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".

Bol Bachchan

Like I said earlier in the day. I do not mind Rohit Shetty movies at all. But sometimes they do get to your nerves. And quite a bit. With no offence meant to the monotony or the predictable quality – one such comparison would be Def Leppard. No two Def Leppard songs are too different from the other. Similarly no two Rohit Shetty movies – whether it the totally slapstick Golmaal series or the Bajirao “Atha maajhi satakli re” Singham – can be too different. No offence meant to either Rohit Shetty or Def Leppard fans out there :p.

The difference being, Def Leppard can be heard out for quite some time. After a while of Rohit Shetty, one is compelled to switch channels or even consider moving out of the theatre. Not because it is a badly made movie but simply put because – if you have seen it once, you have seen it all. So essentially, Bol Bachchan is yet another cut copy paste of all his previous ventures with a vastly different star cast.

Shetty of course continues with his tried and trusted Ajay Devgn but adds in the angle of good “friend” Abhishekh Bachchan who seems to have signed up for a limited 2 movies per year – good for him. I can see it only going down to one per year. AB Jr. – I like you. And I mean it. But get out of the shadow of Yuva. You will not be able to repeat such a performance. Live with it and go out there and just be natural. It will help.

Prithviraj Raghuvanshi (Devgn) is the be all and do all in a village called Ranakpur in Rajasthan. He is widely respected and feared. Respected for his sense of justice and huge heart. Feared for his affinity for the English Language. So “Chhati ka doodh yaad dila doonga” translates to “I will make you remember Milk number 6”. You get the drift right.

Shastri (Asrani) is one of his “subjects” so to say who is a close family friend of Abbas (AB Jr.) and Sania (Asin) from Delhi. Abbas and Sania lose a property dispute case against their paternal uncle. With nothing to lose they come to Ranakpur on Shastri’s insistence. When Abbas breaks into a disputed temple to save a drowning child, Prithvi is impressed and gives him an accountants job that pays 35K per month. But to ensure no major communal issues, Ravi (Shastri’s son) introduces Abbas as Abhishek Bachchan. The comedy of errors ensues.

Rohit Shetty has not made any bones at all about the obvious inspiration he has drawn from Golmaal. If there was one person who is deeply influenced by the 1979 comedy it would be Shetty. The entire story of Bol Bachchan moves into a double role for Jr. B – one with a moustache and the other without. Need I say more? Go back to paragraph 2 of this review if you have forgotten what I have written earlier.

Watch it if you have nothing better to do – 6 weeks from now when it airs on TV or Tata Sky Showcase. You may like a bit of the slapstick humour that Shetty is famous – or should I say infamous for. 4 on 10 despite a warm welcome to one of my all time favourites on screen – Archana Puran Sing. Good to see her back with a performance typical of her.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pn7I0Ajp0xc

Players

When the director duo – as they so proudly proclaim in the titling of the movie – Abbas Mustan come together, then you can expect some really mindless action coming your way for certain. But in the past few movies, they have shown that they can execute the mindlessness with some class and finesse for sure. Race for instance, had a twist within a twist within a twist and pretty soon you were twistier than the Dominoes Twisty Garlic Bread. But much like the Dominoes Twisty Garlic Bread, you went out of the theatre feeling quite good about the manner in which you spent your past 2.5 hours. It would have felt quite similar when you saw, 36 China Town as well. One would have walked out saying – not bad yaar. Decent. Theekh hai. But I think the run of average luck that these two had over the past few years has finally run out on them in a manner of speaking.
And mind you, I am not complaining about the corny dialogues in the movie. Say when the hottest chick in the movie who goes by the name of Shyla or something, in a skimpy swimsuit throws herself @ Charlie Mascarenhas (Abhishekh Bachchan) who keeps his interest limited to a book that she was supposed to deliver. Shyla goes, “Yahaan poori library padi hui hai aur yeh ek book ke peechhe pada hai” (Theres a complete library available for the taking and the moron is interested only in one book). Such corny dialogues are definitely expected in an Abbas Mustan movie. And I am not talking about how there is a disco in St. Petersburg or Moscow or wherever called “House of Rasputin”… er…Abbas Mustan… maaf hai. And I am not talking about the aspect of a random Indian babe (to the Russians I mean. To us she is known as Bipasha Basu OR of late – a random Indian babe) walks in to con a Lt. General of the Russian Army and waltzes in without any security issues and also manages to sing a raunchy Hindi number along the way. Or that 4 Indians almost drown in the frigid waters of Russia and land up comfortably sitting on the ice with little or no fear of hypothermia. All that is completely acceptable and expected of Abbas Mustan.

