Sonali Cable

Sonali Cable is a movie meant for the common man, the aam aadmi or the mango people as it is hep to call them these days.  It is one story that represents the millions of small business owners across the length and breadth of this country.  And to see a story written about one of these in a positive light is definitely one thing that they got right.

Samrat & Co.

The first thing that cheeses you off with Samrat and Co. is that the lead character is referred to as STD.  Apparently that expands into Samrat Tilak Dhari (Rajeev Khandelwal).  That it would send us back in time to the days of expensive phone calls or remind us of some unwanted diseases really didn’t cross the mind of anyone in the entire team.  Maybe it was intentional.

Yaariyan

Famous Last Words – “The toughest job in the world is being a mother.  One of the most difficult things to do is directing a movie.  I did both together” – Divya Khosla Kumar, Director, Yaariyan (read “Probably the worst movie of 2014).

Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya

Mandeep Kumar is a Punjabi Director who debuted last year with one obscure movie called Jihne Mera Dil Luteya – which is a line often abused in several songs. So it come as no surprise when the title of his latest flick is yet another line oft used in several movies or songs – Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya. Not sure though if the lines from songs are helping his cause or career in any manner. I haven’t seen the earlier one but can vouch for TNLHG being barely there in the watchable criteria.

Like any Punjabi director would, TNLHG is also a loud display of flashy colours and Bhangra music and Punjabi one liners thrown in for good measure. Only this time, there are loads of Haryanvi one liners also thrown in and not just as a seasoning but I would guess as part of the main ingredients. An unavoidable situation when your lead actor is a Haryanvi and your lead actress is a Punjabi. Funnily though, in real life neither are from the community that they play and it reflects obviously in their performances.

Viren (Ritesh Deshmukh) is an auto driver in the city and finds himself in a situation where one of the better off people in the city owes him a princely some of 60 grands. This someone turns out to be Mini’s (Genelia D’Souza) father (Tinnu Anand). Mini is quite frustrated with her dad’s continuous attempts to get her hitched to locals who have nothing else to look for but her Canadian green card. So when Viren appears in a drunken state to demand his 60K from her father, she takes advantage of the situation and gets herself kidnapped. One can easily sense inspirations from the 1997 Alicia Silverstone, Benicio Del Toro starrer Excess Baggage. Everything else is fairly predictable for the normal movie goer.

TNLHG is one of the more predictable movies that I have seen in the recent past. Plus it has a 2nd half which gets quite boring and stretched out to no limit. The first half is quite peppy and reasonably made with the exception of one really corny line – “Chandrachur suna tha par yeh advenchur (adventure) kya hai”? That is the only low point in the first 60 odd minutes of the movie in terms of screenplay. Other than that it is quite bearable actually upto the interval.

I have always liked Ritesh Deshmukh’s performances for some reason. I am not sure if it is his chocolate boy looks or a sincere effort and apparent humility which helps but I guess he has come up with another sincere performance. Genelia is her usual chirpy self. Both cannot speak Haryanvi or Punjabi to save their lives though. The rest of the cast is quite flat with the exception of Om Puri.

The music is just about OK and the item number featuring our controversial starlet from across the border doesn’t quite generate much excitement. But overall definitely better than Jodi Breakers and would be my Bollywood pick for the weekend. Watch it, however, only if you have nothing better to do. 4.5 on 10.

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU1NYZ28R8s