Happy Ending

Saif Ali Khan is getting a tad predictable these days.  Over the past 4 years, he is trying to carve a niche for himself as the leading hero for Romantic Comedies. Not unfortunately but not excitingly either it doesn’t seem to be putting forth anything different for audiences.

Bajatey Raho

When you have Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak in a movie, you can be reasonably sure that the acting department has been taken care of.  You would be right this time around as well.  This duo has been entertaining us for over a decade and with Bajatey Raho they continue their good work.  To make things better we have some other great actors as well who make the journey even more easy.

Bombay Talkies

Last Friday (26^th April 2013), I was watching The Front Row with Anupama Chopra.  It was the 1^st anniversary edition and the one that previewed Bombay Talkies with its four directors.  During the show, Anurag Kashyap and Dibakar Banerjee were waxing eloquent about Karan Johar.

I M 24

One of the few saving graces in September was this off beat movie called I M 24. When you have a movie with a cast that includes the likes of Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Vijay Raaz and Lilette Dubey, it is a safe bet to spend a little bit of money on. This was part of the triple header that was planned for the 2nd September 2012 (not Finding Nemo – which was on the previous Sunday) and thankfully it turned out to be a decent watch. Else my death warrant was pretty much sealed.

Shubendu Roy (Rajat Kapoor) – and I kid you not when I say that I burst out laughing loud when I heard the name itself – is a thirty something writer who has come in from somewhere in the Indian hinterland to the city of dreams. He shares his lovely house in Ghatkopar with his childhood buddy Gagandeep Singh (Ranvir Shorey). Gagan is a struggling actor himself and uses his smooth talking skills to get odd jobs. Given a choice, Gagan would never speak the truth. Shubhendu is the magnetic opposite.

Gagan lands up a small time job with a leading producer, director of small time serials played by Saurabh Shukla. The only worry is that the house is notorious for not making payments. On the sets he meets Sheela (Neha Dhupia) a struggling actress. Using the same slick talk, Gagan starts wooing Sheela. In the meantime, Shubhendu bumps into Kanak (Manjari Fadnis) on a chat site. When Kanak asks Shubhendu his age our man replies – I AM 24.

I M 24 is a bitter sweet movie that may have several inconsistencies and probably doesn’t stay true to its central theme that is – BE HONEST. But the lies and inconsistencies Saurabh Shukla (as the director) throws at you are petty ones with a certain endearing quality to them. From the first shot, you know that it is a super low budget movie that will offer not too much in terms of quality of movie. But what it lacks in quality of execution, I M 24 more than makes up in terms of story.

And then there are the performances of the cast that I had called out earlier in this review. True to their reputation – Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Saurabh Shukla, Lilette Dubey and Vijay Raaz all deliver very strong performances. Neha Dhupia is slowly but surely getting some quality roles to keep hopes alive on people believing that there is an actor somewhere there. Overall, a pretty decent way to spend a Sunday evening. May have left the screens by now. But the DVD would be a safe pick. 5 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HVJtPfPAuE

Ek Tha Tiger

If there was a contest for the biggest fan following that an actor has in India, then it would undeniably come down to the 3 Khans. But if there was a contest for the most intense fan following that an actor has in India then it would have to undisputedly go to the most notorious Khan of all.

How else could you remotely explain a line of over a 100 people @ lined up outside one of the least attractive theatres in Goa? Well we are not talking about 100 people @ say noon. We are talking about 100+ people squashing themselves against a closed shutter @ 8 am. All for a 9:20 am show for which they may or may not get tickets. Incredible isn’t it????

That I was one of them and got back drenched in sweat after an hour of jostling and pushing and abusing the people around me was enough reason for me not to give up the 1:10 pm show for which I eventually got the tickets. I was not about to get out of THAT line without a ticket. And now all that was left was to keep my fingers crossed and hope that Ek Tha Tiger was remotely worth it.

And luckily for me, it turned out to be a pretty decent watch. After Salman’s continuous demotion i.e. ACP (Wanted), Inspector (Dabang) and Bodyguard I was half expecting it to be a watchman this time. But he got down to a level lower. A genre of people who no one has any clue about. A fascinating and yet very hush-hush profession. And debatably the lowest rung of the ladder in terms of appreciation for work done – a RAW Agent.

And this RAW Agent goes by the name of Tiger and has a boss called Shenoy (Girish Karnad). Tiger’s latest agenda is to track the workings of a Professor Kidwai (Roshan Sheth) who stays in Dublin. This is after a street fight in some village in Northern Iraq where he gets a few ISI Agents and a rogue RAW Agent killed. And like a RAW Agent would, he smartly befriends Zoya (Katrina) who helps the professor with some house work and is a choreographer by profession.

Ek Tha Tiger is actually a fairly well made espionage movie at the end of the day. Most of the stunts and chase sequences are logical. They may be quite James Bondish in execution and not something that the “evolved” Indian audience may look down upon. But I have said this for Agent Vinod and I think Ek Tha Tiger follows suit. Yes it tends to get too soppy in between but I guess the soppiness is in line with the story.

The music is decent from Sohail Sen & Sajid Wajid but I thought a couple of songs were not required and out of place – but this is Bollywood. Rameshwar S. Bhagat’s editing was quite decent. Director Kabir Khan gave us Kabul Express where he did a damn good job and a decent one with New York. Ek Tha Tiger gets him back level pegging with Kabul Express. Good show from the man.

Don’t look for acting talent. Be tolerant about the action sequences – you will enjoy the 2 chase sequences where Kat and Sallu Bhai (their body doubles of course) give some really good display of Parkour. I thought it wasn’t bad. I think Sallu Bhai comes on tops this time. Good way to say Eid Mubarak to all of us I guess. 6 on 10.

