Prince

Prince seems to aping 007 to a certain extent. Vivek Oberoi’s ( Prince ) last ditch effort to resurrect his sagging career seems to have worked to a certain extent. To get an opening of which was 40% occupancy is a good beginning. I was carried away by the trailer of the film which was full of action.

The movie begins with an action packed diamond heist with Vivek Oberoi pulling off a spectacularly executed action scene. So the opening 10 minutes of the movie is not to be missed for movie buffs. Than one finds out the hero is subject to a research Nano technology chip implant by the villian Sarang. This technology has the potency of erasing the memory from the brain with regard to past events. No wonder Prince lands up in amenesia status.

To help him recollect his past three gals, who are akin to bond gals, but no where near comparison come into his life claiming to be Maya. One after the other he finds that he has been taken for a ride. How he resolves to recoup from the danger of the villianious coup to erase his memory is the jist of the storyline. If this technology which was experimented on Prince succeeds it will prove to be a grave threat to mankind. Will Prince and cops help to salvage the chip which is hidden in an antique coin be recovered ? Will Prince survive the 6 days deadline, which will endanger his memory permanently to crash ?

Action scenes are well picturised in South Africa, Thailand and Manali. But i would say it is tad overdone, because with machine gun reckless firing only one bullet strikes the hero. The new gals in Aruna Shields, Nandana Sen and Neeru singh all play Maya’s role in deception pretty well. Isaiah plays the villanious role of Sarang with aplomb. Sanjay Kapoor too seems to have a revival in the film as police officer in special appearance. Songs are nothing to crave or rave about. The action scenes are well executed. I personally feel the special effects by Tata elexi has added some zing to the movie.
Overall it is just a time pass movie which does not rake one’s brain. One can enjoy their pop corn and just watch the mindless action packed movie. If the movie had some more suspense element it would have hit the box office. So my ranking for the movie is 3/5. Vivek Oberoi rocks in the movie with some sensous kissing scene with some double i suppose. I would recommend the movie is a must watch for Viveks fans.

Tum Milo toh Sahi

I was surprised Tum milo to Sahi, not even one review is posted in MS, and therefore i am penning it as a diary. I am reminded of one wintry noon in 2008 in January when i landed in mumbai. I was crossing the Bandra flyover as pedestrian  and was caught by the TC and fined 254 bucks for ticket less travelling. What a welcome back to Mumbai. Oops sorry for the digression guys, this movie is not about tourist travails, but about saving heritage in modern Mumbai & commercial world in general.


Dilnaaz ( Dimple Kapadia ) is an old parsi lady who runs Lucky Cafe probably in Bandra linking road. Here at the same premise a love story blooms between Amit ( Suniel shetty ) and Shalini. They get married thereafter and blessed with a cute boy. He too spends lot of time in the cafe. It is a sort of meeting place for college friends a la heritage Indian coffee house, where young and old spend their time and are comforted by the Dilnaaz when semblence of trouble erupts.
Bell Inc, which is into running modern cafe chain, targets Lucky Cafe ( from 1935 ) as an ideal spot to take over. Amit offers Dilnaz a pricey 40 crore and later hikes it up to 45 crores. I thought they were underpaying, the place must be worth at 80 crores, forget the innumerable memories which are priceless.

Seeda ungli se ghee nahi nikla toh teda ungli se kaam chalo, so the usual bullying tactics begins. Amit warns Dilnaz about the powerful ways of MNC to bull doze people to part with their properties. Here comes our anti hero type of character Nana Patekar ( angry retired south indian character subbu ) How he meets Dilnaz in a departmental store ? How he gets into Lucky cafe ? and how he fights his first case after 37 years free of cost ?

Bell inc discover that Lucky cafe is being run un authorisedly with the death of Zubin Irani by Dilnaz, who had died as a bachelor. There is no document in possession of Dilnaz to prove that the property is hers. The MNC gets the eviction of property order from the court within 30 days ? Well isnt the story gripping. Watch the movie with lots of friends and relatives this movie is worth watching. I was disappointed that i was one among 30 odd people watching such an excellent movie. Officially the movie claims to be interlinkage of three love stories in teenage, middle age and old age.

