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Roadside Romeo

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:37:15 GMT

"The Best meets the Best" should be an apt saying for the Yashraj and the Walt Disney collaboration for the best animated full length feature film to be churned out from the Indian Film Industry�when I say this I do not by any chance mean to degrade the previous releases but in fact I wanna say that Indian Animation Industry will surely wake up after watching RR�coz a huge step taken towards betterment or upliftment of anything should be more than welcome�.right? and that's what we should thank YRF, Walt Disney and the whole creative team of Tata Elxi for�.now you guys might be thinking why have I not included the films director Jugal Hansraj's name here�.lets talk about him later�

The main ingredients of an animated film like the colors, the movement, the textures, the shadows, the environment are all so perfect in RR that there will be times when you will feel like touching the characters�

I don't know about others but while watching RR atleast I was feeling proud with every passing frame to be a part of this Industry�an Industry which, in the past, was making films in the ANIMATION genre but somehow or the other the look was very amateurish (No comparisons with the west) in some of them and very very bad and hasty in some like My Friend Ganesha2 (Arggggghhhh, eeeeeksssss, bwaaaak)�

RR is definitely a cut above the rest simply for its superb animation�.voice selection of the characters�and the lively and witty dialogues�but falls flat on its face in more than one department (Now here I talk about Jugal- the director)�Script�Music (Not all that great) and the biggest question of all the differentiation of its target audience�.which I actually thought would be kids but while watching the film barring few places no where did I find that the film is targeted at kids�coz of too much of maturity in dialogues (Hillarious though!!)�there were hardly any lines which the kids would pick up and it will become a trade mark�

Jugal Hansraj's one line of the story is very catchy that how a cute and rich young pet from a filthy rich family, Romeo's (Saif) fate lands him in a slum and how with the help of his ability of smooth talking, he manages his way through in that big bad world of stray dogs...how he falls in love with the most happening babe of the area Laila (Kareena), and after a misunderstanding between them how he wins back the love of Laila. but that's about it I mean taking into account RR being an animated film, so many stories could have been woven around this interesting theme but Jugal opted for the tried and tested formula of a typical Indian pot boiler of the late eighties, the early and mid nineties, that's where the film faulters big time�

But I am seriously telling you all these notes of mine are the after thoughts of RR but once you are watching the film, these things will sit miles away from your mind, may be in the dicky of your car ;-) it's a very lovable film�though it drags in between but again manages to maintain its pace�

Whatever Jugal may have done with the script but one thing which works in his favor are the lovable characters he has created and also some of the weird incidents and stories he has managed to create successfully relating to dogs�like the game which dogs play at midnight of which dog will wake up maximum house owners by barking the maximum�the idea of a dog opening a salon�like the term "Cash" in the dogs world actually means "Bones" � "Aaj Haddi Kal Udhar" ;-)

There are dialogues to make you laugh�mind you not just giggle but laugh�at certain points you will feel like clapping hard and laugh aloud at the same time...all this happens may be because its an animated effort, and passionately attempted, had it been a regular motion picture it would have been a total NO NO with the audience�RR has a host of facilities for the dogs�.night clubs�happening lifestyles and hairstyles�Salon�.its cute�tattoos on arms�DDLJ going wrong ;-)

The best thing is the body movements of all the animated characters which are achieved with perfection�each and every minutest movement and expression of even a character who is in the background is kept in mind�the posters and the hoardings at some places in the background need a special mention�it only goes to show how much detailing has gone into the making�.one of the posters in the dog catcher van scene which publicizes a bhojpuri film and the director's name is "ANURAG SINGH" god knows what was it hinted at ;-)�jokes apart but also notice the rate cards and the special notices stuck in the background in the salon� "Aaj Haddi Kal Udhar" while watching RR you seriously feel that you are watching an international product but the only things which lacks is a tight script�

Though the Cinematography and Choreography is created by the brilliant and too good team of Tata Elxi's animators but yet it is credited to Cinematographer Anshul Chobey and a whole lot of Choreographers for a simple reason that these are the guys who genuinely passed their expertise in the making of the film�.Cinematographer with his expert advice on the camera angles, lighting and movements and Choreographers with the movements and steps�which were then used by the animators to animate�similarly the dialogues were dubbed with all the actors first and the expressions recorded on camera which were then used in animating�this is the info which I gathered in the days gone by coz this film had raised my curiosity levels and I was looking for information from wherever available�

The sets created in the film also give a huge compliment to the thinking brains behind it�.the chawls�the city�the gullies�the flyovers�.but again one fault here, the moment Romeo reaches the rooftop where he meets his love of the life Laila�suddenly the buildings and the whole settings change�coz no way does Mumbai look the way it is depicted in BB�otherwise its all carefully done�

Music is not all that great by Salim-Sulaiman as it sounds very repetitive in terms of tunes and arrangements, it reminds you of many Yrf previous releases, there is no song apart from the title track which stays with you�overall a letdown�

Now lets come to the all cute and lovable characters:

Romeo (Saif Ali Khan): this is one dude any body would want to be friends with�his attitude is gifted to him by God which is clearly noticeable in his character�and like a hero he has the guts to take panga with Charlie Anna the dreaded local goon�Saif has dubbed for this character to the best of his ability and not gone overboard anywhere�he does what he is best at�in fact you can see a bit of Saif in the animated character too for a simple reason that all the characters were created taking a reference from video recorded at the time of the voice recording�.

Laila (Kareena Kapoor): Performs well and ably but something somewhere lacks in her voice at certain places otherwise she portrays her role that of a sensuous night club dancer with perfection�she has that sex appeal required for the voice of laila�

Charlie Anna (Jaaved Jaaferi): Oh My God this man is amazing�.i think jokes might be flowing in his veins rather than blood�he is a bundle of energy� spontaneous� hilarious� fit for the role of Charlie Anna the dreaded local goon�this guy is simply great with his wit and timing of comedy� his dialouges "Khuda meherbaan toh Kutta pehelwaan" "Room mein aao�kaun sa room mein aao"� "Agar tu khutte kha bachcha hai toh mere se fight kar" and many more are just too hillarious and the rajnikanth feel given by him to his character is too good�the portion where he introduces his angels as Silk Sunitha, Nylon Nalini & Polyester Padhmini is superb and I could hear a loud roar of laughter in the theatre�You would want to see more and more of him a the film progresses�at times his dialogue delivery goes very low and cant be understood�

Hero Enlish (Kiku Sharda) / Guru (Vrajesh Hirjee) / Interval (Suresh Menon) / Mini (Tanaaz Kurrim) / Charlies Angels are all good, cute, lovable and lend a very able and supportive role�

Chainu (Sanjai Mishra): is one guy who stands out from the rest with his hilarious dialogues and his timing�his UP style anccent is just adorable�see the film and you will know what I am saying�he is superhit from the time he enters the screen� ;-)

RR is a film which every Indian should be proud of�though its Walt Disney involved with Yashraj but the animating company Tata elxi had all the Indian animators on job and at the end of the day its an Indian product�.

Do not miss the end credits....that chunk of the film too is interesting....

I have been watching and reading reviews of famous critics some of them have liked the animations and the dialogues in the film but not the story and some have not liked the story and even scrapped the animation as stiff�.now, I am with the first group and for the second group I have only one thing to say "Bachche ki jaan lega kya"�array bhai someone has come up with something extra ordinary in the field of animation toh usko encourage karo aur accept kar lo na�even I agree the film faulters big time on the story part but this kind of work done in animations should be more than welcome�right? Stories aur screenplays toh aur bhi banenge later on but the good news is that now we have some Indian brains who can create world class products�

On the contrary now is the time in India when apt stories would be planned which would make sense, which would have the right emotions and the zing�the quality of animation is definitely going to ring a bell in Anurag Kashyap kind of a brilliant director who seriously did a brilliant job in Hanuman Returns�I strongly feel that he is one man who can give an animated product its deserved status in India�.a status which could even get India some well deserved Oscar�and Tata Elxi should plan to open up more branches and offices across India to control the work load they are going to experience after RR�

One can only hope that RR inspires other Indian filmmakers and production houses to value audiences and give them a well made animated product

Whatever said and done I think you should go and watch RR once atleast to believe what I say or if not for anything then go and encourage a genuine and an honest Indian effort�

Roadside Romeo is cute and worth a watch !!!