Watch the trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlorjdK8cI

Fatso

If one were to go by the posters of Fatso, one would probably imagine that you will be getting into a movie that’s probably a bit slapstick. But then you would look at the star cast which has in the past given us good comedy. The likes of Ranvir Shorey or Purab Kohli for example. Not that you could say the same about Gul Panag who has been going through a patch which can be described as desperate of late. And then there is the aspect of the movie being directed by Rajat Kapoor. The story rritten by Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla. One will not blame you for giving the movie a chance right?

Fatso comes a cropper in each one of these points (except that of Gul Panag). Firstly, it is heavily inspired from the Hollywood flick Down to Earth which features Chris Rock and was released in 2001. So much for the originality that Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla were to get to the table. So we have Navin (Purab Kohli) who has proposed marriage to Nandini (Gul Panag). In a freak accident that was supposed to claim his close friend Sudeep aka Fatso (Ranvir Shorey), he gets picked up by the minion instead.

He figures this out when the mistake comes to the fore at a government like office which is the transit point before you get complete freedom from life. The bureaucracy upstairs is not able to correct the mistake in time. So Navin now doesn’t have a body because it has been cremated already. In the interim, Navin finds out that his close friend Yash (Neil Bhoopalam) has the hots for Nandini and is going to gun for her now that Navin is – erm – out of the way. After much persuasion, the General Manager upstairs provides him the option of swapping places with Sudeep which Navin takes gleefully.

The one aspect about Fatso that sticks out like a sore thumb is that it adds to the complete and utter capitulation that Gul Panag has seen in her acting. Where is the person we saw in the likes of Dor and Manorama Six Feet Under? I am sure she has been taken away by some ghost. What remains is the palest of all pseudo shadows that you can think of. Purab Kohli is very good in the limited screen time that he gets and the rest of the cast is above average except one Gunjan Bakshi who desperately needs an class in acting.

The music by Sagar Desai cannot keep you glued onto the screen in any manner. The script / dialogues is not very inspiring again. It would suffice to say that whoever was responsible did a below average job. Rajat Kapoor seems to have made this movie in some kind of a hurry because he has not paid any attention to details at all. Just went ahead and closed the movie out before the required deadlines. 4 on 10 is the best I would give Fatso. Watch it at your own risk.

Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otKcvjhj6B4

Bheja Fry

Yet another advantage of visiting your friends abroad.  You get them DVDs that they have always wanted to have and more so with friends down under coz they don’t get most of our Desi Titles and even if they do, it is horrendously expensive.  The best part is that they have probably not watched an all out hilarious movie like Bheja Fry and a maniac like me was only looking for the next available excuse to watch it.  So on a not so warm evening around 8 kms away from a place called Margaret River in Western Australia, I seized the opportunity to watch one of India’s finest comedies to date with my close friends Shilpa and Parikshit. And for those who were wondering what I was doing watching desi movies on vacation – do come down to wine country and try to find some place open after 7. Would love to know J

Ranjit Thadani (Rajat Kapoor) is a successful music producer.  He is married to Sheetal (Sarika – and does she look gorgeous still – wonder why Kamal Hassan left her – the vagaries of the world I say).  Their marriage is going through troubled times.  Ranjit cares more about his work than what Sheetal does.  Sheetal is a reasonably successful singer in her own right and was actually seeing a music director, Anant Ghoshal (Milind Soman) when she met Ranjit, who promptly steals her under Anant’s nose.  Ranjit and his friends have a fetish.  A fetish to have fun at the expense of unsuspecting folk who think that they are searching for new talent (helped by the fact that they are in the music business). Every Friday, the gang meets up to “unearth” fresh talent.  Stuff like people a guy who genuinely believes he has talent because he can spit a really long distance – Ugh!!!  Whats worse is that the group actually believes that the entire process is a great stress buster for all of them.

It would be Ranjit’s turn the next Friday to introduce the next talent to the gang. And he is quickly running out of time.  But a close friend, Jagdish Varma (Ikhlaque Khan) bumps into a genuine “talent” on his way to Pune.  Someone who actually believes that he was born to do only one thing – sing.  Meet Bharat Bhushan (Vinay Pathak).  He is not only under the illusion of being a good singer, but also goes that extra mile to convince people that he really can sing.  He doesn’t waste a single opportunity to sing. And he is a leech to the core.  One doesn’t have much of a choice but to hear him out.  Complete chaos ensues when Bharat Bhushan enters the scene.  And very shortly, you would be holding on to your stomachs in pain – thanks to some amazing comedy that will come your way.

Bheja Fry is the kind of movie that comes every once in a while to reaffirm our faith in quality comedy.  Director Sagar Ballary is far from being a superb director considering the number of inconsistencies that existed in the movie and the editing that was definitely below standard.  But these gaffes are more than masked by the superb performances of everyone in the cast.  Everyone but for Milind Soman who for my money’s worth should realize by now that acting is not up his alley.  He should stick to modeling which he can continue with for the next 10 years plus – he still looks absolutely stunning and is a huge role model for us 30+ paunchy folks who have resigned to not looking smart and fit coz it is all too late.  People are going to remember the performances of Vinay Pathak and Ranvir Shorey for a long time to come.  And Bhairavi Goswami will be talked about till eternity for her classic dialogue as Suman Rao, “Ranjit, Jaane se pehle mujhe ek baat bata doh.  Yeh “Tharki” kya hota hai”? Complete Master Card moment I say!!!! Long Live Comedy.  7 on 10 for this one.