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).

All izz not only Well…….but itzz Awezzome!!

With his new release- 3 Idiots, Aamir Khan would be eager to chant Merry Christmas with the hat-trick of blockbusters after TZP and Ghajini thrashed all box office records in the last two years. Backing him up in his endeavor is the superhit producer-director duo of Vidhu Vinod Chopra and Rajkumar Hirani who has given us the affable desi character Munnabhai. So, the question remains whether 3Idiots live up to all the expectations or just fizzles amidst all the hooplah. Though in bolly-nagri fortune-pendulum swings every Friday, still if promos are any indication then the chances of latter is minimal.
3 Idiots is a satire against the society especially to those parents who overlook their children’s passion and dreams for more stereotyped yet alluring future prospects. Few reels into the flick and the sense of déjà vu surmount any other prevalent feeling at that point of time. While the engineering grads would feel at familiar grounds, others would find something or the other to relate to. The narrative never goes over the top; be it ragging sessions or campus masti, classroom arguments of the idiots and principles’ torch-bearers or hostel life antics, parents’ routine preaching or the romantic angle- everything kept well in control to keep the interest level intact. Ace craftsman Raju Hirani is mighty successful in churning out the best emotions out of one and all the actors throughout the roller-coaster ride. While few scenes prompt you to laugh your gall bladder out, few others will compel you to shed salient water intermittently. Add to it the fact that there were enough twists-n-turns that keep audiences conjecturing, tightly fastened on their edge of the seat. Agreed, few sequences were highly melodramatic and logic-defying which in turn might choke moviegoers’ intestines, but I presume our digestive system has been made immune to all these bollywood-sque idiocy, isn’t it? 3 Idiots is like a voyage that jump-starts with a fresh breath of air, jaunts with a fragrance of lilacs and ends on a summit.

Although, being a superstar Aamir Khan grabs the cake but still he is just the small cog in large wheels of 3Idiots; all the other protagonists gets the role that would grace their curriculum vitae in years to come . Sharman Joshi once again proves his mettle both in rib-tickling scenes as well as in the eyes-drenching ones. Madhavan plays his part as Aamir’s real buddy and gives an astounding act to be at par with other two idiots. As a lone 3 Idiots’ academic-foe, Omi does a superlative job with his cramming hindi recitation. He literally brings the house down with his hilarious “chamatkaari” speech on teacher’s day. Boman Irani continued the legacy of his previous two avatars for Raju Hirani and delivers a breathtaking rendition of obnoxious-yet- astute professor. Kareena excels in the short-n-sweet role and thankfully gives preference to the performance than to her new found zero-figure oomph. Coming back to the perfectionist, its amazing how an 45-year old actor get into the shoes of a 18-20 year old college going bloke, and that too with a customary ridiculous ease. He is one contemporary actor who convincingly tickles your funny bones with his unrelenting humor and also compels you to shed tears or two when he enacts the emotional self. I have made this as the title of my TZP review and couldn’t stop myself to encrypt here too “Take a bow Aamir, Take a Bow!!!”

The music and songs routine is stitched well within the movie and never looked out of context. Unfortunately, Raju as an Editor immolated the best song “Gimme some Sunshine” in the final cut, but still it would be the Youth-anthem for all those who miss their school-college days and want to relive those golden moments of their life. “Aal izz well” is the masti song and already scoring in the chartbusters, “Zoobie-Doobie” fills in the void of romantic number but picturised beatifically to give it a new fervor. “Behti hawaa sa tha woh” is like a rhapsodic ‘General Introduction’ of the lead actor while “Jaane nahi denge” is an elegiac plea to the almighty for the well-being of the friend; full marks to Sonu Nigam for crooning the song in pain-ridden voice.

Harjeet’s Verdict: (Abstaining from all Gyaanbaazi, my verdict would be ‘as fit as a fiddle’ and ‘as straight as a needle’; would surely be the shortest for me till date)
There are few other movies and there is 3 idiots. Watch it for all money and Stay in Peace.

Mr. Perfectionist tattoos his name as Numero Uno..yet again!!

