Oxford dictionary should include a new synonym for torture – ‘Chandni Chowk to China’. Masalas are so important for Indian audience who look to rest their brain cells after hard day’s work. But CC2C is an excruciating Masala fare that has no mazaa or dum whatsoever! I can hardly bring myself to describe it. Here is my attempt!
Action - Like a jaded, Eastman colour Chinese kung-fu movie. Mediocre!!
Music - Non-impressive and out of place. Songs come unexpected!
Direction – SUCKS!!! Snore-inspiring!!!
Now, let’s talk about the most awful department of the movie:
Script -Well, you don't look for logic and reasoning in hardcore ‘potboilers’ or ‘popcorn movies’ like David Dhawan ‘s flicks, but he would commit suicide if at all he makes something like this himself. Forget David Dhawan, even in a C grade director’s film, if somebody is thrown off the Great Wall of China, he would not be seen in the movie again. For god’s sake the Great Wall of China is not 3 feet high! Miracles don’t stop happening in this movie. Firstly it was Deepika Padukone thrown off it, who SURVIVES! Then her father, who SURVIVES! Nobody knows how! And, if this wasn’t enough, Akshay is also thrown from the same freaking place and miracle happens yet again and he is caught by Deepika’s father halfway in the air!
The director wanted to make it an out n out comedy flick and falls flat on his face doing so. He tried to inject humour in these scenes that required seriousness. Akshay’s training is full of absurdity and that is when Akshay should have been boiling with vengeance. Even in the climax scene, the director shows the villain animated like a potato when Akshay (with goofy grin on his face) is going to kill him. The movie could have been a tad better if the director considered having the post-interval scenes more serious. Akshay is a far better actor than being considered only for cracking jokes about chaddis, walnuts and what not!
The villain has special trick to kill people - his boomerang hat. The hat thrower, Hojo, beheads his enemies and comes back full circle. Wonder why he didn’t kill Akshay with this special skill of his. It would have been even more astonishing if the hat could slit his throat and come back to sit perfectly on his head. Tch! Tch! Nikhil Advani ji... You missed it buddy!
More irritating scenes - You can’t wait for the movie to end when the movie has just begun when these scenes bug you to death. Some airline passenger keeps asking Akshay and Ranveer - “Are you STUPID?” I want to ask Nikhil Advani the same question for making this movie. Akshay says he is 27 year old. Huh?? Next scene – his prominent grey stubble is noticeable. Mithun keeps kicking Akshay’s butt so hard that he flies to thermosphere and sometimes even to exosphere! Finally he flies to China after two poor Chinese men land right into parathewali gali in Chandni Chowk to meet Ranveer Shohri. Huh?? Earlier it was Mithun to make him fly, and later, it is Deepika’s chance to fly with him and sing a song like Govinda and Kimi katkar in ‘Dariya Dil’. Watch this video and have a good laugh! Or eat some nice n spicy Chinese food instead! You don’t need to waste your 150 bucks.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgUJK0cwBco
_____ASHIM_____
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire by Nikhil
Site: http://www.slumdogmillionairemovie.co.uk/
Verdict: An engaging fare.
Cool!: Slumdog Millionaire is a fine entertainer and the credit for it primarily goes to its director, Danny Boyle. A compelling narrative is used to unfurl a more or less typical story in an interesting and gripping fashion, making for a decent watch. The curiosity in the minds of audience so as to what led a slum-dweller to reach the last question on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is well-maintained throughout and continuously fed with an engaging non-linear narration of the protagonist's past. There is a constant transition from the present to the past and back, but it only adds to the excitement of the plot. The camera work is exquisite, with some beautiful shots throughout the film, right from the slums to the train sequences. The performances are decent, though none of them truly stand out (enough to be given an award for it); enforcing what I said earlier, Slumdog's primarily a director's piece. The kid actors do a wonderful job of their time on the screen; Anil Kapoor is fine as the show's host, though Irfan Khan is more or less wasted.
AR Rehman's music leaves an impression; used as a background score in the film. The guy is at his creative best, using gun shots and train beats to create tracks that are fresh and extremely apt for the particular situations composed for. A beautiful mix of Indian and world music, Rehman does deserve an appreciation for this effort (though I feel the song ‘Jai Ho’, that is receiving all the accolades, is not the best of the lot; there are far better tracks in the album).
The movie primarily moves through the underbelly of Mumbai, providing glimpses of all that’s wrong here; whether it be the begging racket, the thriving underworld, communal riots or even prostitution; and like the Big B, some people might feel that India has been incorrectly portrayed. But the point to remember is that this is a straight out masala film, and it should be looked at only from an entertainment perspective. Trying to judge what impression of India would the world have on watching it just because it has been directed by a well-known foreign film-maker and meant for the world audience is not fair (so many Indian films are based on the same issues, but nobody cares what impression would they leave on outsiders just because we know they won’t ever reach them). The director has tried to tell a story, and has done a good job at it; bringing Indian actors, music and locations to the forefront while doing so. Probably that's all the movie needs to be appreciated for.
