Eklavya The Royal Guard
January 26, 2007
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Jackie Shroff, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Jimmy Shergill, Boman Irani, Raima Sen
Director: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Contemporary India. A majestic fort. A royal dynasty that no longer rules. A king without a kingdom.
Yet Eklavya (Amitabh Bachchan), their royal guard, lives in a time warp. He lives only to protect the fort, the dynasty and the king. For nine generations Eklavya’s family has protected Devigarh, a centuries old citadel in Rajasthan.
His marksmanships are stuff of legends. His unflinching loyalty inspires ballads. Eklavya has spent his entire life serving the royals and closely guarding their secrets but now he’s getting old and increasingly blind.
Unable to cope with the suffocating customs of his land, the heir, Prince Harshwardhan (Saif Ali Khan), has stayed away in London. But the sudden demise of the queen, Rani Suhasinidevi (Sharmila Tagore), forces the Prince back to the kingdom he had left behind.
The Prince’s return brings a rush of joy into the moribund fort. His mentally challenged twin sister, Princes Nandini (Raima Sen) and his childhood love Rajjo (Vidya Balan) are delighted to see him. But the joy of reunion is short-lived.
There is unrest in the kingdom: Farmers are being stripped of their lands. The king, Rana Jayawardhan (Boman Irani), influenced by his brother, Rana Jyotiwardhan (Jackie Shroff), supports the atrocities being forced upon the helpless peasants. The king receives a death threat over the phone.
An irreverent police officer, Pannalal Chohar (Sanjay Dutt), is called into investigate. But he might be too late. The fragile peace of the land is suddenly shattered by a barrage of bullets. And amidst the mayhem, the safety guarded secrets of the fort are unveiled.
What follows is a contemporary, edge-of-the-seat dramatic action thriller with a stellar ensemble cast – Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani, Jackie Shroff, Jimmy Shergil, Raima Sen and Sharmila Tagore. The film marks the return of Vidhu Vinod Chopra who directs after a hiatus of seven years.
Traffic Signal
January 26, 2007
Cast: Kunal Khemu, Neetu Chandra, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranveer Shorey, Raja Pandit, Upyendra Limaye
Director: Madhur Bhandarkar
Take a walk down its mean streets and one gets the essence of Mumbai; pause a while at one of its Traffic Signal and one gets the essence of life. In a day scores of people go past multitudes of Traffic Signal’s scattered all over the city.
People sitting in their vehicles impatiently wait to get going. Though this waiting lasts but a few minutes it feels like a lifetime to them.
However unknown to them there thrives an industry that derives its livelihood from these people waiting at the Traffic Signals. The work force of this industry is not less than that of an average sized multinational. It comprises of a gamut of people thrown in together by fate or hunger.
There are oddities to the likes of eunuchs, handicapped and impaired beggars, lepers, street kids, drug addicts, and prostitutes, vendors selling flowers, fruits, sunscreens to sunglasses.
Traffic Signal is a story of one such signal, which is representative of all other signals around the city. Silsila (Kunal Khemu ) a young orphan, who was born and who took his first tiny step at the signal is now its manager.
Rani (Neetu Chandra) came to the city of dreams with a purpose. A wish to make some money so that she could go back to her hometown and settle for good. Her sister Chutki who helps her sell traditional garments that they have bought from their hometown in Gujrat accompanies her.
Unknown to the ways of the city life she displays her wares at the roadside and gets snubbed by Silsila who tells her that she’d have to pay a percentage of her earnings as a rule. Their first meeting ends in a scrap, but things become amicable as time goes by and eventually they fall in love.
For Silsila the Signal is his workplace and a home where he lived. He’s a sensitive soul with a heart of gold who considers the people like his family.
He loves all those working at the signal, which in a way is his family but would spare nobody when it comes to business. He has a mentor, named Jaffar, who also is the collector of his region.
Both he and Jaffar work for the local Mafioso, Haji and would even lay down their lives for him. Inherent in the social structure, lies a nexus between the local Mafia and Politicians, though at that level Silsila is almost nonexistent.
Yet by a force of circumstance Silsila gets drawn into the bigger game and finds himself to be responsible for the annihilation of his own world, something to which he’s dedicated his life. His deeds are irreversible and he would most certainly not be able to get things back to normal.