But what is not acceptable is the really bad finishing. For once, the action sequences seem badly executed. From the first scene of Jr. B stealing a diamond necklace to the really badly finished gold heist sequence from the newer Italian Job (which starred Mark Wahlberg), there was nothing which had the true Abbas Mustan Stamp on it. For a change – and a bad change at that – the pair has given too much emphasis on the insignificant stuff such as the complicated search for Spider which pans all continents with the exception of Antarctica. There are some random charitable reasons such as an orphanage in Shimla or a paraplegic daughter of one of the “Players” – Ronnie (Bobby Deol). Yaar Abbas Bhai – Mustan Bhai – what is this yaar. Non stop action with no sense is your forte. What is this social messaging etc. doing in your mlovie. Players seemed a little to arty for your taste.

And yes, the next time anyone casts Sonam Kapoor, please don’t give her leopard skin leotards and make up that attempts to make her look like Lisbeth Salander (Girl with the dragon tattoo) – she never could, isn’t and cannot come anywhere close. Also, acting school desperately required. Papa is going places but kiddo is going to stay rooted here if there are no drastic changes.

A best possible score of 3 on 10 for this really bad copy of the Italian Job (2003). Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgPQ7_xsm3o

Dum Maro Dum

That Abhishek Bachchan will live in the shadow of Yuva for the rest of his life and continue to try and benchmark himself to that level is a foregone conculsion in any of his movies. But to his credit this time around, he does give you some glimpses of the intensity that he showed in his best performance to date. Hope Floats for all your fans of the Jr. B (count me out of that list for the time being). After Game I thought it was all over folks. It was definitely time to get the fat lady in.

What makes his performance look better than what it actually is the sheer presence of John Abraham’s ex who has this innate capability of making anyone look better on screen. If there was a plastic meter for performances on screen then Bipasha Basu would have scored 12 on 10. And then you also wonder what Rohan Sippy was thinking when he cast Aditya Panscholi. Definitely a case of the ex Mr. Zareena Wahab (whats with these exes?) having put in money into the production.

And then there is rest of the cast led by Tollywood hero Rana Daggubatti who manages to hold his own in his Bollywood debut. Pratiek (without the Babbar) is sincere, but as always seems to have tried really hard to make things look as real has he possibly can. The saving grace in the acting department is however the natural, ice cold performance from Govind Namdeo who comes out on tops once again.

Dum Maro Dum revolves around the elusive Michael Barbossa aka Vincent Vega aka Colin Coutinhon aka Tobby Follet who is the savior of the drug mafia in Goa. Whenever the narcotics business in Goa starts to take a beating, Barbossa or one of his avatars comes in to save business which is primarily led by Lorsa Biscuita (Aditya Panscholi). But Barbossa’s days are about to be numbered when the Home Minster Ponda (Bugs Bharagava) calls on ex-cop ACP Vishnu Kamat (Jr. B) to clean up the state. In his previous assignments related to narcotics, ACP Kamat was notorious for maximizing his personal wealth. But he loses it when his family dies in a car crash. Poetic justice because the drivers of the other car were high on drugs. He picks his own team – Rane (Govind Namdeo) and Mercy (Gulshan Devaiya) to help him. His first breakthrough happens when he manages to foil Lawrence Eduardo Gomes aka Lorry (Pratiek) who is forced to become a carrier to pay his fees for a US University. All poor Lorry wanted to do was to be with his girl, Tani (Anaitha Nair) who gets through to the same uni with a 100% scholarship. Lorry’s close friend Joaquim aka DJ Joki (Rana) tries to convince him to come clean and even manages to strike a deal with ACP Kamath but Lorry chickens out and Joki’s only chance to get back @ Biscuita goes abegging. You see Biscuita has stolen Joki’s girl i.e. Zoe (Bipasha Basu) in the same manner as Lorry manages to get himself into jail. All these characters try to solve the big mystery – Who is Barbossa???

Poorly written dialogues are the bane of DMD which could have been a much better movie than it turned out. Lines such as “Moscow ke DJ tyaon tyaon aur pussycats meow meow. Live FTV no censor” and “Barbossa ka pata chahiye. Baaki sab ke liye google hai” and “MC ya BC? Middle Class ya Business Class”. I mean what was Rohan Sippy thinking? He didn’t have Rajanikant to carry these lines off right? Pritam’s music continues to be heavily and now obviously “inspired” and inspid. Rohan Sippy still tries his best to keep the movie racy enough for you not to get bored. Would have expected better coz this one doesn’t come upto the previous mark he set with Bluff Master. The random use of Konkani words fall flat. As a good friend says, “That’s the magic of it all. You aren’t Goan till you are Goin man”. Overall a below average effort. 4 on 10 is my final verdict. Was tempted to give it a point more but nah. Not happening.

