raghavramaiah-1 Reviews

What's Your Raashee? (2009)

What's Your Rashee : Disappointing

[4/10 · 28 September 2009]

How many of you were waiting for this one from Gowariker? i know many! Sadly for all Gowariker fans, What's Your Rashee is absolutely disappointing. Based on Madhu Rye's novel Kimball Ravenswood, WYR's script is as flat as it can possibly get.

What's Your Rashee's story revolves around Yogesh Patel(Harman Bhaweja) an MBA student studying in Chicago, who is forced to return to India after receiving a message about his father's deteriorating health. On reaching India is when the family of Yogesh let out the actual reason. Yogesh is then told about the share scam committed by his brother and the family's huge debt. He's also told about the solution offered by a astrologer according to whom, If Yogesh gets married on the 20th, huge wealth is to follow the family on the very day. He's given a mere 10 days to decide a girl and get married. It does not take long for his family to convince Yogesh and he's then out looking for brides. After a lot of confusion about the brides shortlisted by his uncle, Yogesh comes up with a bizarre idea of meeting one girl from each of the 12 zodiac signs. And the plot leading upto Yogesh deciding his soul mate among the 12 is for you to watch it yourself.

Gowariker seems to have failed miserably with WYR provided the quality of movies that he

made previously. The movie fails to take off and the plot of the movie does not really convince you at any level. The one and the only thing that is impressive with WYR is Priyanka Chopra's impeccable performance playing 12 different characters. She's absolutely mind blowing with each of the 12 characters and probably the only thing that makes you sit right through the exhausting 3 hours 15 minutes. Harman Bhaweja is good and tries his best to make an impact with his honest acting supported well by rest of the cast. The funnier parts that were supposed to be funny are not funny and it just frustrates you more.

The music by Sohail Sen is ordinary and the 12 songs used for 12 the different characters are not impressive either.

Reviewed By- Raghav Ramaiah

Originally Posted at talkingpopcorns.com

Wanted (I) (2009)

Wanted! is Unwanted!

[4/10 · 20 September 2009]

If you were waiting for a good film from Salman Khan, your wait is certain to continue as Wanted turns out to be a below average watch. Directed by dance guru Prabhudeva, Wanted will fail to impress you on every level. Adapted from the original telugu flick Pokiri, Wanted is an out and out action film. The script of Wanted seems more like its made for the audience down south and implementing it with Salman Khan makes it all more interesting. Having proved his abilities with action flicks, Salman Khan looks to have gone that extra mile to give Wanted the classy touch.

Wanted's protagonist Radhe(Salman Khan) is a local thug who terminates people when offered the right price. He's seen shifting between two rival gangs to terminate one another who ever offered more money. Radhe takes no time eliminating people and is seen doing the same in every second scene and here's when he falls for the innocent-pretty girl Jhanvi(Ayesha Takia) who works in a call center. Not so impressed by his rough gangster looks, it takes a while before Jhanvi starts feeling for Radhe who helps her out from the hands of the corrupt crook inspector Talpade(Mahesh Manjrekar). On the other hand due to constant killings in both rival gangs, the top don Gani Bhai(Prakash Raj) is forced to visit mumbai to take over the underworld activities. Now is when the plot takes a unanticipated bizarre u-turn giving Wanted the much needed climax that you might end up liking. The abrupt unpredictable climax is for you to watch it yourself.

Wanted has hardly anything that you might want to look back at except for Salman Khan. The script is ordinary and the execution part makes it even more lousy. The dialogues are ineffective and fails to derive the energy necessary except for a few. Salman Khan has delivered a decent performance with some great action sequences which you are sure to enjoy. Not so impressive are the costumes which look awful in nicely shot backdrops especially in the songs- "Tose Pyar karte Hai" and "Dil Leke Darde Dil". The performances of Ayesha Takia and the rest of the crew is forgettable.

The music by Sajid-Wajid is again ordinary and is tolerable provided the violent theme of the movie. "Love me Love Me" being the most catchy of all. Having seen the huge commercial success with the Tamil and Telugu versions, Wanted will have to literally run full shows to even compete with its counter parts. Go watch it if you are a Salman Khan Fan, and not really advisable for the rest.

Reviewed By, Raghav Ramaiah

Originally posted @ TalkingPopcorns.com!

Sikandar (2009)

Sikandar : An sincere Attempt

[7/10 · 24 August 2009]

Directed By- Piyush Jha

Produced By- Sudhir Mishra

Featuring- Parzan Dastur, Ayesha Kapoor, Madhavan, Sanjar Suri..

If you guys loved Parzan Dastur in Parzania and Ayesha Kapoor in Black, you'll love them yet again in Sikandar. Directed by Piyush Jha, Sikandar has a terrific script but when it comes to execution of the same is where it fails. Going by the sidelines of the tension that surrounds Jammu and Kashmir, Piyush Jha manages to capture the essence of the lives of young children really well.

Sikandar is a movie of a young boy Sikandar Raza(Parzan Dastur) who like any other 10 year old is naughty-innocent and a passionate football player. Living alone with his aunt and uncle, soon Sikandar finds a pal,a 10 year old Nasreen(Ayesha Kapoor), who accompanies him during the morning walk to school. During one such walk to school is when both of them find a gun lying on the same isolated path. Sikandar is cautioned by Nasreen not to get close to the gun but much to his curiosity takes the gun and without much knowledge is left with no other option but to use the gun to his own benefit, may it be scaring off the bullies in school or scaring people on the street. Soon he's seen training with a Jihadi militant who promises him a washing machine if he trains and shoots the person that they target on. Circumstances get way too complicated when Sikandar shoots the Jihadi Militant out of frustration and makes his life even more miserable. The army start a search operation in pursuit of the little boy and the twists that follow is something that you need to watch it yourself.

Sikandar is not a bad movie but it takes time for you to realize that its a good movie. You don't really feel for the characters like you felt for Ishaan Awasthi in Taare Zameen Par or Michelle McNally in Black. By the time you get into the rhythm and start liking that characters, the curtains are down. The main let down factor of this movie is its promise that it created with its trailers. Parzan Dastur is impressive and manages to deliver the goods well. Ayesha Kapoor's performance is average and has blank expressions in a few scenes making her look awkward. Madhavan who plays the role of a Commander of the Indian Army is also good and is supported well by Sanjay Suri.

Music of Sikandar by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is one thing that needs special appreciation. Neatly done are the tracks "Dhoop Ke Sikke" and "Gulon Mein". I will go with 7 out of 10 for Piyush Jha's Sikandar.

Originally Posted @ TalkingPopcorns.com

Love Aaj Kal (2009)

Love Aaj Kal : Refreshing!

[6/10 · 1 August 2009]

Directed By- Imitiaz Ali

Produced By- Saif Ali Khan and Dinesh Vijan

Featuring- Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor, Rahul Khanna..

The drought of good movies that seemed to have taken over Bollywood from the past few months ends with Love Aaj Kal releasing this week. Directed by Imitiaz Ali, Love Aaj Kal in one word is Fantastic. Keeping his previous stint of success with him Imitiaz Ali has delivered a love story that is narrated in a surprisingly innovative way. Shot in different parts of London, San Francisco, Old-Delhi and Punjab, Love Aaj Kal shows a fantastic blend of two love stories one in the past -"Love Kal" and the other in the present - "Love Aaj" crisscrossed, linking the past to the present.

Love Aaj Kal is a cross of two love stories, one of Jai Vardhan Singh( Saif Ali Khan) andMeera Pandit(Deepika Padukone) the other of Veer Singh(Saif Ali Khan/Rishi Kapoor) and Harleen Kaur (Shweta Gulati/Neetu Singh). Jai and Meera two modern independent career oriented people living in London fall in love and as times pass by, decide to break up and move on with their respective careers in a rather happy way with an unusual break up-party unlike other break up's. Here's when he meets Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor) a owner of a coffee shop, who keeps hinting Jai of the mistakes that he is making considering the break up with Meera. Very soon, Veer Singh( Rishi Kapoor) is then seen narrating his love story with Harleen back in Punjab years ago. The stories of Jai and Veer are then played alternately showing the obvious overlapping instances between both the love stories. The story post Jai's break up and the various fun moments is for you to figure it out yourself.

Love Aaj Kal doesn't really disappoint you at any level irrespective of what expectations you had with the movie. The highlight of the movie is the naive love story of Veer and Harleen, that brings with it a lot of innocent-natural-spontaneous moments that you will surely enjoy and relish even after your out of the theater. Beautifully done are the links between the two stories with hint of light humor.

Imitiaz Ali has yet again selected and used his resources intelligently. Saif Ali Khan impresses you with both Jai and young Veer's role playing it quite convincingly. Deepika Padukone's performance is average and is definitely impressive in certain parts of the movie. Rishi Kapoor is good and delivers a fun performance. Rahul Khanna is seen on a role thats quiet and there's not much for him in the movie. Debutant Shweta Gulati looks raw with her acting and yet is bang on for the role of Harleen surprisingly making you like her as the movie progresses.

The music by Pritam is stupendous and simply one of his best composed albums. The picturisation and the songs compliment each other really well. Tracks like "Chor Bazaari", "Twist", "Yeh Doorian".. being the highlights of the album

Imitiaz Ali has literally left no stone unturned to give Love Aaj Kal that classic refreshing feel. I will go with 8 out of 10 for Imitiaz Ali's Love Aaj Kal.

Don't miss this flick.

Originally Posted at www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com

Shortkut - The Con Is On (2009)

Avoid this Shortkut !!

[4/10 · 11 July 2009]

Yet another movie to go absolutely impact less at the box office this week. Directed by Neeraj Vora, Shorkut is boring and is as predictable as it can get. No wonders were really expected from Neeraj Vora having seen his previous stint as a director. Shorkut disappoints you even more because the promos looked a lot good if not really impressive. Having actors with a such impeccable comic timing, the director fails to capitalize and relies on the writing skills of Anees Bazmee to do the job rather than the actors. Shorkut portrays itself to be a movie filled with humor, which sadly isn't. The scenes that are close to funny are already unveiled in the promos and there's no real surprise element in the complete package.

Shorkut - The Con is On's two male protagonists, Shekhar(Akshay Khanna) and Raju(Arshad Warsi) an struggling asst director and a wanna-be actor respectively each of whom believe in different values to make it big. Shekhar, a hardworking-determined-conventional lad who believes in efforts rather than luck to find himself achieve things that he dreams of, which is writing and directing a movie someday. Raju on the other hand is careless-unrealistic- easy-way-out-kinda lad who believes in shortcuts to becoming an actor rather than skills and hard work. Shekhar is seen desperately working on scripts to realize his directorial dreams, so as to confess the secret love with already established actress Mansi(Amrita Rao) to the world. Shekhar's dreams are then shattered when Raju steals his script to trigger a acting career out of the stolen script. The race to career glory of both Shekhar and Raju is for you to watch it yourself.

Shorkut fails to engage you even for a petty continuous stretch of ten minutes forget the complete running time of the movie. The transition of the movie from the humor zone to the serious-emotions zone is something that is hard to digest provided scenes involving Arshad Warsi. The actors are seen on characters that so poorly written that actually makes you wonder did Arshad Warsi actually play a Cirkit. Shorkut, a movie that could have helped Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao to revitalize their wavered career is indeed not going to. Akshaye Khanna looks decent as always and looks to contribute filling in the patches. Chunkey Pandey is seen on a role that looks dumb and definitely not funny.

The music bu Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is average except for "Patli Gali", which seems to received really well among the audience.

I will go with 4 out of 10 for Neeraj Vora's Shortkut - The Con is On. Please avoid this flick!

If anyone can get this across to Anil Kapoor, i want to know what was Anees Bazmee doing as a writer of this movie?

(Orginally posted at "Your Movie Critic" - www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com)

Kambakkht Ishq (2009)

Kambakkht Ishq is Pathetic!

[2/10 · 5 July 2009]

Now i apologize if i said Kal Kissne Dekha had the potential to be the worst movie of the year, now here's bollywood's much awaited and talked about movie which will quite simply go ahead and win the award comprehensively in the worst movie category this year. Directed by Sabir Khan, Kambakkht Ishq in one word is "nonsense". I know one could hardly expect anything from Akshaye Kumar after CC2C, but this really broke the barrier of making some real hard core senseless cinema. Its quite impossible to believe the fact that the makers of Kambakkht Ishq actually thought just Akshaye Kumar and Kareena Kapoor could make a movie run at the box office and not the script.

Kambhakkt Ishq's protagonist Viraj Shergill(Akshaye Kumar) a stuntman by profession who strictly believes in the fact of staying bachelor and is quite successful to pass on the same values to his brother Lucky Shergill(Aftab Shivdasani) another stuntman by profession until the day he finds out himself about Lucky's marriage plans with Kamini(Amrita Arora) a model. Now here's where he bumps into Simrita(Kareena Kapoor) , Kamini's friend who thinks the same way about men as Viraj does about women.

Now till about this point, i think director Sabir had a script in place and was seriously planning on something really good with the movie until the first song rolled out. I wonder what the director was thinking while filming this song. The scenes right after the song make you feel like walking out of your seat right away. Kambakkht Ishq, is not a comedy movie if you think it is. Its a movie that even the director is not sure to which genre this movie belongs to. You can actually count the parts that are actually funny ignoring the cheap scenes which lack every hint of homour. Actors like Javed Jaffri, Boman Irani and Kirron Kher are seen on roles which are poorly written and absolutely make no sense in the movie. The cameo's by Hollywood stars adds no value whatsoever. The scenes meant for a star like Sylvester Stallone are lame and adds to your frustration.

The music by Anu Malik is as pathetic as the script. The songs are lousy and definitely something that you would love to fastforward if given a chance. I waited patiently till the credits actually rolled for something that could make me like this movie. But sadly, there's wasn't one thing that you can like abut the movie.

For fans of Akshaye Kumar, please avoid this flick if you want to remain his fan for long. And the rest looking forward for this movie this weekend - A big NO !!

I will go with 3 out 10 for Sabir Khan's Kambakkht Ishq. Double thumbs down to Nadiadwala for making it and Akshaye Kumar for acting in it.

www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com

Aa Dekhen Zara (2009)

Aa Dekhen Zara...!!!!

[5/10 · 27 March 2009]

Aa Dekhen Zara, a Sci-fi action thriller first of its kind in Bollywood released this week with no other competitors at the box office. Directed by débutant director Jehangir Surti, Aa Dekhen Zara is a good watch with every ingredient rightly added. The script is good not great. Being Neil Nitin Mukesh's second movie, ADZ is not a Johnny Gaddar and doesn't even come close. First half is absolutely engaging and keeps you on your toes right till the intermission. As a few previous flicks,the script of ADZ too is let loose as the passing second half.

Aa Dekhen Zara's, protagonist Ray(Neil Nitin Mukesh) a photographer finds himself a camera left off by his dead grandfather which quite amusingly clicks photos, when developed shows the future of the people in the photos. During one such camera encounter is when he accidentally runs into Simi(Bipasha Basu) a DJ at a club. Ray adds color to his struggling life by the aid of the camera to win bucks through Lottery, Horse Racing and various other sources. He then starts living a polished life with Simi when fate strikes. He finds himself chased by both cops and Captain(Rahul Dev) to get hold of the camera. To add to Ray's agony is when, he finds out that he's going to be dead in a week's time and all he has is 7 days to find a safe place both for the camera and Simi. The events that lead upto the climax is for you to see it yourself.

Aa Dekhen Zara is fresh and feels good. Second half of the movie is more of the typical Bollywood chases and makes you feel restless as it seems never ending. All the actors are pretty decent and nothing appreciable. Neil Nitin Mukesh and Bipasha Basu both look good together and their screen presence is felt right away. Rahul Dev with his age old trademark negative role is spot on.

Music of ADZ is composed by Pritam and its average. Though nothing remarkable is seen in the Music Department, the album of ADZ is not a bad one. Though being an above average watch, the trick that is going to work for ADZ, is the marketing factor which was done quite superbly and that is going to pull people to the theaters.

I will go with 7 out of 10 for Jehangir Surti's Aa Dekhen Zara. A good watch for this weekend.

Raghav Movie Critic, Writer's Lounge

More reviews on: www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com

Barah Aana (2009)

Barah Aana....!!!

[6/10 · 27 March 2009]

Written, produced and directed by Raja Menon, Barah Aana is a below average watch. The movie that claims to be a comic flick doesn't even come close to making you laugh and the maximum that you can probably do is to smile at a few scenes. I cannot believe the fact that an actor like Nasserudin Shah is wasted in this movie. Barah Aana's script is extremely ordinary and execution of it is where Raja Menon goes wrong. His way of story telling doesn't impress and it is sure to make you bored. This movie doesn't engage you for more than a stretch of 5 minutes at a time.

Barah Aana is a story of three poor and simple individuals Shukla (Nasseruddin Shah), a car driver, Yadav (Vijay Raaz), a watchman in a housing society and Aman (Arjun Mathur), a waiter at a restaurant. All their lives change when they involve themselves into a crime accidentally committed by Yadav. Both Aman and Shukla find their reasons for committing the crime, may it be Shukla's grudge against the owner's wife or Aman's attempt to save his love. And how things lead up to the climax is for you to watch.

Barah Aana is definitely a light comedy. A light comedy that makes you smile and nothing else. Barah Aana's soul are the actors in it. Vijay Raaz is the most impressive of the lot. He recreates the magic created by in him in Raghu Romeo (2003) that had him in the lead. He's funny and emotional. Arjun Mathur after petty roles in movies like Luck By Chance etc, gets a slightly important role in Barah Aana and he does justice to the role completely showing his potential. He's good in every part of the movie. The setback of Barah Aana is the execution of the script. It's way too ordinary to make an impact. Nasseruddin Shah goes totally unnoticed which is quite rare for the actor of his caliber.

Barah Aana is a below average watch but not that bad after all.

I'll go with 6 out of 10 for Raja Menon's Barah Aana. Thumbs down for wasting Nasseruddin Shah in the movie.

Raghav Movie Critic, Writer's Lounge

More Reviews on: www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com

Little Zizou (2008)

Little Zizou : not bad!!

[7/10 · 13 March 2009]

Written, directed and produced by Sooni Taraporevala and distributed by Studio 18, Little Zizou just manages to make it to the above average category. Sooni Taraporevala has been a part of almost every Mira Nair venture right from Salaam Bombay to The Namesake. After such a vast experience with different genres of movies, the expectation bar was already set high for Sooni with Little Zizou which does not even come close to the movies that she's previously worked on. Little Zizou is definitely a fresh script that simply is made for the multiplex audience. The movie is a little funny and a little emotional had it been funny or emotional completely, it would've done the trick.

Little Zizou is a story of 2 Parsi Families called the Khodaiji's and Pressvala's. Cyrus Khodaiji (Sohrab Ardeshir) who claims to be a religious Parsi healer wanting to establish a liberation organization for the Parsi's is often troubled by his Parsi counterpart Boman Pressvala (Boman Irani) who owns a Parsi news journal and is against the values and principles of Cyrus Khodaiji and makes sure to print articles against him every time. The youngest little boy of the Khodaiji family is Xerxes or Little Zizou (Jahan Bativala), a football freak who idolizes Zinedine Zidane and hopes to meet the football star if he ever toured Mumbai. His brother Artaxerxes (Imad Shah), a soft spoken artist and who visualizes life through his weird cartoons and dreams to build a Flight Simulator with his two other friends. The young little girl of the Pressvala's is Liana, who is clever and witty. The story just revolves around this subject and things go way too complicated when people react to the articles written by Boman Pressvala. The events that follow is to watch out for.

Little Zizou is a movie that could be watched once. It entertains you convincingly till the first half concludes but gets a little slow as you step into the second half. What is really good about the movie is, it keeps you with it till the end credits roll. The two child actors, Iyanah Bativala and Jahan Bativala steal the show. They're absolutely lovely and they make you love them as you watch the movie. They're naive and funny. Sohrab Ardeshir, who's seen mostly in ad-films gets his nod to show his acting skills and is impressive too. Boman Irani is very good as usual. Dilshad Patel, Shernaz Patel and Imad Shah have their done their bit convincingly.

Music by Bickram Ghosh is ordinary and suits the subject of the movie quite well. Little Zizou could be your movie for this weekend, provided there are many releases this week.

I will go with 7 out of 10 for Sooni Taraporevala's Little Zizou.

And a thumbs up to the two child actors of the movie.

Raghav Movie Critic, Writer's Lounge

for more reviews: www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com

13B: Fear Has a New Address (2009)

13B - An Average Thriller!!

[6 March 2009]

13B, produced by Big Pictures and directed by Vikram Kumar is more of a thriller with a slight hint of horror, is an average movie. 13B lacks the energy that a thriller movie needs to carry right till the end. Again this movie is engaging and makes you cling on to your seats only in parts. The script is let loose on most of the occasions. However 13B doesn't disappoint once you're done watching it.

13B's protagonist Manohar(Madhavan)an civil engineer moves in to a new flat 13B with his family. Strange events follow, after their entrance into the building. Every event makes Manohar aware of the presence of something that's very unusual like the camera in his phone or the lift in the building. Till one day when he finds out that a daily soap on TV which starts siring at exactly 13:00 p.m resembles the story of his own family and how the family's future is dependent on the Daily Soap. A series of unpleasant incidents follow, making Manohar desperate to solve the mystery about the Soap and characters in it. He goes on to find out, how a family was brutally murdered in 1977 in their home which marked the same house number and address as his own apartment. The uncanny events that follow are something to seriously watch out for.

13B is an sincere attempt by the débutant director Vikram Kumar to give the audience a good movie but he just manages to make it a average watch. 13B's main highlight are the actors, who have done a stupendous job. Madhavan is absolutely spot on with a very good performance supported well by the rest of the cast. Not impressive but certainly good are the old creepy sound scares. 13B could have been better had there been no songs.

Music of 13B is by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and is nothing to be talked about. The music is ordinary and totally unnecessary provided the theme of the movie. Background Scores by Tubby and Parik are definitely good.

At the end of the day, 13B is an average movie. Go with no expectations and you may well like it.

I will go with 7 out of 10 for Vikram Kumar's 13B.

Raghav Movie Critic, Writer's Lounge.

For more reviews: www.raghavthecritic.blogspot.com

Billu (2009)

Billu Barber : Could've been a lot better!!!

[6/10 · 13 February 2009]

Billu Barber, this year's most expected release from the Red Chillies Banner simply turns out to be an ordinary watch. Directed by Priyadarshan, who's known for his Malayalam remakes in Hindi yet again fails to mark the everlasting impression on the audience. Billu Barber definitely looks like a sincere effort to make everyone like the movie. The movie starts off with low pace and just when you feel the movie is catching pace,the curtains are down.

Billu Barber's protagonist Billu(Irfan Khan) is a petty barber from the village called Budbuda who struggles to earn every penny but still somehow manages to make a living supporting his family. He's simple, humble and a character that everyone in Budbuda loves. His destiny changes when, the film-star Sahir Khan(Shahrukh Khan) lands in Budbuda for the shooting of his film. Billu is then pestered by his children to go meet him,to whom he had once said Sahir Khan was his childhood friend. Things go out of hand when the news of Billu being the childhood friend of Sahir reaches every corner of Budbuda. Billu then refuses to accept the fact that he once knew Sahir, assuming that he wouldn't recognize their childhood friendship now. He's then mocked up by villagers for making such a fool of himself. The things leading up to him meeting Sahir Khan is for you to watch for yourself.

Billu Barber's heart and soul is Irfan Khan. He's quite stupendous in the very first commercial movie that claims to put him as the main lead. His funny, serious and emotional shades are quite perfectly done. He's bang on with his performance as always. The highlight of the movie is the acting of Lara Dutta who plays Billu's wife. This is when you actually come to know, how important the script and the character are in making an actor give his-or-her best. Lara Dutta is extremely good giving her career best in BB. As always,Screenplay and dialogues of Billu Barber are something that's a little carelessly done as compared to the previous release of Red Chillies OSO that scored almost in every department. Shahrukh Khan does his bit of acting convincingly. The actors like Rajpal Yadav and Om Puri are let down with ordinary dialogues, who still try creating humor that goes totally unnoticed. The movie lacks the energy that a typical Shahrukh Khan movie usually tends to generate. The special appearances by Deepika, Kareena and Priyanka is good but lets you forget as continue watching the movie. Though the money is spent lavishly on the sets, the film fails to deliver the expectations of the audience. The Music of the movie is not appealing either. Billu Barber scores an mediocre rating in every department.

I will go with 6 out of 10 for Priyadarshan's Billu Barber.

Not a must watch. But go with no expectations and you might not be disappointed.

Dev.D (2009)

Dev D : Something Different

[8/10 · 9 February 2009]

Dev D,is a movie that definitely is not a Devdas. And it certainly does not boast about being in the league of the previous Devdas's may it be Dilip Kumar's or Shah Rukh Khan's. Dev D, is a fresh script and the characters are superbly written. Director Anurag Kashyap, has made a movie with a simple script told in a really complex way with the casting director being absolutely on target with the casting of every character. Dev D is no over the moon movie, but it simply justifies the fact that you do not need big stars to make a movie look good.

Dev D's protagonist Devender Singh Aka Dev(Abhay Deol) is a spoilt brat coming from a really well off punjabi family. Dev,arrogant yet so sensible falls in love with his childhood friend Paro Aka Parminder(Mahie Gill). Unseen circumstances lead to Dev losing Paro, who goes on to marry an close family acquaintance leaving Dev to his all time companion "Alcohol". Dev goes on to realize how much he actually loved Paro and gets completely into Alcohol-Drugs and Girls. Now during this phase is when he comes across Chanda(Kalki Koechlin), a prostitute through a local pimp Chunni(Dibyendu Bhattacharya). Dev finds comfort and lot of relief as he continues to spend time with Chanda letting out all that he ever had for Paro, both fall in love. Dev leaves Chanda no sooner his conscious pricks him about Chanda being a Sex Worker. Life again seems to take Dev for a ride as circumstances put him into some serious legal tangle. The things that follow is to watch for, which gives this movie a happy ending.

Dev D, definitely is engaging.. but only in parts. The movie is slow paced which might make the audience restless during certain parts of the movie. Dev D also has the real world touch to it, recreating the DPS MMS Scandal and BMW Road Rage killings in the movie. The man who steals the show with an impeccable performance is Abhay Deol. He is awesome throughout the movie making you cling onto the movie even in the most slowest of scenes.He is definitely showing his worth as an Actor. The performance of Mahie Gill and Kalki Koechlin is to watch out for. It definitely does not feel like its their first movie. They're too good for their first movie. And as far as the other actors go, they've delivered the goods quite perfectly. Dev D, is movie that shows intimate scenes of the movie differently and boldly. Music of the movie is average,the song "Tauba Tera Jalwa" being the most liked one.

Dev D simply lacks the pace that's needed, making it an average movie at the end of the day. And am quite sure about the fact that the movie will get mixed reviews among different groups of audience apart from the Critic's. Dev D is a movie that not everyone will like after watching it, as its so far from the usual commercial cinema. I would suggest you to go watch the movie and see for yourself. But still for people who're in a double mind, this is not a Must Watch.

I will go with 7 out of 10, for Anurag Kashyap's Dev D. Ans two thumbs up for the freshness and the direction of the movie.

Not a Must Watch, but i suggest you to.

CC2C (2009)

CC2C : Disappointing to the Core!

[4/10 · 17 January 2009]

The curtains finally rose on the all hyped Chandni Chowk to China which released yesterday the 16Th January worldwide. CC2C is an movie with an sincere and desperate attempt to tickle the funny bone, but... it fails miserably. This movie Directed by Nikhil Advani goes impact less on the audience like his previous directorial venture Salaam-E-Ishq in 2005. Now at that point you can actually feel a lot better after watching Salaam-E-Ishq because of its music unlike CC2C whose music is pretty much ordinary. CC2C's protagonist Siddhu(Akshaye Kumar) is a petty vegetable cutter at a food stall at Chandni Chowk owned by Dada(Mithun Chakraborthy) who's more like a father figure to Siddhu, who was brought up by him after being abandoned as a baby . Siddhu is innocent yet dumb,desperate to earn money and become rich, attempts some really weird things right from buying Lottery Tickets to seeking the help of astrologers and Palm readers to try change his luck. Fortunately or Unfortunately for him, he's recognized as an reincarnated Chinese warrior and taken to China to fight for the people against Hojo (Gordon Liu). And how circumstances lead to one another transforming him into a fighter is something to watch out for. In this very country he comes across the twin sisters Sakhi and Suzy(Both played by Deepika Padukone) who have their own story recipe to be added into the already screwed up CC2C story dish.

2009 for Bollywood has definitely started off on a real bad note with CC2C totally disappointing the audience and not even living up to half the level of its expectations. CC2C is clearly dumb, illogical and funny is parts. What were the Sippy's Production House thinking when he approved of such a crap script from Nikhil Advani. After this movie, it really makes you wonder on the fact - did Nikhil Advani actually make KHNH. To top off such a bad movie is that "Warner Bros" are the distributors for this movie, that too first time in Bollywood. Don't think they'll come back again. For once, The promos of CC2C are far better than the full length movie. Music of the movie again going unnoticed and has a reason for it. Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, extremely disappointing music which is not even close to Rock On!!.

But you cannot really take this off from Akshaye Kumar, he's extremely hilarious but only in parts. And watching only these parts of the movie, you actually feel like sitting through the complete movie. Deepika Padukone does justice to her role completely,acting out well both as Sakhi and Suzy. What can an actor or an actress probably do.. when the script itself is filled with such flaws. Can't believe Shriram Raghavan has written the screenplay of CC2C after the movie like Jhonny Gaddar which was an absolute perfection in the screenplay section.

I heard Akshaye Kumar saying in one of his interview's- "Leave your brains at home when you come watch CC2C". After watching CC2C, i seriously wished "I should have left everything at home before watching, or even probably stayed back at home totally".

I'll go with 4 out of 10 for Nikhil Advani's CC2C. Ten Thumbs down for all the unnecessary hype.

Ghajini (2008)

Ghajini - A Worth Watch

[8/10 · 29 December 2008]

Ghajini, a perfect remake complimenting the Tamil version of the same living up to the expectation of everyone. Ghajini is a movie with emotions, suspense, revenge and adventure. Its a script where in every bit is meticulously done. The casting is one thing which is pretty debatable here. But all the actors deliver the goods with all the necessary ingredients with respect to every character. This movie's script is again kind off influenced by the English flick Memento. Its just a influence and nothing else. Aamir Khan doesn't need any special introduction, he's the Movie. An out of the world performance yet again. Aamir Khan plays the role of a Business Tycoon Sanjay Singhania, Chairman of a Big telecom company who falls in love with a small time upcoming model Kalpana played by the south Indian actress Asin who was also a part of the Tamil flick of Ghajini. Some uncalled unpleasant circumstances leads to the death of Kalpana and resulting in Sanjay becoming a victim of amnesia- a short term memory disease, who cannot remember things beyond 15 Min's. Yet making him a kill machine on a rampage to kill his girl friend's murderer. During the way to his finding the murderer he comes across a Medical student Sunita played by Jia Khan who adds some spice and suspense to the script. Jia Khan does justice to the role by her simple honest acting. The performance of Ghajini - the murderer played by Pradeep Rawat is commendable making this movie perfect with respect to the acting department. Asin's acting is exceptional and her bollywood entry is going to be remembered.

Director Murgadoss doesn't disappoint anyone at the end of the day making Ghajini a worth watch, though the fights and few other scenes depict some peculiar south Indian flavor raising a few eye brows. The music by A.R.Rahman is OK-OK! Not generating the usual Rahman effect. Guzarish being the most hummable.

Overall Ghajini is a good entertainer with a running time of 3 hrs 3 Min's.

I would go with 8 out of 10 for Murgadoss's Ghajini making it a kind off must watch for all Aamir Khan fanatics.

Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (2008)

Rab Ne Bana de Jodi - Scripted to perfection

[6/10 · 12 December 2008]

Rab ne Bana De Jodi is a movie which definitely brings back the old touch of YRF movies. And who else could it be apart from the king himself,who would bring the magical touch with such a impeccable performance. A performance that will be definitely remembered for years to come. Shahrukh Khan plays Surinder Sahwni a pale-typical-middle-class-man working with Punjab Power marries Tanni a-beautiful-bold-fun-loving girl played by the débutant Anushka Sharma because of some uncalled circumstances and how life takes them from then on is something to watch out for. How well Surinder Sahwni transforms to Raj just to impress his own wife Tanni becomes her partner in a Dance Show in which she wishes to participate changing his looks completely into a Fun-loving-jovial- cheerful guy. The character of Raj adds the right humor in the right ratio with emotions and romance. The icing on the cake is Vinay Pathak who plays Bobby-a close friend of Surinder adding on that extra flavor making the movie look even better. Anushka Sharma steals the show with a performance that every other actress should watch out for. Very Impressive in her very first movie. Overall a great package that us as an audience would love to watch.

Aditya Chopra has directed another gem of a movie after his previous wonders DDLJ and Mohabbatein. Though still thought the Music could've been a lot better. "Haule Haule" being the most catchy of the lot makes you humm the tune till you reach your house from the theater's.

The movie is all about 1. Shahrukh's amazing act as always. 2. Anushka Sharma's refreshing performance. & 3. Aditya Chopra's directorial brilliance.

I would really suggest you to just pull any of your loved one and go watch this movie and you will be more than pleased after watching it. Entertainment Guaranteed.

And do stay till the credits roll. You've something more to enjoy.

Dasvidaniya (2008)

Dasvidaniya - a movie that touches the emotional string

[9/10 · 1 December 2008]

Dasvidaniya.. the best goodbye ever. Is that one movie which manages to pull down that tear you shed way back when you watched Aamir Khan's TZP. Dasvidaniya is one of its kind. Now damn you people who think this story is a lift off from the English movie The Bucket List. I can very well tell the writer may be just influenced while he was actually writing the story of Dasvidaniya and its nothing more than a influence. He's managed to write a gem of a script and another gem of an actor to compliment it. Who else could it be who could've played the role of Amar Kaul better than Vinay Pathak. He plays Amar Kaul, a 37 year old lonesome man who only has his mother as the person in his life. Following which he finds his sudden illness during its last stage. The movie starts pacing well, when he does all those things he ever wished to do once after finding out about his illness.

The characters that follow in his life after that are to watch out for. Movies of Vinay Pathak do not end without Rajath Kapoor and Ranvir Shorey making their appearance and yet again all three of them compliment each other. The roles of Amar Kaul's mother and his childhood love interest played by Sarita Joshi and Neha Dhupia respectively have done their bit convincingly. Its definitely the career best performance of Vinay Pathak. This is not the first time you've see him pull off such a stupendous performance. He adds that extra quotient to the movie as he always does. The music is the icing on the cake. Kailash Kher provides that special touch of music which embraces you as you continue watching the movie. Summing up.. Dasvidaniya becomes a must watch!!! Its a movie you're gonna remember for a long long time to come. High time Vinay Pathak is respected as an actor.

An obvious 10 on 10 for Shashant Shah's Dasvidaniya. (MUST WATCH)

Hulla (2008)

Hulla a movie that could've been better

[6/10 · 30 November 2008]

Hulla a typical movie made for the multiplex audience with a touch of humor with an uninspired climax. Hulla is story of a Stock Broker Agent Raj Puri played by Shushant Singh of "Legend of Bhagat Singh" fame who has moved into a new flat with his wife but gets frustrated and looses his cool due to numerous incidents thats keep happening in his apartment.

This Movie starts off well and goes on pretty smoothly till about 40 Min's keeping the audience glued with some one liners but looses its way right when you cross the 40min mark. Though the movie has its bit of good acting seen with Kartika Rane, Rajat Kapoor and Vrajesh Hirjee. Its got to be Kartika Rane who plays Abha the wife of Raj Puri who actually seems pretty pleasant on-screen. Not to forget some decent acting by the watchman played by Chandrachood Karnik. Got to mention, the music is by Indian Ocean which doesn't the suit the movie theme or even the movie's pace. I guess Indian Ocean are far better on Stages. The movie has a pretty depressing second half and ruining the audience's respect for the movie with some total unusual ending which actually shows you the loopholes of the story. Jaideep Verma the director could've done a far better job than what his end product of Hulla is. I would say its definitely a watchable movie. Watch it with no expectation and you won't repent spending your precious 110 Min's.

Mumbai Meri Jaan (2008)

Movie for Every Indian

[9/10 · 23 November 2008]

Mumbai Meri Jaan... this a new movie produced by UTV Movies and directed by Nishikanth Kamath.

All you guyz.. go shelll out 80-100 bucks and watch this movie. Trust me.. you'll love every part of the film. Its so well scripted and directed. Every character so perfectly woven. It shows the agony and the frustrations of every mumbaikar after the blast. Paresh Rawal who portrays a character of a 60 year old policeman "Patil saab".. steals this show with commendable performance by Vijay Maurya..not everyone know him..he's this side actor who's not really noticed in most of his movies plays the role of a hot blooded constable "Kadam". I can actually sit and appreciate every character and every actor of this movie cos its simply superb!!

So all you people.. am doing my bit of advertisement for the movie because i simply think you all should watch it..!!

Ends with this beautiful track by OP Nayyar.. Aye Dil Hai Mushkil Jeena Yahan... Zara Hat ke Zara Bach Ke,.. Yeh Bombay(mumbai) meri Jaan