No Strings Attached

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 21st January, 2011
Time : 108 minutes
Director : Ivan Reitman; Writer : Elizabeth Meriwether; Music : John Debney
Starring : Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher, Kevin Kline, Greta Gerwig, Lake Bell, Ludacris, Jake M Johnson, Mindy Kaling, Ophelia Lovibond, Ben Lawson, Olivia Thirlby

“Ten years from now you’re going to be having sex with your wife. And its gonna be in the missionary position. And one of you will be asleep”

This film is not about the storyline, which is quite routine, but about the sparkling screenplay, loveable & easily identifiable characters and excellent acting, none more so than the lead pair.


“Remember that when she’s at the hospital, I’ll be right next to her, using big English words and saving lives”

Natalie Portman doesn’t want any relationships. She has no time (is a doctor), doesn’t want complications and doesn’t want to get hurt. There is a guy (Ashton Kutcher) she keeps bumping into. Nice looking, cool, though he seems to be living off and in his famous dad’s (Kevin Kline) shadow. She enjoys having sex with him, decides to proposition him to become her ‘sex friend’, the condition being that they must not fall in love or behave like a couple. Sub plots include her medical roommates, all a bit kooky. His friends, who alternate in giving unwanted advice and attempting to hook themselves up. And his dad, who’s decided to hook up with his ex-girlfriend…


“Are you the guy who had sex with a woman and gave her a balloon?”

I wouldn’t have thought of Natalie and Ashton as a likely couple but they definitely make a good looking pair, a pair you enjoy watching having sex (many times), a pair that seems comfortable together. While having a crush on Natalie since her Star Wars days, for me she really comes into her own here, a romantic leading lady role (am yet to see Black Swan though, a film she’s likely to win an Oscar for). She was really good here. And after this, I will no longer think of Ashton as Demi’s toyboy husband. He’s managed to carve a niche of his own and is beginning to justify having over 5mn Twitter followers.


“But he’s so tall ! Everytime I stand next to him, it looks like a case of kidnapping !”

There are quite a few genuine laugh out loud moments (the period mix, the dinner with Kevin, Ashton & Natalie, even the end of the movie stills), jokes fly thick and fast, the various characters are all crazy yet real enough, the mood light and easy throughout, the dialogue appropriately fizzy and enough unexpected plot twists (including the time Ashton wakes up naked amidst a group of people and cant remember who he had sex with) to keep us amused.



“I think Monogamy goes against our basic biology”

This was the perfect antidote to the weepy manipulative melodrama I was tortured with yesterday. A perfect Valentine’s Day release. One that I’m going to enjoy watching again as I’m not sure I got all the jokes. And I cant say that about many chick flicks…

Break Ke Baad

Rating : 4/10
Release Date : 26th November, 2010
Time : 115 minutes
Director, Co-Writer : Danish Aslam; Co-writer : Renuka Kunzru; Music : Vishal - Shekhar
Starring : Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone, Lilette Dubey, Shahana Goswami, Yudhistr Urs, Navin Nischol, Sharmila Tagore

This is one of the films where you know exactly how everything will turn out from the beginning. You know the central characters love each other right from the opening credits, you know how every twist and turn will resolve itself. And your only hope is that the director & script writer make it so much fun that you still enjoy yourself. They try but don’t succeed.




Imran is Deepika’s neighbour and classmate from time immemorial. He’s the calm, measured one, the one who sorts things out, the one who makes sure the relationship keeps going ahead. Imran works with his Dad at their cinema hall, hates it there but doesn’t know what he wants to do. Deepika is the fiery, flighty one. She is very sure she’s going to be an actress, even though her mom (Sharmila) is dead against it. She gets admission in a course in mass-comm in Australia and decides to go for it. How does Imran & her relationship survive this huge test ? Will their love survive ?



I liked the opening credits but hated the opening scene (Imran in front of a mirror, very corny). Deepika came across nicely, pulled her role off and looked stunning, right from her opening scene in a low slung sari. All characters were so half baked, however, that it doesn’t hold your attention. All conflicts are storms in a teacup as well and in real life would never threaten a lifelong relationship. So what we’re left with is the music (v uninspiring), the acting (Deepika was good, the rest were patchy) or the jokes (few funny moments, some from Yudhistr, some from Deepika and a couple from Lilette)


So, we’re left with a sometimes funny, rarel interesting, mostly boring film which struggles to hold our interest, especially break ke baad….