Its gritty, realistic but completely pointless. I hate being misled or ripped off and this feeling was highly prominent as I was walking out of the cinema hall.
The name should’ve been ‘all shoot-outs in Mumbai’ or ‘every encounter in Mumbai from 1990-93’. The opening scene shows a PYT somberly telling us about the shoot-out at Lokhandwala – how 3000 rounds were fired, 112 people endangered, 6 gangsters killed etc. Bunkum, bakwaas ! We witnessed about 5000 rounds being fired, about 20 chase sequences through the slums of Mumbai, about 50 quick deaths and 20 really gruesome ones. And you know what ? I felt nothing for anyone, for any character on the screen. I felt no sympathy or trepidation or any other emotion as I watched one human being kill or maim each other. Because no character is developed, even for the main characters, we have no clue what they are like, what drives them, what makes them do the things they do. The movie just stumbles from one killing / one incident to another with item numbers (4 very boring tuneless songs) used in place of punctuation marks.
There is no story in the first place – and whatever little is there is completely ruined by the directors choice of narrative style – which is flashbacks intermingled with the present day scenario. This takes the suspense out completely (as you know how it ends / who lives and who dies etc) and also makes the story very disjointed / fragmented – you struggle to follow one sub-plot before the other one kicks off. We’re told about the set-up of the ATS (anti-terrorist squad) led by Sanjay Dutt (and how he recruited only the best of the best etc, based on the Los Angeles SWAT teams) and how they became a judge, jury and executioner (or in Page 3 terms, encounter specialists). We first see them battle sikh terrorists and then move on to the Mumbai underworld without warning (why would the underworld be in the domain of ATS beggars belief, but then I think the director assumed a brainless audience). Through 80% of the movie we follow the ATS chase an underworld gang led by Vivek Oberoi, who used to be a trusty lieutenant of you-know-who (he lives in dubai, has a moustache and wears goggles all the time) but is now trying to establish his own gang. This gang kills / robs / kidnaps just for fun. Plus they act terribly – Vivek Oberoi and Tusshar Kapoor have yet to learn that to be menacing, you don’t have to scowl fiercely or look constipated, you can do this quite naturally. Yet when the time comes, we’re expected to weep for them / forgive them ? Abhishek is present only in a blink and you miss him role and Amitabh in a five minute longer version of the same.
There is not one new thought or narrative style in the film and you struggle to the see point of it all. Why was it made ? What was the director / script-writer trying to say ? Why did they subject us to 3 hours of torture ? And why did good actors (the Bachchan’s, Sanjay baba, Suneil Shetty etc) agree to act in this movie. I guess some things, like the Bermuda Triangle or women’s love for shopping are never meant to be answered. Avoid this one like the plague !
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Cheeni Kum
What do you say about a two and a half hour movie that just got over ? That it was beautiful ? Brilliant ? Exquisite ? Or that it reminded me of Four Weddings and a Funeral or When Harry Met Sally or even the conversational brilliance of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, though not necessarily in that order ?
This movie is a novelty for India, a movie comprising mostly of intelligent, dialogue based humour rather than on situations (like Khosla ka Ghosla) or slapstick (most of the other Hindi movies that pretend to be comedies). Amitabh Bachchan is a crabby 64 year old chef / owner of an Indian restaurant in London. The first half depicts the growing relationship between himself and Tabu, a 34 year old woman from Delhi in London on a holiday. The second half primarily depicts Tabu’s 58 year old father, Paresh Rawal’s viewpoint on the relationship. There – that’s it as far as the story goes…nothing more, nothing less…
The true brilliance of the movie lies in the life / spark infused in even the simplest of situations or the simplest of characters. Whether it’s the interaction amongst the chef’s in the restaurant, the waiter hilariously nicknamed Colgate because of his protruding teeth and the jokes at their expense (‘iske liye dimaag ki zaroorat hai, daant ki nahin’, he is gently admonished on one occasion), the sardarji pharmacist and Amitabh’s interactions with him, Amitabh’s mom’s fascination with the gym in the face of her sons obvious reluctance to go anywhere near it, his acerbic comments on his mom’s cooking (‘yeh Tihar Jail waali daal ?’), Paresh Rawal’s love of cricket and Gandhism. I can go on and on. I was in near-hysterical splits on no less than 10 occasions. I’m still laughing as I remember some of the jokes….
