Most Satish
Kaushik movies are fraught with corny lines that make your cringe. Usually he is also in front of the camera to
delivery these liners in his typical poetic manner but this time around he
decides to stay behind. Let’s have a
look at some of these vignettes from Shri Kaushik’s latest release – Gang of
Ghosts.
Showing posts with label Sharman Joshi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sharman Joshi. Show all posts
Friday, 21 March 2014
Friday, 11 October 2013
War Chhod Na Yaar
How many times
have we wondered about the true story of the supposed skirmishes at the border
to the west. I'm sure most of us have thought about the political motivation
behind the news reports that we keep hearing. Quite certainly, we have also
thought of the involvement of entities other than our favourite neighbour in
the larger scheme of things. War Chhod
Na Yaar is a satire on all of these and a little bit more.
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Ferrari Ki Sawaari
It is a pity that the association of Parsis with the game of cricket has actually come down to levels where the only representation at an international level is through one umpire – Shahvir Tarapore. The last Parsi cricketer to play for India was our stylish wicket keeper batsman called Farookh Engineer. There were some illustrious names before that but of late there is not one person of Parsi origin who is even in a Ranji team. As I said – a pity because they get so much character to the field – any field that they get themselves into.
But Kayoze Rustom Deboo (Ritwik Sahore) hasn’t really heard of the big names in Parsi cricket. He has been bought up in the world of someone who most of India refers to as God and goes by the human name of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Kayo in fact has no idea about how famous his Mota Papa (grandfather) Behram Deboo (Boman Irani) was in his hey days. And how he was actually deprived of a chance to play for India thanks to the devious ways of one Dilip Dharmadhikari (Paresh Rawal) who was actually his best friend when they were growing up.
Now Kayo is a brilliant #3 and is rated by many as one of the best school players in the city. He gets a chance to visit the mecca of cricket (read Lords) but Rustom (Sharman Joshi), Kayo’s father, needs to cough up Rs.1.5 lacs ($3000 approx) to send him. Now they may be staying in South Bombay (like most parsees) but they are not rich (like most parsees). A normal honest clerk @ the local Road Transport Office cannot afford this kind of money. But when Babbo Didi (Seema Bhargava) asks him to help in borrowing God’s Ferrari for a couple of days, the temptation of making Rs.1.5 lacs is too difficult for Rustom to resist.
The bitter-sweet story that follows is extremely endearing – like most movies that involve Vidhu Vinod Chopra movies. But what makes Ferrari Ki Sawaari a really good watch is the cast and screenplay. Nothing over the top whatsoever. No fancy dialogues – just simple and really funny ones thrown in for good measure. And a tremendous amount of consistency. For e.g. when God’s Ferrari gets towed away, from Mount Mary, it comes to the Bandra Towing area under the bridge and not some random place.
The performances are superb and more importantly sincere. I tweeted last night and I say this again. Is there any actor who is more versatile than Boman Irani in India today? The most entertaining performances came actually from the support cast in pairs. Akash Dabhade & Deepak Shirke as the servant and guard @ God’s home are hilarious. Seema Bhargava, Vijay Nikam and Nilesh Divekar give us some more funny moments as the wedding planner and the wedding party.
All in all, a true family entertainer and a movie that you will walk out of, feeling very good. The only flaw – stretch, stretcher and strechest – at least 45 mins could have been cut from the movie to make it really crisp. Out of the 45 minutes would be 5 minutes of an absolutely wasted view of Vidya Balan’s midriff. But then this is what sells I guess. Wonder why VVC was getting so worked up about Rowdy Rathore’s success? 6.5 on 10 and definitely worth it not just for the family entertainment but also notably shows the plight of even cricketers who have played the highest level in India but don’t seem to have existed. Well done Rajesh Mapuskar for a debut movie - very well done.
Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyU34nS9Ztw
But Kayoze Rustom Deboo (Ritwik Sahore) hasn’t really heard of the big names in Parsi cricket. He has been bought up in the world of someone who most of India refers to as God and goes by the human name of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Kayo in fact has no idea about how famous his Mota Papa (grandfather) Behram Deboo (Boman Irani) was in his hey days. And how he was actually deprived of a chance to play for India thanks to the devious ways of one Dilip Dharmadhikari (Paresh Rawal) who was actually his best friend when they were growing up.
