Mahabharat (Animation) (2013) (Hindi)

The trailer starts with the predictable, “Yada Yada hi Dharmasya….” (for translation, visit - http://www.asitis.com/4/7.html).  That and the really bad quality of animation visible on the trailers prepared me for pretty much the worst.  The fact ironically remains that India will be the largest exporter of animation in the world (citation needed) but will not spend money in making a quality animation movie.

Shootout at Wadala

Manohar Arjun Surve (John Abraham) scored 78% in his graduation exams in 1970.  At that point in time, it would have been stunning and would have put him at the top of his class.  But the Mumbai police had slightly different plans for the body builder from Dadar thanks to his involvement in a murder that his brother committed.

Race 2

All of you would know what to expect when you walk into a movie that has the tag of the Burmawalas associated with it.  One can expect a lot of colour.  By colour I mean every perceivable shade of every perceivable colour would be splashed all across the screen in primarily in the form of the outfits that some gorgeous specimens of humanity would be seen wearing.  In Race 2, the colour extends itself to the houses, the parties, the aircrafts, the scenery, the ruins and of course – the parachutes.

Tezz

Akash Rana (Ajay Devgn) is has just completed his engineering and wants to start a business of his own. He is in love with Nikita (Kangana Ranaut) who is a British Citizen. Much against her father’s wishes, she marries him. Akash becomes successful to the point of teasing his father in law with a new Mini Cooper that he purchases within no time. The father in law of course drives a Bentley and looks the other way.

All is hunky dory to the extent that Akash even helps out a couple of people. Firstly, he saves Megha (Sameera Reddy) from the hands of the police who are about to deport her. He also helps Adil (Zayed Khan) with a job at his engineering firm. Now the tricky part is that all of the above is illegal. Hilarious isn’t it? The Brits are trying to get illegal immigrants out of the country and our people have started a mini racket of sorts.

Akash of course gets caught and deported. The other 2 escape. Everything that Akash had saved up for is over. Now he seeks revenge. Revenge against the people who were basically doing their job right? But no, Akash believes in the concept of a world without borders and wants the Brits to suffer – Kyonki aaj izzat milti nahin hai. Chheen ni padti hai (You don’t get respect these days. You have to snatch it). Therefore, he decides to leave a bomb on Train no. 121 from London to Glasgow. That’s when the ride begins.

Now the basic premise of the movie is really ridiculous but then there are crazy people across the world who believe that they should be allowed to work in other countries without proper permits. That kept aside, Tezz has some really good work from Priyadarshan for a change. All chase sequences are really well shot. The outstanding one being where Megha is being chased by half the cops of Great Britain.

There are also sequences of Zayed Khan’s body double (quite obviously) providing a fantastic exhibition of Parkour or free running as they call it. The funny part is Anil Kapoor being able to emulate them at the same pace. So on one hand, the finishing is much better than most of the movies seen of late but on the other, you have too many inconsistencies. I guess, one can never get a perfect Hindi movie that needs effects.

Decent performances from most of the cast including the otherwise insipid Ranaut – except one scene where she is totally over the top about communicating her pregnancy to Akash. The only person who forever surprises me with his capability of getting movies is Zayed Khan. No acting classes can help this person. Not even Vishal Bharadwaj with all due respect to VB. Mohanlal and Boman Irani are outstanding in their respective roles.

If you have seen Taking of Pelham 123 and Unstoppable and Speed and any other runaway train movies then there is nothing new in Tezz. If not, you could actually enjoy it. 5 on 10. Worth a dekko for certain. You will not leave disappointed.

Valid point also to be noted – and we need to give credit where it is due – Tezz is shot predominantly in English and dubbed in Hindi later for Indian audiences. I would love to see the English version sometime. It would actually take up the movie a notch I am guessing.

Trailer on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1057359641/

Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol

Maybe what they say about sequels is true. With the exception of the likes of Godfather in the genre of serious cinema and Police Academy in the comedy space, I cannot think of too many franchises which have really made the cut with the sequels coming upto the same level as the first part. I am a huge fan of Star Wars and Indiana Jones as well. Quite a few in the animation genre - Toy Story, Cars, Shrek & Kung Fu Panda to name some. And what makes or breaks a successful franchise would be the bane of public expectation. Much like a hugely successful athlete, movie makers need to find that magic potion which will raise the bar every time that they put something out there.
So you would understand my apprehensions when I walked into watch Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol last night. Only this time, I was really hoping against hope that the strike team of IMF which caught the fancy of several people across the globe nearly 5 decades ago would come up with an entertaining and acceptable performance. Disappointingly and sadly, but not surprisingly, my expectations were belied - once again. The first edition of MI in 1996 was excellent simply because it was made in a manner well ahead of its time. The use of effects was stunning and to see a team of people do what almost everyone would perceive as Impossible was just the adrenaline rush that we were waiting for.