And I haven’t even mentioned Amitabh and Tabu – their running joke around the umbrella, the ruthless way she teases him the first time he tries to ask her out, their almost every conversation was beautifully constructed. The movie also captures amazingly well the highs and lows of falling in love. Will she come or wont she ? Will she say yes ? The mood swings, the heartache and the sheer exhilaration and joy when its all ok, when you’re with your newfound love.
I think one of the casting coup’s of the movie was Tabu. I watched this movie with a school friend of mine (Prashant) and we discussed her at length after the movie. The parts of the conversation I can print here involved her sheer beauty, her classic features (high cheekbones, eyes) and her subtleness…her understated yet enigmatic presence. She brings reality and a certain mystique to her character, makes acting seem so easy. I don’t think there is another Bollywood actress who could have done justice to her role.
However, this doesn’t detract in any way from any of the other performances in the movie. Everyone was excellent – from Amitabh to Paresh Rawal to each chef / waiter in the restaurant, Amitabh’s neighbour and his daughter (a nice sub-plot here and at last we get a real child who talks like today’s kids actually do, unlike the saccharine mumblings of the girl in TaraRumPum). The music, with the title song playing constantly in the background, the settings (even Qutab Minar looks beautiful in the movie), everything, like spices, enhance the brilliance of the dialogue.
Take a bow, Mr Balki (an admaker and first time director). The entire audience gave a standing ovation when the movie ended. Is movie main kuch bhi kum nahin tha !
This movie is a novelty for India, a movie comprising mostly of intelligent, dialogue based humour rather than on situations (like Khosla ka Ghosla) or slapstick (most of the other Hindi movies that pretend to be comedies). Amitabh Bachchan is a crabby 64 year old chef / owner of an Indian restaurant in London. The first half depicts the growing relationship between himself and Tabu, a 34 year old woman from Delhi in London on a holiday. The second half primarily depicts Tabu’s 58 year old father, Paresh Rawal’s viewpoint on the relationship. There – that’s it as far as the story goes…nothing more, nothing less…
The true brilliance of the movie lies in the life / spark infused in even the simplest of situations or the simplest of characters. Whether it’s the interaction amongst the chef’s in the restaurant, the waiter hilariously nicknamed Colgate because of his protruding teeth and the jokes at their expense (‘iske liye dimaag ki zaroorat hai, daant ki nahin’, he is gently admonished on one occasion), the sardarji pharmacist and Amitabh’s interactions with him, Amitabh’s mom’s fascination with the gym in the face of her sons obvious reluctance to go anywhere near it, his acerbic comments on his mom’s cooking (‘yeh Tihar Jail waali daal ?’), Paresh Rawal’s love of cricket and Gandhism. I can go on and on. I was in near-hysterical splits on no less than 10 occasions. I’m still laughing as I remember some of the jokes….
And I haven’t even mentioned Amitabh and Tabu – their running joke around the umbrella, the ruthless way she teases him the first time he tries to ask her out, their almost every conversation was beautifully constructed. The movie also captures amazingly well the highs and lows of falling in love. Will she come or wont she ? Will she say yes ? The mood swings, the heartache and the sheer exhilaration and joy when its all ok, when you’re with your newfound love.
I think one of the casting coup’s of the movie was Tabu. I watched this movie with a school friend of mine (Prashant) and we discussed her at length after the movie. The parts of the conversation I can print here involved her sheer beauty, her classic features (high cheekbones, eyes) and her subtleness…her understated yet enigmatic presence. She brings reality and a certain mystique to her character, makes acting seem so easy. I don’t think there is another Bollywood actress who could have done justice to her role.
However, this doesn’t detract in any way from any of the other performances in the movie. Everyone was excellent – from Amitabh to Paresh Rawal to each chef / waiter in the restaurant, Amitabh’s neighbour and his daughter (a nice sub-plot here and at last we get a real child who talks like today’s kids actually do, unlike the saccharine mumblings of the girl in TaraRumPum). The music, with the title song playing constantly in the background, the settings (even Qutab Minar looks beautiful in the movie), everything, like spices, enhance the brilliance of the dialogue.
