Red

March 18, 2007

RedDirector: Vikram Bhatt
Cast: Aftab Shivdasani, Celina Jaitely, Sushant Singh and Amrita Arora
Rating: *

The title is appropriate, because that’s exactly what the audience sees after watching the film. And their anger is justified – a tired plot, non actors made to emote, talented actors stuck (which is worse), and sleaze that’s not in the least bit sensuous.

Indeed, as this writer sat in the cinema hall, this unintentionally funny film drew more laughs and sniggers from the audience than anything else.

Anahita’s (Celina Jaitely) husband Anuj has just passed away in an accident and his heart has been donated to Neil Oberoi (Aftab Shivdasani). Unsurprisingly, Anahita and Neil fall in love and smooch a lot. The always-frightened Anahita and the overprotective Neil suspect that Anuj’s death was in fact a murder, and the killer is out to get Anahita as well.

So Neil does what every worthy suitor must do in these civilized times, he tracks the suspect – one moustached and gold-chained person called Rocky who, we are informed very clearly, is a drug addict. Neil then proceeds to kill Rocky and that is the perfect excuse for ACP Abhay Rastogi (Sushant Singh) to enter.

He’s the typical cool cop of our films – calm as a cucumber with witty lines and a couple of cronies, asking all the stupid questions. He’s now on Neil’s case and is sure he has murdered Rocky.

Meanwhile, Anahita’s best friend Ria (Amrita Arora in short skirts and smoking cigarettes) too suspects her and Neil of killing off Rocky. While Anahita suspects Ria of having an illicit relationship with her late husband and killing him.

Technically, this film tries its best to look snazzy, so you have a few black-and- white interludes, fades into red, etcetera. That such gimmicks would look absolutely contrived in the face of such loose storytelling, is completely lost on the filmmaker.

One honestly cannot imagine how the script session must have gone – what about this film’s story could have impressed anyone enough to put in the effort of making it. Possibly, the makers hoped that by putting in enough sex, and by publicizing it, the audience would not notice the absolute lack of gumption in the film, and that they could make enough money out of this one, to invest in yet another B-grader.

The erotica in the film is quite hilarious, by the way. The first time Neil smooches Anahita, is when she is in an out-of control situation, screaming and shouting (some serious hamming here) and he leaps on her to shut her up, much to the relief of the audience.

Even the other love-making scenes are likely to see the audience yawn. As far as the murder mystery is concerned, you don’t even care.

Songs by Himesh Reshamiya (Aa Mil, Afreen) are exactly like his others and are often serve as the backdrop to the passionate scenes.

The performances in this film are puzzling. Yes, there is no such thing as characterization, but to see Celina heave and shake like she’s having an asthma attack every few minutes is a bit jarring on the nerves. If not that, her face is like a stone, with only her super-thick, super-long false eyelashes providing any movement.

Amrita Arora’s character is provided to have only one expression on her face, and she obliges. One feels bad for Aftab Shivdasani and Sushant Singh – two talented actors who are stuck in this paltry excuse for a movie.

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Sarhad Paar

March 18, 2007

Sarhad Paartarring Sanjay Dutt, Tabu, Mahima Choudhary, Chandrachur Singh, Akash Khurana
Direction: Uncredited
Rating: Let’s Not Even Go There

You gaze at Tabu, that wonderful actress who has constantly been short- changed by filmmakers barring a few who have tried to capture her essence…. And succeeded in just touching the lapel of her talent.

In Raman Kumar’s unfinished look at the wounds caused by wars and ravages across the borders, Tabu plays the wife of a prisoner of war who has lost his memory during interrogation and torture.

The healing process could have been tender and evocative. Alas,it becomes a source of tremendous torture for us. We’ve to sit through a film that’s as tedious and unclear about its motives as a rudderless steam boat that run out of steam.

The material is obviously unfinished and in the second- half, desperately targeted to create a kitschy excitement. Guns boom in gurdwaras, women wail in clumsily recorded banshee brochures on What Not To Put On A Vacant Soundtrack.

Poor Tabu. She struggles to remain coherent and graceful in a plot that loses its way in a lamentable labyrinth of painful compromises.

Sanjay Dutt wears a bewildered expression, half- hidden by a turban and totally eclipsed by a cinematographer (Manmohan Singh) who’s asked to simulate a sunshine out of a mournfully mixed-up and gloomy mish-mash of politics and trash.

