Except ofcourse, the mystery does not continue and ends when the movie ends! Which is a sigh of relief because horror movies that attempt to scare you for no rhyme or reason tend to irritate. It's a fair turn out in terms of an A-grade horror flick.
A fashion model, Nandita Chopra (Kangna ranaut) is in a relationship with a TV show producer Yash,(Adhyaan Suman) who has made it big quite recently. His show on superstitions works out ! Nandita moves into the swanky house he's just bought, however right after moving in with him, she starts being victimised by subtle presence of 'bhoot uncle' (you'd know why i use the word bhoot uncle when you watch the movie, or possibly i may blurt it out by the end of this piece). She witnesses wine glasses falling, lights flickering, strange mirror images, etc etc. Prithvi the painter (Emraan Hashmi), is painting nandita by trucksfull in all sorts of ghastly states like wrist slit open, lying in a pool of blood, etc etc. Apparently he gets these images of her in his mind right before they actually happen to her. He follows her around to warn her. She obviously runs away from a spikey-haired staring-glaring bloke ! TV bigwig dismisses her sliced wrist, the injuries on her body, her inexplicable bewildered state as mere figment of her imagination - after all he's just recieved an award on his superstition blockbuster!
Anyhow, there is bhoot in the movie. Kangna sets out with Emraan to figure out the similar 3 cases of possessed and now-dead people, and land up in a pilgrim town called Kalindi.
Why does the painter get premonitions of Model-in-distress? Why is this model being targetted in the first place?
That's the mystery. Bhoot uncle is Jackie Shroff.
The tormented ghost is looking for justice. And justice is served in the end. I'll save the mystery-plot, so that you can contemplate catching the desi horror movie.
Good performances, great music, decent plot.
Biggest negative - the scary movie is hardly scary! (which is personally alright by me where i get to feel brave by watching a horror flick on big screen, at the same time my nerves stay put!)
Raaz-the mystery continues gets 5 out of 10 from me !
Monday, January 26, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Ghajini
Ghajni is the villain who goes around sabotaging people’s lives including our protagonist, Sanjay Singhania (Aamir khan). Ghajini has 20 minutes of screen presence and yet the movie is titled in his name. Why? First, because it’s a smart thing to do from a film-making perspective. Secondly, it’s justified to the core. If it was not for Ghajini, Sanjay Singhania would have happily married his sweetheart and lived happily everafter. If it wasn’t for Ghajini, he wouldn’t have suffered the most unique disease of short-term memory loss ! If it wasn’t for Ghajini, Aamir khan wouldn’t have gotten into such a yum shape ! Great film, great music, great performances. Horrifying violent scenes in the movie do not take away the romance in the least bit.
Sanjay the business tycoon falls in love with a happy-go-lucky struggling actor Kalpana (Asin). Kalpana reciprocates thinking sanjay is some struggling model, in dire need of money and work. His seeming poverty could have been the major motivator for her to fall in love with him since she is an audacious little missy with her too-goody shoes on, 24x7! He can never bring himself to tell her that he’s actually a filthy rich businessman with no parents or relatives whatsoever ! He’s totally embarrassed of the millions and millions of moollah that he makes everyday ! And one messy evening Ghajini ends up ending her life while she’s out to help a few girls from an orphanage. The massacre happens right infront of our rich shy boy Aamir and complex creature that he already was, he loses his mind and some of it’s key memory cells. Jiah khan (I forget her screen name, actually her presence itself invokes memory-loss in me !) helps Sanjay get killed on a number of occasions and then finally comes around helping Sanjay kill Ghajini. Story of revenge for love. Sounds run-of-the-mill? Well, it's not..check it out.
Ghajini gets 8 out of 10 from me.
Sanjay the business tycoon falls in love with a happy-go-lucky struggling actor Kalpana (Asin). Kalpana reciprocates thinking sanjay is some struggling model, in dire need of money and work. His seeming poverty could have been the major motivator for her to fall in love with him since she is an audacious little missy with her too-goody shoes on, 24x7! He can never bring himself to tell her that he’s actually a filthy rich businessman with no parents or relatives whatsoever ! He’s totally embarrassed of the millions and millions of moollah that he makes everyday ! And one messy evening Ghajini ends up ending her life while she’s out to help a few girls from an orphanage. The massacre happens right infront of our rich shy boy Aamir and complex creature that he already was, he loses his mind and some of it’s key memory cells. Jiah khan (I forget her screen name, actually her presence itself invokes memory-loss in me !) helps Sanjay get killed on a number of occasions and then finally comes around helping Sanjay kill Ghajini. Story of revenge for love. Sounds run-of-the-mill? Well, it's not..check it out.