Watch the trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2560597273/

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/

KHELEIN HUM JEE JAAN SEY

Very little or nothing has been written or made about some of the smaller instances of the Indian Freedom struggle. Surely it would not have been possible without the small but significant and heart rendering contributions from the unknown citizens of this country. Who spent their blood, tears, toil and sweat to give us a freedom that we probably don’t value as much – or at least that’s what most of the people in the movie hall, watching Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey (KHJJS) felt – coz they found a lot of the stuff in the movie quite funny to say the least. I wonder why. Considering that the movie, as most of you would be aware of by now, is about the armed resistance in Chittagong (or Chattagram / Chottogram) between 1930-34. One of the several small but extremely concentrated efforts by the average Indian.


They year is 1930. Surjya Sen (Abhishekh Bachchan) is a school teacher in Chottogram (now known as Chittagong – Bangladesh). He is approached by a whole bunch of teenagers thanks to being famous as a freedom fighter. Their playground has been taken away from them by the British Army and they now have nowhere else to play football. Exasperated, they approach Surjya to help out. Surjya has over the years since the loss of his wife rallied a few people who are committed to the struggle for freedom. Nirmal Sen (Sikander Kher), Ananta Singh (Maninder Singh), Ambika Chakroborthy (Shreyas Pandit), Ganesh Ghosh (Samrat Mukherjee), Tarakeshwar & Lokenath Bal (Feroze Wahid Khan). They are a small bunch of people but willing to rally around Surjya, to start a movement which they hope will be the spark the nation has been waiting for – like most other freedom fighters of their time surely.

Nirmal is also in a romantic relationship with Pritilata Wadedar (Vishakha Singh) and has just returned from spending a few nights in prison for good measure. Pritilata is close friends with Kalpana Dutta (Deepika Padukone). Both of them are quite taken in by the concept of the freedom struggle and are extremely keen to make a difference. Their request to join Surjya Sen’s movement is accepted, albeit reluctantly. Hot on their heels, a small incident leads the teenagers to also enlist themselves in the movement. Now this is a tricky situation for Surjya but he is convinced that the kids have the right fire in the belly to really make a difference. This, in fact pushes him to recruit a whole bunch of fresh teenagers also. Once the troops are ready they go about planning a small but very pivotal uprising in the freedom struggle. The idea is very simple actually. Hit the Brits where it hurts them the most – The Telegraph Office, The Nangalkote Railway Line, Police HQ, The Cantonment and European Club – All at the same time.

KHJJS is yet another attempt by Ashutosh Gowariker to regain the credibility that he had kind of lost with the masses after the debacles of Jodha Akbar and Whats your Rashee? But well – he doesn’t come too close honestly. I mean there is an improvement but nothing that really inspires a huge amount of confidence. This is a Gowarikar that comes nowhere in the thinking vicinity of the expertise that he showed with a movie like Swades which I believe is one of the best movies made in this decade. But the story is strong enough to strike a chord with the viewers. Anything that is about the freedom struggle should logically right. I was quite disappointed though to see some 8-10 people who walked out. I mean what do you expect from Gowarikar – as the recent joke goes – even if he were to make a movie on premature ejaculation it would go for 4 hours. This one finished in under 3. Have come to expect the pregnant pauses and stretch in his movies in an attempt probably to pay attention to detail but falls woefully short.

KHJJS was above my expectations. I expected a complete flop but turned out to be average. Nothing too great very honestly but just about makes the cut. Performances were decent all over. AB Junior is still in the shadow of Yuva and cannot come upto the level that he is capable of.  Deepika continues with her confidence on screen but is below par. Vishakha Singh seems to be an earnest actress. So does Sikander Kher. Most of the support cast comes out with a sincere performance. The teenagers actually stand out the most with their attempt – at times overshadowing the lead actors. The actor playing Subodh Rai stands out the most for my money’s worth. Pity I don’t know short hand and could not take down the names in the credits as they were running.

The sad part though is the complete lack towards consistency. Freedom fighters in crisp white shirts, random shots of Deepika @ yoga, hard bound books on the Russian and irish revolution which don’t seem like they are from 1930 at all, revolutionaries having canvas shoes etc. just don’t add up for a director of the class of Gowarikar. Guess there is not much of class there. Some poignant scenes and decent music round off KHJJS for me. Not terribly disappointing. Worth a dekko I guess. 5 on 10.

