pk

A school friend of mine, Paul Simon, preempted my review with his two bits, “Saw PK now.  Alright movie. No harm skipping. Too much of satyameva jayate style message”.  To Paul and the rest of you reading this I say, “I could not have summarized it better”. I have the same feeling for most movies from Rajkumar Hirani.  This was no different.

Dhoom 3

I left home this morning around 8:35 am for an 8:30 am show - you see PVR Cinemas usually plays upto 17 minutes of advertisements into the show time. So an 8:30 show will usually start @ 8:47. And if it is a Yash Raj film (or any big banner one for that matter), it would not have started before 8:55. But more importantly, I had Blackie and Whitey (the dogs in my building) looking @ me eagerly, as if to say, "what's the point of you going for a Dhoom movie. Spend time with us. It may be more exciting".

Talaash

Nearly 2 years since Aamir Khan’s last movie. January 2011 to be precise with Dhobi Ghat aka Mumbai Diaries. So it wasn’t too surprising to see that the paid preview shows @ Cinemax Versova were kept as the world’s best secret. Or is it just me? That I was too lazy to actually look it up is probably the reason I missed out on a show on the 0th day . Made a mental note to myself to ensure that I am more active (fat chance)

Honestly I have been cautiously optimistic about Talaash since the first trailer. This weird feeling that told me that whatever exciting was present in the movie has already been put into the trailer has been hounding me for a bit. Thank God it doesn’t fall under that genre and Reema Kagti has not really followed on the footsteps of her best friend – Zoya Akhtar. Also quite certain that Reema credited Zoya with the story along with herself because of the friendship and nothing else.

Talaash follows the life of Surjan Singh Shekhawat (Aamir Khan) aka Sury (imagine being called Surjan your entire life =))) who is married to Roshni (Rani Mukerji). He is a Senior Inspector who is in charge of an area in Mumbai where the ill fated Sea Face Road lies. A few accidents have occurred over the past few years which have been unsolved. And on a fateful day, a well known Bollywood star – Armaan Kapoor (Vivan Bhatena) decides the take the aerial route into the Arabian Sea. Sury is called to investigate.

Along the way, Sury’s back story comes to life that involves a fateful accident where he loses his first born 8 year old. Roshni is to date recovering from it. Sury finds his work as a release out of it. A part of the story that need not have been stretched to the extent that it eventually has been honestly. And as he goes about digging dirt, he bumps into Rosy (Kareena Kapoor) who starts helping him out by dropping clues. All of them, at times when Sury has all but given hope of solving the case.

While I have made light of the story for purposes of easier reading, Talaash is a very intense story directed by someone who is only 1 movie old but has a long way to go in Indian Cinema. Reema Kagti gave me a few reasons to dislike Talaash. The stretched back story of Sury and Roshni’s son & the séance (planchet) scenes with Frenny (Shernaz Patel) were over the top. Kagti could have also cut a bit on Rani’s midriff and her impeccably manicured nails – especially when everything else about the look of Rani was that of a distraught housewife and was done well.

Talaash does get a tad predictable in several places but on the whole Kagti manages to hold the suspense thriller well enough for over 2 hours. The seasoned movie goes will take about 10 minutes to figure out the bad guy and about an hour to figure out the suspense element.

As regards the acting on display, Rani has very little to do. Aamir, as always has a commanding presence on screen despite his limited repertoire of 5 expressions. Nawazzuddin Siddiqui is brilliant as always. And for some reason, Kareena’s best performances come in the role of a prostitute (Chameli I hear was her last best one). The support cast holds its own. Ram Sampath’s music is perfect for the movie. This one should have been a Diwali release. 7.5 on 10. Very close to GoW but not as good is my final verdict.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi860529689/

Dhobi Ghat (Mumbai Diaries)

Dhobi Ghat was by far the most awaited movie in this month. And it everything that people expected it to be from the trailers. If one was disappointed with the end result then I guess we were giving too much credit to the audience. In a very “Crash meets Bollywood” style of movie making, Kiran Rao gives us the story of 4 people in the city that doesn’t sleep, whose lives are intertwined thanks to various twists of fate if one may call it that. And she doesn’t do a bad job at all.

Arun (Aamir Khan) is an eccentric painter (that’s redundant right – aren’t all painters eccentric – no offence meant to the painter community). He shies away from public appearances and doesn’t make an appearance at any of his exhibitions. Any of them until now. He lands up at his latest exhibition which is based on Mumbai – his muse, his whore, his beloved – as he proclaims proudly. As he is getting away from the socializing, he bumps into Shai (Monica Dogra) who is an investment banker from New York on a sabbatical to Mumbai. Her passion is photography and she wants to use the time in Mumbai getting a look into the lives of the marginalized people including the exotic varieties such as the “Night Rat Killers” (didn’t know something like that existed out here – so much for being a Mumbaikar).

Needless to say, Arun and Shai hit it off and land up in bed that very night. Arun, however, is not really interested in anything long term. Especially coz he is divorced around 2 years back and completely unprepared to get into another relationship. Quite a bad morning after for sure.

When Arun moves to a new place, he finds 3 video cassettes left there by the previous tenant, Yasmin (Kriti Malhotra). He tries to return them but is unable to find out any details. Intrigued, he decides to watch the tapes to find out whats in them. They turn out to be video letters that Yasmin planned to send to her brother about her stay in Mumbai.

Arun’s Dhobi, Munna aka Zoheb (Pratiek Babbar) is the common link between Arun and Shai. He wants to be an actor. Shai is quite taken in by Munna in a manner of speaking and decides to take his help on her project. Munna also, coincidentally helps her get to Arun’s new place. The friendship between the two develops quite quickly and as time goes by, Munna develops feelings for Shai which are obviously one sided.

Dhobi Ghat tries to get to the fore the complexities of relationships that develop in this city between different kinds of people. The hope that is existant in most people about the next day being better than the previous one. The casting is quite good with Pratiek Babbar probably being the weakest of the lead 4. But he does come across as extremely sincere and puts in a genuine effort. Aamir Khan being Aamir Khan is quite effortless in his portrayal of the eccentric Arun. I suspect, it didn’t take quite an effort cause he was probably being himself. The pleasant surprises were definitely Monica Dogra and Kriti Malhotra both of whom, I thought, were quite superb. Both first time actors in main stream cinema. Both essay their respective roles with high levels of confidence, unperturbed by the fact that there are other well known names. Acting performances are what keeps Dhobi Ghat alive despite its slow pace. The music by Gustavo Santaolalla & Anibel Kerpel is again well placed with good use of Indian Classical for effect. However, the lead track had striking similarity to that of Krrish of all the movies (maybe a figment of my imagination or just the same raga). If you like the arty kind movies where the story is strong but the pace is really slow and it includes still shots which seem to last forever for no apparent reason, then Dhobi Ghat is just the way you would like to spend your evening. The ridiculous “95 minute without interval” gimmick kept aside, it gives Kiran Rao a very strong start. I liked it. 7 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1451268889/