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Showing posts from 2008

Ghajini

This was published in Nxg - The Hindu Director: A.R.Murgadass Tale of redemption is not new to Indian viewers, but Murugadass strikes gold by flavouring the age old tale with the idea showcased marvelously in Memento. Sanjay (Aamir) a business tycoon takes the path of revenge after his lover is brutally murdered. With only the name Ghajni as a clue, how Sanjay, now suffering from short term memory loss avenges the dead of his dearest forms the crux of the movie. Ghajini which begins as a tale of revenge shifts to romantic comedy and finally ends in typical filmy style with Aamir removing the rod with which he was stabbed in his stomach, after killing the antagonist and walking alive. The balance between realism and fantasy is maintained nicely in the action sequences while Ravi Chandran with his measured lighting creates magic. Antony deserves credit for not letting the movie sag one bit. Except some sequences Rahman elevates the movie with his background score and soundtrack. A

Rab ne bana di jodi

This was published in Nxg - The Hindu Director: Aditya Chopra Starring: Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka, Vinay Pathak Every film doesn't' have a great concept. It takes great screenplay and direction to make a flawed concept into a great movie. Rab ne bana di jodi(RNBDJ) does have an interesting concept, but poor screenplay plays spoil sport here. Story wise it is about Surinder(SRK) who wanting to make his wife Taani(Anuskha) be happy again comes in disguise as the fun loving Raj only to make her life more complicated. Whom she chooses (or God chooses) to be her lover forms the rest of the story. Aditya Chopra forgot the most important aspect of commercial film making while writing the script: the audience should not be let to think about the movie while watching it. It is accepted that Taani can't identify her husband in disguise the first time they meet, but even after days of being together with both the characters; her inability to identify the disguise is plain stup

Yuvvraaj

This was published in Nxg - The Hindu Director: Subash Ghai Cast: Salman, Anil, Katrina, Zayed From the time the title shows the name A.R.Rahman till the end where he makes a small appearance; its Rahman's film all way. He enchants us through out with his brilliant songs and impeccable background score. But sadly the film is only an assemblage of mesmerizing tunes with poorly conceived story backed by very bad screenplay and editing; mainly in the second half. It's accepted that Subash Ghai has tried a musical here but it's so over the top and clichéd with pointless scenes thrown in, making the film sink deep. Though the witty dialogues does make us laugh and forget the atrocities that is being screened; the film doesn't work on the whole. Story wise the film is about an arrogant Devan(Salman) and spoiled brat Shanu(Zayed) scheming to get their deceased father's fortune from their autistic music-genius brother Gyanesh played sincerely by Anil. Apart from few

Vaaranam Aayiram

Mission accompolished! Published in Nxg - The Hindu Director: Gautham Gautham proves with this film that even with a poor screenplay you can make a lovable film if you are sincere in what you want to convey. Leave the fact that the film doesn't have a flow, leave the fact that emotions are conveyed through words rather than visuals and get ready to be swept off your feet by the examples set by daddy as to how a dad should be. Story-wise the film is basically the recollection of memories of Suriya, exploring various stages of his life, where his dad has helped him move ahead after he learns that his father has passed away. It is accepted that Suriya is only recollecting various incidents in his life, but while narrating, the seamless flow that is required is missing; result the film doesn't show anything more than what was shown in the trailer. It is disheartening to see the most important sequences in the film being handled amateurishly. Example- the kidnap sequence which

Roadside Romeo

This was published in Nxg - The Hindu Director: Jugal Hansraj Roadside Romeo is a rich-rag-happy ending tale of Romeo (a dog) who finds a way to live in the gutter and in the process finds love in the form of Laila and wins her over the obstacle called Charlie anna. With Road side Romeo Yashraj has found a way to make money out of their poor scripts. Remove the dogs and make actors play the roles they voiced; then Roadside Romeo will end being damp squib. One wonders if Yashraj knows anything else than DDLJ, proving yet again Chak de! India was a flash out of the pan.  All said, yet this being an animation film all the clichés and nostalgic moments which we all have gotten bored of doesn't look that bad. Look for the scene that comes after Romeo does a Raj of DDLJ by lending his hand from train; intelligent script writing.  But is there anything original in this script? The director answers that too with the game the dogs play at night to wake the humans- clever again. These i

Saroja

 Go without expectations Director: Venkat Prabhu   Saroja, the second outing of the team of Chennai-28 is undoubtedly a very good attempt in Tamil cinema, but for a movie which promised to offer more than few smiles it falls short.   Half an hour into the movie and three songs up we can clearly judge the director's intentions: to not make a film which will stand the test of time for it near flawless and perfect script like his previous venture, but a film which covers all its flaws with the humor coated with it.   Story-wise the director took the script of 'Judgement night', mixed it with the concept of our very own 'Anjathey' and finally coated it with lots of nostalgia and humor, not to forget the 'home alone' style climax.   The graph of the film starts from negative and gradually attains great heights near the pre-climax, but falls badly after that. But Premji carries the whole movie on his shoulders to make us forget the negatives. Yet the director coul

Dhaam Dhoom

Director: Jeeva Jeeva seems to have done the same mistake which his bollywood counterparts are doing: making a sleaze and chic film by compromising the script. The film has an ages old storyline whose treatment which promises to be different at the beginning fails so badly that you wish they had made a typical Tamil film instead. Ravi, a doctor by profession leaves for Russia a fortnight before his wedding to attend a medical conference. By circumstance he is trapped there by the local police on the charges of murdering their commissioner's daughter. The rest of the story revolves around how the protagonist succeeds to clear his name.   Few comparison between typical tamil cinema and Dhaam dhoom; the hero instead of singing a dapankuthu sings a rap for his intro, instead of running around the local streets the hero WALKS in the streets of Russia while the police chases him in motorcycle and car. But don't worry its still is a tamil film, this they prove by making the hero fly i

