Sassy, Massy, Classy, HSRsy Picks of 2011

Naam Bade Aur Darshan Chhote

10) DOUBLE DHAMAAL: NOT amongst the worst, but pretty ordinary follow up to the Original Dhamaal. Its 'Half-Dhamaal' to me, not double. Nayyyyy!!!
9) DIL TO BACCHA HAI JEE: Again Not a BAD Movie, but disappointing to say the least. Rom-Com is not Madhur's cup of tea. So give us your 'type' of movie, Sir.
8) THANK YOU: The title should be "Sorry", instead.
7) SAAT KHOON MAAF: Hope Vishal Bhardwaaj won't gift us 'Saat' craps before his next creative brilliance.
6) BBUDDHA HOGA: Is there no other way to give tribute to angry young(old) man?
5) BODYGAURD: Biggggggest opening ever for any film. AGREED!! But little-bit of entertaining stuff could have been better :)
4) BhejaFRY2: Attempt a sequel only if you have a script, Mr. Bellary.
3) AARAKSHAN : Jha Sahab, Reunite with Ajay Devgn; you seems to have lost your sheen.
2) (i) MAUSAM: Pankaj Kapoor, return to acting. Direction ka mausam kharab chal rahaa hia aapke liye.
(ii) RASCALS: Dhawan Bhauu, Announce your retirement. QUICK!!!
1) RA.ONE: A grand, spectacular celebration of moronic Video-Game thriller.

Songs that would carry-forward to 2012

10) Senorita (ZNMD) and D-D-Dddd Dilli Dilli (No One Killed Jessica)
9) Isq-Risk and Madhubala (Mere Brother Ki Dulhan)
8) Title Track and Teri Meri (BodyGaurd)
7) Ooh-La-La (The Dirty Picture)and Ddddarling (7-Khoon Maaf)
6) Rabba and Ik-tu-Hi (Mausam)
5) Dhin-te-Chika (Ready) and 4 Bajj gaye (FALTU)
4) Phir Mohabbat and Haal-e-Dil (Murder2)
3) Jugni, Saddi Galli and Rangrez (Tanu Weds Manu); DK Bose, Sweety, Bedardi Raja (Delhi Belly)
2) Sadda Haq and Kun-Faya-Kun (RockStar)
1) Tum-Ho (RockStar)
..... and one certain "Kolaveri Di" :)

Pick-Flicks of 2011 (Not counting Crores, though)

5) Zindagi Milegi Na Dobara: A feel-good movie which I can watch couple of times more on lazy, laidback weeknds.
4) Tanu Weds Manu: Sometimes, movies made from heart 'sans' superstars does a trick. TWM is one such flick.
3) Delhi Belly: Enjoyed a comedy after such a long time. To Sum up:Even If Aamir puts his hand in Shit, it churns gold for him.
2) The Dirty Picture: Would like to quote Raja Sen "If She's not wearing such low-cut dresses, would ask her to take a bow". Its not a great 'picture' for me, but Vidya makes it one.
1) RockStar: Ranbir, Imtiaz, AR Rehman, Mohit Chauhan and Irshad Kamil Pushed the envelope...BIG TIME!!
Few Others I like : Shaitan, Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster, No One Killed Jessica, Pyar Ka Panchnama, Yeh Saali Zindagi and few others.

And the Award Goes to.....


Faadduu Actor of 2011: Who else? Ranbir 'RockStar' Kapoor.
SuperStarni of 2011: Vidya Balan (NOKJ and TDP)
Voice of 2011 (Male): Mohit Chauhan (All RS Songs and others)
Voice of 2011 (Female): Shreya Ghoshal (Ooh La La, Teri-Meri and others)
BAD-MAN of 2011: Prashant Narayanan (Murder2)
Phunny Man 0f 2011 : Vijay Raaz (Delhi Belly)
Kya Entry Hai (Actor-Male): Koyi aaya kya?? Waise Vidyut Jamwal of FORCE fame was good.
Kya Entry Hai (Actor-Female): Parineeti Chopra (LvsRB)
Kya Entry Hai (Music): Krsna (Tanu Weds Manu)
Kya Entry Hai (Director): Abinay Deo (NO!! Not for GAME)
Kya Entry Hai (As SuperHero): Who Else? G.One= SRK ( This award is not given by me, just a suggestion to Filmfare. Anyhow, they need some excuse to award him, right??)

Musical 2011: A R Rehman
Good to Bad to Worse (Music) 2011 : Shankar Ehsaan Loy. Vishal Shekhar were saved by Ooh-La-La and Chammak Challo.
Chak De Phatte (Music) 2011: Mika Singh.
Re-Emergence (Music): Sohail Sen

A Super-Hero with a HART, but without BRAN!!

As I sit to put my Ra.One's experience in words (better way than to say ' I shall write review', 'coz who cares for reviews, anyways?), King Khan's dream project is already setting Box-Office ablaze with Rupees, Dollars, Pounds etc flowing-in a huge way. In any case, was it unexpected or unprecedented? After over-the-top publicity spree (which started a year back), King-Khan's global fan-following, releasing at humongous number of screens worldwide and festive weekend (with NO competition wat-so-ever), the success of Ra-One in initial few days is always expected and a certainity. But, the question remains: how it would fare in week-days and whether audience thinks that Ra.One has repeat value. Lets find out from a common man's perspective.

The movie starts with a lecture on how the video game characters could be seen, touched blah blah blah. Frankly I did'nt understood a wee-bit, or more importantly I did'nt found it worth pondering. First 'half an hour' surely test your patience as if you have done some crime sneaking-into the theatre. This 30 minutes includes:
a) SRK's tamilian humor (only novelty value was eating noodles with curd). None of my tamilian friends use 'Aiiyyo' as much as SRK's character does in half-an-hour.
b) Sanju Baba and Piggy Chops cameo in dream sequence: Both the seasoned actors, along with Shahrukh himself, compliments each other with weak (let me add, 'Silly') dialogues, ham acting and stupid facial expressions.
c) Kareena Kapoor doing a 'thesis in Gaalis (Abuses)'. Whatttt??? Ya, Right!! Go and figure it out and do 'enlighten' me too.
d) Humor comes from booby keys and condom-condom?? If that's way to tickle the funny bone, it surely brushes it the wrong way. Well, I must say I would prefer Shahrukh's interviews and his Filmfare Awards' hosting any day.
Free-Tip: For real-humor (and healthy laugh), watch out for dance-steps of the Chinese Character (Akaashi) in the 'Criminal' song. You would die laughing.

Then again, how the hell video game characters comes to the real world? I don't know, don't ask me!! Believe me , its rather inconsequential; I am sure even writers did'nt had any clue about this presumable clownishness. If you are craving for some action in this Super-hero flick, you need to wait 1 hr and 10 mins when the first time G.one and Ra.One comes face to face. Immediately cars starts flying and our Super-Hero/Villain does fists-pumping and muscles-flexing stuff. Sadly, the wait is eternal and the outcome is too trivial to my liking.

After this 'duh high-octane' action scene, the 'two-Ones' meet at the climax. In between, there is lotzz of emotional drama and 'attempt-at-humor' and yes Chammak-Challo too. The best part surely is Chammak Challo; really happy to see 'Zero' of Kareena's figure going bit more rounder. Much touted local train action scene could have been better; it raises few 'OOHs' and 'WOWs' but fails to raise the adrenaline rush even by an iota (That, for me, is the drawback of excessive publicity; you tend to expect a bit-too-much for much-talked about scenes). Rajni's cameo still works as an exception and is welcomed by the whistling and clapping audiences.

FULL marks to SRK for using technology and VFX (Special Effects, Computer graphics, watever) to good effect and spending crores on his magnum-opus. Still I feel, a bunch of good writers, a good director and super-efficient editor could have been a better choice. I am sure SRK would have already recovered all his money back but if his intention was to entertain people with something that has never been tried before in Indian Cinema, then that 'novel-intention' is still not fulfilled.

Maverick's Verdict: Ra-ONE is a super-hero flick with a good HART (Or, Heart) but without a BRAN (Brain or Brawn).