Kya Dilli Kya Lahore

What an outstanding concept!!!! I was sold when I saw the trailer last week – and I wonder why the trailer released only a week before the movie’s release.  The story was so simple and yet when the movie unfolds, you understand that it has to do with so much more than what just meets the eye – so much to do with human emotion and behaviour. Wonderful is the word that comes to mind.

O Teri

A CBI Assistant Commissioner who hasn't been given a car by his employees is ambling around on a desolate Delhi street in the middle of the night. It is coincidental that he is leading an investigation involving some leading government officials.

Dedh Ishqiya

Pick the same director - check

Pick the same lead cast - check

Add 2-3 brilliant actors as seasoning – check

Retain some of the "characters" from the first edition – check

Pick yet another rustic premise / story – check

Add flavour with the tongue of The Nawabs – check

Make sure that the music is acceptable if not brilliant – check

Get a great cinematographer to create some gorgeous shots  - check

Get a location that connects with both rural and urban India – check

Hire a set designer who can make that location look even more beautiful - check

Mr Joe B. Carvalho

I write this review with no prejudice whatsoever to anyone or anything.  In fact let me clarify at the outset that I love Arshad Warsi and Soha Ali Khan.  I have been a fan of Javed Jaffrey as well for decades now.  And needless to say Vijay Raaz is one of the finest actors that India has produced in a long long time – one with a superb voice as well.

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

Delhi Belly

I was quite apprehensive about Delhi Belly and was in the same breath quite disappointed because I could not watch the movie till this morning. I was just hoping it was not yet another case of the trailer being better than the movie – like it has been quite often in the recent past. However, turns out this time it was not the case. I guess it had to be a case of “In Aamir Khan we trust”. Although I am not sure if Aamir would be saying, “In Imran Khan I trust” for too long if the nephew keeps at his mediocre levels of improvement and singular dead pan surprised expression for too long. One begins to feel a bit sad about it after a while because there does seem to be a lot of effort or sincerity in Imran Khan’s approach to acting. Add to that his chocolate boy looks. But over generations I guess the expressions reduce. Aamir does a brilliant job with 5 expressions. Imran has only one. Seriously Imran dear – I like you for your sincerity and the fact that u seem like a really clean guy which is not too common in the industry – but seriously you need to start acting… really well and really soon before the public sticks to liking you only for your looks and good behavior.

Delhi Belly is marks the 2nd movie of director Abhinay Deo who not too long ago released his first movie – Game. How lucky can one get I say. 2 movies in 3 months of each other!!! That’s really lucky!!! And whats better – the first one was a directing disaster and my has Abhinay Deo made a turn around or what? Delhi Belly is compact, with very little nonsense and one with is cut really well. It is indeed shocking that Game was such a disaster on all counts. So I guess Abhinay dear has redeemed itself. Yes, Delhi Belly could have been finished a tad better than the final product. That Deo had the services of Kunaal Roy Kapur, Vir Das, Vijay Raaz and Poorna Jagannathan… let me catch me breath here……………….. and I was saying – Poorna Jagannathan who is probably the best face to hit Bollywood this year – just made his job a hell of a lot easier. Right from the first shot as Meneka, a visiting journalist who is assigned to Tashi Dorjee Lahtoo (Khan) to interview a bimbo singer, Poorna stamps her authority on screen. So yes, here is a hottie who can act as well. And yes people – she can kiss for sure. Probably the most comfortably that I have seen anyone on screen in a Bollywood movie. And yes… did I mention that she is HOT!!!! She is Tunisian – I mean how much more exotic can it really get. And another warning – DO NOT LOOK INTO THOSE EYES!!! They will captivate you and cast a spell out of which there will be no getting out – period!!! And for the first time since I started using a desktop I have on my wall paper an actress who starred in a Bollywood movie – I am officially in love *sheepish smile*

I liked Delhi Belly. It is fast, pacy, funny in parts, outrageously slapstick in parts, “bimbo”ish in parts (read Shenaz Treasurywala and Anusha Dandekar), young, energetic, brave, short and to the point. The music from Ram Sampath is excellent and the fact that is used as a background score makes it even better. Watch it for sure. U will not regret it and if you do get bored then keep looking out for Poorna coz she is never too far away from any scene. *sigh* 7 on 10 folks – 25 on 10 for Poorna for sure *sighs again*

