but most of them give OSO a better rating as far as entertainment is concerned. Yes, at the box office it is OSO that is singing the happy tunes. Saawariya on the other hand is never meant to be a blockbuster the way it has been portrayed. Well, even Black wasn’t a box office hit but still won accolades. For sure, one thing is concrete that Sanjay Leela Bhansali has lost the path in this flick although the film deals beautifully with the emotion of a woman and has many other highlighting features.

OSO on the other side brings back the 70’s era in a brilliant way (Except for recent controversy on the portrayal of Bharat Manoj Kumar) with great performances with SRK in the lead. Besides that the foot tapping music and spell bounding choreography has scored over Saawariya. While OSO fails highly in its script with no story and having an absurd end having no real meaning, after being inspired from Karz, one always thought OSO not to surpass the legendary movie by the showman - Subhash Ghai.

Yes, one does believe that a director of Bhansali’s calibre was expected to deliver a much better movie than Saawariya but one can’t totally sing praises of OSO either, except for it being a box office hit. But the reason why OSO still runs high is because of it’s timing of release, the movie releasing at a festive time had an audience who expected to enjoy at such a time while Saawariya even though a mediocre movie failed miserably because of its timing.

With Chak De being the only distinguishing movie so far of 2007, one strongly believes that the hype created by both the movies prior to their release has failed but still for the namesake we can give OSO a higher rating than Saawariya because of its high collections.

Still we are in search of a movie quite ‘hatke’ (different) from the regular movie masala so that we can the dream to win an Oscar can come true.