What would Silsila do in such a situation? Someone who had never hurt anybody in his lifetime. A person with a heart of gold who was left to fend for himself and the future of those who’d been devastated because of him.
Silsila being a practical person knows that he can never take on Haji who is too powerful and way beyond him. Yet no matter what and how he has to get his life and the lives of his family at the Traffic Signal back on track how he gets around to do it is the summing up of the film Traffic Signal.
Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd
January 8, 2007
Cast: Abhay Deol, Minissha Lamba, Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Amisha Patel, Raima Sen, Kay Kay Menon, Sandhya Mridul, Vikram Chatwal, Karan Khanna, Ranvir Shorey, Dia Mirza & Arjun Rampal.
Director: Reema Kagti
This romantic comedy revolves around six couples, a guide, a driver and a handyman, all riding in a bus from Bombay to Goa.
Oscar Fernandez (Boman Irani) and Nahid (Shabana Azmi) are a middle aged couple who married at an old age. People make fun of them but they are not bothered.
Coming from a tough background and facing many hardships, they are leaving their past behind and are searching for a future together.
We have Partho Sen (Kay Kay Menon) and Milly Sen (Raima Sen) who come from a small town in Bengal.
Pinky (Amisha Patel) and Vicky (Karan Khanna) are from Delhi and are they have totally different characters. While Pinky is talkative, Vicky is the quiet sort.
Madhu (Sandhya Mridul) and Bunty (Vikram Chatwal) come from different backgrounds. Bunty has grown up in the West whilst Madhu is a traditional girl from Mumbai.
Included on this honeymoon holiday, are a young couple from Gujurat – Hitesh (Ranvir Shorey) and Shilpa (Dia Mirza). Their story raises a question of what is more important in life. Is it love or marriage?
We also have the perfect couple – Aspi (Abhay Deol) and Zara (Minissha Lamba). But there is a dark side to their story which is revealed in the climax of the film.
The narrative humorously unfolds seven different stories that explore the nature of love and human relationships.
Woven into the hectic four day honeymoon schedule is a radio show called “Pyaar Ke Lamhe” which discusses individual characters, revealing secrets about them and their past.
From the time the bus leaves Bombay, a man on a bike follows them all the way to Goa. Nobody knows who he is or what his intensions are but once again the climax reveals all.
Honeymoon Travels Pvt is an exciting and cheerful film taking a closer look at a lot of dreamers on the brink of their new life.
Guru
January 8, 2007
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Vidya Balan, R. Madhavan, Mithun Chakraborthy, Mallika Sherawat
Director: Mani Ratnam
In a small village of Idhar in Gujarat, a young man dreams of making it big one day. His father a headmaster of the village school tells him that dreams never come true.
But this young lad did dream. As he grew up, so did his dreams. He loved Idar. It was quiet, peaceful, lazy and green. But he knew that his destiny was beyond this village…
Set in the picturesque beauty of the 1958, Bombay, this young man comes to the city of fortune with only two shirts, a wife, a brother-in-law and Rs.15,000 to start a business.
But all doors were shut for a newcomer. Indian business and trade were run by a handful of the rich and the privileged. Only they were given the licenses. They had the quotas and they controlled all government trade.
It was an exclusive club where it was impossible for an ordinary middle class newcomer to enter, let alone succeed.
He had to kick the doors open or cajole them to open. He did both and would not take no for an answer. And that’s because he never knew the word ‘no’.
Despite all barriers, he started his own company called Shakti Trading in a 350 sq feet room, with one telephone, one table and three chairs.
Forty years on, Shakti Corporation became the first Indian company to enter the Forbes top 500 list. People asked him how this happened and he said think big, think ahead and think fast.
Another thought-provoking film from the master of Indian cinema, Mani Ratnam.
Guru is a movie in which a poor villager goes from rags to riches due to his sheer determination and personal drive, despite being faced with many business barriers.
Kabul Express
January 8, 2007
Cast: Arshad Warsi, John Abraham, Salman Shahid, Hanif Hum Ghum and Linda Arsenio
Director: Kabir Khan
Ratings: ***
First thing first – director Kabir Khan’s directorial debut will not appeal to those looking for candyfloss kind of entertainment. But one should see it for its absorbing intricacies and intelligent narration. It is a thought-provoking film.