Finally, the wait is over and Aamir Khan is back with his customary single release of the year. Unlike his previous releases, this time around the hype created en-route to the D-day of the movie was something extraordinary. Aamir’s new scarred-hairdo and dream-physique was creating waves amongst movie-freaks and in process provided the additional impetus to the interest generated for Ghajini. Aamir undertook the publicity job on his experienced shoulders and left no stone unturned to make sure that Ghajini hits the jackpot. All said and done, the real test awaited him when the movie finally hit the silver screen this Christmas. Let’s find out whether Ghajini has similar brain-n-brawn à-la his superstar protagonist:
To kick off, I want to reiterate the fact that Ghajini is a remake of its tamil-namesake which in turn was loosely based on the Hollywood flick “Momento”. Would like to leave the obvious comparisons to my Southie-counterparts, and moving forward will treat Ghajini as the independent Bollywood product. Ghajini marks the debut of the director A.R. Murugadoss in bollywood fray who has successfully directed the tamil version of the flick in question. The supporting cast, the action sequences and the whole look and feel of the movie resembles a typical south Indian movie; so much so that it looks a dubbed version rather than a remake. What makes a difference is the flawless display of umpteen antics by Ace Khan. I guess this is the first ever movie where script demanded his grotesque actions and demeanor to speak louder than the words, and that explains the minimal dialogues in offer for him. Aamir Khan’s character has a two-pronged shades; One as a young, suave business tycoon that meant to be subtle and affable and another as a revenge-prone killing machine with supreme level of wrath and vengeance. The latter demanded mound of ultra-emotions with all the scowling and bellowing at display and not to forget Hrithiksque perfectly chiseled body; no marks for guessing, Aamir does all this it with ridiculous ease. Another winner is the core plot which enthralls to the tee and has all the ingredients to churn out a perfect thriller with love, romance and individual performances as an add-ons.
After Genelia and Shreya, another hotshot South Indian actress Asin embarks her “Bolly-journey with Ghajini”. Playing a complete babbler, she does full justice to her role that had lotzz of positive effervescence; add to it her infectious smile and pretty face you would know she is here to stay for sure. A. R Rehman’s music, as always, is of top notch quality. “Guzarish” and “Behka-Behka” sounds soothing for ears and looks good on screen with some innovation involved with the picturization of these songs. “Kaise Mujhe” is made special with some profound emotional lyrics and soulful singing by Benny Dayal. “Lattoo” and “Ae bacchoo” are mere fillers and doesn’t deserve a mention.
The drawback of Ghajini is its pace which slackens in patches; especially the editing needed a tightening-up exercise in flashback sequences. The main antagonist plays an integral part in Ghajini and that in turn defines the plot and its proceedings. Pradeep Rawat was called on-board to play the villian’s role as he has done in its Kollywood predecessor. He just fails to make any impact and incidentally this integral characterization of Ghajini goes kaput. The casting dilemma continues with selection of Riyaz Khan (who has played the same role in Tamil-Ghajini) for a short but important role of a Police investigator. This is interesting to be seen whether this “casting-ouch” will prove costly to the makers of the remake or not. De-glamorized Jiah Khan was like a soda without fizz and flatters to deceive sans her forte aka oomph.
Harjeet’s Verdict- Ghajini: A typical Bollywood entertainer with cosy love story commingled with sprinkled humor, revenge drama and unique core plot. If above mentioned loopholes are tolerable enough then Ghajini deserves a shot; else find solace and Stay in Peace.
Harjeet’s Verdict- Aamir Khan: In order to portray an apathetic individual who was put on an ordeal after being driven into traumatic experience, Aamir shows a complete new facet of his versatility. I would conclude from where I started my TZP review: “Take a bow, Aamir….Take a bow”.
Harjeet’s Verdict- Star Sign: 2.5/5 for Ghajini and 5/5 for Aamir. Take your pick, watch and enjoy for three hours…..and let it be “lost within short term memory”.

‘X’ missing from the eXtraOrdinary Love Story!!!

Call it a well planned strategic move OR a mere restrained approach OR an ultra-confidence on one’s product, but it is the fact that the pre-release publicity of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (RNBDJ) from arguably THE Biggest production house of Bollywood- YashRaj Films, was a low-key affair. They might be superstitious, since similar ploy paid rich dividends with Chak De India, or it could well be a cautious decision after they have burnt their fingers with much touted Tashan-debacle. And with King Khan in the rings, RNBDJ could well be christened as an acid test to YRF.
The core plot might sound a bit different but in totality, Chopras are playing it safe again. One can expect all the masala in the movie that has been YashRaj’s forte over the years, combined with top-notch performances and even better songs-and-dance routines. Once again Punjab has been taken as the backdrop of story telling and even the minutest nitties-gritties are well taken care of that renders the sets an ethnic Amritsar look; that also speaks volumes of Adi Chopra’s credentials as a Director. Talking about the drawbacks, RNBDJ has a slackened pace throughout, that just refuses to kick-off anywhere. Another major skirmish point of debate is the predictability of the supposedly-fresh plot that was deprived of any oohs-n-aahs moments. Donning my Physics’ Professor Hat, I would like to describe the plot of RNBDJ as a Straight line without any oscillations; neither dips nor rises.
The debutante-actress Anushka Sharma has been kept under wraps till date assumingly for a good reason. The leggy-lass has done quite a decent job considering the fact, that it’s her first major acting assignment. It would be a wait and watch situation to see how far she would excel with her average looks and tall frame. It was long overdue and finally Vinay Pathak takes a giant leap from small budget endeavors and has made the proud entrance to the Yashraj bandwagon. He plays a pivotal role in RNBDJ as a SRK’s chaddie-buddie and his camaraderie and comic timing with Shahrukh is the high point of the flick. No marks for guessing, the movie belongs to SRK right from tip to toe where he gets to play two contrasting characters. My pick was the character of subdued and subtle Suri, where he outplayed himself and carried the performance-centric role with élan. Right from impeccable dialogue-delivery to inimitable shy-smile; from hesitant love-seeker to sacrifice-prone emotional fool, everything was just picture-perfect. The best part was the fact that he was more like the character in the movie rather than the SRK-The King Khan, himself. For the latter lovers, there is another character uniquely named as Raj (ohh..Not again) where he is in his hamming and stammering best. Check out SURI's Honeymoon experiences in the post-flick titles. You gonna love it for sure.
Salim-Sulaiman completes a hat-trick of sorts with the scintillating compositions in RNBDJ after Chak De and Fashion. All the songs are chartbusters in their own way and looks as good on screen as it sounds on your personal iPods. Haule Haule comprehends the growing love of a middle aged protagonist; Title track Rab ne, in its two versions, is made special by the mellifluous voice of Roop Kumar Rathod and Shreya Ghoshal respectively. Sunidhi Chauhan has done full justice with the lone peppy track of the album- Dance Pe Chance. The best track of the album is Phir Milenge crooned by the best singer in present era Sonu Nigam. The very theme of this song combined with few guest appearances makes this one a treat to watch.
Harjeet’s Verdict- One Point of View: RNBDJ would be a runaway hit, not because it’s a awesome movie, but because if SRK-factor can turn duds like OSO and Main Hoon Na into blockbusters, then this one is far better than those craps.
Harjeet’s Verdict-Another Point of View: If your idea of entertainment matches with sweet romantic stories churned from Yashraj banner then “Come Fall in love and Be diabetic….yet again”; If not, then stay away from Sugar and be in peace.
Harjeet’s Verdict-Star Sign: 3 out of 5. Moderately Recommended (*Conditions apply)