Race

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kanna, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu ,Katrina kaif, Sameera Reddy. On recommendation from a friend I went for this film. What should have been a great entertainer turned out to be nothing more than a typical bollywood film of the 70s. The film opens with Saif meeting with a car accident. Flashback: Saif is the owner of a horse race track. He is SHOWN as an intelligent person & loves adventure [!?!].His younger brother Akshay is a drunkard. There is a so called villain in the film. In one such race, Saif looses his bet because his rival had allegedly bribed Saif's horse rider to slow down. When Saif sees his rider getting money from his rival he plants a bomb on his car. The director being the clever person here, before you think 'why can't he plant the same on the rival's car?' silences you with a punch dialogue! The story takes a turn here as Saif meets with an accident.Cut. Present tense: Till now the film is shown as being narrated by

Kuselan

Wasn't Baba better? Cast: Pasupathy, Meena, Rajinikanth Director: P.Vasu Kuselan proves yet again that a film need not be good if it has the best technicians and actors. Re-make of a Malayalam classic, Kuselan has nothing to offer except the face of the Super Star (SS). What should have been an emotional drama of a poor man, who happens to be the friend of SS, turns out to be the trailer of an enigma called Rajini. Pasupathy is a struggling barber, who was the best friend of the SS in his school days. What happens after the SS comes for shooting to his town forms the crux of the story. Uniqueness is the forte of Kuselan: People who don't have food to eat, wear brand new dresses; houses and even ground-well made of cardboard; women only interested in showing their assets; children mocking their father and asking him how he can be happy in spite of being a loser; mothers running Christian institutions defaming their religion by being interested in money and fame; a film crew sup

Hancock

Director: Peter Berg Cast: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman Hancock is one of the movies that everyone desperately wants to like. But however we try at some point of time we give up on it, owing to its poor packaging. The movie has a great plot; never ever tried, supported by one of the best in their business. Hancock is a superhero with all great powers but lacks discipline and social interest. Hence even though he tries to save people it ends up affecting others. In a twist he is helped by Ray Embrey become a better person. What happens after the people like him forms the rest of the plot. The story has a lot of twists that might have looked astounding in paper but on screen they bore us; full credit for this mistake goes to the screenplay department. The graphics are not bad but they are expected to be very good. Will smith looks better as a dysfunctional superhero than as a reformed person. The only scene that takes us by surprise is when Mary Embery; wife

Sarkar Raj

This was published in Nxg - The Hindu Cast: Amitabh, Abhishek, Aishwarya Rai, Director: Ram Gopal Varma RGV is back with his cult characters in this sequel. The movie has two inspirations backing the script; Sarkar and Godfather. Whenever the movie draws inspiration from Godfather the film impresses, but when they move under the shadows of Sarkar it looks clichéd. This time around RGV didn’t go for an elaborate story. Rather he has tried to play with the characters; their reactions and the genre that Sarkar has created. He has completely played with the enigma of the previous part in the first half. The story doesn’t seem to move at all here. The moment he shifts to Godfather mode by murdering Avantika, the movie unfolds in a rapid pace with series of twist and turns. The surprise package of them all, being the characterization of Aishwarya. Story wise Anitha(Aishwarya) CEO of Sheppard Power Plant, brings a power plant proposal to be set up in rural Maharashtra before the Nagres.

Kuruvi

Movie:Kuruvi Cast:Vijay,Trisha,Vivek,Suman With a storyline as old as Tamil Cinema, Vijay and Dharani have preached us Gandhigiri through their second outing Kuruvi. Close your eyes to bad-close your eyes whenever Vijay starts fighting. Shut your ears from the bad-shut your ears when Vijay starts speaking his punch dialogues. Close your mouth from speaking bad-don't question the logic factor in the film. If you take a lot of MGR movies mix it with Ranji's movies(mainly Sivaji) and Dharani's previous ventures and fill them in the narration style of Gilli, Eureka you get Kuruvi. The story is about Vijay-a car racer[ who can travel from Triplicane to Sriperumbudur in 5 mins], in quest to get back the money that was due from Malaysia, finds about the secret behind his father's sudden disappearance and how he brings back his father after solving his problem as an one man army forms the rest of the story. If one is able to forgive the flawed screenp

Tashan

Movie: Tashan Cast: Akshay, Kareena, Anil Kapoor, Saif This was published in NXg - The Hindu Are the audiences becoming intelligent, or the script writers are unwilling to think out of the tested formula? This is what one asks after watching Tashan. The plot goes like this. Kareena uses Saif, a call centre employee, who happens to teach English for Don Anil Kapoor, to steal his money. Anil calls Akshay, a local gunda, to get back the money and finish them. Akshay is the only saving grace in the movie which is nothing more than an old wine in a new bottle. Akshay manages to make you laugh and enjoy throughout. He could have avoided the gravity and bullets defying stunts. Saif has nothing much to do and doesn't make use of the few chances he gets. Except skin show, Kareena has nothing else to offer. Anil kapoor tries to make us laugh but ends up making fool of him. You can't avoid noticing similarities between Tashan and Dhoom-2 , which again was a forgettable movie. Cinemato