On the plus side, you can see the film has been shot on location in a dusty village of Punjab. We can almost smell the mitti in the gallis.

But the emotions remain largely unattainable in the melee of mix ‘ n’ match emotions all tied together by a will to somehow get the doomed plot to its finishing line.

If you’re a big Tabu fan as I am, then walk out in the first-half. That’s when the script decides not to give her—and us—a fair deal.

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Just Married

March 18, 2007

Just MarriedStarring: Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol, Satish Shah, Kirron Kher, Raj Zutsi, Tarina Patel, Sadiya Siddiqui, Mukul Dev
Story Screenplay Dialogue & Direction by Meghna Gulzar
Rating: ** ½

“Does it have to be about sex only?” Esha Deol, playing a newly wedded honeymooner in an arranged marriage that ostensibly seems to be coming apart at the seams even before the honeymoon is over, asks her ever-accommodating husband churlishly.

What does marriage have in store for the average newly married couple?

Meet Abhay and Ritika, they are the perfectly mismatched couple. In a preamble that Mani Rathnam could have conceived for Saathiya (if only Viveik Oberoi and Rani Mukherjee had fallen in love after marriage!) writer-director Meghna Gulzar, who’s clearly traeding much more comfortable ground this time after her debut in Filhaal, the couple meeta.

Within the next ten minutes Abhay and Ritika are married and off on their honeymoon. No time wasted, no frills, and certainly no humbug….Meghna Gulzar treads on a terrain that’s more in Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s league than within her super-gifted dad Gulzar’s domain.

The mood of the honeymoon tale is an appealing shade of pale. The young director treads softly into the bedroom, creating for the nervous couple a kind of desirable paradise that is obtainable with just a little brush against each other’s hands or a whispered huddle in the foggy romanticism of Ooty.

When it comes to creating a supple and slender scenario of spousal synergy Meghna Gulzar gets it right. The couples whether old and cranky (Satish Shah and Kirron Kher) or bold and horny (Bikram Saluja and Perizaad Zorabian) manage to create a telling contrast with the bewildered protagonists as they discover, in hushed motions, that the true essence of compatibility lies not in clutching hands but holding on to one another’s trust and confidence in the head rather than the bed.

A trifle too romantically idealistic at heart? Perhaps…Just Married aims to portray marriage in mellow pastel colours. There are no over-the-top interludes, no moments in the film that the director’s mentors Hrishikesh Mukherjee and Gulzar would frown at.

She melds modernity into traditional values with understated sensitivity. If we see a couple making out in the woods, we also see a wife coyly putting on bangles in front of the mirror as though she were paying a homage to Hema Malini in Khushboo.

If Pritam’s background score suggests a time gone-by, the confident editing patterns take the narration into areas in Ooty and other less visible places where the honeymoon becomes a playing field for emotions that would set the pace for the rest of the marriage that we won’t be able to see.

Seeing isn’t believing in Just Married. Meghna Gulzar often uses smiles and silences to convey emotions. Words are never allowed to get in the way…not even Gulzar’s lush lyrics that are resolutely played in the background.

Frequently the pace drops…as though the director was allowing the characters and their languorous mood to take over.

Don’t look for hard rain and pelting sunshine in this muted mellow-drama. What we get are those warm and familiar vignettes from a marriage that we’ve all experienced. The comfort of the familiar never leaves this cosy look at a honeymooning couple’s attempts to come to terms with love, marriage and, yes, sex. Both Fardeen and Esha escape the trappings of the masala cinema to turn in sincere performances. Esha often looks as scrubbed and vulnerable as her mom Hema Malini did in Gulzar’s Khushboo.

Bikram Saluja and Perizaad Zorabian as the ever-willing love birds define their roles with ample exuberance. But Mukul Dev and Sadiya Siddiqui as a Muslim couple wither in hazily defined parts.

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Hattrick

March 18, 2007

HattrickStarring Nana Patekar, Danny Denzongpa, Paresh Rawal, Kunal Kapoor, Rimi
Story Screenplay & Dialogues by Rajat Aroraa
Directed by Milan Luthria
Rating: *** ½

If you are looking for that one film that takes you completely by surprise this year, then look no further.