Dostana aka……. “Gayness Personify”

…..And we thought “Jokes are not meant to be taken seriously”!! It all started with a ludicrous “KantaBen” chapter of 2003’s biggest money-grosser Kal Ho Na Ho; followed up with couple of memorable acts by two Khans in the Award functions and then dozens of other bollywood flicks took the cue and cracked jokes on them. Yes I’m talking about the G-Word making its prominence in Bollywood loud and clear. But it needed a valiant effort to actually devote a full-fledged movie on the homo-sexuality and none other than Karan Johar took the bait. At the outset, let me clarify that through Dostana he doesn’t stands as a gay-rights activist. On the contrary, the flick makes the mockery of such attempts, if any.
Shrewdly enough, Dharma Productions have not left any stone unturned to churn out a perfect entertainer. There is John in his new Sallu-Avtaar, who has shown his detest for shirts and love for shorts through-out the movie. There is Priyanka Chopra who has raised the oomph factor by quite a few notches without being vulgar. Whether she is in hot-pants OR in short-skirts OR in sensuous-Saree OR in golden-bikini she keeps the mercury raising high and higher. Then there is Abhishek, who deciphers the cool-dude-code to the tee. If that’s not all, there is Shilpa Shetty kick-starting the flick with her moves-n-grooves in skimpy tiny attires. Apart from all these embellishments, what works in favor of the movie is the continuous underline-humor that flows throughout the 14 reels. Always expect an unexpected surprise whenever you felt that “Ahh….here comes Johar’s typical-stupid EQ”. Agreed, few of the gay-scenes are witnessed in umpteen flicks and also the humor goes overboard sometimes that result into eschewal moments for the audiences. While first half juggernauts at the rate of knots, second half is painfully slow; thankfully K-Jo’s melodrama was kept under wraps by the debutante-director Tarun Mansukhani which in turn keeps the yawn-n-frown away.
The camaraderie and chemistry (err… biology as well) of the gays-to-be AB’s baby and Bips-Beau works big time and their crush-in-landlady Piggy-Chops looks gorgeous to say the least. Abhishek leads the pack by huge margin as he carries the embarrassing act of self-proclaimed gay with élan. John was busy showing his artistically-chiseled body and Priyanka wins the heart of millions with her beatific smile and voluptuous figure. Kirron Kher is at her hamming best; the mother-in-law act could have been a bit subdued for audience sake. Boman Irani’s you-blink-n-miss appearance is highly dispensable. Bobby Deol in his extended-Guest appearance does nothing other than smiling and scowling at different frames here-n-there.
The music always has been the selling point of Dharma Productions, and Dostana is no exception. Jaane Kyun amalgamates well within the movie, ShutUp-n-Bounce is made treat to watch by the sexy-siren Shilpa. Maa-da-Ladla has both Punjabi fervor and situational comic timing that makes it sure shot hit. Shaan rendered his mellifluous voice in Kuch Kum that fills the void of a pure sentimental song. Desi Girl is the best song of the album and will feature in all the pubs and discos in coming few days. But the surprise package of the album is the soulful composition by Vishal-Shekhar Khabar Nahi which is still alien to the promos and it’s sung by Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa’s talented finalists Raja Hassan and Amanat Ali. Watch Out for my money!!!! The Choreography by Vaibhavi Merchant is just above average; though Farah takes the cake for her groovy dance steps in Desi Girl.
Harjeet’s Verdict: If you don’t want to crackle your funny-bones; If you have an uncanny knack of harping for the logic; If you don’t have a sweet tooth for bitter comic entertainer- then KINDLY EXCUSE!!! For others: Keep your Family-Filter OFF, enjoy and cherish DOSTANA and Stay in Peace forever…..n ever.
P.S: *** out of 5 for K-Jo’s brave attempt of coming out of his comfort-zone.

Karzzz Stays on Himesh…..to deliver!!

So the Remake-season is back with wannabe-actor Himesh Reshammiya slipping into the shoes of “King of Romance” aka Rishi Kapoor and hoping against hope to recreate the magic that this tale of reincarnation has spilled over the audiences two decades back. Going by the pre-concieved notions of the majority of the movie-goers this audaciously bold step would backfire the Topi-less Musician-turned-singer-turned-Actor. But few of the hardcore optimists still feel that he can deliver the goods and will countervail the criticism fiercely bestowed upon him.

This reincarnation of 80’s blockbuster “Karz” switches over to the luscious locales of South Africa and Kenya in the first half and that I’m afraid is the only high point of the flick. The story crawls well below a snail’s pace in the first half and what you’ll witness is a Himesh-smitten “Chitrhaar” with few bunch of actors hamming right, left and center with HR leading the pack. Suddenly in the second half the Director remembers that they are remaking “Karz” and not the sequel to supposedly Super-hit “Aap ka Suroor”. So he speeds up the pace, exercises his brain and pours-in some innovative ideas to end up with an impudent attempt of remaking the classic. I would like to recall that I have christened the new twists-n-tales of the Don’s remake as an over smart move; on the similar lines I would dare to say those of Karzzz are utterly rubbish and infantile.