Ghajini gets 8 out of 10 from me.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
What an interesting piece of work! You can't call it a movie, it's like a patchwork of incidents in the protagonist's life. Inspired by a real-life thief Bunty, our heroman lucky is really lucky when it comes to working his charm to smuggle, burgle and steal and getting away with it ! The movie depicts lucky as a teenager, then in the later part as a full grown man (ahem!). Abhay Deol is subtly endearing with his quiet naughtiness, and by the way, he reminds you more of Dharmendra than Dharmendra's very own bobby and sunny ! A sophisticated version of garam dharam is Abhay. Our superchor has a love interest too, in the movie (Neetu chandra). She's pretty low-profile herself, that's pretty AND low-profile.
No thrill, no frill, no full songs, no start, no end and yet gripping ! That's Oye lucky lucky oye for you, full of funny liners and situations, typical delhi flavour, realistic and crisp.
It does fail in giving you melodrama that yash banners and chopras dish out. It's miserable if you're measuring it on the glamour scale that Karan Johars of the world deliver each time. It also leaves you wanting more.....
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye gets 6.5 on 10 from me!
No thrill, no frill, no full songs, no start, no end and yet gripping ! That's Oye lucky lucky oye for you, full of funny liners and situations, typical delhi flavour, realistic and crisp.
It does fail in giving you melodrama that yash banners and chopras dish out. It's miserable if you're measuring it on the glamour scale that Karan Johars of the world deliver each time. It also leaves you wanting more.....
Oye Lucky Lucky Oye gets 6.5 on 10 from me!
Friday, September 19, 2008
Rock On
One of the rare movies that are predictable, yet watchable - and how ! Didn't all of us know that the movie is going to be about 4 guys who form a band, then probably split-up due to some inconsequential reasons, if happy ending prevails, then become a band again! And that is PRECISELY the story of Rock On !
However, the tale is told in a crisp, matter-of-factly manner which is appealing. Farhan Akhtar the lead singer of magik(yeah thats the band name, very innovative one would say)has not been gifted by a powerful voice, but in order to eat the ultimate rockstar pie and realzing his teenage fantasy, he projects HIMSELF as the singer ! That's lame. A bit juvenile too. Though surprisingly most of the tunes are catchy despite Farhan's ghastly voice ! Arjun Rampal is the true hero by the way. Subtle and intense. Poorab Kohli is instantly likeable. Luke Kenny is awkward and gawky, apparently he was delirious that he finally got to be in a movie ! The girls were alright, though Farhan should've stuck to his first girl friend, she was cooler and cuter than Prachi Desai. No offense Prachi, what's true is true.
The whole atmosphere of the movie is that of a rock concert, only better because you get to do your thing sitting down on comfy chairs !
Rock On gets 5 out of 10 from me !
However, the tale is told in a crisp, matter-of-factly manner which is appealing. Farhan Akhtar the lead singer of magik(yeah thats the band name, very innovative one would say)has not been gifted by a powerful voice, but in order to eat the ultimate rockstar pie and realzing his teenage fantasy, he projects HIMSELF as the singer ! That's lame. A bit juvenile too. Though surprisingly most of the tunes are catchy despite Farhan's ghastly voice ! Arjun Rampal is the true hero by the way. Subtle and intense. Poorab Kohli is instantly likeable. Luke Kenny is awkward and gawky, apparently he was delirious that he finally got to be in a movie ! The girls were alright, though Farhan should've stuck to his first girl friend, she was cooler and cuter than Prachi Desai. No offense Prachi, what's true is true.
The whole atmosphere of the movie is that of a rock concert, only better because you get to do your thing sitting down on comfy chairs !
Rock On gets 5 out of 10 from me !
Monday, August 18, 2008
Bachna Aye Haseeno
A full-fledged treat of a film after a really long time. Few months of crappy cinema is like a drought of a lifetime !
Bachna is a modern saga of a man's journey from boyhood to maturehood, wherein he comes across mainly three women of different shapes, sizes, colors and genres ! Ranbir the teenager runs into Minisha (who looked so shockingly old as a 16 year old that even if she was paired with Ranbir in the later years of his life, she would've passed off as his elder sister!). Ranbir the new-age executive then dates Bipasha. She was a pleasant surprise. One expected HER to be the old-hag but she looked stunning, cynical yes, but stunning! To boot, Ranbir-Bipasha had a steamy chemistry ! Especially in the elevator scene, where you could slice the sexual tension with a knife ! Finally the real life babe enters the reel life, Deepika the taxi-driver and a part-time MBA student. Snappy, smart and composed. It's a story of Karmas, how good reaps good and bad comes and messes you up.
Engaging dialogues and cinematography. Fantastic bodies and clothes. Near-smooth direction.
The positives should've taken the film to perfection (!)had it not been for the faux-pas, as we say.
Minisha, the 1992, girl friend is doting - harem pants ! The director and the stylist completely ignored the finer points, this is just ONE example - 2008 trend in 1992!! Post break the movie breaks down ! Why o why?! Why do Indian directors love to dwell on the most uninteresting junctures?! Infact, 'dwelling' is like a 'swelling' - it can damage a brilliant scene too!
Bachna Aye Haseeno deserves 6 on 10 from me !