Watch the trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcKn9BxTg1A

Always Kabhi Kabhi

Dear Roshan Abbas – When someone makes his first movie it should ideally be an original story line. If not there should be at least some semblance of originality if not completely original. But ripping off an entire Hollywood flick to the extent that it has been – GAWD!!!! Have some shame. We are definitely an Indian audience but we definitely have our resources to watch Hollywood flicks. Plus the DVDs of High School Musical 1, 2 and 3 have been sold as a box pack for over 2 years now. You have actually made Anu Malik look like a walk in the park. Copy dude. But copy well. At least respect the original to the extent of replicating it well. Each and every frame of your debut flick has been so tackily shot that after 15 minutes it doesn’t seem funny. And your talk about speaking to the Gen Y or Gen Next or whatever you want to call them hasn’t really worked. There were enough and more kids between 13 and 19 who were in the hall and actually struggling to get through the first half. By the time the 2nd half started they were already contemplating an exit and planning the next hour and half in advance.
And Roshan – the script is also written by you. Now why would you put in dialogues such as, “IIT aur MIT mein sirg ek akshar ka farak hai” (The difference between IIT and MIT is only one alphabet) and “Life me koi keyboard ka shortcut nahin hota hai. Isse google nahin kiya ja sakta. Isse experience kiya jaata hai” (Life doesn’t have a shortcut key on the keyboard. You cannot google it. You have to experience it). Of course there was one good dialogue somewhere in between which said, “Is generation ki nazar tab jhukti hai jab SMS milta ho” (This generation will bow its head only when it receives an SMS). Quite deep I must say Mr. Abbas.

And do kids start drinking like fish at the age of 17 these days and walk into school with hangovers the size of Mt. Everest? Gawd if that is true then we sure are headed for some trouble soon enough. What the hell is the local government talking about an age limit of 25??????

And then there is the cast of when the guys are probably the saving grace. All students of the St. Marks College. Decent debuts from Ali Fazal (Shortcut Sam Sameer) and Satyajeet Dubey (Taariq Einstein Naqvi). And the Brazilian beauty’s follow up movie has 20 times as much dialogues as the first one. She spoke 2 lines in the first one and she speaks 40 lines in this one. So that’s progress. Bringing up the tail is the pocket rocket Zoa Morani (Nandini “Nandy Bull” Oberoi). The lead cast has a meek attempt for support from the rest Pritika Chawla, Navneet Nishan, Akash Khurana, Lillete Dubey, Satish Shah & Ashwin Mushran (Why do you take these roles really???). The ever reliable balance cast of Manoj Joshi, Mukesh Tiwari & Vijay Raaz are solid as always. Most of the music is also quite uninspiring. Net Net, Always Kabhi Kabhi is quite a waste of 2 hours if you have seen High School Musical. If you haven’t seen HSM then I suggest you watch it and not waste your time on AKK. It’s a 3 on 10 from my side thanks to a couple of songs and a couple of good performances.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi558275865/

West is West

In some cases, it is only correct that the launch of a movie in India is delayed. That West is West was released within 4 months of the release in UK will remain one of the unsolved mysteries in the world. For my money’s worth, West is West could have well avoided its release in India. By no means is it as bad as some of the recent Anees Bazmee flicks that have torchered us. But by no means is that a benchmark to take when u release a movie in India right?
So insipid and boring is the script of WiW that even the exceptional capabilities of the likes of Om Puri and Vijay Raaz fall short in their attempt to lift the script and narration to the next level. There is just no content there for either of these fantastic actors to even try and deliver. I did read a candid confession from Om Puri sometime back that he does take up movies for just the money and now I am quite certain that he was referring to WiW. And I don’t think I should forget to mention that the better actors had to sustain quite a horrendous set of performances from the other half. WiW has just no consistency of performances. And that would speak volumes about the director’s inability to generate anything of substance from the cast. Andy DeEmmony continues to add to the list of TV directors who have cut a sorry figure in front of the world and continue to add fuel to the speculation that TV directors cannot make good directors on the silver screen. What gets to you even more is that all of this points towards a movie that has been made without any heart whatsoever. Everyone just seems to be going about their motions in stereo typical fashion – we have been paid for it, so may as well get it over and done with. Disappointing to say the least.

The insipid story is about Sajid (Aqib Khan), the youngest son of George / Jahangir Khan’s (Om Puri) second marriage to Ella (Linda Bassett). His is probably the worst life one could have bargained for. On one hand, he is the manifestation of, “Daddy mujhko bola – tu galti hai meri” (Dad tells me I am the mistake he made – literal translation of latest hit from new Bollywood movie Delhi Belly) and on the other hand the bullies at school make him suffer for being the Paki that he is. To make matters worse, he has a principal, Mr. Jordan (Robert Pugh) who keeps boring him with the starting lines of Kim by Rudyard Kipling – so much that he starts liking the idea as well. And then there is Maneer Khan (Emil Marwa) who is the elder brother, now in Pakistan and dutifully taking care of the farm there. George decides that he has had enough and takes the route known to most traditional Indian parents. He decides to take Sajid to Pakistan to get him familiar with his roots and try and get some Paki sense into his Brit brain. YAWN. 4 on 10 thanks to Om Puri and Vijay Raaz and maybe a little thank you to the “Hit by a truck” look that Ila Arun puts up through the entire movie.  I would have given -10 for the weak attempt at mixing British humour with Paki / Indian humour but i am in a kind mood this morning.

Watch the trailer at http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3248528153/