Lots of wry scuttle humour and satirical dialouge is the hallmark of the movie. U V and me honey milo toh to sahi is good hummable number. The direction, editing, dialouges and story line is the hall mark of the movie. There is a message for the judiciary, defense, citizens, students, MNC, cutting across religious lines. I would rate this movie 5 on 5. It is in the same genre of 3 idiots except with deglamourised actors enacting it in cafe instead of college atmosphere.
Of course it is movie with a good message for me personally it set me thinking how to really save the heritage property of my dad which was built in 1942 ( quit india movement ) in a prime place in Mangalore.

Shapit

Vikram Bhatt, pulls of another horror story with newcomers Aditya Narayan and Swetha agarwal with finesse of a master craftsmen.  How can one pull off superstition and exoticism in modern age is to be seen to be believed.  The plot does not provide scope for acting as such is my conclusion, but it definitely an edge of the seat experience with plenty of spooky situations.

Kaya’s ( Swetha Agarwal ) family, who happened to be descendents of Raja Ranjit Singh is cursed by a brahmin that in his clan girls should never be able to enjoy married life.  The curse is revealed to AMAN ( Aditya Narayan ) who falls in love with Kaya and wows her to marriage.  In his earnest desire he plants the magical engagement ring on Kaya’s finger.  They drive away happily to reach their destination, but the curse of the brahmin intervenes and the loving couple meets with a deadly accident.  This is when the parents of Kaya reveal regarding the ancestral curse haunting their family.
AMAN wants to prove his worth by fighting against the evil spirit.  He engages the help of Pashupati ( Arjun Dev)  along with his friend to get rid of the curse.  Pasupati is an author and teacher of paranormal and spiritual world.  Pashupati is of the belief that such generational curse affects the people associated much after the actual event has taken place centuries ago due to the evil spirit embedded in dying person.  How this curse can be mitigated is the crux of the film.

If one were to destory the evil haunted spirit which has been living from the past few generation, than it calls for guts and even death like encounter.  How Pashupati, Aman, Kaya and Joshi encounter the spirit and battle it through various chilling scenes is what the Shapit about.
 Shaapit movie reminded me of an English movie NUN which i saw recently, with some rip offs naturally from the movie with regarding the special effects on ghost scenes.  In terms of horror content one does have quite a chunk considering the 16 reels lengthy movie.  The acting of Aditya Naryan, debuntant, son of Udit Naryan is nothing much to rave about, except that his innocent looks gives the feel that he is getting into the skin of the role.  Swetha Agarwal, looks glamourous and suits the role she plays as princess.  Joshi another new comer looks impressive for a debut.  Arjun Dev has done full justice to his role as Professor of paranormal field.

Music even though melodious is nothing much to rave about.  The sound track and background score is truely horrifying for the weak hearted.  WILL AMAN survive the on slaught of the evil spirit and win back his lady love from the clutch of comatose existence, go and watch the movie to know the ending.

Love Sex aur Dhoka

Sting operations in general are supposed to bring out the truth in its realistic form but here Ekta Kapoor’s production tries to potray how it can be misused by the Media or Manipulators for TRPs & financial gains in the form of blackmail.  But the plot is complicated with realistic camerawork ( which i believe is because of usage of  real spy cameras ) which goes to the edge of being considered as amateurish renedition.  Sometimes the shaky camera on the screen gives you a tummy burping feeling that you are paying to watch a sheer nonsenscial movie, but  guys that is what Stings are all about without edits and crude and uncontrolled camera angles.



How does one weave 3 different MMS clips into a movie is ultimately the storyline of LSD.  The elaboration of LSD in its true form  Lysergic acid diethylamide, which is a psychedelic drug used for treating psychiatric and cancer patients for its potent properties.  Of course when you come out of the theatre you get this heady feeling that you have consumed the real LSD drug and try to grapple as to what hit you in the end.  Once you start interpretation of the movie you come to the conclusion the sordid part of sting operations or MMS clippings.

The director Dibankar has chosen newcomers, who are bold enough to pull off an adult subject with aplomb.  Maybe the film would have been better recieved if made with recognised actors is my personal feeling, but who is to bell the cat and get into an akward situation of facing the media.  Media is not interested to grill new comers, since it does not fetch any kudos or TRPs, for their channel or enhanced circulation.

In an age of Facebook, Youtube, Wave, Blogspot and Orkut spy cameras and amateur videos shot from an hidden purse, pocket, shades, are the main focus point of the film.  How we enjoyed the cyber cafe sex scandals and car sex scandals without paying for the voyeristic episodes.  But what is the motivation for guys who pay for such clips and upload it for the world to watch and enjoy without literally paying for it.  Is it that they upload only a trialer and expect the public to buy rest of the clipping is an issue which still engages my grey cells.  The days of papparazi probing into celebrities life continues, but now the arena has extended into lives of ordinary citizens too.  Beware of the peeping toms, LSD is an adult movie with more of adult subject matter than content in terms of raw footage.

Now coming to the movie it is basically weaving of 3 MMS or Sting operations together to form a complete plot.  The first story revolves around a young director named Rahul ( Anshuman Jha ) and Shruti ( Shruti) the heroine of his amateur movie for completing his course.  How they fall in love and felled in a gruesome sordid way by the girls parents.  The sex scene of their honeymoon seems to be totally censored. Don t be disappointed we get to see it in the second episode.

The second sting is related to Adarsh  ( Raj Kumar Yadav ) and Rashmi ( Neha Chauhan ) work in a retail outlet.   How Adarsh is enticed with payment of 70 k to film his intercourse with the counter salesgal is the crux of the clipping ?  Does he do it ? Watch the film for the twist.

Finally the casting couch which is rampant in music album industry is a subject matter which is well dwelt in the sting operation.  Here comes the revealation from the director, watch out for the pitfalls of interpretation, a consensual sex can be potrayed as sleaze, and how the media is hungry to elaborate the episode to enhance their TRP’s.  Loki  (Henry Tangri), music album singer and director pulls of his role with aplomb of a professional.  Naina ( Arya Devdutta ) is the model who is involved in casting couch.  Now the story takes an interesting turn.  Watch the movie if you are interested to know the nitty gritties.

LSD a movie from the Balaji Banner is a bold film, which attempts to wake up the public from stupor, and belief that seeing alone is not believing altogether.  If you have to probe, than you should know the inside story, i mean both sides of a coin.  A la Nitya ananda episodes in the making according to me.  Full marks to Dipankar Banerjee for dwelling on such controversial subject matter of MMS.  Thank you sweet desire for the SMS alert, i enjoyed the movie equally so no ? of refunds.

Athithi Tum Kab Joage

When you don’t expect much from a movie, you are in for a surprise, even though the movie was just with 30% occupancy.  The laughter quotient in the movie is so natural and supple that one gets carried away and has an urge to peg on with the reels, unfortunately 13 reel is not enough.

The nuclear couple Ajay and Konkana sen and their son form a simple middle class family living in Powai from the huge apartment complex it seems.  But they claim to be living in Goregoan anyways both are close by.  Avinash ( their son ) is baffled by the term Atithi Devo bhava.  He enquires with his dad Puneet ( AJAY ) as to the real meaning of the term.  His mother Mun Mun too is unable to answer the question, for which she receives a taunt from his teacher.

Movie takes a turn when suddenly Gajodhar chacha from UP lands up to his apartment, and seeking Pappu from Gorakhpur.  He confuses Puneet with various complex relationship and network.  Ultimately Puneet accepts him as his relative.  From there the nightmare begins for his family.  The couple have to sacrifice their bedroom to his chacha.  They have bow down at his feet in traditional style etc to keep up with the ancient traditions.  Chacha is obviously played by the versatile Paresh Raval, who tries to ape Utpal Dutt of yore, to an extent.  How his antics leads from one disaster to another is the storyline of the movie. 

The hit song Beedi Jaliyle has been twisted with the wordings Jyoti jaliyle and bhajan is sung by Paresh Rawal, which is quite hilarious.  Another scene with Sholay’s Kaliya evokes peels of laughter.  The taunt kitne aadmi teh has been used to the hilt to bring out humour and ultimately cause of sorrow.

How the normal couples life is disturbed by sudden arrival of a guest seems to be jist of the movie.  But wait the movies message is about Atithi Devo Bhava.  Guests are supposed to God in disguise.  One is caught in a whirlpool, and the director cleverly takes the audience on a melodrama.
Satish Kaushik has pulled off his small role with aplomb, with Ashwin Dhir (director ) really pulling off a near winner in comedy. This movie is unlike blockbuster slapstick comedy of Priyadharsan. The movie is jointly produced by the big Hollywood banner Warner Bros for a change. Go and enjoy the movie and check out the anti-climax.

TITBITS : I remember once my colleague landed in the middle of the night at 2 am, we welcomed him with open heart...........in 1986. Now he has relocated abroad and did not bother to call me while he was in Blore for a day in Oct 2009. So goes the concept of athithi devo bhava in Kaliyug times. We never expected any favour from him than nor now.

My name is Khan

Rizvan Khan ( SRK ) is an Autistic child (, Asperger’s Syndrome ) who grows up in a typical Muslim family bought up by his mother Razia ( Zarinawahab ) with the absence of his father.  She teaches him good morale, let not hatred cloud his eyes because of religion.  The background of 1983 riots is gently touched upon to give the melodramatic touch.  There are only two types of people one is good and another is bad is the scuttle message of the movie.  Those who perpetuate hatred and voilence in the name of religion are obviously termed as Shaitan.

The movie weaves back and forth in a soliloquy format with Rizvan writing his diary and his quest to meet the Prez ?  Why does he have to meet the Prez ? is the moot question around which the Plot is weaved.   Mandira ( Kajol ) dons the role of a divorced beautician, who falls to the charm of Autistic Khan.  Every time he comes to the point without beating around the Bush.  ’ Will you marry me " How he meets Kajol ? and how his brother Zakir ( Jimmy Shergill ) engages him to sell a similar looking product like Mehanaz ( which looks to be twisted brand name instead of Shenaz Hussain ).  How he goes about peddling the cosmetic brand in a missionary style which brings in peels of laughter and tears in the audience.  By now the character of Khan is well sketched.  

One should watch the opening sequel for the movie which lays the strong foundation for the movie ? Do not miss it, otherwise you are bound to loose the grip of the movie which can be boring in parts for want of flesh. What i mean is that in sketching the character of Rizvan lot of time and effort has gone into, from childhood to grown up and the pangs of the normal son Zakir, who tends to get ignored by mother. Once he grows up he pushes off abroad to start of his venture in cosmetic industry. His mother dies with a wish that her son Rizvan should grow up to be normal individual and lead a good married life.
So Rizvan’s life takes many a twist and turn..............with the background of 9/11. The jihadi issue is dealt with scuttle mention. Rizvan tells the crowd following Dr Riaz to shed hatred in a mosque. He in fact wants to reveal the information to the FBI reg some sinister plot being hatched.................so and so forth the plot tosses forward. Does Kajol re-unite with Rizvan ? Does Rizvan meet the Prez ? How does Media react on issues concerning Islamic individual ?

The plot of the movie seems to somewhat inspired by Australian arrest episode of Dr Haneef and his subsequent trials, but with a mellowed approach. Nevertheless the statutory declaration that any character or event resembling the movie may be purely coincidental. So the events of 1983 riots, 9/11, Katrina Hurricane, George Bush tour, etc are used weaved effectively into the storyline. Even Barkha Dutt is on the air relaying the breaking news for the movie which is a pleasant surprise.


In conclusion the movie is a must watch to remove one’s pre-conceived notion on terrorism. To a large extent SRK has done justice to the role of Autistic character Rizvan Khan after a gap of one full year. Kajol pulls off her character in usual charismatic manner. Rest of the characters including the Prez in the form of Duncan who closely resembles Obama pull of his scene with great success. The dialouges in the movie is well penned. Hum honge kamyaab ek din rendition in English is the only song worth listening. Overall this movie is a must watch for all liberal minded citizens of the country. The SS controversy has not helped in pulling the crowds, it was only 70% opening. Hope Karan Johar recovers his investment this time around, which he failed in QURBAN. Not every KHAN is a terrorist is amply proved by the Movie ending. Remember this movie released on my Birthday how could i miss it ?

Rann, on Media Manipulation

The four pillars of democracy are Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and obviously the Media.  In India to a large extent press and TV channels are free from the shackles of  Executive powers.   There has been a number of attempt to muzzle the press and media channels by the executive which has been countered effectively and so far so good.  But in the quest for garnering revenues through advertising one day or the other there is a real danger of Media channel falling prey either to powerful politicians or industrialists.  Maybe this prompted me to invest in NDTV, which is one upright channel in India.

Apart from the above digression, the RGV movie plot this time around is as gripping as SATYA without the mindless and gory violence.  The movie plot revolves around Harshvardhan ( Amitabh B ) who owns the India 24x7 NEWS channel.  His get up is close to our own P Roy of NDTV, any resemblence is mere fictional and coincidental says the mandatory disclaimer sub titled in the beginning of the movie.  The artistic license has been used effectively to potray the story line.

How the media barons work is depicted very effectively with Ambaresh Thakur ( Monish Behl ) playing the rival TV baron who manages to time and again steal the concept, through the lady COO ( Suchitra Krishnamoorty ) who plays the Stooge. This naturally ensures that Headlines 24 is always ahead in the TRP warfare. The son Jay ( Sudeep ) who wants to boost the channels TRP borrows 30 crore to launch a novel concept with his cronie Rajpal Yadav. This concept too is leaked by Kavitha to their rival for a hefty gain, but it is surprising that there is no intimate scene between the partners in crime, which leads critic to dubb the movie as stag stuff. Even Gul Penags acting powress has been wasted.


Now Sudeep is shattered and is entraped by a shrewd and manipulative politician Mohan Pandey ( Paresh Rawal ) along with his brother in law Naveen ( R Kapoor ), who has an amibition of becoming a leading businessmen or Industrialist through political patronage. Now enters Ritesh Deshmukh into the picture who is an ardent fan of Amitabh and believes in upright and ethical reporting to gain recognition among the audience.


Gul acts as a wife to Ritesh, who did not look so convincing in the initial part of the movie, maybe because he himself being a son of a politician. Later he picks up momentum because of the strong plot weaved by RGV to focus on negative shades of Channel doings. 

The  plot unravels various twists and turns and shocks the ethical Harshvardhan out of his stupor, now without much ado one should watch the movie for its plot lest i am accused of stealing the thunder on the movie plot. One would say the movie tends to highly critical of the channels and their ways. Maybe this movie is wake call for all the media barons to wake up and live up to their responsibility of preserving the democracy and freedom of expression. The lure of big money is of course there in the share market with public and institution ever ready to support ethical channel. The message is loud and clear in the climax of the movie. Kudos to RGV and his team for producing such a brilliant conceived and executed movie. This movie is definitely for class audience..............will the mass bite it is the moot ? The song Galli galli me shor hai........sare Neta chor hai tells it all

TITBITS


1. Modified rendition of Jana Gana Mana was deleted from the original score, instead Vande Mataram was used in the film due to censorship, on grounds of it violating the National Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act 1950.

2.  Aftermath of 26/11 RGV was humiliated by the Media, for his vouyer at the Taj, which even cost the CM his chair. Pay back time folks.

3. RGV did not hestitate to cast ex CM s son for the fear of reprisal from Media, here he gave him primacy potraying a honest TV presenter.

4. While watching earlier RGV movies such as Phoonk, AAG, etc i was literally lulled to sleep, but RANN was of different pedigree, but my habit dies hard........i took a cat nap in the beginning maybe due to sound dubbing being faulty.


Disclaimer : Artistic freedom of expression used to express my viewpoint without casting aspersions on any individuals or organisation.