“Kabul Express” is a socio-political comment on the post 9/11 war ravaged Afghanistan. The director has deftly used his experience and expertise to put out the tragic situation in the country abandoned by its staunch supporter Pakistan after the attack on the US.
As the film progresses one can see a beautiful country reduced to ruins, disappearing human civilisation and vegetation and haunting silence, which is often disturbed by gunshots.
One needs courage to make a hard-hitting film like this and kudos to Kabir for treading an untrodden path.
The film is about the journey of two Indian journalists – Jai Kapoor (Arshad Warsi) and Suhel Khan (John Abraham) – in war-torn Afghanistan for an exclusive interview with a Taliban.
Just few days after landing in the disturbed terrains of Afghanistan they are taken hostage by Imran Khan (Salman Shahid), a Taliban, who is trying to escape to Pakistan to save his life. Imran is a Pakistani soldier, who becomes a victim of the political nexus between his native country and the US.
On their way Jai and Suhel bump into an American photojournalist Jessica Beckham (Linda Arsenio), who also becomes Imran’s captive! And Khyber, an Afghan, who is Jai and Suhel’s guide and translator, drives all of them to Pakistan border in his Toyota jeep called Kabul Express.
But Khyber and Imran cannot see eye to eye on the Taliban phenomenon, and through their views the director brings forth the controversies surrounding the formation of the Taliban and its effect on the country.
The film takes a critical look at the Islamist fundamentalist movement, which ruled most of Afghanistan from 1996 until 2001, and faulty US policies exploiting developing nations.
Most shocking revelation in the film was the Taliban’s treatment of women. Most of them are widows. Taliban does not permit women to work and, therefore, all the widows are forced to beg for food and shelter.
The film, however, has lighter moments too. The conversations among Jai, Suhel, Imraan and Khyber (Hanif Hum Ghum) make one laugh heartily. Their rigid views on cricketers Kapil Dev and Imran Khan, actress Madhuri Dixit, and Uncle Sam’s country are quite amusing. Jai and Imran’s one-liners are hilarious.
The director has full control over the narration and not even once he deviates.
However, there is one flaw in the film. Despite all the violence and prejudices and intolerance, “Kabul Express” turns out to be a soft film focusing mainly on emotions. Kabir stresses on the fact that it is the socio-political situations that force people to pick up arm and turn into terrorists.
Performance wise, Arshad is the show stealer. He effortlessly slips under his character. Hanif and Salman are impeccable and often moving.
John is a misfit and looks out of sync and Linda Arsenio does not have much to do. But her presence certainly adds glamour to an otherwise dry drama.
Some of the scenes are gripping. For instance when Imran goes to meet his daughter but cultural restrictions forbid him from expressing his emotions for his daughter. Also when he reaches the Pakistan border to escape death but ironically is shot down by his own countrymen.
“Kabul Express” interweaves stories of different individuals put together by unfavourable circumstances into a relationship, which is moving as well as revealing.
A must watch.
Aryan: The Unbreakable
January 8, 2007
Starring Sohail Khan, Sneha Ullal, Inder Kumar
Directed by Abhishek Kapoor
Rating: * ½
Sometimes the heart is in the right place. But the spirit meanders. And you end up watching a film that makes all the right moves…and yet fails to move the audience.
Though it calls itself ‘Unbreakable’ Aryan is perpetually on the verge of breaking down under the wight of its own earnestness.
Debutant director Abhishek Kapoor means well. But is that enough? Kapoor fills the visuals and soundtrack with images and sounds that accentuate the protagonist’s fight to survive with dignity.
That the source of inspiration for Sohail Khan is clearly Sylvester Stallone in Rocky is apparent in not just the cursory boxing sequences, but also the whole map of the marital relationship between the heiress (Snehe Ullal, barely passable) and the prematurely retired boxer Aryan who spends all his time brooding, lazing, faffing and drinking…not in that, or any order.
“It’s a terrible blow to the male ego when the wife is the sole bread-earner of the family,” Aryan’s pal, gone from stammering inefficiency to social prosperity, counsels the jobless boxer.