Jaane Tu....ya jaane na (JTYJN)

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:48:31 GMT

Everyone has heard the famous old saying "Old wine in a new bottle" right? But for "Jaane Tu...(JTYJN) let me rephrase it a bit "Old wine in a old bottle but served in a brand new glass" I mean this particular thought has been so often experimented in our films and not once but dozen a times and has been successful always like JTYJN

But it is the narration and the presentation style in JTYJN which wins it all...Popular lyricist and screenwriter Abbas Tyrewala makes his directorial debut with this film and guess what he �Impresses�.

Imagine in today�s competitive film making times when the other biggies are making duds and delivering zero value for the hefty amount spent on fantasizing and visualizing a Mumbai which seems next to impossible here comes a film (JTYJN) which makes you believe that there may be still time for us to witness those amazing flying cars in Mumbai but the cute and light moments of life which are shown in JTYJN could be experienced and felt right here in 2008.

That is the winning point of this film...its refreshing to see the raw treatment which the director has given to the film...I felt that I was watching a nicely and thoughtful snippets of a film shot on a handy cam by a friend of mine and I guess that was the idea.

I noticed a very strong chemistry between all the friends....the brother and the sister....a strong bonding between a mother and a son....and more importantly the relationship that the two childhood friends Jay and Dipti have...

The only portion which looked boring to the core was the jail portion of Jay with Arbaaz and Sohail Khan...all that "Ranjhore Ke Rathore" act was sounding a bit bearable and ok to me until that buffoonish act of the trio in the jail spoilt it all for me. That somehow gets on your nerves grrrrrr

Music as always by Pitaamah Rahman :-) is soulful and growing....it reflects the youth completely...My pick of the lot has to be "Kabhi kabhi Aditi" simply great...the rest of the songs definitely compliment the scenes and story almost everywhere...

The best part which I liked about JTYJN was its background score...I am speechless on how well and sensibly it has been used in the film...no unnecessary cacophony created...there is not even a single beat of music in certain emotional scenes which I as an editor and a wannabe director strongly believes and agrees with, whose ever decision it was to treat it that way...Kudos

The camera work is good and displays the kind of authority the director had on his script which the cameraman followed obediently....

The Art dept needs a pat on their back for having a very realistic approach...the sets looked very real and believable and not overdone at any place...I mean to say the status comparison of Jay...Dipti or for that sake Meghna would have been a totally different one if a proper briefing was not passed on to the Art Dept. Good work in the end

And now the director Abbas Tyrewala...for him these might be those wonderful and feel good times of relief�happiness and pride because after completing a successful stint as a lyricist and screenwriter now his directorial debut has also been received by the audience with open arms....and why not? He deserves it for keeping his head between his shoulders and not going overboard anywhere...need I say more...he dishes out JTYJN which is as an example of a homework done properly and as per Aamir uncle�s expectations and with limited funds available barring that ultra boring jail sequence of the trio :-)) and yes it was too hilarious to see Naseer bhai communicating with his wife through the picture frame and delivering all the required info, by doing this, the director acted smart and avoided using a �flashback in flashback� format which would have become too confusing and chaotic for the audiences in an otherwise smooth running film

Also the smallest details have been taken care of and incorporated in so many scenes�.like we all know the relevance of a horse in Jay�s life by the time we are quite a bit into the story�.see how wonderfully the director keeps reminding the audiences about that little but an important Horse factor on and off in the story�.

A) the rain sequence where Jay is disturbed on the fact that someone kissed Aditi and he loses out on Meghna because of that�see that shaadi ki ghodi passing in the background

B) The Horse baggi in which Genelia goes for ride with her fianc� is seen almost in three to four scenes thereafter in the film

C) Sohail and Arbaz�s mode of transport is shown as a horse through out the film

Performances:

Imran Khan: Oh my God!!! Confident and how Confident...Superb is not the word for this future dependable actor....amazing performance and a perfect watchful launch...Zabarrrrdast

Genelia: loved her for the originality she carried through out the film....though in the beginning one feels that her voice is a bit too odd but then after you get adjusted with her character, its all fine and nothing matters there after....very good and genuine performance....

