Delhi Belly

I was quite apprehensive about Delhi Belly and was in the same breath quite disappointed because I could not watch the movie till this morning. I was just hoping it was not yet another case of the trailer being better than the movie – like it has been quite often in the recent past. However, turns out this time it was not the case. I guess it had to be a case of “In Aamir Khan we trust”. Although I am not sure if Aamir would be saying, “In Imran Khan I trust” for too long if the nephew keeps at his mediocre levels of improvement and singular dead pan surprised expression for too long. One begins to feel a bit sad about it after a while because there does seem to be a lot of effort or sincerity in Imran Khan’s approach to acting. Add to that his chocolate boy looks. But over generations I guess the expressions reduce. Aamir does a brilliant job with 5 expressions. Imran has only one. Seriously Imran dear – I like you for your sincerity and the fact that u seem like a really clean guy which is not too common in the industry – but seriously you need to start acting… really well and really soon before the public sticks to liking you only for your looks and good behavior.

Delhi Belly is marks the 2nd movie of director Abhinay Deo who not too long ago released his first movie – Game. How lucky can one get I say. 2 movies in 3 months of each other!!! That’s really lucky!!! And whats better – the first one was a directing disaster and my has Abhinay Deo made a turn around or what? Delhi Belly is compact, with very little nonsense and one with is cut really well. It is indeed shocking that Game was such a disaster on all counts. So I guess Abhinay dear has redeemed itself. Yes, Delhi Belly could have been finished a tad better than the final product. That Deo had the services of Kunaal Roy Kapur, Vir Das, Vijay Raaz and Poorna Jagannathan… let me catch me breath here……………….. and I was saying – Poorna Jagannathan who is probably the best face to hit Bollywood this year – just made his job a hell of a lot easier. Right from the first shot as Meneka, a visiting journalist who is assigned to Tashi Dorjee Lahtoo (Khan) to interview a bimbo singer, Poorna stamps her authority on screen. So yes, here is a hottie who can act as well. And yes people – she can kiss for sure. Probably the most comfortably that I have seen anyone on screen in a Bollywood movie. And yes… did I mention that she is HOT!!!! She is Tunisian – I mean how much more exotic can it really get. And another warning – DO NOT LOOK INTO THOSE EYES!!! They will captivate you and cast a spell out of which there will be no getting out – period!!! And for the first time since I started using a desktop I have on my wall paper an actress who starred in a Bollywood movie – I am officially in love *sheepish smile*

I liked Delhi Belly. It is fast, pacy, funny in parts, outrageously slapstick in parts, “bimbo”ish in parts (read Shenaz Treasurywala and Anusha Dandekar), young, energetic, brave, short and to the point. The music from Ram Sampath is excellent and the fact that is used as a background score makes it even better. Watch it for sure. U will not regret it and if you do get bored then keep looking out for Poorna coz she is never too far away from any scene. *sigh* 7 on 10 folks – 25 on 10 for Poorna for sure *sighs again*

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcKn9BxTg1A

Game

A seemingly successful actor – and I wonder how you can give this role to Jimmy Shergill – Vikram Kapoor kills a random girl in a pathetic display of drunken driving somewhere in Mumbai on the 22nd August 2007. A despicable looking politician is fighting elections in Thailand – uh? Thailand of all places – and he goes by the name of O P Ramsay (Bomman Irani). And then there is the so called Crime Reporter – how exotic – Tisha Khanna (Shahana Goswami) who has been completely distraught since her mother’s death. She is completely in denial but finds herself Driving Under the Influence way too often for the comfort of the London Police. Even more surprisingly, the London Police seem to be very kind to her and keep letting her go for some weird reason. By the way, is this just me or does everyone suddenly believe that there is too much drunk driving happening around in this movie – hmmm – whatever. Rounding off the quartet is the young Indian owner of a discotheque in Istanbul which is seemingly a front for the drug mafia. He goes by the name of Niel Menon (Abhishekh Bachchan) – good lord now there are mallus in Istanbul also??? No offence meant to my friends from across my state border – even I am almost mallu btw :P. Well this Menon finds himself owing $20 million to the Columbian Drug Mafia – now where did the Columbians come into play here. Anyways, he is an expert in self defence and he manages to get himself out of the attempt on his life using techniques which can be seen in any Steven Seagal Movie and can be comfortably achieved using some slick camera work as well.


And where exactly is this display how far the Indian’s have reached across the world actually headed to? It is moving towards the exotic island of Samos in Greece where yet another Indian worth $16 billion – and yes this time is the B word and not the M word – who goes by the name of Kabir Malhotra (Anupam Kher) has just been given confirmation by his “Executive Assistant” Samara Shroff (Gauhar Khan) that the four would be landing into Athens soon. Very soon. A very pensive Kabir Malhotra declares – Let the Game Begin – And suddenly you are wondering if you are @ the Olympics. What with several Greek references in the first few minutes.

Well, Game then follows the route of any standard Bollywood attempt for a crime caper or a murder mystery. Extremely predictable for the just above average movie goer and quite long drawn as well. With both direction and acting seemingly absent from the movie, you start wondering what is keeping you stuck to your seat and then maybe your rational side tells you it is the 200 bucks that you paid for the tickets and the hope that it will actually not land up meeting your predictions and just about surprise you. But that’s not going to happen I assure you. The acting, in fact, gets worse with the movement of Kangana Ranaut – Senior Officer of the International Vigilance Services – walks in and starts off with her severe emphasis on syllables. I wonder if there is a term for people who speak in the manner that she does. Sarah Jane Dias doesn’t have any respectable amount of screen time. If anything saves the movie it would be the natural performances of Boman Irani and Anupam Kher who people expect to deliver at these levels anyways. Nothing worth mentioning per se in the movie. I give it a 4 on 10. Definitely missable. You could catch it on cable or on DVD when it gets out and save some money.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2743639321/