The fights between the couple that follow look as staged as the boxing bouts in the end. But you nonetheless applaud director Kapoor for taking a sporty theme and converting it into a reasonably well-crafted domestic drama.
To his credit Sohail Khan is a watchable presence who excels at portraying working-class anxieties. I remember watching him do the street-smart jobless dude (a sort of Sunny Deol in Arjun, Ghayal mixed with Anil Kapoor in Tezaab and Salman in Tere Naam) in I Proud To Be An Indian who takes on racism in the UK.
In Aryan Sohail tackles a far more personal anxiety. The stress level is high. But the actor remains largely imperturbable…whether that’s a sign of pent-up emotion or lack of the emotion, one can’t say.
Aryan is a sweet little film that tells you life is neither bitter nor better…It’s just a state of the mind. With occasionally, the fist thrown in. Don’t try to look for too much relevance and you come away pleased with the placid proceedings.
Bhagam Bhag
January 8, 2007
Starring Govinda, Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Paresh Rawail, Rajpal Yadav, Jackie Shroff
Directed by Priyadarshan
Rating: No Clue!
In a Priyadarshan comedy one is always comforted in the chaos of colliding characters by the thought that somewhere in the on-going blizzard of bacchanalia there’s a rhythm and a rationale.
It’s that thought which keeps you smiling through the exasperatingly juvenile games of one-upmanship between Govinda and Akshay Kumar in the prolific director’s latest ode to rude- awakening calls from the shudder-world.
While Bhagam Bhag lacks the working-class anxieties of Hera Pheri, it certainly captures some of the colour, flamboyance and friskiness of a dance troupe from Mumbai which arrives in London for a performance without a heroine. Both the heroes, tongue-in-cheekily named Bunty(Akshay) and Babla(Govinda) as tribute to Abhishek and Rani’s ongoing boisterousness from the back-waters in Bunty Aur Babli, are asked to get a girl for the play.
Then begins the endless chase. It seems as if the director took the film’s title so literally he had to have a supporting cast that could colonize a medium-sized island. Everyone runs and speaks incessantly. Neeraj Vora’s lines include severely sexist dialogues like, “If you give izzat to a woman she gives her izzat to you,”…. And “You hold her blouse I’ll hold her saree.” This, when an unconscious woman needs to be carried.
The film takes us on a bumpy, boisterous, wickedly naughty ride. Although we see Akshay getting in and out of London roads and transportation in a slapstick equivalent of a road movie, he seldom gives us reason to apply any logic to the proceedings.
The plot keeps building up into a riot of screams and confusions signifying nothing more than a pesky penchant for a prattlingly pronounced parody that goes around in a dizzying circle.
Akshay Kumar shows a marked tendency to take over the show. Some of the dialogues like the one about cutting other actor’s roles, are clearly indicative of his growing dominance as an actor. He continues to be funny, re-inventing his self-important character’s body language to the extent that he appears to be another person altogether. Of course the grin remains unchanged. Comedy in Hindi cinema has become more a joy for the actors than the viewers.
Govinda is saddled with an under-written dithering role that requires him to be more supporting than aggressive. He’s clearly not comfortable standing in Akshay Kumar’s shadows. But seems to have little choice. In that sense he’s one with the audience.
As in all of Priyadarshan’s films there’s a huge cast of mock-monstrous supporting players, like Shakti Kapoor(with two broken legs), Sharad Sexena(in dark glasses and a grimace), Jackie Shroff ( wearing what could be the most lost look ever in a Hindi film) and Rajpal Yadav(bravely looking confident in cabbie’s role).
Lara Dutta plays a suicidal woman. She keeps jumping in front of cars and courting incendiary situations. You could call her the film’s kinetic element if only her expressions matched her invisible passions.
The choreography and songs are like Bhendi Bazar versions of Broadway. Yup, the director and his cast go the broad way. Thankfully, the finesse that Priyadarshan brings to the London setting keeps the melee from collapsing in spite of multiple collision.
But at the end of it all you do wonder if the pointless bhagam-bhag(scamper) is the best remedy for the blues.
How about some weight in the wit next time, Mr Priyadarshan?
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