Take a Bow...............For Aamir!!!!

Unlike Hollywood, Bollywood keeps on churning zillions of typical Masala movies to entertain the masses and nowadays few flicks, thanks to Chopras and Johars, targets the NRI audiences. Very rarely you come across a movie that appeals to the masses and classes keeping the entertainment quotient intact. If we go back down the memory lane of last decade or so, one man who has always kept his promise of entertaining the audience with some message oriented movies, its none other than Aamir Khan. So when he decided to make a movie with a child as a protagonist, there was lotzz of buzz in the air with ecstasy and expectations all around. Did he live up to it or he succumbed to the pressure, lets find out for yourself:

Donning different roles: Aamir Khan has donned three caps for this movie: A experienced and successful Cap of a Producer, a confident Cap of an Actor with Numero-Uno imprinted on it and a nervous yet presumptuous Cap of a debutant-director. Without a tinge of doubt, Aamir has accomplished this arduous task with élan. Aamir is the only actor in the tinsel town whose thought process commences from where others' ends. When all his contemporary actors are still busy roaming around trees and doing half a dozen run-of-the-mill crappers every year, this is one man who still believes in Quality Cinema and comes out of his self-imposed exile once he is pretty sure about the task on hand. And TZP is the ample testimony of this fact.

Wiz-Kid: The true winner of the TZP is a pocket size dynamo named Darsheel. It seems Aamir has an eye for talent as well, since Darsheel has enacted the difficult role of Ishaan with finesse. His naughty, yet thoughtful, eyes helped his cause in portraying all the emotions with ridiculous ease. This tiny-genious will make you laugh at his antics, at the same time you will cry your heart out with his pain. Its such a mature performance by this lad that I will recommend all the possible Movie-Awards for him, but I know thats quite unrealistic in our system. But as his mentor says: Who cares for Awards, its audience's love that matters and Darsheel will surely get bountiful of accolades after his stupendous performance.

Hai Na MAA: Coming to the music, the best song of the movie by far is MAA. In every sense of the word, the real winner for this song is the lyricist Prasoon Joshi. Each and every word of this song comes straight from the heart and add to it the soulful voice of Shankar and the very situation in the movie, it will surely moisten your eyes. Amongst others', Jame Raho and Bum Bum bole are fun-songs and picturised beautifully and goes well with the mood of the movie. Title song again has some thought-provoking lyrics and sung well by Shankar.

Taare Zameen Par: The support cast and crew has done a commendable job in the movie. Nothing is too flashy and over-the-top stuffs are spared-with for the sake of an intelligent movie. Vipin Sharma and Tisca Chopra as the parents to the kid have done a nice job within their own limitation. There are many worth remembering scenes throughout the movie and you are left with a satisfied smile on your face and tears in your eyes during the climax of the movie. Aamir and Amole Gupte (the Visionary behind this script) has surely brought stars to the ground.

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Taare Zameen Par

Harjeet’s Verdict: There are very few movies which prompts Critics to keep their dissection boxes under wrap. There are very few movies that leave an unforgettable impression on your memory-slate. There are very few movies that look a class apart, coming straight out of one’s own life. There are very few movies that control the adrenaline flow in your body depending upon the happenings on the 75 mm screen. TZP is one such movie.
Go watch it and Stay in Peace!!!!!!

All ShowBazi and No Soul churns out a Dud!!!

This Diwali was supposed to be the clash of the Titans: SRK Vs SLB. But going by the initial buzz it proved to be futile battle. Let me present my perspective of the first of the two movies: Om Shanti Om (OSO). I know its not going to please the major section of the cinemagoers, but for me it’s the harsh reality and everyone should accept it. Here comes my take on OSO:

Smart, Very Smart….Infact Over smart: As we all know the movie is based on the Re-Incarnation theory and aspired to take the Karz-sque movies to a different level altogether. Farah succeeded to do that, OSO has taken Re-Birth genre of movies to an unkown level: A level called below-par. I think Farah, before starting her mission impossible, should have taken a crash course from Subhash Ghai and Rakesh Roshan who have given us the Hitzz like Karz and Karan-Arjun based on the same nucleus of plot. Her debut movie, though, was also senseless and baseless but with the right mix of humor and masala she somehow made it a Box-Office hit. But this time, the sense is too less and base is no where and as far as humor is concerned Farah need not to step out of her house, take a tip-or-two from Heyy Babyy- Sajid.

