Dilwale (Hindi) (2015)

Ever get a feeling that you tried to do something differently but could not change who you stand for and ultimately landed up making a big hash of everything? If the answer is yes, then Rohit Shetty’s Dilwale will give you that sense of déjà vu.  It would have definitely given Shetty that feeling.

Chennai Express

Someday, I am going to give up wondering about the reasons for audiences laughing at attempted humour on screen when actually, the joke is on them.  I am only tempted even more to make it a subject of my thesis (whenever I get to it).  I was not just flummoxed but downright exasperated to see the reaction in the hall to Chennai Express. I hope the audience realizes someday that quality cinema is their right.

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

Singham

Now here is a case of a movie being as good (or should I say as bad) as a trailer. Such a welcome relief for the avid movie watcher like me which cuts the crap and the red tape and shows what the entire movie is about in just the trailer. I wish there were more such movies which are made. The viewer would know exactly what is in store for her / him. A brilliant way to ensure that expectations match the final result and therefore the viewer doesn’t really leave the hall feeling cheated in anyways. Come on guys – what more can a movie maker do? He can put his heart and soul into making the movie and then ensure that the movie is marketed enough with the right trailer being shown in the right place. Now if you expect the makers of the movie to say, “Pretty much what you want to see in the movie is in the trailer” as a scroller on the trailer then I think you are expecting a bit too much folks. Why would they shoot themselves in the foot? Use what the person up above as give you that is between your ears sometimes and make up your mind. If u still believe that you aren’t satisfied and your curiosity gets the better of you then go right ahead and spend your hard earned money in whichever way you want.

Singham is anything but an original movie. It was supposed to be a remake of the Tamil Version starring Surya. Now here again I think it was my fault that I expected Rohit Shetty to actually give us something that was at least a bit different. Now why should someone go through the effort when you have someone else’s experience to learn from. And Rohit does exactly that. Smart work in a way. Just some confusion between whether he wanted to make the movie in Hindi or Marathi or Tullu (People in Goa speak Konkani right?). But if the audiences are loving it then why not I say. Rohit sticks to what he knows best – dramatization and cheap humour.

Singham is peppered with corny one liners – quite a few of them are in really bad taste. Stuff like “India mein sirf 1400 sher bachein hain (only 1400 tigers left in India)” OR “Cockroach ko marne ke liye Baygon nahin milta hai to Paragon bhi chalega” or snide references to the Brrrrrr commercial of Coca Cola – all of this come together to give something that the audiences seem to like. A lot at that. People could not stop laughing. One of these days, I am going to slide down the abyss of understanding and appreciating cheap humour. God save me from that day!!!!

Acting is not something you could expect from a Rohit Shetty movie but one person who stands out would be Ashok Samarth (remember Inspector Malvankar from ek Chaalis Ki Last Local) who in his role of Shiva Naik does a solid job. The rest of the cast is quite insipid. Kajal Agarwal debuts as the heroine whose primary role seems to be carrying Bajirao Singham’s belt, gun and uniform. Ajay Devgn tries very hard to do a Rajnikanth but Rajni Saar is Rajni Saar. Ajay doesn’t come even close to Surya who did the Tamil version so Rajni Saar is currently on a different planet as far as Ajay is concerned. Sachin Khedekar does his image no good and neither does Anant Jog or for that matter Govind Namdeo. All good actors in their own right who have taken themselves down to really low levels. Rohit must have paid them a lot.

In a nutshell, save yourself the pains of going to the movie halls. Singham is playing on you tube. The link for trailer is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mp-XqCrCi6I. And while you are at it, watch the Tamil Trailer as well and judge for yourself if there are any similarities http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9pMoHK8XZg&feature=fvsr. I thought it was a superb cut / copy paste job. If you still gather the courage to go to the screen, please don’t miss the beginning and Ajay Devgn’s Singham Claw dance and his effort to speak Marathi *yawn*. 3 on 10 for this one purely for some good action.

Golmaal 3

My expectations from G3 were not too high. Especially after the debacle called Action Replayy which I was subjected to last evening. I guess news of Action Replayy had spread like the wildest of fires. And when I was making my bookings for the 9:30 am show of Golmaal 3 this morning, I had a fabulous choice of 3 seats in the entire theatre. Yes my friends, the morning show of Golmaal 3 was sold out. Rohit Shetty will be definitely receiving a huge thank you note from the officials and staff of PVR Mulund. They have finally received a full house to manage!!!


The gang is back. But like the previous time, this is a different story altogether. The cast remains identical with some minor changes in roles and a couple of new introductions. Pritam (Mithun Chakroborthy) stays in Goa with his 3 fully grown brats Madhav (Arshad Warsi), Lucky (Tusshar Kapoor) and Laxman (Kunal Khemu). Pritam used to run an orphanage and these 3 were the left overs (for lack of any other word) in a manner of speaking. They have since then grown up to being hard core nincompoops. They keep borrowing money for their adventurous projects and now owe half the world a lot of money. They are of late backed by Puppy Bhai (Johnny Lever) who is the local goon suffering from short term memory loss. His 2 cronies Daga (Sanjay Mishra) and Teja (Vrajesh Hirjee) are right out of a Bollywood movie from the 60s / 70s (wonder why that trend seems to be in this Diwali).

On the other side are Gopal (Ajay Devgn), Daboo (Kareena Kapoor) and another Laxman (Shreyas Talpade) who stay with their mother Geeta (Ratna Pathak Shah) in another suburb of Goa. They are mirror images of our earlier trio with the exception that their backing is from Vasooli Bhai (Mukesh Tiwari). Both these troikas are at logger heads with each other coz they come up with the same business plan every single time. Be it water scooters or fireworks. Adding to the complication is Puppy Bhai who is also an ace thief and has stolen the Maharani’s necklace and hidden it in a suitcase which belongs to Pritam. And thanks to his short term memory loss, he cannot remember where he has kept it. And if u thought the complication was too much – we also have a love story – not between Gopal and Daboo. That would be too predictable. It is between our lead pair – Pritam & Geeta – a very old love story that is dying to achieve completion. Thanks to the assistance of Daboo it starts seeing some hope.

Golmaal 3 continues with the slapstick humour that G1 and G2 left us with. I personally thought G1 was good and G2 took slapstick to a whole new low. But G3 seems to have taken it back. The first half is very entertaining to say the least. With quite good humour. Keeps u entertained all the way. But the 2nd half is much slower and starts deteriorating in quality of humour but somehow manages to see it through to the end with the least of hiccups. Don’t watch G3 with an expectation of super quality of movie making or quality humour. Watch it if you are a Golmaal fan or a fan of the erstwhile superstar of our time – Govinda. Despite the lack of direction (as always) and acting skils (again as always – with the exception of Arshad Warsi), G3 is a good mishmash of slapstick and decent humour. Some of the one liners include “Jahaan Harsha hai wahaan Bhogle hai, jahan Asha hai wahaan Bhonsale hai” and “Wife Dil hai toh Husband Dhadkan hai, Wife diya hai toh husband Diwali hai, wife zabaan hai to husband gaali hai” and the worst of the lot, “Tu insaan nahin farishta hai – café barista hai”!!!! – Harish Bubna & Amit Tandon you will totally love this movie I guarantee it. For the rest of the lot I cannot give any guarantees but I loved it. 5 on 10 for this one.