Aarakhshan

The movie theme beautifully moves away from the title of reservation to discover the root of corruption. What is the root of corruption in India, if one were to point out a single reason than it is to be pointed at the burgeoning industry of education. From coaching classes to capitation fees with urge to study abroad, all parents are burdened with increased cost of education. Ultimately if you ask any single reason to be corrupt, an individual would say that he did it for his children’s education. 

The movie begins with the principal Dr Anand ( Amitabh Bachchan ) being very helpful to all strata of society. He rejects the idea of giving seat to an influential ministers son in front of the committee.   This naturally infuriates the minister concerned who with the help of the committee members wants to plug the powers of principal with appointment of vice principal in the form of Mitlesh Singh ( Manoj Bajpai ) who acts as a villian. 


Deepak Kumar ( Saif Ali Khan ) acts as a dalit student who is under the umbrella of Prof Anand, when he fails to get selected because of his caste. The interview panel makes fun of his background, questioning his capacity to groom youngsters. He is recruited as Asst. Prof in the institute by Dr Anand and he is in love with Prof daughter Poorvi ( Deepika Padukone ) How they move apart because of the bitter battle of reservation policy adopted by the govt and than realise their folly is the basic storyline of the movie.

Mandal commission was a political means to identify the backward classes and their need to be uplifted in the society. The commission came out with a finding that 54% of the populace were belonging to backward classes and therefore recommended a reservation varying between 27 to 49%. This obviously triggered off massive protests, since other religious minority too got into the fray. It would have lead to a reservation amounting to 75% if one includes reservation for other religious sects such as Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhist etc.

The actual reality is that the entire issue of reservation took a twist into mushrooming of education institutions, and karnataka was first off the block. It lead to massive infusion or boom of medical colleges and engineering colleges in the guise of protecting the minority. Imagine a parent shelling out close to 30 lakhs for a basic MBBS degree and more than a crore for an MD. What will such a doctor do when he passes out, how is he going to recover his dads investment is for anybody to guess.

The movie is path breaking in the sense, that it has moved away from the controversy of reservation silently and attacked the root of corruption in education in the form of coaching classes and capitation fee. Just watch the anti climax, which is purported to be the solution for this malady. But the actual remedy is in the minds of the parents and students. The ethical question remains whether the parent would like to pamper his children with education beyond his means.

Titbits : I knew a parent who would go to the extent of buying a question paper for his daughter so that she passes out with flying colours. My dad used to say don t worry son, perfect your medical education, it does not matter that you fail in your exams now, i am there to sponsor your studies. Be perfect and don t end killing the patients in future. Lolz We hated tutions in those days, it was sort of punishment for dull students. We got rid of tution as soon as possible, but attending coaching has become a trend or hep nowerdays. I hope the Jan Lokpal activists keep this in mind to root out corruption, otherwise it would be futile effort to fight corruption unless one attacks the root of corruption.

Singham

The movie is a real face saver for the image of Goan Police. It sends out a message loud and clear that if the cops are given a free hand they will get to the root of the problem and eradicate crime to a large extent. I hope the movie’s message is taken in the right spirit by the Goan authorities and start setting their state as crime free state.


Goa is a goner for me personally when we experienced personally the mugging in Jan 2002, our case is still pending resolution in the Margoa police station. Mr Shirodkar, the PSI, wanted to close the case he sent his team to request for closure in Mumbai, we said continue investigation.

Now coming to the movie review Bhaji Rao Singham is posted on punishment to Colva police station, which is the adda of the gangster Prakash Raj. The entire police machinery has become victim and succumbed to the underworld and politicians. The villian carries out series of extortions, murder, property buying, etc in his stronghold. None dares to challenge him in his own den, how Singham is forced into the whirlpool to fight against the villan and take the battle into the enemies camp is the crux of the film storyline.

There is nothing much in the sound track, it is all passe. The heroine adds cosmetic value to the film, otherwise it would have ended up with gory violence only. She is bold enough to admit her admiration for Singham. He reluctantly agrees that he too is in love with her. Her father is against the alliance, how he eventually agrees to the alliance, for this one has to see the movie.

If one is expecting too much of a action or violence, the director Rohit Shetty has kept the dosage to the appropriate level. Ajay devgan with his six pack body has played his role to the best of his ability. If it were not a dubbed movie, than Ajay Devgan could have been in running for a national award with this stellar role.

I only hope Goan Police lives up to the image potrayed in the movie Singham. If the valuables looted from us is retrieved after a decade, it would be a face saver. Lolz

Zindagi Na Milega Dobara

You live your life once, live it to the fullest seems to be message from this movie. All the risky things in life can be experienced once in a lifetime according to individuals liking.  The movie is shot  in a picturesque Spanish locale and its tradition and customs is well bought out by foreign crew who have aided in cinematography.

The story revolves around ARJUN ( Hrithik ) KABIR ( Abhay Deol ) and IMRAN ( Farhan Aktar ) who take their time off from their hectic life after a gap of four years. They would like to celeberate the final bachelorhood days of KABIR who is engaged to be married shortly to his fiancee Natasha. They take off on a holiday to spain and here they come across LAILA ( katrina Kaifa ) who is a scuba diver instructor. How the story takes a twist and turn from hereon with lot of pranks is the essence of the movie.

Some claim that basically the film is about a road trip is slightly a misnomer and will do great deal of injustice to the story line of the movie. The song at the Tomatino festival is well picturised bringing out the essence of the celebration. One is bound to forget all their tension as one witnesses the antics of the Tomatoes squeezed, sliced and trampled.   The movie chugs along in certain scene with emotion being bought out in form of fear and fixation. Sigmund freud type of phyco-analysis is conducted by friends to discover their hidden anxiety. Arjuns fixation on earning plenty of money, Kabir’s fear of being possessed by his fiancée, Imran’s fixation for discovering his dad.

The smooch of Katrina and Hrithik has been shot without vulgarity in outdoor, and it flows along with the storyline. The pranks of Imran and Kabir keeps the movie ticking and gets them into trouble once. Arjun reluctantly joins the party and realises that life has to be lived once, he follows the advice of Laila.

The movie is inspired by Hangover 2 to a certain extent without the expletives. The final climax in the bull ring is worth watching. The real spirit of bulls rushing into the cauldron with the matadors racing ahead trying to escape being hurt is pulse racing. Overall the movie is a roller coaster ride, just be seated and enjoy the movie, because life is meant to be enjoyed the fullest once in a lifetime. Go see Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara for a fulltoo entertainment.

MURDER 2

A new villian emerges in Murder 2, which is no comparison to the original.  But at the same time the story and narration of the movie is gripping.  Dhiraj yadav is a psychopath killer who has already murdered 4 girls and is about to carry on his killing spree, when Arjun ( Emran Hashmi ) an ex cop is hired to trace the whereabouts of the girls who are missing, off the record.

The movie is shot in Goa, in the backdrop of Christmas, Churches and Cops.  Priya is a model who is madly in love with Arjun, who needles her, but does not want to accept her as a life partner.  There is only one short raunchy scene in the movie, for those who crave for the Murder 1 type of scenes will be disappointed to watch this sequel.

Hype about graduating to adulthood vide Murder 2 is all crap and fulltoo publicity stunt.  Maybe some scenes are censored.  The songs are not much to crave or croon about, when compared to the previous edition.  It is a let down.

What i liked about the movie it is a total package and more of a study on the mindset of the psychopath killer.  Why does he hate women, and under what circumstances he gets to hate them, how gruesome the characterisation can be in the form of execution of murder etc.  The movie moves on the steam of scripting, dialouges and locale.

The movie is well blended into the Goan murder scenario which was prevalent some time ago, however the rape angle is removed so that the negative publicity might not affect the destination.  I am surprised that the drug angle is ignored.  Maybe murder 3 sequel will carry this concept Lolz.

Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt did a wise thing by not following a beaten path of releasing a sequel earlier, they waited almost 6 years to come out with this one.  Cut the crap of romancing and get into story telling seems to be motto of  this genre of movie.    I am sure they will dish out a better sequel next time around in 2015 AD.  Watch Murder 2, if you want to have peep into psychopaths mindset or otherwise forget it if you expect the same titillation like in the earlier version.

DELHI BELLY

The movie reminded me of Hangover 2, which i saw last month. It had a rib tickling action, comedy and use of plenty of slang expletives.  The movie Delhi Belly is a slick adult comedy movie with A certification.

The story revolves around the hero Tashi ( Imran Khan ) Arup ( Vir Das ) Nithin ( Kunal roy ) who stay in a common room at Delhi’s Chandni chowk area. Tashi and Arup work for a press covering various events in the city as writer and photographer duo. The movie gets its funny title from an upset stomach, which generally happens to foreigners when they visit India. I remember an OZ cricketer Michael Clark was down with Delhi Belly. It was suspected that he had plenty of prawns and he suffered the fate of Delhi Belly. Similarly Arup consumes locally fried tandoori chicken in a kadai smothered with cooks sweat glands of under the belly. Arup is constantly butt of joke throughout the film, with water scarcity, how did he manage to clean his bum is a moot question, for this guys you have got to watch the movie for hilarious scenes and various shades of belly tickling sounds.

The novelty of this lollipop of a movie is that it does not have an interval, and for the director has come out with a cracker of a package involving crime, comedy and dialouges filled with sexy undertones. The heroine Shenaz Treasurywala has a very minor role to play adds cosmetic value to the film with her presence. The raunchy bedroom scene is well picturised with the hero.
Some of the action scenes are well shot in the crowded streets of Delhi. The car chase, the chawl type building partial collapse, and scenes at the jewellry shop is well picturised.


The villans role is enacted with aplomb by Vijay Raaz, one scene where he is supposed to receive diamonds wrapped in an wooden doll is really humourous. Tashi’s colleague Menaka ( Poorna Jaganathan ) too adds to the comic touch in the movie. The interview scene where trio interview an upcoming album singer for number I hate you like i Love you is capricious to the core.

Finally the producer Amir Khan comes out a Item number spoofing Yester years heroes Rishi Kapoor, Jitendra and Govinda with his climatic song I hate you I love you. the movie is certified as an adult movie because of liberal usage of the words F n B’s in the dialouges. It is meant for those who would like to mingle with the present generation, i imagine this situation to be prevalent in most boys hostel of the current generation. Go watch Delhi Belly if you love to have 90 minutes of unfrettered comic caper. Delhi belly is another hit from UTV along with collaboration with Amir Khan’s production house.

Kite takes Off

We were cooly watching the Kite movie suddenly the movie was shut down due to agitation from the Kannada film producers.  The movie had 50% opening after the news was published that Kite may be banned from the theatres with the distributors violating the release of film in 40 theatres across Karnataka as against the accepted norm of 24 theatres.  This has caused heartburn for producers of Kannada movie, such as Nannu Nanna Kanasu, Nuraro Janamaku, etc.  I missed the first FDFS and thought that i would get to see matinee show at least.  This fiasco could have been avoided by the distributors of KITE by having a healthy dialogue with the association.  Unfortunately this agitation would open a pandora’s box in future releases.    I only hope we get to see the movie tomorrow with some resolution, luckily we were given refund of the ticket money.  

 After three days i got to see the movie with high expectation because the opener of the movie was well drawn up which I saw on the first day. I liked the opener sequence wherein J ( Hrithik Roshan ) does all types of odd jobs including marrying for sake of Green card status to migrants and making a fast buck on this account. But here the director faulters with the same costume he marries as many as 11 female and the 11th one gets to his skin by defualt and she happens to be a Mexican Natasha aka Linda ( Barbara Mori ). The deal is stuck for 1000 dollars with Linda falling short of 42 $ which happens to be brokers commission, who happens to be friend of J.

J forgets Linda, but fate has other plans on the hindsight. J starts teaching a hip hop salsa which is frequented by Gina ( Kangana Raut ) She falls in love head and shoulders with J. J does not mind loving the smell of money and being rich and famous in the shadows of his father in law ( kabir Bedi ) The story takes a twist with a punter being killed for cheating the casino owner. J does not like shady character of his would be father in law and bill.

The communication gap between J and Linda is well picturised. Spanish language is translated into English sub titles which makes it easy for the audience to follow. The movie was much hyped for the chemistry between Barbara and Hrithik. Forget chemistry and physics, this seems to be only ruse to attract the audience to the theatre.

Las Vegas location and Mexican border where the shooting of the film has taken place is a huge plus. The movie seems to have been heavily edited by the producer for avoiding controversy. The stunts have been well picturised with foreign stunt co-ordinators obviously. The movie ending seems to be disappointing for most of the audience who had to walk away with a heavy heart from the theatre. I strongly felt that the ending could have been modified which would have made film more palatable.

The quality of production, location, and background music is a big plus. The disappointment was in the form of lack of dance number between J and Linda. Kangana Raut dance was zazzy but she had a short role and pulled it off well. Overall Kite has the look of hollywood movie which did not go well with domestic audience. I being lover of hollywood movie loved every minute of it. The movie had scope for plenty of romantic scenes which seems to have been censored to suit the Universal audience otherwise the movie would have received A certificate.

Badmash Comany

When generation X feels making a fast buck is mark of a successful person in society, it  sounds too good to be true for all ambitious youngsters. There are instances of  Gates, Ambani and others who have made it big  not because of education but because of right timing, right business acumen, right contacts and listing on the bourses.   What was earlier termed to be unethical yesterday  may become ethical today.  For example earlier people used to smuggle electronic goods and gold due to high import duties, but due to economic liberalisation earlier smugglers have become successful 

Karan ( Shahid Kapoor ) Zuki ( Chang ) Bul Bul ( Anusha Sharma ) & Vir form the core protagonist of the badmash company.  They pull off their first stunner with the help of duping through customs loophole.  But it is too good to last with our FM launching liberalisation scheme of cutting down cutoms duty from 120% to 20%.  The dream of making fast buck in India by importing comes to a drastic end.

The camera now moves from Mumbai to Bangkok & New York.  Karan shifts from his family home, due to mis understanding with dad with right way to earn livelihood.  The generation gap and thinking widens.  Luckily Karan has his uncle Jazz to sponsor him in US, together with his cronies he moves lock stock and barrel.  The story now takes interesting twist and turn.  He starts displaying shades of grey in his character and gets into all unethical means of earning a fast buck.  I don t want to rob the thrill of watching a good storyline......by revealing the plot guys.  Shahid after a long time has done full justice to his role, come guys give him his due for the role with shades of grey and white... Anousha has literally added some flesh to the movie, Indian Idol Star Chang is a revealation along with Vir........Parmeet Sethi seems to have taken off to the next level.........movie deserves to be a hit

Will Karans unethical Ponzi method will land him jail ? Will he reform ?  Will his ambition get fulfilled to become famous in an ethical manner ?  Watch the movie...........to know the twist and turn of the storyline.  Parmeet Sethi’s direction and some  raunchy smooches are hallmark of this movie. 

Badmash company is a movie with a clear message to generation X, there is no short cut to success, beware of  ingenious methods of duping but do not adopt it for godsake............I am sure whoever sees the movie will get the message right.  Being an Yash Raj banner the film is well packaged and promoted without much hype.