Pratik Smit Babbar: Now, if not anything else watch the film for this dude...he is such a surprise packet I tell you...and who says he has a small role...rubbish...imagine his first film and he bagging the all so important role of the lead actress's brother.... And not a regular bro role mind you...a role which has a depth in it....his own list of sorrows, joys, pathos and a discreet feeling of loneliness and one who makes his sister realize of certain facts regarding her own life....check him out in the scene when after memorizing a list of friends of Genelia, most of whom he remembers till date and he then asks Genelia if she remembers his friends and Genelia says NO...too good that for a sequence :-))

Manjari Phadnis: a somewhat look-alike of Rimii Sen :-) as I always get confused anyways I seriously loved Manjari's work in Mumbai Salsa and yes she does full justice to her role here too...very confident and a good actress with a bright future....

Ratna Pathak Shah: Amazing as always...portrays all the qualities of a good, friendly and a warm modern day mother...a strong lady bringing up her only child in this ruthless society and at the same time fighting against injustice...and not forgetting her duties as a mother at the same time... A straight away popular mother figure for the youth....

All the friends have acted very well and the whole credit for this goes to the casting director who chose such confident and perfect faces...because friends always reflect one's personallity and how well did they fit as Jay and Dipti's friends...WooooW

Jayant Kriplani... Anuradha Patel... Rajat Kapoor...Kittu Gidwani (My childhood crush :-)) from her TV serial Air Hostess Days)... Paresh Rawal all of them deliver what is expected of them....a good job

A good film with a bit of a dragging and a clich�d second half but still watch able nonetheless

Go and feel good about a Mumbai we are living in right now rather than fantasizing a Mumbai of 50 years from now :-)

Love Story 2050

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 05:46:26 GMT

This film can easily be called the joke of the year with its only saving grace as Harry's Puttar Harman :-)

I pity myself for the last minute decision of mine when yesterday i made akki change his decision of watching Amir and made him buy the paid preview tickets of this film....I hate that notice board at Inorbit Mall,fame malad Grrrrrrr from the bottom of my heart

No logical reasons given in the story...people keep cropping up like mushrooms do...

Harman is a treat to watch...barring few scenes where he looks a bit tentative as they might be the scenes he shot in the very begining...rest is quite impressive about him...

Priyanka Is good but not that impressive as expected of her

Archana Puran Singh lifts the film after her entry....how I wish the writers wrecked thier brains a bit more and introduced her much before where she presently does in the film...damn hillarious...very good te too much hai ji

Boman Irani as the scientist looks convincing but even here due to his character not introduced earlier in the story, credit to the writers, it takes time for the audience to connect with him but once connected Boman's character works...

Kids are jus about OK....

Music is so so but doesn't work for me atleast...

Sets by Omang Kumar are creatively thought and utilized well apart from some Goddy settings and colour choices at certain places which OK loves (reference : Saawariya) but overall a neat job...

Camera work by my favourite Vijay Kumar Arora is very good and admirable...the beauty of South Australia and other whole lot of locations has been captured well....

Dialouges are good but get too filmy and cliched at times

Visual effects barring few are not impressive as they should have been in a overhyped film like this

And yes a hype which was not worth at all apart from Harman

Length of the film is a big concern

Harry uncle's direction is weak and leaves a lot to be desired

Watch it at your own risk !!!

Sarkar Raj

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 07:46:45 GMT

Anything overdone in life is not digestable�..like excessive smoking leads to cancer�.excessive drinking leads to lever failure�.excessive exercise may lead to a cardiac arrest�.please do not think that I am giving some kind of a pravachan or a lecture straight out from a good health guide�lol

I am basically pointing out that anything excessive is not good and this is the same thing which I noticed in Sarkar Raj�.

repititive political games�.so what if bapu was introduced as a support wall of the story�..

repititive performances�everyone knows that I am a huge fan of Big B but I found him sort of regular�.only at few places I liked his performances but that�s not the Big B we die for right?

Abhishek again repeating himself�.after a while too much of a silence from him gets on your nerves�bhai mooh se kuch bolega ya maun vrat rakha hai????

Aishwarya nothing so great�.a typical hardcore business woman turning into a typical filmy heroine the moment she is introduced to the naagre family�.o my god what a drastic turn around of a personality�lol�arrey pagli tu bahu thode hi na hai naagre family ki jo aise aansoo bahaa bahaa ke aur zor zor se chilla ke ro rahi hai�.funny!!!!