Yawn!: The story on the whole is kind of predictable, especially for us Indian folks, for whom every second movie has the same rags-to-riches plot. Also, the switch between hindi and english (being spoken by actors) also seems wierd at times, and that’s again probably only for us.. to imagine kids in slums or the underworld goons speaking out fluent english does seem far-fetched.. but being a movie meant for the global audience, probably it was necessary for getting them to understand the story, mixed with the right amount of local flavour.
_____NIKHIL_____
Verdict: An engaging fare.
Cool!: Slumdog Millionaire is a fine entertainer and the credit for it primarily goes to its director, Danny Boyle. A compelling narrative is used to unfurl a more or less typical story in an interesting and gripping fashion, making for a decent watch. The curiosity in the minds of audience so as to what led a slum-dweller to reach the last question on 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is well-maintained throughout and continuously fed with an engaging non-linear narration of the protagonist's past. There is a constant transition from the present to the past and back, but it only adds to the excitement of the plot. The camera work is exquisite, with some beautiful shots throughout the film, right from the slums to the train sequences. The performances are decent, though none of them truly stand out (enough to be given an award for it); enforcing what I said earlier, Slumdog's primarily a director's piece. The kid actors do a wonderful job of their time on the screen; Anil Kapoor is fine as the show's host, though Irfan Khan is more or less wasted.
AR Rehman's music leaves an impression; used as a background score in the film. The guy is at his creative best, using gun shots and train beats to create tracks that are fresh and extremely apt for the particular situations composed for. A beautiful mix of Indian and world music, Rehman does deserve an appreciation for this effort (though I feel the song ‘Jai Ho’, that is receiving all the accolades, is not the best of the lot; there are far better tracks in the album).
The movie primarily moves through the underbelly of Mumbai, providing glimpses of all that’s wrong here; whether it be the begging racket, the thriving underworld, communal riots or even prostitution; and like the Big B, some people might feel that India has been incorrectly portrayed. But the point to remember is that this is a straight out masala film, and it should be looked at only from an entertainment perspective. Trying to judge what impression of India would the world have on watching it just because it has been directed by a well-known foreign film-maker and meant for the world audience is not fair (so many Indian films are based on the same issues, but nobody cares what impression would they leave on outsiders just because we know they won’t ever reach them). The director has tried to tell a story, and has done a good job at it; bringing Indian actors, music and locations to the forefront while doing so. Probably that's all the movie needs to be appreciated for.
Yawn!: The story on the whole is kind of predictable, especially for us Indian folks, for whom every second movie has the same rags-to-riches plot. Also, the switch between hindi and english (being spoken by actors) also seems wierd at times, and that’s again probably only for us.. to imagine kids in slums or the underworld goons speaking out fluent english does seem far-fetched.. but being a movie meant for the global audience, probably it was necessary for getting them to understand the story, mixed with the right amount of local flavour.
_____NIKHIL_____
Slumdog Millionaire by Ashim
Slumdog Millionaire has everything what we Bollywood buffs crave for. It is what I was expecting and was happy to get! An illiterate slum kid from Mumbai to the Indian version of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”! We emotional (read ‘sappy’) Indians just want to see him win. How is that for MASALA?
Though it’s an English movie but for Indians it does not defy the stereotype masala movies. This doesn’t mean Slumdog has nothing different to offer. It is presented with a different class. It is not Yash Chopra’s ‘Deewar’, Subhash Ghai’s ‘Khalnayak’, David Dhawan’s ‘Hero No.1’ or Akshay kumar’s ‘Singh is King’. It does the same thing though! It entertains with action, romance, comedy and thrill! But, here is what is ‘different’-
· ‘Action’ is intense and grim.
· ‘Romance’ is tormented by sexual abuse.
· There are ‘heartbreaks’ with contrasting black humour.
· There is ‘thrill’ which is present throughout!
· A ‘fairytale’ which opens with a torture scene and ends with a happy ending.
· Desire of wealth is stimulated by unpleasant poverty.
· Visuals and music are not run of the mill. They are astonishing, seductive and classy.
Dialogues are simple, crisp and intelligent. “What the hell can a slum boy possibly know?” shouts the snappy police officer and the response is “The answers!!” by the black-and-blue hero. He does not know all the precious answers simply because he is the ‘hero’. His knowledge to these answers has been justified by connection to either some prominent bitter-sweet memory or brutal events that haunted him in the past. So...‘how’ he knows these answers- is the structure of the film.
