Ishaqzaade

If there was ever a movie which could have been a great launch pad for 2 newbies in show business, it would have been Ishaqzaade. Writer Director Habib Faisal has given the proverbial lion’s share of the script and screen time to the lead pair in this story line which can be best described as Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak meets the true story of Bonnie and Clyde. Both the protagonists cannot remotely complain about not being given a chance to show what they are capable of or for that matter not capable of.

Habib Faisal is the director of what I called out as one of the top 5 movies from last year – Do Dooni Chaar. Not only did he leave a solid impression with his direction but also with his writing skills. One would have expected him to take his film making to the next level with Ishaqzaade and I would guess that he has given it his best. But this time around, one doesn’t leave the hall with a feeling of 100% satisfaction. I cannot really point out any flaws in the direction or writing per se. I can only say that it probably didn’t come together as well as DDC did last year. Nothing to be disappointed per say Habib Sir. No question about your skills out here.

The Chauhans and the Qureshis are the leading political rivals of a small town in UP called Almor. The youngest son of the Chauhan clan is your atypical village MLA’s son who believes that he owns the town simply because his family is a powerful one. He goes by the name of Parma (Arjun Kapoor) and as per his mother has actually taken the family name to a new level of disgrace. He is however not highly regarded by most of the family and chiefly his grandfather, Suraj Chauhan (Anil Rastogi).

The Qureshis on the other hand are the residing MLAs which just one concern – their firecracker daughter Zoya (Parineeti Chopra). She harbours hopes of being an MLA one day and is always @ loggerheads with Parma in college. One such violent encounter gets Parma to fall head over heels with Zoya. He is floored by her fearless approach to life in general. And over time Zoya begins to reciprocate. But the two are flirting with a possibility of a failed relationship. When was the last time a Hindu Muslim romance succeed in UP?

With music from Amit Trivedi which is probably below par, Ishaqzaade’s best performance actually comes from the support cast. Gauhar Khan in her role of the local village dance girl with precisely 10 minutes of screen time actually steals the show. I have always wondered why she doesn’t get more meaty roles. Even the aged Anil Rastogi was exceptional in his role as the Sr. Chauhan. I for one thought Arjun Kapoor was not remotely bad as the world seems to be saying. He did reasonably well to make the cut and can make it to better roles. People may not like his face though. Cannot classify his permanent scowl as good looking by a country mile.

People are raving about Parineeti Chopra but I think she has loads of confidence which typically gets confused with great acting talent. Give her time. The true talent will come to the fore if there is any. For now, she has had one role of an atypical Dilli girl in Ricky Bahl and this one. Not enough to make up ones mind regarding acting talent. Definitely strong and I am taking nothing away from her at all.

Ishaqzaade is not a bad movie at all like people are making it out to be. It is definitely worth a dekko. It has a lot of intensity. Could have been chopped at a few places. Also is predictable in a lot of places. But what it lacks in cuts, it makes up with intensity in all aspects. As I mentioned earlier, I thought Habib Faisal could have done a tad better than the 6 on 10 I am going to give it.

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bg1mnWqUu_I

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/