Most importantly, what they saw was bordering on the unbelievable but the operative word here is bordering. All of us wanted to be Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise). But since then it has been downhill. Is it because of a change of directors? Moving from the inimitable Brian De Palma to one of the best action directors of our time John Woo to the little known JJ Abrams and now finally to the lesser known Brad Bird (Ratatouile & The Incredibles) seems to have done no good to the team from IMF. Tom Cruise’s acting skills have never been brilliant but what does stand out is his supreme ability to look drool worthy to the opposite sex at the age of 50!!!!! What is clearly missing is the emphasis on the villain. Jim Phelphs (Jon Voight) made way for Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) and then Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman). But in this one the villain seems to be more of a ghost (as the name of the movie would suggest). I guess much like James Bond, Ethan Hunt would be nothing without his villainous adversaries who give him the impossible opportunities.

A weak story line, several consistency errors, poor special effects, really bad sets (if you claim to be shooting in India at least make it real folks. Don’t make it obvious that you used sets) and poor screenplay dot the weakest of the 4 parts. At this rate it would not take long to make difficult seem impossible and not the other way round as is the case with the IMF. Even with Anil Kapoor’s 3 minutes and 32.83 seconds, 5 on 10 is the max I can give. I guess Don 2 will be better. Do something guys otherwise this franchise will self destruct in 5…4…Aaah you know what I mean.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2866585113/

Tees Maar Khan

I have always been a Farah Khan fan.  I loved Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om.  The latter in fact is still one of my all time favourites – strictly from a perspective of providing wholesome entertainment. What I like about Farah is that she doesn’t make any bones about each one of her movies being “different”. She is quite cut and dry. So, when Tees Maar Khan was announced a while back, I was quite excited despite the controversy that surrounded it.  Most pundits challenged the mother of triplets when she decided to go ahead with Akshay instead of Shah Rukh as the lead for her latest venture.  In hind sight, which is a virtue all of us have, Shah Rukh probably could not have pulled of the role.  It demanded someone with a better sense of comic timing and therefore clearly cut out for someone like Akshay Kumar.  However, Mrs. Kunder would now have realized the importance of a good luck charm. TMK flatters to deceive.  A disappointment spread over a little more than 2 hours.

Tabrez Mirza a.k.a. Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar) started very early in his life as a con artiste.  His mother (Apara Mehta) would watch age old Chor Police (Cops and Robbers) movies that would invariably have the Chor (Robber) in the lead role.  In a manner of speaking, Tabrez was – Well Inducted.  And he starts off by pinching the docs watch and nurse’s chain as soon as he pops out. And no points for guessing that he eventually grows up to reach the “Most Wanted” list not only @ home but also by large organizations such as the Interpol. He has been caught 11 times to date and has escaped 24 times – don’t ask me how the math works here – and before the end of the movie also manages to escape two more times. As he proudly proclaims, “Tawaif ki Lut ti hui izzat ko bachana aur TMK ko Qaid karna – dono hi bekaar hai” (It’s a waste of time to save a harlot’s honour or to imprison TMK).

The world famous Johri Brothers (Raghu Ram) are a pair of identical conjoint twins who are leaders in their own field of work – Smuggling of Antiques.  They have just been relieved of 10000 kgs of Antiques worth Rs.500 crores (Rs.5 billion / $110 million).  The cops have not been able to capture them and are therefore convinced that they would attempt to get back what they believe is rightfully theirs. However, there are only 3 people in the world who can pull of a stunt of stealing that amount of valuables from a moving train.  2 of them are safely behind bars.  The third is obviously our hero.

Farah Khan tries to stick to what she is good at.  A movie that is primarily a comedy peppered with action sequences that are sufficient to keep people excited.  However, this time she kind of comes a cropper post the declaration of, “Is mission mein hum kamyaab honge ya nahin dekhenge after Intermission” (We will see if we are going to succeed in our mission after the Intermission).  Kind of corny and seems forced.  Things build up quite well in the first half and then somewhere the movie loses steam and becomes kind of repetitive.  Maybe it was time for her to actually do something “different”. Just when one thinks that Akshay Kumar is making a comeback he peters of like a deflated balloon back to where he has been over the past 2 years. Forced effort and complete lack of comic timing.  Much better in parts but overall no improvement whatsoever.  TMKs sidekicks are played by Vijay Maurya, Dharampal and Ashish Asgar who seem to have better comic timing that AK. 

And they definitely have much more screen presence than Katrina Kaif who is totally stunning furniture with barely any role to write home about. The only saving grace for her is the absolutely amazing, “Sheela Ki Jawani” (Sheila’s Killer Youth as the subtitles in the Aussie version proclaimed – I definitely have an opportunity to be a subtitler coz they were absolutely atrocious in parts and extremely funny).  The music is very good – a combination of songs by Vishal Shekhar and background by the husband Kunder.  The choreography is also extremely well done.  Full points for Farah Khan there for making Kats dance like the way she has.  Someone finally taught her some serious jhatkas!!! Overall, a decent entertainer for the family on Christmas weekend.  But don’t go with too much of hope.  I give it 4 on 10 in the festive spirit and my liking for Farah Khan as a director.  Watch at own risk.