At times, though the concept seems unhinged. One wonders as to how a person from the slums speaks in English so fluently and on top of that he has a British accent! This does not take anything away from the director’s work! Boyle has handled Slumdog by panache. Some sequences like the murder of hero’s mother during a riot; a hilarious hand shake with Amitabh Bachchan and torture of fellow orphans by the cruel hooligans leave a lasting impact.
Dev Patel (Jamal) deserves accolades for his work. His performance is extremely realistic, as needed for the film. Irrfan Khan and Anil Kapoor don’t get a lot of scope to perform but make their presence felt and they handle their parts with flourish. The background score elevates the situations considerably. The visuals are strong enough to make the audience smell garbage heaps and feel for frowning homeless and orphans. The story, its execution, the performances, the drama... the product leaves you spellbound.To sum up, Slumdog Millionaire is an exceptional film in all respects. A maximum film!!!
_____ASHIM_____
Though it’s an English movie but for Indians it does not defy the stereotype masala movies. This doesn’t mean Slumdog has nothing different to offer. It is presented with a different class. It is not Yash Chopra’s ‘Deewar’, Subhash Ghai’s ‘Khalnayak’, David Dhawan’s ‘Hero No.1’ or Akshay kumar’s ‘Singh is King’. It does the same thing though! It entertains with action, romance, comedy and thrill! But, here is what is ‘different’-
· ‘Action’ is intense and grim.
· ‘Romance’ is tormented by sexual abuse.
· There are ‘heartbreaks’ with contrasting black humour.
· There is ‘thrill’ which is present throughout!
· A ‘fairytale’ which opens with a torture scene and ends with a happy ending.
· Desire of wealth is stimulated by unpleasant poverty.
· Visuals and music are not run of the mill. They are astonishing, seductive and classy.
Dialogues are simple, crisp and intelligent. “What the hell can a slum boy possibly know?” shouts the snappy police officer and the response is “The answers!!” by the black-and-blue hero. He does not know all the precious answers simply because he is the ‘hero’. His knowledge to these answers has been justified by connection to either some prominent bitter-sweet memory or brutal events that haunted him in the past. So...‘how’ he knows these answers- is the structure of the film.
At times, though the concept seems unhinged. One wonders as to how a person from the slums speaks in English so fluently and on top of that he has a British accent! This does not take anything away from the director’s work! Boyle has handled Slumdog by panache. Some sequences like the murder of hero’s mother during a riot; a hilarious hand shake with Amitabh Bachchan and torture of fellow orphans by the cruel hooligans leave a lasting impact.
Dev Patel (Jamal) deserves accolades for his work. His performance is extremely realistic, as needed for the film. Irrfan Khan and Anil Kapoor don’t get a lot of scope to perform but make their presence felt and they handle their parts with flourish. The background score elevates the situations considerably. The visuals are strong enough to make the audience smell garbage heaps and feel for frowning homeless and orphans. The story, its execution, the performances, the drama... the product leaves you spellbound.To sum up, Slumdog Millionaire is an exceptional film in all respects. A maximum film!!!
_____ASHIM_____
Monday, January 12, 2009
Ghajini by Ashim
Do you know how strong film-making can augment and elevate an already powerful concept? You've got to check out GHAJINI for your answer! It is commercial Hindi cinema (masala) at its best. It demonstrates the age old good versus evil tale in an atypical way. It has “blockbuster” written all over it. Do yourself a favour. Go watch GHAJINI.
Yes, it is majorly Amir Khan who takes this film to dizzy heights. This does not take away anything from the director, whose execution is razor-edge. He has a style of his own. He tries to balance the light hearted sequences and the intense jaw-dropping sequences with skill. Sure, the actor deserves the highest award for this role, but new comer Asin acted her part brilliantly as well. It is no cakewalk to share the screen space with Amir Khan with such confidence. She is lively, photogenic and has her presence felt on the screen!
GHAJINI is not MEMENTO. It is a completely different plot. It's an out of the world experience, exciting story, engaging and thrilling at the same time. Climax action sequence leaves an indelible impression. Violence is not gory but intense. None of the brutal acts has been left unjustified. A.R. Rahman's music is first rate. Cinematography is stunning. The film bears a stylish look with background score, the visual effects and the script are synchronised brilliantly. The highlight is the most gripping scene in the film where Asin is killed by the sadistic gangster Ghajini. The scene is enthralling and will definitely make your heart beat faster!!
Expect the unexpected because GHAJINI offers you twist after twist. The only thing I could do without was the movie running time of 3 hours. It could have been shorter by at least 30 minutes if the flashback sequences were made crisper. Nevertheless, Asin’s superb performance sees it through. Yes, I was really keen on going into the present and see what is going to be Amir’s next move. The tattoo on his body already revealed that ‘KALPANA WAS KILLED’ in the trailers itself. So it was only about how and why is she killed. But still it was needed to balance the intense action sequences.