Hat Trick has been wrongly projected as a cricket film. In truth it’s as much about cricket as about hats.

But honestly hats off to the producers UTV, the director Milan Luthria and writer Rajat Aroraa for displaying such an enormously enterprising spirit.

Unlike some other films that push the envelope Hat Trick doesn’t get self-indulgently didactic or ham-handed. The narrative, segregated into three nimble and endearing slices of life, never fails to entertain.

Not for a second does Luthria let go of that mellow momentum that secludes the also-rans from the must-runs.

Hat Trick must work at the boxoffice. It doesn’t flounder even once in telling its story of lives that barely crisscross and yet come together in a collective clasp celebrating life at its most basic and elemental level. The homilies spill out willnilly from Rajat Aroraa’s acerbic and energetic words which often say a lot more than they seem to.

Of the three stories in the film which one do I single out for its dazzling display of of keen showmanship? Let’s see… The one about a Gujarati janitor in London ( played by a flawlessly in-character Paresh Rawal) and his journey in London from ignorant racism to poignant patriotism is mapped with the mellowness of a supple symphony played at the middle octave by an orchestra that knows its job.

Yes, there’s a load of wisom here. But never thrust into the narrative. The leaps of profundity come out of a genuine feeling of camaraderie between the script and its treatment.

The second story about a bond that grows between a surly doctor (Nana Patekar) and a veteran cricketer (Danny Denzongpa) is very ‘Munnabhai’ in content. It nevertheless leaves a lasting impression, thanks to the vividly written words about the connection between life and laughter, giving and attaining nirvana.

In brief, this slice-of-life segment makes a penetrating comment on the doctor-patient relationship and, yes, a hug can really go far, provided you let it.

The third story about a Sikh cricket fan (Kunal Kapoor) and his newly wedded wife ’s sudden obsession for Dhoni is wackily life-life, filled with a kind of kinetic comicality and spinnig sensuousness. Watch Kunal with his adrenaline-charged performance take this segment to heights of hilarity.

There have been a number of episodic films recently. But none so audacious and enchanting, precocious and poignant, intense and blithe….Hat Trick is like a blind date at the movies where you discover that the partner to be far more engaging than you expected.

Go for it, wholeheartedly.

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Nehle Pe Dehla

March 6, 2007

Nehle Pe DehlaDirector: Ajay Chandok
Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Shakti Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Kim Sharma
Rating *

Nope. Not even its numerologically altered title can save the film from the truth. Which is, that it belongs to a decade ago, and it shows. And is therefore completely incongruous with today’s times of changed sensibilities and an audience that is used to sampling far superior films.

Sure, Sanjay Dutt is adorable as ever, but even he can’t enthuse any life in this cliched, tried-several-times-before formulaic comedy. Johny (Sanjay Dutt) and Jimmy (Saif Ali Khan) are two petty thieves who overhear a dying man (Avtar Gill) give clues to a 30 crore booty.

It appears that the cash is hidden in a hotel called Roxy in the accounts department. Both Johny and Jimmy get jobs as waiters in the hotel in order to get to the money. They keep playing silly games of one-upmanship against one another and meanwhile they also fall in love.

Predictably, one falls for the hotel’s owner Pooja (Bipasha Basu) and the other with her friend Kim (Kim Sharma). Plenty of inane situations, crude jokes and love songs later, we realize that Pooja’s uncle Balram (Shakti Kapoor) is the villain who’s hidden the dough.

He has three cronies, played by Mukesh Rishi, Aasif Sheikh and Shiva. One of the cronies is named Jazzy and his dialogue-a-minute is “I am Jazzy, not crazy”.

A reminder of films a decade or so back, where it was mandatory for villains to have a weirdo hairstyle and a unique dialogue which they spouted with comic vengeance.

Meanwhile, Balram is found to be mysteriously dead and the action shifts to Mauritius (equals to ample shots of foreigners in bikinis). How the duo gets to the booty with the help of Balram’s corpse fills the remainder of the film.

It’s torturous to see Saif Ali Khan in a role like this; in a film like this. After his performances in Dil Chahta Hai and Omkara, the audience has newfound respect for this talented actor. This film, which he must have signed ages ago, does no justice to his inherent potential, which was true of most of his earlier films.