Now Kayo is a brilliant #3 and is rated by many as one of the best school players in the city. He gets a chance to visit the mecca of cricket (read Lords) but Rustom (Sharman Joshi), Kayo’s father, needs to cough up Rs.1.5 lacs ($3000 approx) to send him. Now they may be staying in South Bombay (like most parsees) but they are not rich (like most parsees). A normal honest clerk @ the local Road Transport Office cannot afford this kind of money. But when Babbo Didi (Seema Bhargava) asks him to help in borrowing God’s Ferrari for a couple of days, the temptation of making Rs.1.5 lacs is too difficult for Rustom to resist.
The bitter-sweet story that follows is extremely endearing – like most movies that involve Vidhu Vinod Chopra movies. But what makes Ferrari Ki Sawaari a really good watch is the cast and screenplay. Nothing over the top whatsoever. No fancy dialogues – just simple and really funny ones thrown in for good measure. And a tremendous amount of consistency. For e.g. when God’s Ferrari gets towed away, from Mount Mary, it comes to the Bandra Towing area under the bridge and not some random place.
The performances are superb and more importantly sincere. I tweeted last night and I say this again. Is there any actor who is more versatile than Boman Irani in India today? The most entertaining performances came actually from the support cast in pairs. Akash Dabhade & Deepak Shirke as the servant and guard @ God’s home are hilarious. Seema Bhargava, Vijay Nikam and Nilesh Divekar give us some more funny moments as the wedding planner and the wedding party.
All in all, a true family entertainer and a movie that you will walk out of, feeling very good. The only flaw – stretch, stretcher and strechest – at least 45 mins could have been cut from the movie to make it really crisp. Out of the 45 minutes would be 5 minutes of an absolutely wasted view of Vidya Balan’s midriff. But then this is what sells I guess. Wonder why VVC was getting so worked up about Rowdy Rathore’s success? 6.5 on 10 and definitely worth it not just for the family entertainment but also notably shows the plight of even cricketers who have played the highest level in India but don’t seem to have existed. Well done Rajesh Mapuskar for a debut movie - very well done.
Trailer on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyU34nS9Ztw
Monday, 29 November 2010
Allah Ke Bandey
The trailers were mightly impressive. The cast – extremely strong to say the least. The story seemed to have been inspired from the 1996 movie by Barry Levinson – Sleepers. The reviews on twitter were very positive. And I was hoping to see the next 7 on 10 movie of the year. But it was not to be I guess. Never judge a book by its cover or a movie by its trailer.
Vijay Kamble (Sharman Joshi) & Yakub Ansari (Faruk Kabir) are a couple of 12 year olds living in Bhool Bhulaiyya, a Chor Bazaar. They live with their aging and dying mother (Suhasini Mulay). She is Vijay’s biological mother and has adopted Yakub since his parents died in a train accident. Bhool Bhulaiyya is controlled primarily by Mafkaan Yeda and his right hand man, Nana. The kids understand that if they have to get anywhere within the place, the best way out would be to join the gang. They start running drugs and doing small time “Bhaigiri”. But these petty crimes aren’t going to get them into the big league. When their mother is diagnosed with an extremely weak liver and has no other choice but to be operated upon, the kids decide it is time to take the next step. They approach Mafkaan with a plan to rob a local jewelry store. Nana doubts them but Mafkaan is impressed with their spunk and gives them the green. The boys commit their first serious crime. When they are done with the job, they are about to run off with all the spoils without giving Mafkaan his share of 50%. But Mafkaan lands up. A scuffle ensues and Yakub shoots Mafkaan.
It only takes the cops a couple of days to track them down thanks to the detailed description given by Nana. But most importantly, Nana has taken advantage of the situation and shot Mafkaan already. So when the kids get rounded up they get charged with multiple counts and eventually find themselves in juvenile prison. This is the beginning of their worst nightmare. The Jailor (Nasseeruddin Shah) and KT the in house gangster use most of the kids for their own pleasure. And also run a drug racket within the premises. Our enterprising duo soon find themselves in trouble in an attempt to take on the system. When they get violated for the first time, Vijay decides its time to play it cool and strike when the moment is right which they soon do and take control of the situation instead of succumbing to it.
