Tezz

Rating : 2/10
Release Date : 27th April, 2012
Time : 120 minutes
Director : Priyadarshan; Writers : Robin Bhatt, Aditya Dhar ; Music : Sajid-Wajid
Starring : Anil Kapoor, Ajay Devgn, Zayed Khan, Sameera Reddy, Boman Irani, Kangana Ranaut, Phillip Martin Brown, Mohanlal

My sincere advice is to watch Speed, followed by Unstoppable and spare yourself the agony.

The scene is England. Ajay Devgn, for reasons unfathomable plants a bomb on a train. Asks for 10mn ransom. Not clear why. Is assisted by Zayed and Sameera for reason or reasons unknown. Anil Kapoor, who retired the day before from the Counter Terrorism cell, is strangely called back (even though its clearly stated by him from minute one, that this is not a terrorist case). Boman Irani, in charge of train movement, huffs and puffs, trying to save his daughter who's also on the train.

Lots more stupidity occurs. Sentimentality abounds. Race, emotion, Brit v Indian, every trick in the book is used to try and make us care. All in vain. Oh and everyone was shot speaking in English but then I think the producers chickened out and dubbed everything in Hindi, without bothering to reshoot. So even the goras speak Hindi. Flawlessly, and in most cases without an accent.

I regret not obeying my impulse and walking out during the interval. Stayed just so I could write the review. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve walked. What I did was above and beyond the call of duty…(21 gun salute)…Amen…

Contract

Rating : 2/10
Running Time : 122 Minutes
Release Date : 18th July ‘08
Director : Ram Gopal Varma ; Writer : Prashant Pandey ; Music : Amar Mohile, Sanaa, Bapi-Tutul
Starring : Adhvik Mahajan, Sakshi Gulati, Zakir Hussain, Sumeet Nijhavan, Upendra Limaye

I would like to put out a contract against Ram Gopal Varma’s ego. I have an issue with a person who treats the art of cinema so disdainfully, calls his film company a ‘factory’ and makes 3-4 films in a year.

Contract showcases nothing new – either in terms of story or cinematic treatment and is further let down by clichéd dialogue, wooden performances and an unrealistic ending that leaves itself open to the horrifying prospect of a sequel. The story, that of an ex-army guy, who’s family is killed in a mass bombing and now seeks revenge by becoming a terrorist, is clearly old hat. His rise up the ranks of the underworld / terrorists is almost too easy – maybe that’s how it happens in real life, I cant claim to know any better – but it just seems too simplistic. And we’re also exposed to gore, deaths etc to make it worse.

Adhvik is ok – slightly wooden but has potential in terms of physique and looks. Sakshi Gulati is an improvement vs Ramu’s previous muse (Nisha Kothari) but then so would most people on the planet be, so that’s not saying much. Maybe with the right role, she could be better. The others seem to be sleepwalking through a performance which doesn’t demand too much in terms of emoting or dialogue delivery. And we are further subjected to really weird camera angles and the gritty, yellowish, dark photography that is de rigueur in all of RGV’s films.

Couldn’t wait for it to end. Go on, RGV, I dare you to make a sequel to this one ! I think after your recent disasters, even you will struggle to find backers in the future.