Govind Namdeo does a good job but his character was too similar to that of Zaakir in Sarkar�.

Sayaji Shinde repeats himself in every other film since Shool�..

Dilip Prabhavalkar is otherwise such a great actor but as bapu�.what a waste made out of him �

Rajesh Shringapure as Sanjay Somji was too good as a debutant�.very impressive

For the first few minutes the camera angles seem very novel but after a while that too gets overdone and too too too repetitive�.believe me after the movie got over I started feeling dizzy�and I looked at Akki and said mujhe chakkar aa raha hai�.

If u frankly ask me I don�t care about the camera angles etc etc�and the lighting which I seriously found faulty (though creatively thought of may be but imagine if the same lighting experiment was done by a debutant director he would have been shreaded by now but its RGV toh kuch soch ke hi kiya hoga hai na? huhh) apart from few good scenes I don�t remember anything from the movie�.

I mean to say to cover up faults in your story telling if u take support of your cameraman�.it can be done at a few selected places in the film not the whole film yaar�come on�.i am surprised at some people going ga ga about the film shot in a different style agreed that there are a few very well shot shots in the film but that�s it is there to discuss�what else my friend?

Frankly I wont be as generous and a bit soft as others have been in their reviews coz if a film works for u in bits and pieces its actually not working for u�.this is a fact�period�I found the film very weak and loose�.with a lot of hangover of Sarkar�.may be that�s the reason why a sequel will seldom work in India�.remember Vaastav�s sequel Hathiyar also suffered the same way�.coz it had more than plenty instances which I could directly relate to Vaastav�.same is here I could notice so many undercurrents in Sarkar Raj which I have already felt and seen in Sarkar (Read people playing political games)�.again repetitive�.now I know I m inviting few debates on this point specially but I am ready with my justifications�. J

But yes if you decide to make not a sequel but a SERIES like Munnabhai there are plenty of chances that it will work every time its made�.

I don�t know what is the wizardry that RGV has done in this film�.apart from few brilliant things like few nicely shot action shots and well written dialogues�.the background music is fine but the main problem lies with the film�s audio mixing I feel�.there is this song �raavan� where the lyrics are hardly audible as the sound effects of people shouting and yelling has been given too much importance�if there was only music it was a different thing but surely not sound effects overlapped with lyrics please�.

I would not want to discuss the film here in totality as I think I would take it up as and when the discussion heats up�.if at all it does�.lol

Till then I would just like to join our cute Aishwarya Bhabhi (lol) and say �zara 200,000,00,00,000 (Rupees Two Hundred Thousand Crores) ki chaai Pilaana please�

People here who have seen the film might be in splits right now�..lol

A one time watch for sure�.atleast to experience the true roller coaster ride which RGV and his cameraman provide�.lol

Race

Mon, 05 May 2008 15:10:41 GMT

Race is a film which you can see and immediately forget believe me nothing from the film stays with you apart from a brrilliant performances of anil kapoor and saif ali khan...

Anil's performance is a total rip off of the age old Indian detective karamchand...who was a carrot freak but here anil is shown a fruit freak accompanied by a dumb secretary like kitty which is played by sameera reddy...

The film looks very stylish though and hats off to the director duo Abbas Mustan...these two dudes have been in the industry for a long long time now but they always keep pace with the new trends and styles of cinema and that is what works in their favour...

Music though a let down but "race Saanson ki" is foot tapping and all the other songs remind u of many of the hits which pritam has churned out before...i seriously feel that pritam's music offlate has been sounding very repititive...

Cinematography is very good and the scenic beauty of south africa is captured well but again the main villain DI (Digital Intermidiate) hinders the beauty of the film...and at some places the camera has shaken very badly....overall a decent job

Performance wise its only anil and saif who deliver a class performance and akshay is getting too repititive in his stereotype negative roles again and again...bipasha does a fair job and looks hot...

Direction is good and looks stylish but if the script would have been worked upon more it would have been a far better film...

Dialouges are good and well written specially for saif...

Its a decent film worth one watch and if you have missed it by any chance do not repent it vil premier on tv soon and...

if not then the dvd's vil b out soon...