AKB is not a complete take off on Sleepers. It seems to be inspired in bits and pieces though. There are streaks of almost every slum movie that has been made in the past few years from the likes of Slumdog Millionaire to City of God. Somewhere it doesn’t seem original. Faruk Kabir as an actor looked like a good prospect in the rushes but eventually turns out to be a damp squib. The support cast is average with Zakir Hussain playing the lead duo’s trusted lieutenant – Ramesh Bhai. One wonders why Anjana Sukhani and Rukhsar were ever involved in the entire movie. Even the sex scene that Anjana Sukhani is part of is fairly insipid to say the least. They were both furniture and not even the best looking furniture one can expect. The saddest part is that a fabulous talent like Atul Kulkarni is all but wasted with barely a few minutes of screen time. There is nothing that Nasseruddin Shah has to prove anymore. His execution of the nasty warden is almost flawless. Sharman Joshi proves once again that he is definitely one of the best that we have on the block currently. And lastly but not the least – the child artistes – who I believe were very good in parts but not completely awesome. I hate to say this about kids and don’t mean to be a dampner but seriously there have been better performances by children on screen even if it was required to be as raw as AKB. Having said that, there is tremendous potential in both. And if someone can help me out with their names it would be great.
Marginally above Average direction and decent editing + cinematography make AKB worth a watch. But it doesn’t do justice to the power packed cast. Yet, it’s one of the better movies released of late. I am only disappointed because it could have been so much better. Watch it for the supporting role from Nasser and a strong lead performance from Sharman. I give it 6 on 10.
Vijay Kamble (Sharman Joshi) & Yakub Ansari (Faruk Kabir) are a couple of 12 year olds living in Bhool Bhulaiyya, a Chor Bazaar. They live with their aging and dying mother (Suhasini Mulay). She is Vijay’s biological mother and has adopted Yakub since his parents died in a train accident. Bhool Bhulaiyya is controlled primarily by Mafkaan Yeda and his right hand man, Nana. The kids understand that if they have to get anywhere within the place, the best way out would be to join the gang. They start running drugs and doing small time “Bhaigiri”. But these petty crimes aren’t going to get them into the big league. When their mother is diagnosed with an extremely weak liver and has no other choice but to be operated upon, the kids decide it is time to take the next step. They approach Mafkaan with a plan to rob a local jewelry store. Nana doubts them but Mafkaan is impressed with their spunk and gives them the green. The boys commit their first serious crime. When they are done with the job, they are about to run off with all the spoils without giving Mafkaan his share of 50%. But Mafkaan lands up. A scuffle ensues and Yakub shoots Mafkaan.
It only takes the cops a couple of days to track them down thanks to the detailed description given by Nana. But most importantly, Nana has taken advantage of the situation and shot Mafkaan already. So when the kids get rounded up they get charged with multiple counts and eventually find themselves in juvenile prison. This is the beginning of their worst nightmare. The Jailor (Nasseeruddin Shah) and KT the in house gangster use most of the kids for their own pleasure. And also run a drug racket within the premises. Our enterprising duo soon find themselves in trouble in an attempt to take on the system. When they get violated for the first time, Vijay decides its time to play it cool and strike when the moment is right which they soon do and take control of the situation instead of succumbing to it.
AKB is not a complete take off on Sleepers. It seems to be inspired in bits and pieces though. There are streaks of almost every slum movie that has been made in the past few years from the likes of Slumdog Millionaire to City of God. Somewhere it doesn’t seem original. Faruk Kabir as an actor looked like a good prospect in the rushes but eventually turns out to be a damp squib. The support cast is average with Zakir Hussain playing the lead duo’s trusted lieutenant – Ramesh Bhai. One wonders why Anjana Sukhani and Rukhsar were ever involved in the entire movie. Even the sex scene that Anjana Sukhani is part of is fairly insipid to say the least. They were both furniture and not even the best looking furniture one can expect. The saddest part is that a fabulous talent like Atul Kulkarni is all but wasted with barely a few minutes of screen time. There is nothing that Nasseruddin Shah has to prove anymore. His execution of the nasty warden is almost flawless. Sharman Joshi proves once again that he is definitely one of the best that we have on the block currently. And lastly but not the least – the child artistes – who I believe were very good in parts but not completely awesome. I hate to say this about kids and don’t mean to be a dampner but seriously there have been better performances by children on screen even if it was required to be as raw as AKB. Having said that, there is tremendous potential in both. And if someone can help me out with their names it would be great.
Marginally above Average direction and decent editing + cinematography make AKB worth a watch. But it doesn’t do justice to the power packed cast. Yet, it’s one of the better movies released of late. I am only disappointed because it could have been so much better. Watch it for the supporting role from Nasser and a strong lead performance from Sharman. I give it 6 on 10.
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