I am not fully convinced with the cast of the film. The cop is highly amusing. There could have been better choices for the villain. Thirdly, Jiah Khan, the medical student who studies the amnesiac and ends up first hindering then helping Amir, is a total blunder. She has to speak Hindi and do an item number and both are beyond her.
Overall, Ghajini is a king-sized entertainer designed to lure the audience and set the box-office afire! It’s an edge-of-your-seat and pit-of-your-stomach film. It was worthy of my 150 bucks. It is Hindi cinema at its best. It simply does what bollywood can do best. ENTERTAIN!
____A S H I M_____
Yes, it is majorly Amir Khan who takes this film to dizzy heights. This does not take away anything from the director, whose execution is razor-edge. He has a style of his own. He tries to balance the light hearted sequences and the intense jaw-dropping sequences with skill. Sure, the actor deserves the highest award for this role, but new comer Asin acted her part brilliantly as well. It is no cakewalk to share the screen space with Amir Khan with such confidence. She is lively, photogenic and has her presence felt on the screen!
GHAJINI is not MEMENTO. It is a completely different plot. It's an out of the world experience, exciting story, engaging and thrilling at the same time. Climax action sequence leaves an indelible impression. Violence is not gory but intense. None of the brutal acts has been left unjustified. A.R. Rahman's music is first rate. Cinematography is stunning. The film bears a stylish look with background score, the visual effects and the script are synchronised brilliantly. The highlight is the most gripping scene in the film where Asin is killed by the sadistic gangster Ghajini. The scene is enthralling and will definitely make your heart beat faster!!
Expect the unexpected because GHAJINI offers you twist after twist. The only thing I could do without was the movie running time of 3 hours. It could have been shorter by at least 30 minutes if the flashback sequences were made crisper. Nevertheless, Asin’s superb performance sees it through. Yes, I was really keen on going into the present and see what is going to be Amir’s next move. The tattoo on his body already revealed that ‘KALPANA WAS KILLED’ in the trailers itself. So it was only about how and why is she killed. But still it was needed to balance the intense action sequences.
I am not fully convinced with the cast of the film. The cop is highly amusing. There could have been better choices for the villain. Thirdly, Jiah Khan, the medical student who studies the amnesiac and ends up first hindering then helping Amir, is a total blunder. She has to speak Hindi and do an item number and both are beyond her.
Overall, Ghajini is a king-sized entertainer designed to lure the audience and set the box-office afire! It’s an edge-of-your-seat and pit-of-your-stomach film. It was worthy of my 150 bucks. It is Hindi cinema at its best. It simply does what bollywood can do best. ENTERTAIN!
____A S H I M_____
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Ghajini by Nikhil
Yawn!: I've rated this movies movie in the negative first and foremost because of the high expectations associated with it. Well, there are many way more pathetic movies doing well all around, but Ghajini was supposed to be the movie of the year! and in my opinion it turned out to be nothing more than an unintelligent, ordinary film.
First of all, the entire concept of short-term memory loss has been wasted in the film, because on the whole it doesn't play any significant role in the story. For that matter, even the well-publicised tattoos on aamir's body or the maps and pictures posted on the walls at his place in the movie have nothing to contribute to the plot.. because ultimately the villian and his goons remove/destroy/erase all of them and the hero is left in a hospital not knowing what to do... c'mon man, add some kind of intelligence for us to appreciate! ... At the end of it all, if you analyze, had the hero lost his memory completely would have made no difference to the overall plot. Just to clarify here, I'm not trying to compare the film to Memento, but if some new element is being introduced in a film, it is not wrong to expect it to be more than just cosmetic.
Ghajini is just a regular "villian kills heroine, hero kills villian" story.. and with the hyped up promos and aamir in the lead, I expected better. Many things amiss... the flashback is too long, the comedy doesn't click, the villian is laughable and a persistently-angry, overactive, rhino-look-alike inspector don't do any good as well.
Cool!: Aamir is awesome, as usual. He fits the bill as the angry, frustrated, revenge-seeking man. Its a pity as the film doesn't do justice to the kind of effort he's put in for it. The action sequence at the end has been brilliantly done, and it kind of summarizes the anger built up within the particular character. I believe many people would end up loving the film just because of these particular reasons, but that doesn't include me.
Cool!: Aamir is awesome, as usual. He fits the bill as the angry, frustrated, revenge-seeking man. Its a pity as the film doesn't do justice to the kind of effort he's put in for it. The action sequence at the end has been brilliantly done, and it kind of summarizes the anger built up within the particular character. I believe many people would end up loving the film just because of these particular reasons, but that doesn't include me.
___N I K H I L____
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