Music and Songs are always HR’s forte and in his own backyard there is no room for flaws and complacency. The music of Karzzz won’t create out-of-the-world kind of hysteria but nasal-twang songs are surely worth giving a shot. The best song of the flick- “Lut Jaoun” is used sparingly throughout and even kick-starts the movie. The second best song of the album- “Dhoom tere Ishq Ki” could’nt find a place in the array of songs and his supposed-replacement “Masha-Allah” fails to impress. The soulful tune of “Ek Haseena Thi” and the charisma of original composition is thankfully kept intact. “Soniye jee tere naal” manages to achieve grace marks due to the Punjabi-fervor and “Tandoori Nights” fills the void of a peppy track. The rest of the songs would appeal to hardcore HR fans, as they might sting to the others’ eardrums and when in the movie, further cripples its paralyzed pace.

If you ever wish to watch a bagful of under-performing renowned actors in a single flick then Karzzz is the apt choice. Gulshan Grover looks to portray a character in a MTV spoof rather than in a major commercial cinema, Raj Babbar was wasted to the tee, Asrani was ghastly-intolerable and last but not the least – Danny fails to impress in a role made memorable by great Pran Sir. New kid-on-the-bloc catty-eyed and stone-faced Shweta Kumar would be lucky if she gets another break to showcase her acting prowess, if any. The only silver lining of otherwise sorry tale of mis-happenings is Urmila Mantondkar who gives a much needed respite from other clowns in action. She shows the glimpses of her hey-days in flashback scenes and gives her compatriots run for their money with her greyish performance. Himesh Reshammiya, sans his trademark-cap & few pounds of weight and in his new weirdo-hairdo-look tried very hard to act. Kudos for the guts of the man but he really flatters to deceive; when he romances- he looks hilarious, when he delivers a dialogue- he yells instead, when he is emotional- he looks lost in Sa-Re-Ga-Ma-Pa hang over, and when he dances- he hops and jumps. Still I would say, choosing such a challenging and immortalized role is a real bravado from Himesh but it would take another “Janam” or two for him to come even a little close to Mr. Rishi Kaoor. Till then – “Monty can never be back and Karz can never be re-presented.”

Harjeet’s Verdict:
For HR-haters and Average viewers- Watch the original “Karz” in dvd and use the extra ‘Zzzz’ for your sound sleep. For HR fans: Watch out for his brave attempt and the series of Nasal ridden songs.
In any case, keep “Loving to Hate him and Stay in Peace”

“ROCK ON is…….. BANGGG ON!!!”

Many eyebrows were raised when Farhan Akhtar-the Filmmaker decided to slip into the shoes of an Actor for his production house’s next venture: ROCK ON. Being an ace Director, instead of sailing the ship himself, he handed over the oars to late 90s’ Super-flop Actor Abhishek Kapoor aka Gattu. When initial promos were rolled on to the floor, Farhan was seen crooning few senseless lines that constitute the music of the movie based on Rock Band. Add to it an allegation of being “Dil Chahta Hia“ kinda movie was doing the rounds, so comparisons was nothing but obvious. Phewwww….. So Far…So Bad!!!! First impression is the last impression, isn’t it? Well.. Not really; atleast not in this case. Sadly for the Critics, all the bad-things culminate to a sudden demise then and there, as Farhan and his “Few Good Men” are Bang-On in their endeavor.

Farhan Akhtar has done a commendable job donning three different hats as an Actor, Singer and Dialogue Writer. He was more than comfortable facing the Camera as he was behind it. As a singer his unconventional voice gels well with the mood of the movie and it’s rather impossible to think about the songs sans his vocal skills. All the songs sung by him:”Socha Hai”, “Tum ho Toh”, “Pichle Saat Dinon”, “Sinbad the Sailor” and the title track “Rock On” creates an aura of Rock Music around you. Other three pillars of Rock On troop - Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli and Luke Kenny has done equal justice to their respective roles. Its hard to judge who was better amongst three of them; While Arjun played aggressive yet subdued character, Purab was his usual self with his tongue-in-cheek humor and Luke Kenny plays the peacemaker-in-chief. All these protagonists were never allowed to go overboard and emerge as a triumphant in their own shell of characterization. The credit should go to the debutante-director for taking the best out of his cast-n-crew. Prachi has made an impressive debut; she looked pretty and enacted both the lighter and emotional scenes with ridiculous ease. It’s refreshing to see her out of those trite K-Series and Saas-Bahu-sagas. Shabana Goswami, getting equal footage as her compatriot Prachi, was impressive both as a confidence-boosting girlfriend and as a middle-class frustrated wife. The rocking music by ever-so-experimenting trio of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is heart-n-soul of the movie and is best suited to watch within the closed doors of the Theatre; but once you are out of it you will even love to beat your ear-drums playing the tracks through your personal iPods.

Being touted as first ever Rock Movie in Bollywood, it has its share of emotional, romantic and humorous quotient to make it enthralling and a complete must watch. Without any tinge of doubt, the movie is aimed towards Youngistaan and will (already is) appeal (ing) to the youth, immensely. It’s a story of four friends and there journey spanning more than ten years. It’s a story of chasing their dreams, their passion; it’s a story about the special bonding known as friendship. Its story about their clashing egos, their struggle, their compulsions to thrive in this cut-throat competitive world that forms the road block to relishing their dream of being a Rock Band. As a construed thought, actually it’s not just a story; it’s a mirror image of one’s own life – Yours’, Mine and all the Youth-Brigade in one way or the other.