Bachna is a modern saga of a man's journey from boyhood to maturehood, wherein he comes across mainly three women of different shapes, sizes, colors and genres ! Ranbir the teenager runs into Minisha (who looked so shockingly old as a 16 year old that even if she was paired with Ranbir in the later years of his life, she would've passed off as his elder sister!). Ranbir the new-age executive then dates Bipasha. She was a pleasant surprise. One expected HER to be the old-hag but she looked stunning, cynical yes, but stunning! To boot, Ranbir-Bipasha had a steamy chemistry ! Especially in the elevator scene, where you could slice the sexual tension with a knife ! Finally the real life babe enters the reel life, Deepika the taxi-driver and a part-time MBA student. Snappy, smart and composed. It's a story of Karmas, how good reaps good and bad comes and messes you up.
Engaging dialogues and cinematography. Fantastic bodies and clothes. Near-smooth direction.
The positives should've taken the film to perfection (!)had it not been for the faux-pas, as we say.
Minisha, the 1992, girl friend is doting - harem pants ! The director and the stylist completely ignored the finer points, this is just ONE example - 2008 trend in 1992!! Post break the movie breaks down ! Why o why?! Why do Indian directors love to dwell on the most uninteresting junctures?! Infact, 'dwelling' is like a 'swelling' - it can damage a brilliant scene too!
Bachna Aye Haseeno deserves 6 on 10 from me !
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Singh is Kinng
The title is in English, the least you expect is a Hindi film. By Jove, the movie turns out to be in regional language !! If you don't know punjabi very well, you'd be exhausted by interval itself...phew !
From the moment it kickstarts, and believe me - there's a lot of meaningless kicking around right from the start, you keep waiting for the best hilarious scenes to drive you crazy ! All you get is a meagre string of funny stuff and that too from Javed Jaffery and Om Puri (NOT Akki Singh!).
Happy Singh(Akshay Kumar) is a handsome sardar in a village helping folks out, by catching their chickens on the terraces, dancing in their weddings et al. The Village Chief is SO darn impressed by his humanitarian deeds that he decides to sponsor him to go to Australia. His task is to find another sardar Lucky Singh(Sonu Sood), who's a Don now in the foreign land and bring him back to the pind (meaning village ! Picked up some punjabi while watching the movie!). Why? Dont really know, its probably some ailing relatives that werent shown and referred to, in the movie at all. Anyhow, Akki detours to Egypt for some godforsaken reason (I think it was to sing a song with katrina Kaif near the pyramids), reaches Oz. As circumastances and forced situations would have it, he has to take on the role of the Don, he reforms the Don's employees, wins over the Kat woman somehow wherein she eazily dumps poor ranvir Shourie and they all live in la la land happily ever after ! No plot, No story and clearly No coordination.
Gets a 3 on 10 from me!
From the moment it kickstarts, and believe me - there's a lot of meaningless kicking around right from the start, you keep waiting for the best hilarious scenes to drive you crazy ! All you get is a meagre string of funny stuff and that too from Javed Jaffery and Om Puri (NOT Akki Singh!).
Happy Singh(Akshay Kumar) is a handsome sardar in a village helping folks out, by catching their chickens on the terraces, dancing in their weddings et al. The Village Chief is SO darn impressed by his humanitarian deeds that he decides to sponsor him to go to Australia. His task is to find another sardar Lucky Singh(Sonu Sood), who's a Don now in the foreign land and bring him back to the pind (meaning village ! Picked up some punjabi while watching the movie!). Why? Dont really know, its probably some ailing relatives that werent shown and referred to, in the movie at all. Anyhow, Akki detours to Egypt for some godforsaken reason (I think it was to sing a song with katrina Kaif near the pyramids), reaches Oz. As circumastances and forced situations would have it, he has to take on the role of the Don, he reforms the Don's employees, wins over the Kat woman somehow wherein she eazily dumps poor ranvir Shourie and they all live in la la land happily ever after ! No plot, No story and clearly No coordination.
Gets a 3 on 10 from me!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na
The title is actually an ominous warning - not many realize it though..alas ! Do you know or not what you're getting into? Actually there are bright chances of you having a good time in the movie because of the great music album that Mr.A.R.Rehman has cut out of this film. You may also fancy the kind-of cute and natural Imran Khan. I'm scratching my head to come up with a few more positives before I start ripping the movie apart ! Okay nothing ! Very done-to-death plot. Friends falling in love without realizing they have hots for each other (yawn yawn). In an attempt to make a cool youthful movie, the makers have a juvenile piece at their hand. The girl in the movie has a bad diction (yeah worse than Katrina!), irritating personality and zero spark. The gang of friends is the most boring group ever...yeah boring friends exist! But who spends money to go watch them in the theatre as well?! Guest appearances of Sohail Khan and Arbaaz Khan, Nasseruddin and Ratna Pathak duo, believable and charming Imran and catchy tunes fetch points for this one so all in all...
4 out of 10 ! (With a heavy heart!)
4 out of 10 ! (With a heavy heart!)
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