Take a bow, Mr Balki (an admaker and first time director). The entire audience gave a standing ovation when the movie ended. Is movie main kuch bhi kum nahin tha !
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local
This is a movie which makes you smile quite often but very rarely does it manage to convert that smile into laughter. It tries very hard to be a comedy, to be quirky, to push the boundaries, has liberal doses of Mumbai humour and even creates a series of potentially funny situations, but it still doesn’t manage to elicit the belly-moving laughter.
Its about Abhay Deol, who misses the last local (train) at night from Kurla to Vikhroli (in Mumbai), tries to take an auto-rickshaw and meets Neha Dhupia, who is also co-incidentally trying to get to Vikhroli. The auto’s are on strike, so they decide to start walking together till they find an auto willing to go. They then encounter different situations – rain, some charsi’s (druggies), a bar, some more rain, an old friend, a card game, corrupt cops, denizens of the underworld among others. These don’t come thick and fast, its not a non-stop action movie, and while some situations stretch the realms of possibility, none are completely impossible.
So while this assures you of some good entertainment, and some good moments, I don’t think its one for the DVD collection. I think Abhay Deol overacts, doesn’t have the flair to pull off his role. You can see why they chose him – his seedha boy innocent looks – but then this doesn’t help when they want to show him ogling at Neha’s plunging neckline or dying for a beer – doesn’t fit with his dimpled smile and shy demeanour. Everyone else was ok in the movie, I think some of characters were deliberately over the top. There was this Eunuch / Pimp who was good and a character named Mangesh Bhai had his moments but most turned in average performances. The script is a bit forced, uses too much Mumbai language for my liking. The songs are ok, nothing stands out. The situations, though, are interesting for sure. You do wonder whats coming next. But even here I think the director missed a trick by showing the movie in flashback form – the opening sequence shows Abhay talking to us about what he has just been through and for me that spoilt to a degree the suspense of what lay ahead.
So, what are we left with ? As with most of the movies these days it’s a bit different. It doesn’t make you think too much, the grey cells can safely be left at home. I think a few people will go home smacking their forehead and thinking ‘what crap !’ and about the same number, probably younger profile people will go away thinking ‘wow, that was brilliant !’. But most, I think, like me will go home thinking it was ok, it was a movie that tried too hard to be funny.
Its about Abhay Deol, who misses the last local (train) at night from Kurla to Vikhroli (in Mumbai), tries to take an auto-rickshaw and meets Neha Dhupia, who is also co-incidentally trying to get to Vikhroli. The auto’s are on strike, so they decide to start walking together till they find an auto willing to go. They then encounter different situations – rain, some charsi’s (druggies), a bar, some more rain, an old friend, a card game, corrupt cops, denizens of the underworld among others. These don’t come thick and fast, its not a non-stop action movie, and while some situations stretch the realms of possibility, none are completely impossible.
So while this assures you of some good entertainment, and some good moments, I don’t think its one for the DVD collection. I think Abhay Deol overacts, doesn’t have the flair to pull off his role. You can see why they chose him – his seedha boy innocent looks – but then this doesn’t help when they want to show him ogling at Neha’s plunging neckline or dying for a beer – doesn’t fit with his dimpled smile and shy demeanour. Everyone else was ok in the movie, I think some of characters were deliberately over the top. There was this Eunuch / Pimp who was good and a character named Mangesh Bhai had his moments but most turned in average performances. The script is a bit forced, uses too much Mumbai language for my liking. The songs are ok, nothing stands out. The situations, though, are interesting for sure. You do wonder whats coming next. But even here I think the director missed a trick by showing the movie in flashback form – the opening sequence shows Abhay talking to us about what he has just been through and for me that spoilt to a degree the suspense of what lay ahead.
So, what are we left with ? As with most of the movies these days it’s a bit different. It doesn’t make you think too much, the grey cells can safely be left at home. I think a few people will go home smacking their forehead and thinking ‘what crap !’ and about the same number, probably younger profile people will go away thinking ‘wow, that was brilliant !’. But most, I think, like me will go home thinking it was ok, it was a movie that tried too hard to be funny.
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