Seventies Re-invented: Whole first half revolves around the Bollywood of Seventies. The Costumes, the Cars and everything around that gives a nice feel-good of arguably the best era of the Indian Cinema. The song Dhoom Tanna created by using special effects is joy to watch. But presenting the Duplicates of the yesteryear stars was really ridiculous, especially because they were not presented as their duplicates, but the star themselves. The story has no impetus wat-so-ever and made a bit watchable by the antics of SRK and his friend played by Shreyas Talpade and not to forget Deepika Padukone who makes a confident debut.

Lost it Completely: It seems that INTERVAL tag comes pretty soon in the movie, not because its entertaining stuff in the first half, but the story was no where till the light comes on in the Theatre. And one has to wait till eternity to see the THE END to be flashed on the screen. Its so disastrously slow in second half with each and every sequences-to-follow was almost predictable. The dialogues that looks refreshing in the first half were reprised that many times in second half that it loses its originality. I should have listened to Shahrukh when in the very first hour he screamed: BHAAGOOO, I did’nt fled from the Theatre in a hope to watch something to rave about, but it never came.

Vishal-Shekhar Rocks: The music by Vishal-Shekar is a winner and most of the songs are chartbusters already. Aankhon me Teri and Main agar kahoon soulfully penned by Vishal-Javed Akhtar combo and were made hummable by the sheer brilliance of Kay-Kay and Sonu Niggam respectively. Jag Soona Soona laage by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is also soothing to ears and is shot in the movie to capture the emotional trauma of the Protagonist. The title track with 31 stars is really treat to watch, anyways, Farah….who’s dress-designer for SRK in this song? Manish Or Karan? “Gawdy” is the word for that costume, u guyzz can do lot better. Dastan-E-OSO was made a replica of Ek Haseena thi from Karz. While the latter one is still milestone, the former one would be lost into oblivion with a blink of your eyes. Dard-E-Disco is peppy dance number showcasing the Six-pack-Abs SRK but above the well-toned body the growing wrinkles and weird looking hair style, presents an ugly truth. This song meant to be taking a dig at the Item songs in Bollywood prevailing nowadays, but the very situation in this movie itself can be questioned.

King might lose his Throne: SRK is at its hamming and stammering best in the movie especially in the second half. He was well within his limitations in the first half but he goes over-board in the second half. Its really pity that even at this stage of his career he’s afraid of taking heads-on to the challenges and still wants to play it safe. Its time he should get out of his shell of top-banners and takes up the gaunlet. SRK fans have to keep OSO on the same memory shelf within the elite club of Guddu, 1-2 ka 4, Phir bhi …, KANK and few other forgettables. I want few more Chak de from SRK to make his Swades proud. These craps should be left to any other actor, Om can be played by anybody but it takes steel to enact Kabir Khan.

Silver Linings: Deepika Padukone is the lone saving grace of the movie. She looked gorgeous while portraying the character of 70’s super-actress. She looks scintillating in sarees and hot in shorts. Farah scores in a way she showcased her in the movie. We’ve to watch out for this gal in near future. Art Direction by Sabu Cyril is of top-class and Cinematography by Manikandan is awesome too. Akki-special spanning two-minutes is the high point of the movie.

Harjeet’s Verdict: While promoting the movie, Farah gone in records saying that “Inspite of making Main Hoon Na” Audiences have given us chance to make another movie”. I like to assure Farah, if sanity prevails in SRK-Biased movie-buffs, then you won’t get third chance.
This time…No ifs, No Buts….Stay away from OSO and You’ll find Peace.

Fun and Romance all d way ….. Jab They Met!!!!

The Promos were enough to suggest that “Jab We Met” is a one kind of Khichdi of many movies. But we’ve seen in past that skillful treatment of hackneyed storyline churns out a winner and if treated miserably, it turns out a big dud at the box-office as all the situations and so-called twists and turns were more-or-less predictable. This Imtiaz Ali’s flick falls in which category, to know this lets start our Journey from Mumbai to Bhatinda…

The Voyage on and off the Track: The story kicks off with a Train-Journey starting from Mumbai and ends up at Bhatinda via a roller-coaster ride with lotzz of fun. The interactions between a complete babbler, Kareena and a poised-looking laconic guy played by Shahid were really funny. The way their relationship shapes up from complete strangers to special-bonded friends looks real on-screen. Through-out the movie you will see the glimpses of many other movies. But the credit must go to Imtiaz Ali for re-creating the magic with the sequences and situations seen umpteen times on-screen. The pace of ‘Jab We Met’ Express slackens a bit in early part of the second half but it catches up and compensates for the lost time and reaches to the destination well on time with a smile on the faces of all the passengers, read- Audiences. Imtiaz Ali proves that Chopras and Johars don’t have the copyrights-reserved for sugary-romance and can be showcased in a splendid manner without the shooting in foreign locales and Designer suits.