Raavan (Hindi) / Raavanan (Tamil)

GENRE - DRAMA
DIRECTION / SCREENPLAY - MANI RATNAM
PRODUCTION - MADRAS TALKIES
CAST - HINDI - ABHISHEKH BACHCHAN, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN, VIKRAM, GOVINDA, RAVI KISHEN
CAST - TAMIL - VIKRAM, AISHWARYA RAI BACHCHAN, KARTHIK, PRABHU
MUSIC - A R RAHMAN

I am increasingly beginning to believe that Abhishekh Bachchan has gone into a shell of fear. A Fear that he will not be able to recreate the magic that he created with Lallan. Lallan for my money's worth was probably no. 2 in the list of all time great villians in Indian cinema. AB Junior was on his 17th movie and had to probably prove a point that there is acting in his blood. The result was an awesome on screen performance that made one's blood boil whenever Lallan came on screen.
To AB Jr - Lallan was your moment of truth to date but the more u pitch yourself against that performance, the more you will fall short. Thats probably what went wrong with your performance in Raavan. Still believe that your best is yet to come. Hang in there.

Raavan starts with the controversial dive from the top of a cliff in one of the most scenic shots ever seen in Indian cinema. Pity that there was a controversy surrounding the same. Dont know who is to blame for the same but i do hope producers in Bollywood give credit where its due. Not happened in the past but i was hoping that things had changed. Guess they haven't. Would be glad if proven wrong.

For those who are yet unaware of what the entire concept is, Mani Ratnam has drawn wonderful parallels from the Ramayan in creating his latest offering. The Story revolves around Beera (or Veera in the Tamil version) who is a modern day Robin Hood in a manner of speaking working for the betterment of his community and believes in an eye for an eye. He is the most feared and respected person in the village. A series of unfortunate events leads to him masterminding a kidnapping of Ragini (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) who is the wife of Dev Pratap Sharma (Vikram) the new SP of the territory. The idea was to kill her in 14 hours (parallels drawn to 14 years from the Ramayan) but unfortunately Ragini turns out to be a spunky one who refuses to be killed by a vagabond and promptly jumps off the cliff. The rest of the movie revolves around how Beera develops an immense sense of respect / love or whatever one would like to call it and the 14 hours manages to extend to 14 days eventually.

The search for the abducted lass sees the entry of Sanjeevani (Govinda / Karthik) who has been a notorious forest gaurd for the past 28 years and knows the forest inside out. Parallels drawn here again to Hanuman. After 8 days of searching for Ragini and several killings, Sanjeevani tries to broker peace between Beera and SP Dev which unfortunately results in the killing of Beera's younger brother by SP Dev and the pre climax sequence between the SP and Beera on a suspension bridge over a deep ravine.

Eventually, Beera's love for Ragini overcomes his desire to seek revenge and he releases her no questions asked. SP Dev, however does not trust Ragini to be pure anymore and offends her on the train journey back home prompting her to leave him and go back to Beera to clear the air in a manner of speaking. Yet again a parallel to the Agni Pariksha if people are unaware of the Ramayana.

However, the character of Raavan (Beera) just does not come alive. AB Jr just cannot manage it. Vikram however does a good job of it in the Tamil Version

Coming to the scores
1. Start - 7 on 10
2. End - 7 on 10
3. Story - 8 on 10
4. Lead Actors
AB Jr. - 5 on 10 / vikram - 7 on 10 - shows why he is popular in the south.
Ash - no comment
5. Support Cast
Govinda - 7 on 10 / Kartik 7 on 10
Ravi Kishen - 6 on 10 / Prabhu - 7 on 10
No one else worth writing home about.
6. Screenplay / Dialogues - 6 on 10 nothing much in the Hindi version. 8 on 10 for the Tamil version. gets the concept very alive.
7. Cinematography - 9 on 10 - really really good. one of the saving graces of the movie
8. Editing - falls sorely short. several gaffes - for e.g. how in the blazes did Ash get changed into a freshly white salwar after getting saved. Surely SP Dev had the time and the inclination to pack one up for the wife when he releases her from the clutches of the evil rakshas :)))) - 3 on 10
9. Direction - Mani Sir tries his best but i guess this is as much one can achieve with the cast that he had. one of his lesser movies - 6 on 10
10. Music - Brilliant. one of Rahman's best. 9 on 10

GRAND TOTAL - 5 on 10 for Hindi / 6 on 10 for Tamil