Harjeet’s Verdict: Rock On gives an ample testimony of the changing phase of Bollywood. It delineates the different kind of genre all together and targets towards the niche audience. It would be awesome for some, mediocre for few and utter rubbish for others. So make your own choice as per the gist deduced from the review; either raise a toast for FRIENDSHIP and “Keep Rocking” or just lay back and “Stay in Peace”.

It’s never too late to Re-LIVE your dreams; Grab the second Opportunity and cherish it forever….n ever!!!

“Forget BADSHAH..Spare SHEHANSHAH; KINNG has arrived!!”

What is the parameter to judge the Stardom? When one can be called as a SUPERSTAR by every sense of the word? When the real Star stands tall while other actors’ fortune-pendulum swings every Friday from sky-high to the lowest-low? That happens when SRK cashes all his way through the Bank riding on the success of duds like KANK and OSO. When Aamir Khan literally walk through a “Mela” unfazed and unscathed and when Salman Khan can takes his shirt at will with no major Hits, still. And now one outsider is entering into this All-Khan Elite Club and that’s our very own Akshay “Khiladi” Kumar. Singh Is Kinng, the latest Akki-Offering, gives ample testimony of this fact and it goes like this:
Is It OVERHYPED? : Few reels into the movie, the very title of the movie looks farce for the real SINGH like me because the portrayal of the character played by Akshay Kumar is inconsistent throughout the movie. Sometimes he is adorned in well-tied turban, but in continuation you will find him in capped-turban which looks really odd to say the least. In addition to that, he tried all kinds of beards possible under the sun. The story kicks off on a strong note with yet again Punjab-Village backdrop, but soon loses its sheen when it takes the shape of torrid tale of events portrayed in umpteen earlier flicks. The presence of over-dozen characters adds to the confusion and even though it has been advised to leave your brains at home, still there is serious possibility of a severe head-ache. The art of story-telling and standard of humor by Anees Bazmee is going down by alarming rate and that should be addressed at the earliest by the man himself.
BAS EK KINNG? : Without any tinge of doubt the movie belongs to Akshay Kumar who has dominated each and every frame of the movie. In today’s scenario, he has mastered the art of comic scenes and looks completely at ease while playing a stroll-in-the-park role. Katrina Kaif has done her best what she knows best, and that’s to look stunningly gorgeous. This movie has made a complete mockery of the talent of Om Puri and was totally wasted as Protagonist’s buddy, infact he was totally forgotten in second half’s proceedings. Kirron Kher continued where she left in OSO and hammed left, right and center. Ranvir Shourey was totally out-of-place and looked lost in wonderland. Javed Jafri got entangled himself in “goody” and “badie” souls but still was better than his other counterparts. Sonu Sood was average in patches, and what the hell Neha Dhupia was doing in the movie… your guess is as good as mine.
CHAK DE PHATTE: Music has played an important role in upward lift on the success-ladder of Akshay Kumar and Singh is Kinng is no difference. Whether its Pritam’s original compositions or plagiarized ones, few of the songs are already topping the chartbusters. The title track has been placed intelligently in the movie and looks best on the screen and in a way christens the Super Stardom of Akshay Kumar as a new King of Bollywood. While Teri Ore made ear-soothing by enigmatic voice of Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Jee Karda has its Punjabi fervour intact- thanks to Labh Janjua. Talli Hua is a complete misfit and Bhootni Ke was wasted with the voice of Mika rather than in his Brother-Daler Mahendi’s voice. The must publicized Snoop Dogg’s version of Title Song is pointlessly saved for the post-flick-thanks-giving titles and gets lost in the oblivion.
Harjeet SINGH’s Verdict: Barring charismatic Akshay Kumar and the Punjabi-flavored music, there is nothing to rave about the movie. There are few dialogues in the movie that makes SIKHs happy and proud as prior to this they are used as laughing stock in Bollywood movies. If these are enough reasons to watch the movie then give this one a shot, or else- STAY IN PEACE. 2 Star out of 5 for the flick and 10 out of 5 for the title, Yes.. Its true: SINGH IS always a KINNG.

“Pappu Paas Ho Gaya”…. For Sure!!!

We all do get a bit nostalgic while watching a good movie based on the college life with a bunch of young artistes reliving the moments we shared and will cherish till eternity. Truly, those are the best days of our lives and we all want those days to be portrayed in a manner so as to give the feeling of oneself. So, with lotzz of apprehensions and anxieties I stepped into the theatre to watch Aamir Khan Productions’ another venture - Jaane Tu…..Ya Jaane Na!!!

Initial few minutes and few reels later, the doubts mentioned above gave way to other more prominent ones, since the movie is surely about college friends but not about college days. On the contrary, the real movie kick-starts with the farewell day of our Protagonists- Jai and Aditi. Through-out the next two hours or so you will witness the sequences and situations that have been showcased on the silver screen for the umpteen times. And here lies the choice to the “Captain of the Ship”-The Director, either to make the hackneyed and clichéd storyline look fresh’n’new or to let the ennui crept into the audience’s weary mind. The Writer-turned-Director Abbas Tyrewala has done the former with panache, as he already won half the battle by getting on-board the near perfect casting coup for Jaane-Tu and giving them the work-shop training for getting into the skin of their characters. What makes the difference between Jaane Tu.. and zillion other “Friends falling in love”-sagas is the way the story has been portrayed and the credit should go to the man for achieving this easy-looking but an arduous task. True, the story drags a bit in second half but it never goes overboard to the level of being crawled.