U Me Aur Hum (UMAH)

Mon, 05 May 2008 14:57:47 GMT

I saw U Me Aur Hum on it first day of release last show and believe me it just blew my mind off...actually till the interval the film was seeming nice but it kept me and my wife guessing as to what the director wanted to portray....

Then came the interval and then came the second half and things kept changing as each and every scene unfolded and truly was better than the other....each and every scene made me feeling stronger that this dude called ajay devgan has taken a very wise decision of turning a director....

The film is nicely woven together with its own pace to establish things...but no where did I get bored trust me....slowly and steadily u keep getting involved in the characters and a point in the film comes when u feel that the characters are doing things around u and with what conviction....superb !!!!

Music is good and hummable and at the apt places foot tapping too....I enjoyed the title song whenever and whereever it came in the film....

The cinematography is eye pleasing and does not boast of over the board extensively shot visuals but keeps it to the required need....I loved the concept of close ups through out the film and that too the camera pans from one tightest close up to the other....and notice the camera movements in the dil dhakda song it vil make u feel tipsy....

but one thing which I totally disagree with producers now a days is that y do they touch the entire film digitally (DI - Digital Intermediate) it should be done to the parts which desperately need to be corrected....I mean it is something technical but it gives such an artificial feel to the film....its not this film alone I m pointing at but so many in the years gone by....I feel so and its not necessary that others should agree with me....

Kajol again proves that she is one of the finest actress we have in India....nothing more as her performance will leave u spellbound and speechless....

Ajay Devgan is amazing amazing and more amazing as a director and as an actor....flawless performance and controlled direction....class apart and stands out with a dinstinction....

Sumit Raghavan is anyways a good actor and here too does a convincing job...very good opportunity provided to him and he comes out with flying colors....

Divya Dutta is also convincing and performs well....

All others lend an able support and perform well....but UMAH is out and out ajay devgan's film no doubt....

A film with a sure shot repeat value....

A big Umaaah to UMAH

A must must must watch!!!!!!!!

Jodha Akbar (JA)

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 21:50:30 GMT

I was watching JA after listening to a lot of mixed response..so more than anything I had the curiosity to find out what exactly went wrong with the film or rather what are the things which the public is finding negative in the film..i saw it at the movie time cinema in malad which has a seating capacity of 389 seats and only approx 100 were occupied..

My first reaction to the opening war scene was woow..amazing..and then started the actual journey which the director wanted me to take thru..but believe me the actual problem with the film is its length..the first half is almost of 2hrs and the second half too is approx the same length if not longer..

If u ask me I seriously don�t have any recollection of the movie apart from Hritik as Jalaluddin Mohammed Akbar and Aishwarya as Jodha Bai..the film no doubt is executed on a lavish scale and gr8 pains might have gone in to make it but too many things to tell and still only 4 hrs time limit was too less..after all it�s a matter of an historical event..

What was I there to witness the heroics of Akbar..the romantic endeavors of his..the pious feeling he had for India..What was I watching?? Are the questions I am still figuring out..

Exellent Cinematography..Lavish Costumes and accessories..Gr8 Set Design..Mind Blowing Special Effects..everything is a compliment to the film but still there was something lacking in the film..and above all a good but still a very very lengthy screenplay..wont comment on the story as it belongs to history..but the screenplay always belonged to the writer and director..right?

That Ashutosh Gowarikar touch somehow was missing from JA..another hinderence for the audience was the lingo of the film which the audience could not relate to..like �Paani aur Tammannaon ki Taasir ek hoti hai�aage badhte rehna� I mean who can guess this heavy dialogues..rather digest..and on top of that the director decides the length which is zombical..

After adding almost everything in the film..the director forgot that where were Tansen and Birbal..his most trusted men..oh ya they might have gone to Rajasthan to sort out the risen controversies..professional management of an emperor you see..hehehe

I am not kidding but imagine a film with a first half which doesn�t want to end and the second half equally long..i fell asleep during the neverending lovemaking scene in the second half and once before in the first half�don�t remember the scene

The Technical Team:

Music is such a disappointment..apart from Kehne Ko jashne bahara�and Azeemo shaan Shehenshah (what grandeur and cinematography)..nothing else remains with u�Khwaaja mere Khwaaja sounds too much like Haaji ali piya Haji Ali from Fiza..the background too has almost nothing in it..apart from some fanfare themes and that akbar angry theme is awesome..