Pritam on the Roll: The most under-rated Music Director of recent times is Pritam. It seems he believes in the mantra of “Work will Talk” as you hardly see him in the limelight yet he keeps on delivering the blockbusters one after another. He has shown in his previous compositions that he uses the Sufi singing with panache and in this flick he has shown that he has Punjabi folk too in his repertoire. Nagada Nagada and Mauja hi Mauja gives the testimony of the same. While former was sung by the arguably the best singer of our times- Sonu Niggam, the latter is crooned by Mika who sings in his peculiar nasal style which makes the lyrics hard to understand, but its such a peppy track that its topping the charts for some time now. Aao milo Chalo and Yeh Ishq Hai has been plunged deep in sweetness by the melodious voice of Shaan and Shreya respectively. Aaoge Jab tum by Ustad Rashid Khan and Tum se hi by Mohit Chauhan (lead vocalist of ‘Silk Route’ fame) makes their presence felt. Both of the songs are good and can be enjoyed in your i-Pod but one feels, in the movie it almost stagnates the pace of the events.

Finally they MET: I’m not talking about the rumors surrounding them in real life but the reel life chemistry which is quite evident for the first time on the silver screen. They looked stunning together and their body-language was confident. Shahid Kapur has done a commendable job of shouldering the movie as a solo hero. Not only he looked sweetie-cutie in the movie but also played the role of a frustrated and irritated industrialist with élan. He has done justice to the emotional scenes as well and he’s just mind-blowing at any kinda dance, and that’s no secret. Pawan Malhotra, Kiran Juneja and Tarun Arora does their titsy-bitsy roles with ease. Ageing Dara Singh has a one-liner that he reprised through-out the movie and each time it’s a total knock-out punch. Kareena Kapoor leads the pack by-far. She is just fantabulous as a loquacious chatter-box and as a self-proclaimed shrewd Punjabi girl. It would be an understatement if I call whole first half totally dedicated to this Kapoor-gal. In second half, she portrayed emotional and comparatively serious facets of her character with finesse. Surely, this movie will add one more feather to her, already garnished, cap.

Harjeet’s Verdict: If you are in love OR ever had a love-life OR waiting for love to blossom OR got betrayed in love OR don’t believe in love, then Go watch “Jab we Met”.
Or else……yesss, you know that….Stay in Peace!!!!

Take a "Thrill" Pill and Justt Chill !!!!!

Going by the initial promos of the movie and reputation of today's Jodi No. 1 for Comedy movies, if you are expecting another laugh-riot from the Priy-Akki combo then you would be in utter disappointment. Again, if you expect a horror flick as per the present publicity of "Bhool Bhulaiyaa", then again you will be left burning your hands in disgust. Before you guyzz draw some negative connotation about the movie, let me assure you that I'm reccommending this remake of Rajni's Blockbuster "Chandra-Mukhi". To make myself clearer, lets move inside the haunted Haveli of "Bhool Bhulaiyaa"

Tickling Bones and Chilling Spines: The movie is basically a Thriller with few doses of Horror sequences and under-current of comic scenes. Creating a balance between horror and Comedy is one helluva job and I must confess Priydarshan has accomplished this endeavour with ease. He is surely backed-up with a script that is a mega-hit in Southern India, but re-creating the movie as per Bollywood's Audiences' taste is a commendable job done. The suspense and the intrigue was well created and comedy scenes were made funny by the sheer brilliance of Akshay Kumar who for me is the most improved Actor over the last few years.

Haunted Music: The background score plays an indispensable part in any of the Thrillers and Ranjit Barot does justice to the same in Bhool Bhulaiyaa. He made it sure that you are at the edge-of-your-seat once light goes off in Theatre. As per songs are concerned: Labon ko Labon se starts before you settle down inside the theatre and so can be easily ignored, Allah Haafiz and Lets Rock Soniye are other songs in the movie that almost slows the pace of the movie but thankfully these songs were cut short and looks a part of the plot. The chartbuster of Pritam Hare Ram Hare Krishna, crooned by Neeraj Sridhar clearly comes from no where in the movie, but its such a peppy-track that hardly a soul will make a fuss about it.