Like the director, Jaane Tu.. marks the debut of Aamir Khan’s nephew Imran Khan and the new lad looks promising atleast in this movie. Surely, to excel in bollywood the current trend is to possess a well-chiseled body and to be blessed with dancing-prowess akin to that of Hrithik Roshan, but Imran did’nt gave any signs of these two pre-requisites. But the fact remains; this also doesn’t guarantee the box-office success as Harmen Baweja will give the testimony of the fact. The newest “Khan on the bloc” still needs to be tested in intense emotional scenes and few other challenges are waiting on the podium. But as for now he can take a sigh of relief as he has reincarnated the debut of three Khans in late 80’s and early 90’s. Jaane tu .. will definitely pump a breath of fresh air to the sinking boat of Genelia’s Bombay-Dreams. She is already a big name down south but somehow was not able to carve her niche in Bollywood. Jaane tu.. gives her an opportunity to be herself and she has done a tremendous job. She looked vivacious, chirpy and enthrallingly-vibrant in most part of the movie. She also looked at ease in intense emotional scenes and her beatific killer-smile gave many a hearts floating. It’s Bollywood-Calling for Genelia, finally.

A perfect foil has been created for the lead-pair in the form of few interesting characters to complete their gang of friends. All of them has done a decent job and keeps the audience glued whenever the focus is not on Imran and Genelia. Amidst the deluge of debuts, the maiden performance by Prateek Babbar- son of Raj Babbar and Smita Patil, doesn’t goes unnoticed and he’s quite impressive in his nitty-gritty role. Watch out for the efficacious camaraderie shown by the real life couple of Naseeruddin Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah. The former provides some of the most hilarious moments of Jaane tu… Naseer again gives the stamping proof of the fact that he can perform the spectrum of roles with ridiculous ease and minimum of fuss.

The music of the movie is youthful and peppy which is evident from the first promotional song of the movie: Pappu Can’t Dance and it’ll surely become the anthem for the party-goers with two left feet. Nazrien Milana and Kabhi Kabhi Aditi are the two other full-blown songs in the movie and do come with the situation and are soothing to the ears. Other songs viz the Title track and Jane tu mera kya hai are played in the background through-out the movie and hence trouble the proceedings by noughts.

Harjeet’s Verdict: The crux-story of Jaane Tu… is neither “Fresh” nor there is anything “Different” about it. Still, Jaane tu.. is “Refreshingly Different”.

To decipher my verdict go watch Jaane tu.. Ya Jaane Na. Till then, Stay in Peace!!!!

“SARKAR” will again “RAJ” the Roost

The fate of Ram Gopal Verma, the Ace Director who has perfected the art of story-telling involving Underworld through two of his best movies: Satya and Company, has gone from bad to worse in last couple of years. Blame it on his arrogance OR wrong choices of movie-selection, the RGV factory was in total doldrums. The only saving grace of his otherwise sorry tale of mis-endeavors was Sarkar, that came well three years back. Now to know whether the Ramu’s move to recreate the magic through its sequel gives hope to the sinking-ship or it back-fires (Read Back-AAG), lets take a sneak peek of Sarkar-Raj:

The Legacy Continues: In Sarkar Raj, Big B has taken a back seat and Abhishek,a nascent Politician, comes out of his shadow and transforms himself into a young and demure yet shrewd and intelligent Leader. The Father-son relationship has been shown in a subtle way, neither having over-the-top emotional clichés nor endorsing melodramatic drama. Similar to its prequel, Sarkar Raj too has dialogues in minimal, but wherever indispensable, it has been delivered immaculately. Displaying whole range of expressions through the eloquent eyes of his protagonists has always been Ramu’s forte and Sarkar Raj succeeds in that regard as well. Be it love and affection OR hatred and vengeance, the Bacchans accomplished it with ridiculous ease. While Big B still gives the new brigade the run for their money, Little B doesn’t shy away and gives the top-notch performance with élan.

Finally finding his Foothold: Sarkar Raj will definitely pump a breath of fresh air to RGV’s moribund factory. After giving us series of duds at BO, more importantly, nonsense crappers; he finally regained his lost touch with a flick in his own familiar and conquered territory. Right from the start to finish, its RGV’s movie; his usual artistic camerawork, his signature intermittent hiatus in between the dialogues, his vision that gives new dimension to the darkness which is proved by the fact that there is hardly any source of illumination used in the scenes enacted inside the rooms. All in all, the virtual presence of Ramu in every scene, yelling; NO-LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION! is nothing but obvious.

Freshers in Sequel: Apart from the core-characters there are few fresh sailors in the boat named Sarkar Raj. Amongst all the new characters, Gobind Namdeo and Upendra Limaye stands tall in their small yet powerful role. Dilip Prabhavalkar and Sayaji Shinde excels in their nitty-gritty roles. Aishwarya Rai, it seems, has utilized the ace company she founds her self in, and learnt a few nuances of acting from her hubby-dear and Pa-in-Law. Bappi-Tutul has done a decent job with the music and more so since its goes well with the movie and doesn’t hampers its pace. The Original Music director of Sarkar, Amar Mohile , has donned the cap of the Background scorer and does full justice to it. The Govinda-Govinda track is the heart-n-soul of the Sarkar series and is used very diligently in Sarkar Raj as well.

The Verdict- Harjeet Ishtyle: If you have a sweet tooth for soft-romantic flicks, give this one a miss. If you liked Sarkar, you will surely enjoy watching Sarkar Raj provided you do that with full concentration on the dialogues, Bacchans’ demeanor and their acting prowess.
P.S: For Ramu- I give you the credit for few more AAGs in coming years if you promise to give equally enthralling Sarkar3. For the time being: Stay in Peace!!!

Tashan: A Stale Offering

Gone are those days when big-banners almost guaranteed the success at the box office. Recent Yashraj debacles (barring Chak-De India) and “Johar’s Krap- KANK” presents the ample testimony of this fact. Also, record proves that most of the multi-starrers drawn blank in the past and fails to live-up to the ever-mounting expectations of the audiences. So there was lotzz of doubts and anxiety over Tashan of Yashraj Factory, more so because the story/plot was kept under wraps for most of the post-production promotions.
Where is Tashan: The promos of Tashan promised a stylish flick, with entertainment quotient intact. In Reality check, it proves out to be “All Gloss and no Steel”. It seems Vijay Krishna Acharya, the Director of the movie, did no good for himself and the movie by shouldering extra responsibilities of being a Writer and an Editor as well. The story starts with elsewhere and ends at nowhere. Infact, initial few reels (especially the introductory scene) promises a great deal but to no avail as it slips from bad to worse into the abyss of distinct disillusionment. There are countless errors and loopholes in the movie that one review will be short if discussed in detail. The camera work by Ayanaka Bose is noteworthy in bits and pieces, action by Peter Hinnes is average and Vaibhavi Merchant’s dance moves has nothing to rave about.
Hero-Heroine Ka Tashan: After rollicking performance in RACE, Saif renders a dumb show in a role that has nothing new to offer except to the fact that, off screen, Tashan has given a reason to encrypt a tattoo on his arm. It looks as if he went into his shell and got totally over-awed by presence of Akshay Kumar who outplayed him in many films in late nineties. Anil Kapoor again proves his versatility going a full circle of performances in last six months or so. From a knee-minded Welcome to intellectual B&W, and back again to this Joker-role with a tinge of negativity in Tashan, he proves his mettle. But saying that, if few scenes by this Actor-par-excellence puts smile on your face, few other leaves you with disgust; blame it on “Overdose of Hinglish”. Kareena Kapoor in her new emaciated avatar looks good when registering her name in Yashraj camp’s Bikini Babes. Other than that she fails to re-create the magic of Jab We Met and concentrated more on Exposure than on performance. C’mon Bebo your voluptuous figure was far more attractive than this zeroed one. The Ace in the pack by far is Akshay Kumar, who lives up to his new attained superstar status. I seriously doubt whether Tashan will continue his dream run at the box office but he surely has left no stone unturned to make this not-so-happening movie into a decent one. His Comic timing is impeccable, action sequences matchless and dialogue-delivery flawless. All in all he’s the lone torch-bearer of this Tashan-less affair.
Vishal-Shekhar ka Tashan: The talented Music-Director duo of Vishal Shekhar has again given a top-notch performance in Tashan. Their fav singer Sukhvinder Singh does justice with Dil Hara Re which is shot at luscious locales that makes it soothing both for ears and eyes. Chhaliya Chhaliya works as a tool for Kareena to flaunt her new well-toned body with some skimpy attire. Dil Dance Maare will lose into the oblivion once the movie wipes from the audiences’ memory-slate. Falak Tak is a good genuine romantic song in the album and Tashan Mein played in the background through out, goes well with the mood of the movie. In gist, a decent attempt to carry-forward the legacy of musical brilliance of Yashraj’s movies.
Harjeet’s Tashan: If you get the feeling that my Review is inundated with the word Tashan, then let me assure you that I’m not in dearth of words. Instead, its aptly deduces my verdict of the movie: Its all Tashan, nothing beyond that!! If you wanna watch for the sake of it, go watch it or else….as I always say: STAY IN PEACE………..

Bollywood Thrillers Coming of Age with RACE !!!

Like most of the other established craftsmen in the tinsel-town, the Director-Duo of Abbas-Mustan have lost the plot in their last few flicks. The usual thrilling element was missing and ever-so-mounting boredom was taking a toll over the audiences. But kudos to the Burmawalla-Brothers that inspite of recent box-office debacles they struck to their well known territory. Whether RACE will go in record books just as a gallant attempt or it'll stamp their Numero-Uno position in this genre of movies, let’s find it out for ourselves by Racing across this review:

H'Some Hunks & Long-Legged Lasses: This stylish and slick suspense thriller boasts of three sexy-sirens in their seductive best. Bips playing a dusky seductress and Kats, an innocent-faced smiling-assassin, keeps audiences guessing about their true color and loyalties. Their counterparts, playing musical chairs with the leading ladies, are Bebo-tatooed Saif and Abb-Must new favorite Akshay Khanna. While Saif, sporting a new smart and suave bearded-look, gives a decent performance, Akshay, on the other hand, dons the same cap which he has used for earlier Abb-Must movies. Despite of repetition, he plays his part with panache and adds the much-needed humor in otherwise fast paced thriller. Then there is age-defying actor Anil Kapoor who goes a full 180 degree swing from his last release and plays a new-age Karamchand gulping at all the possible fruits. The role was not demanding for the actor of Anil’s caliber and needless to say it was a cake-walk for him. Sameera Reddy plays the sexy-bimbette-Secretary to Anil and her revealing outfits adds to already soaring mercury level of the movie.
Allah Duhaai Hai: Nowadays every second movie has music composed by Pritam, and I presume, it pumps him more to churn out commercially successful music. When it comes to the suspense flicks, Songs always works as fillers and slows the pace of the movie as well. Although few songs do the same in RACE, but since the songs are good so no body complains a great deal. Arguably the best song of the Album, Pehli nazar me by Atif Aslam comes from no-way in the movie and hence fails to leave the same impact on the audiences as it does on their personal iPod. Similarly another chartbuster Allah Duhai delays the proceedings and hence the ultimate inevitable. Khwaab Dekhe is the other decent song which again comes from no way. Dekho Nashe me and Touch Me finishes at bottom two in the Race of Music.
Unsung Heroes: The heart and soul of any movie is its background score and Salim Sulaiman gives a top-notch performance in this regard. Ravi Yadav does an awesome job of capturing the luscious locales of South Africa in his camera. Allan Amin, the Action-Coordinator, as usual tries hard to narrow the gap between Hollywood flicks and our Bollywood Thrillers. Editor Hussain Burmawala’s flawless work also helps to tighten the screws through-out the Movie.
Thrillers Champs: The Director duo of Abbas-Mustan have carved a niche for themselves as Thrillers’ experts in Bollywood. And with RACE they have taken a huge leap forward. The movie in question has a gripping story with all the twists-n-tales in the offering that would leave the audience on the edge-of-the-seat for most of the time. RACE proves the fact that there is grey shade behind every persona and that becomes lethal when there is huge amount of money involved; as a result that gives birth to conspiracy, infidelity and betrayal.
Harjeet’s Verdict: If you have a sweet tooth for soft-romantic entertainers, then give RACE a skip. But if you are game for a helluva roller-coaster ride with needle-of-suspicion shifting from one reel to another, give RACE a shot.
Don’t harp for logic and you will enjoy the thrill pills. For others…. STAY in PEACE!!!!!

SPECTACULAR...yet STYLISH...but STRETCHED...SAGA!!

After making debut with the record-shattering LAGAAN and then crafting a message-oriented flick SWADES, lot has been expected of Ashutosh’s epic drama JODHA-AKBAR. Amidst all the controversies and hooplah surrounding the movie, it has been appealed by the makers of J-A that it should be treated more as a fiction than as page-by-page adaptation of one of the most famous chapter of Indian history books. So letzz take a sneak-peek into the History Books adorned with the creativity of Mr. Ashutosh Gowarikar through Jodha-Akbar:

Extravaganza of Brilliance and Glitches: When the events of 16th Century are shown on the silver screen in modern times, then Directorial craftsmanship and technical delicacies are paramount; more so, when you are blending the little-known truth with lotzz of fiction. The movie is not about the bravado of Jilaluddin Akbar; instead, it shows the soft-romantic side of the Mughal Emperor. With each passing reel, it becomes quite evident that the fictional part is taking its toll over the ultimate truth to such an extent that it becomes a farce at the end. The Vamp spinning its web over the Protagonist’s love life comes straight from Ekta Kapoor’s K-series and all the other tricks-n-traits of the supposedly Bad-Men in the business looks inspired from umpteen Bollywood Flicks. What makes this clichéd story-line a bit different from other run-of-the-mill crappers is its execution through intermittent brilliance of the proven-director, eye-soothing Cinematography by Kiran Deohans and stupendous performance by seasoned campaigners Ash and Hrithik in relatively unknown territory. The sheer grandeur-look of the movie is just spectacular; the credit should go to the Art-Director Nitin Desai too. Ashutosh has picturised the scenes in Battlefield with élan, the Sword-Fight sequence in climax standout amongst others. But, as is evident from my title, all the above highs of the movie were dwarfed by the length of the movie. Editor Ballu Saluja is under the hammer for this three and half long costume drama which takes off brilliantly but literally crawls towards the Intermission and after mid-way even “Snail’s pace” fails to epitomize the lingering progress of Ashutosh’s dream Project. This proves the fact: “Slow and Steady not necessarily wins the Race”.

Jodha-Akbar: Two actors that could easily slipped into the shoes of Akbar and Jodha are Hrithik and Aishwarya, thanks to their royal looks. Hrithik Roshan surely possess the poise and panache to get into skin of the character of a “Larger than Life” image of Akbar, but what’s more astonishing is to watch him deliver those heavy Urdu Dialogues with ridiculous ease. Director somehow couldn’t resist himself to showcase well-toned and artistically-chiselled body of Jr. Roshan, whether or not Akbar has that kinda brawny-frame is left for everybody’s speculation. Thank heavens, Ashutosh restrained himself in showing Hrithik’s Dancing prowess – barring Akbar swirling around for few seconds in a song, else it could have been disaster. On the other hand, Aishwarya looks gorgeous and ravishing in those traditional attires. But to the delight of the audience, behind all those heavy costumes and jewelleries, she still gave a gem-of-a performance worth applauding.

Lord of the Music: The Music for the movie is composed by none other than A.R. Rahman. For a lengthy movie like this, the songs should come as a relief to make the audience totally engrossed in them, but alas- the charismatic touch of the maestro is missing here. Jasn-e-Baharaa by Javel Ali and In Lamhon kii by Sonu Nigam are melodious songs but at the same time it further elongates the movie and as a result delays the proceedings. Same is the case with other songs viz Khwaja and Ajeemo-Shaan Shehansha. While the former is too lengthy to my liking, latter is a treat to watch and credit should go to the Director, Choreographer and the Cinematographer for showcasing this song in a grand way.

Harjeet’s Verdict: I hope Makers of the movie could have edited the movie atleast by one hour so that I can pass on the verdict as a Must Watch. Kudos to Ashutosh for this brave attempt but he couldn’t relieved the audience from ennui out of his Magnum-Opus.
If you are complete movie-buff, could be watched once…..else Stay Home and Be In Peace!!!!!!!!!!

Powered by: Chakpak.com	Jodhaa Akbar

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.

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!!!!