Nitin Desai does an amazing job with sets but aaah in the mid close ups and close ups on the actual locations he or his setting guys forgot to paint the fort walls at the back and they look so shabby for a King still residing there..isn�t it?

Camera work is superb and needs a special mention..Kiran Deohans does a superb job..the war scenes..the horse riding sequences are well shot..

Editor cannot be blamed for the length as the call for the length is director�s but at some places the editor surely faultered like for instance the scene where Jodha prepares food for Akbar and tells him to stop as there is less salt in the food�notice the hand movement of Hritik which repeats twice once in the long shot and then in the mid close..

Director Ashutosh Gowarikar though does not deliver what was expected of him but manages to clear the thin line with the help of his technical team..the war scenes could have been worked upon more as in action wise..plus he should have taken care of the length of the film which is unnecessarily over by approx 30-40 minutes..

The Performances:

Hritik Roshan is simply amazing..no words can describe his command over the language and with the easy flow he performs..his one of the best performances till date..and a difficult role to play...that of a history character..too good..

Aishwarya is looking astonishingly beautiful and performs with conviction..a true mallika-e-hindustan..

Sonu Sood performs well and lives upto the expectations of the role..

The guy Sharifuddin is amazing in the negative role..promising guy..

Rest of the cast lends an able support..

JA is surely a one time watch..but not what u expected out of an AG film..so now I understand what the audience was finding negative about the film..

Mithya

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 08:47:30 GMT

So it was almost after 4 months that I visited my fav venue�the theatre�Mithya was the movie I saw at the screen num 2 of movie time in malad�not too many people in there but that�s expected�.

Mithya means Bhramm in hindi and illusion in English�the movie not by any chance is based on the Indian film industry or for that sake the underworld as some might perceive it to be�but instead both the above mentioned are just used as a backdrop of the film instead what it highlights is the circumstances in which a man gets entangled for the want of fame and money and finally its consequences which is so wonderfully portrayed by the brilliant Ranveer Shorey the main protaganist of the story�he is just too good in a double role as the struggling actor V.K.Agarwal in one and that of a underworld don Rajey Bhaisahab in the other�

The plot though is vaguely lifted from the old amitabh starrer Don but then at later stages very intelligently extended and executed by Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla�

On a serious note�with film makers like Rajat Kapoor and Saurabh Shukla one thing is guaranteed and that�s�pure entertainment�.Mithya�Bheja Fry�and Raghu Romeo kind of films are a real source of inspiration and moral boost for the younger lot of film makers like me atleast�.

The above mentioned films are an example of how a non starrer yet an appealing film can be produced make its way to the theatre and can create wonders�.you need to see Mithya to believe what I am saying�

Ranveer Shorey has successfully broken his image of an artist who was always labelled in the comedy bracket�.in Mithya he does what he is best at that is he makes u laugh and at the same time creates the pathos in his character when it is rightly needed and whats best to notice is that he does not over do it at any point�.Simply Amazing�.

Neha Dhupia after a long time looks very hot and shows a promise that she too can act�.into the character�good job�

Nasser bhai�is good as gangster gaavde but as per me he did not get the right kind of a screen space which he actually deserves�

Saurabh Shukla�is amazing as always as gangster shetty�

And Vinay Pathak�.and his associate (name not known)�Iravati�Harsh Chaya�Suhasini Muley and others lend able support�.

Rajat Kapoor has done a commendable job as a director�first half is in his grip but goes a bit haywire in the second half�and I don�t know what kept him so ignorant about the background music of the film�

As the biggest drawback however in mithya was its background score which was a total let down�there was every chance that the background music could have become the hero and the backbone of the film as it was so much needed there with a full impact but aah it was missing�.seriously the background score would have made a huge difference to the entire film�.

The first half is pretty fast though the interval point looked like undecided till the last moment�the second drags for about 8-9 minutes or so�.

But all in all a good film and a good effort by the makers�good faith shown by planman pictures in Rajat Kapoor and his abilities�.

And to end the films story totally justifies the films title�MITHYA

Mumbai Salsa

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:57:52 GMT

hey guys after a long time i bought a dvd and after i saw it i was feeling happy to have invested watever amount in this dvd....