Bipasha Basu and Kim Sharma have typical heroine roles, with a few dialogues, glam clothes, and a couple of sexy songs here and there. Shakti Kapoor as Balram is reminiscent again of old-time villains with the sunglasses, loads of gold chains etcetera.

However, he does well in the scenes where his corpse has `perform’ , like dancing and driving a car. Sanjay Dutt is the one who is expected to carry the film across, and he does give an earnest performance. But the juvenile comedy and done-to-death story fails him.

The direction is strictly ok, and it unfortunately doesn’t have its own individual style and flavour. You can see Nehlle Pe Dehlla and feel you’ve seen a million like this before.

The technical aspect is disappointing. The cinematography is mediocre, and the dialogues are often out of sync. The songs are ok, but nothing you’ll be humming out of the theatre.

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Nishabd

March 6, 2007

Jiah KhanCast: Amitabh Bachchan, Jiah khan, Revathi, Shraddha Arya, Aftab Shivdasani, Rukhsar
Music: Vishal Bharadwaj, Amar Mohile
Lyrics: Munna Dhiman, Farhad, Sajid
Director: Ram Gopal Verma

The film comes with a tagline that reads ‘Some love stories are never meant to be understood’. Nishabd certainly challenges the parameters of love. It’s an experience you live with.

The film came out of a casual conversation between Ram Gopal Verma and Amitabh Bachchan and took the form of a film that really pushes the envelop as far as the story and the acting prowess of the protagonists go, specially the Big B who constantly surprises the audience as he tops his own performances yet again!

The film is set amidst tea gardens in a hill station. Amitabh Bachchan plays a wild life photographer in the film, settled into domesticity with a frumpy wife who is involved in mundane household activities. Amitabh’s artistic soul, however, is very alive and kicking.

In waltzes Jiah Khan, the 18-year old temptress. She is a brash, spoilt teenager, who showers Amitabh with the attention that he has never experienced before. The fact that she is his daughter’s friend doesn’t stop Jiah from falling in love with the 60-year-old Amitabh and really going for him.

She’s very upfront about what she wants and she wants him! Spoilt, petulant, a child of a broken marriage, Jiah is a sexy siren with a wild, untamed spirit!

Yet there are some moments of child-like naiveté she displays that makes her the alluring child-woman that Amitabh just cannot resist! Her petulance and passion are very alluring to him.

Nowhere does Ram Gopal Verma spoon-feed his audience. While it’s easy to see why Jiah falls for Amitabh, the director lets his audience guess why the well-settled, complete Amitabh would fall so badly for the young Jiah that he would jeopardise his whole existence for her. Is it the anticipated thrill of intimacy?

Is it the suppressed apathy towards the wife who is a trifle boring? Is it just the feeling of youth and excitement that she generates in him? The fact that she makes him laugh and dance? Or just that her untamed poet’s spirit and his sprit of an artist find a consonance?

At particular times, the film may appear to be too long and stretched out but this starts making sense when one realizes that the movie is essentially about loneliness. Amitabh’s loneliness as well as young Jiah’s!

Verma has the knack of getting the environment to speak. Here too, the very atmosphere becomes almost a protagonist, adding on to the depth of the film. There is a touch of gloom in the whole movie.

The film is perfectly cast! Jiah is extremely comfortable with her sexuality, flaunting it continually, as she constantly crosses and uncrosses her legs and displays a lot of well-shaped thigh. She sashays in and out of scenes with a confidence unusual in a debutante.

Rewathi’s performance as Amitabh’s wife whose security gets shattered is understated and adept. Shraddha Arya, the daughter who suddenly grows up when she sees her safe home threatened because her father has feelings other than expected of him, is excellent too.

Amitabh’s is an awe inspiring performance! The emptiness in his eyes when he is shunned by his family, his sudden breaking out into uncontrollable laughter in the middle of the night, the movement in his eyes when he captures the images of Jiah playing in the water, getting all wet, are moments of magnificent acting.

He makes you came face-to-face with your hidden feelings. He makes you examine yourself and question whether you have the courage to go for what you really want. His bold acceptance of the fact that he loves the young girl jeopardises all that is safe around him but he makes the declaration nevertheless!

The film is a bold one but never oversteps the moral boundaries. One would have wished, though, that with such a bold theme, the end would have been different, a little more valiant, perhaps.

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