Priy's usual troop and a Surprise Package: As always, Priydarshan has dozens of characters in the movie and majority of them are the usual faces, namely, Asrani, Paresh Rawal, Manoj Joshi, Rajpal Yadav and all have played their part with ease without any noticeable brilliance which can be associated with any of these proven actors. Shiney Ahuja has nothing much to do in the movie and he was well within his limitattion. Ameesha Patel has been left with sobbing and shouting her heart out through out the movie. Akshay Kumar, as I said, is the one of the most accomplished actor in Bollywood today and he has shown all the facets of his character with an exceptional grace. Last but not the least, we all know that Vidya Balan is the most sought-after actress in tinsel-town but her stupendous performance in Bhool Bhulaiyaa will take her into different genre all-together. The way she has portrayed her complex character is highly commendable and we should look forward to some scintillating performances from her side in near future.

Harjeet's Verdict: If you have a sweet-tooth for sour movies, if you love to be horrified while laughing and vice versa, if you believe in the third world atleast for the sake of fun spanning three hours, Go watch Bhool Bhulaiyaa.
Else, as I always say: STAY IN PEACE.

I, Me and Myself

harjeet Rakhra
Originally uploaded by Harjeet S. Rakhra

I, hereby posting the Film-Reviews that I'll write moving on. Just to kick-off the Blog I've added my last Review of "Chak-De India"

Hope U'll like it!!!!

A Tribute to our National Game....CHAK DE!!!!!

I, hereby posting all the Film-Reviews that I've penned till date. Leave ur valuable comments and suggestions!!!

I presume the title of my review is baffling for few...Yes!!!! To keep records straight HOCKEY is our National Game though our country eats, sleeps and breathe Cricket. There are handful of movies based entirely on cricket and few more on the backdrop of this game but this is first full-fledged movie taking Hockey as its prime subject. So lets toss the ball into the hockey turf :

16 Beauties and Beasts: Referred as "Rakshson ki Sena" these 16 gals from every corner of Indiamakes up a dream combo of experience and youth, exuberance and patience. It’s difficult to concentrate on each and every character so the focus was primarily on 5-6 gals throughout the movie. Going by the characters they enacted, Priti Sabarwal dons the role of a forward in the team & adds to the glamour quotient of the movie, Komal Chautala another forward is the pocket size dynamo that will catch your attention with her hardcore Hariyanvi accent. Balbir kaur, typical punjab gal, using heavy Punjabi lingo and taking on the Bulls with the horns. Vidya, the Captain and Goalie of the team and most experienced and arrogant-self Bindiya makes up the top five protagonists of the dream-team. All of them have done commendable job in their respective constraints and deserves accolades for their endeavor. None of the players looked as if they are acting, but it seems that they all the trained athletes (few of ‘em certainly were).

The Coach: SRK is back after a short but well deserved hiatus. He left the silver screen, limping, with a walking stick in his hand and came back, all charged up, with hockey stick as his companion. If his last release (KANK) has Chucked his super stardom a bit then this flick will surely do a Chak de Phatte to him. Its refreshing to see him moving away from his usual running around the trees and romancing the bollywood's beauties in his designer suits amidst foreign locales. Instead, he portrayed the character ever-so-efficiently giving all the desired expressions through his eyes. The grey stubble embellishing his new suave look will give something more for his fan following to go ga-ga over him. Personally I would prefer him to enact the characters in the likes of "Swades" and "Chak de" than doing the run-of-the-mill flicks like "Main Hoon Na".

Chak de India: The title track sung by Sukhvinder is played through-out the movie in back ground along with "Chak de-- Ek hockey doongi rakh ke" and goes well with the mood of the movie. The music and Background score by Salim Sulaiman are flawless and deserves full points. Shimit Amin as a director has raised himself to another level with this classic and expectations would be sky-high from his coming projects. For a patriotism driven flick, the dialogues makes its soul but one feels punches could have been more effective at some places. But there are few mind blowing dialogues as well, for me the best one was when SRK was taking a dig at the most popular sports in India and said: "Hamari hockey me Chhakke nahi hote". Its a fast paced moving and hardly gives time to think, but at the same time gives ample of opportunities to smile. Till the climax you will be totally engrossed in the Hockey matches, which again were well conceived and equally executed, as if you are actually watching a Hockey World cup.

Harjeet's Verdict: “Chak de.....India” is “Lagaan” of sorts with Hockey Backdrop. If Lagaan has rewritten history books, this one will surely add a page or two to it.

Chak De.....India!!!!