Mumbai Salsa is a very metro based youth centric film....there was something which kept me glued to the film from the very starting....every thing is so cool about the film....the characters are well defined....they can act well....the screenplay seemed fine to me....it has moral values...imagine...after mentioning all these points....the film did not do well...that comes as a surprise to me....

the film has everything what a young boy or girl of today would expect a film to have....it has fun....it has humor...it has romance....it has emotions....it has sex....it has the repurcussions of an extra marital affairs.... lesbianism...breakups...dumpings....it has all the ingredients of a good film....still...anyways...

Another best part about the film is its Music by Adnan Sami....its so different from the recent trend that it takes u on a different trip....a trip which any urban dude or dudette would die for....

i thoroughly enjoyed the film and would want to watch it as and when i get into a mood...this film will surely relax those aching nerves of mine....

its available for 199/- wat else does one want for a refreshing film like this one....

frankly two people i did not ever like were Veer Das (the main lead of the film) and Vikram Bhatt....Veer Das for his over acting and faaltu comments in some tv shows on zoom and espn or some sports channel and Vikram Bhatt for his choice and speed of making films in the recent times....

u bet now u can understand with what mindset i might have started to watch this film and suddenly in the next ten minutes my view point for both the above mentioned men started to change....

impressive attempt by the debutante manish tyagi....and brave step by Vikram Bhatt to produce a film like Mumbai Salsa....

lets do the Mumbai Salsa o Janeman....

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 03:30:01 GMT

Bechams�Ronaldos�Peles�.Maradonas�while watching GOAL if u are expecting to experience any kind of an excitement which the above mentioned guys provide u while they are at the ground with their romance �The Football� then u r highly mistaken�.

The spirit of winning is seen and felt only at one or two places that�s it and otherwise it was like a bunch of few uninterested people being forced by their over reacting captain Arshad Warsi to play the game of football�.

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal the movie is about football and believe me I felt that there was no one who knew the game of football in the film or may be there was no passion shown by those people for the game�

Like in Lagaan Bhuvan and his folks really did not know the game of cricket which is why u could not see the passion in the group in the beginning but slowly and steadily as they understand the gravity of the situation they get together and fought it out somehow� right?

But in Goal Arshad and his folks are already players but the passion for the game in them was totally missing�.the film starts with an undisclosed guy wearing a jacket with a hood who is juggling with the football through the streets of London and when the beginning titles end he is shown to be a young lad who reaches the protagonist team�.then that young chap has nothing substantial to do in the whole film�.arrey yaar if u wanted to show the passion for the game u should have shown a group of boys enjoying those little tricks with the ball and some other common people joining them to establish that how big the game was for the people of that place which the director was about to disclose to the audience�.

And then the film takes off in a very very predictive manner from the scene number 1�.Not that Chak De India was not a predictable story from the scene number 1 yes it was but look at the strong treatment given to the story and screenplay and even those hard hitting dialouges which from time to time through out the film made u proud either for ur country or for kabeer khan or for any of the team member�isn�t it?

Arshad and John do a good job but they have much more talent which they would have exposed if the director had demanded it from them�

Rest everyone was just about ok? And Bipasha the doctorni was toh too much�.i felt woh doctor hi isiliye bani taaki hunks ko patient bana sake aur romance kar sake bichaari�lol

And what was the Billo song added for�.and I saw a lady physio for the first time and thought that she would do some good to the team but O My God�ye kya�.doctorni sahiba toh gayi kaam se�.here she was in awe of Sunny Bhasin (John Abraham) and guess what these two official members of the team had all the time in the world to romance with each other with all the important matches taking place�.that made me think the exact reason of Yuvraj Singh�s current poor form in the India Australia series� lol�.

The Cinematography is good�there is nothing called a set in the film apart from some interior job at few places�.Script is too weak�dialogues unimpressive�.the background score too is so so�.and music�.aaaahh now was there something called music in the film�.even the anthem song was not passionate enough which could give u goosebumps like the baar baar hum from lagan or CDI title track�.

The director while making the film was on his own high which is clearly seen in the film�no proper character establishment�.no chemistry between the team members�.the coach looks like a freelancer coming and coaching the team�.the bonding is not shown with conviction�.

Thats all from Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal��