I will not go into the story of the film. I would just try to talk about certain aspects of the film which if absent could have made Rajneeti a classic. First is the screenplay. In the first half of the film it almost resembles a Yash raj drama! Specially the scenes between Ranbir and Katrina! The scenes went by too fast and editing was really bad which hampered the flow of the film. The songs were complete misfit and could have been given a miss! Prakash Jha should really learn how to use songs as background scores. Some concepts were cliche ridden. Dialogues were stale in most parts and evoked laughter in some serious scenes (like “tum mere jyesth putra ho”). The director’s attempt to adapt Mahabharata boomerangs. He lets many strings loose which becomes very difficult for him to sort out by the end of the film.

This is an extract of Aagan‘s review. Complete Review at Aaganzworld.

Update: I watched Raajneeti and absolutely loved it. My suggestion, Do watch it, if you like or have any interest in that bad game called Politics. I have.

Worth that much? I guess not.

OK. Kites is a good movie. Doesn’t have that much of story but then Anurag Basu knows how to make a movie and when you have all the money from BIG Pictures and Rakesh Roshan and all the time of a talented actor like Hrithik, he can create magic, and he almost did, as through the entire movie, you know the end, but still, somehow, it keeps you hooked. All points to Anurag for that (But then, he had done it so much better in Metro, though it had a bit more story than Kites).

Other than the story thing, Kites is fabulous. Take any department, acting, music, background score, cinematography, and where it comes, choreography, all of them are awesome. Hrithik and Barbara do share a chemistry and you can watch it on-screen. The small cast, Hrithik, Barbara, Nick Brown (the guy playing the villain), Kabir Bedi, and even Jamaal, the chauffeur played by Yuri Suri are all good. Kangana gets a smaller role than expected though.

The best things about Kites are the music, the background score, the cinematography, and of course, its direction, though I had expected more than this from Anurag after Life in a Metro. He has tried new things (eg, the picturization of Tum Bhi ho wahi) but in a few places it becomes clichéd, maybe because of the story. Salim-Sulaiman have been really wonderful with their background score and I absolutely loved that. Cinematography is good in general and the desert scene looks superb.

I guess there isn’t much more to say though I can keep on going. So I would like to summarize it with a tweet of mine.

Not a great story. But otherwise, almost everything is great. Watch it once I’d say.

(follow me on Twitter at @hg6)

In this whole process, the guest affects people in positive and negative ways, and while the negative ways are source of comedy and sometimes irritation, the positive ones are probably what the director of the movie intends to show. These positive things that come with the guest sometimes make the best parts of the movie, as they reflect upon what we miss in the city life as we live in nuclear families.

Atithi tum kab jaoge has a small cast that includes the main lead – Paresh Rawal with Ajay Devgn and Konkona Sen Sharma. And while Ajay is good and Konkona even better, it’s Paresh who keeps the movie going with his natural acting. Satish Kaushik and Akhilendra Mishra are good in their small roles and so is Sanjay Mishra in his watchman’s part.

Atithi tum kab jaoge is a small movie of hardly two hours that I don’t have much to say about. The bottom line of the review is that there is not a lot you can expect from the movie but if you live in a nuclear family, that too in a metro, do watch the movie, if only on a DVD. Good chances you might like it, even if it’s not very entertaining and certainly not a perfect film.

Talking of Road, Movie, I’d have to start with expectations. Because of Dev Benegal’s name and Abhay Deol, the movie is riding high on expectations and people who have loved Abhay in most films are wondering what surprise the acting-Deol is bringing them this time. So first thing, I found the movie Overrated, at least rating it over people’s expectations.

SPOILER AHEAD

“Road, Movie” is the story of a businessman’s son. The rising son, Vishnu (Dev?) is told to smell the hair oil and also that it was his future. Vishnu repeats Papa Atma’s dialog cum punch line Atma tel lagaya, sar bhar baal paaya, baaki sab maaya, though he doesn’t want to sell hair oil. Then he gets a chance to drive an uncle’s truck to some strange place on earth and on his way it’s all desert. The desert has a dhaba, a boy working there, problems, mechanic, police, water mafia, and of course, the heroine. There is water too, but with that comes water mafia. The Sardar there is uber-filmy and burns a well just so that all the villagers know that nobody has to touch his things, and also gets so-happy when he is told how to be a ‘mard’ by oiling and combing his hair. Later, he was seen on a Splendor (or Splendor+ or some other model of it) but I didn’t get whether he was still selling ‘Atma tel’ or not.

SPOILER ENDS

In short, in Road, Movie, either you see just the desert road, which happens to make the major part before the interval and then there is the story, which is poori filmy. While Satish Kaushik’s acting is absolutely wonderful, Abhay is fine in his role and the small guy Mohammad Faizal is a superb again. Tanishtha Chatterjee also acts well even though during her first few scenes, I was wondering if she was trying to make an authentic Rajasthani at all with the fluent ‘Khadi Boli’ (say Delhi-West UP) Hindi she was speaking. Also, while I did not get the purpose or the story of the movie anyway, I was wondering if Dev Benegal was a person who worked on intricacies, but stopped doing so when I saw truck owner Uncle’s bald head peeping from inside the cap when outside the cap there were long black hair.

The only positive things about the movie are that it has some great performances, especially of Satish Kaushik who probably has not performed or rather hasn’t got a chance to perform so well in past some time, and other than that looking for something big, the film doesn’t exactly bore you as it shows you the love of director for India and love of India for Cinema – the mutual love and connection of India and Cinema to summarize and expand at the same time.

So my word on Road, Movie: If you are confused, do not go for the movie, buy a DVD later if people suggest you to, and if you WANT to go and watch it for yourself (or have simply bought the tickets), do go, but don’t have much expectations from the movie, maybe you like it then.

PS: Watching some reviews, I feel that maybe Road, Movie was too big for me and I did not really understand it. In case anyone thinks it’s simple and you can make me understand the movie, please do.

But then, in the second half the movie moves ahead and we get to see some great performances, especially from Amitabh, who makes a perfect mathematician in the movie. There are some good dialogs too, one of Ajay Devgn about ‘better luck next time’ being my favorite. Talking of performances, all the students of Amitabh, who are majorly new faces, have given quite good performances, in the limits of story and direction.

The major drawbacks of Teen Patti are, the writing, that makes the movie go up & down, and with the exception of Amitabh, and to some extent Madhavan, you do not get a clear picture of anyone’s mind; and the direction, that falters so badly at some points that I wonder if there are some Priyadarshan scenes lined up ahead. Adding the two, you get that the movie is not smooth as it should have been. But the person who makes up for it all, not all the times though, is the one and only Amitabh Bachchan. The end of the movie, especially the part where it all comes to Amitabh and Ben Kinsley, is definitely the best part of the movie.

By the way, I count on Amitabh as the mathematician and would not comment on the logic or way they use to earn money in the movie. Whether that is something beyond logic and practicality is not under the perview of the review.

Talking about other things, music is mostly made for the movie and works in its place. But then, you go home with a Neeyat that is definitely kharab. Salim-Sulaiman’s background is good too. Choreography shows its color in Neeyat again. Cinematography is interesting with all the effects added to numbers though it reminded me of Taare Zameen Par’s beginning scenes.

Overall, Teen Patti is a could-be-good, average movie. The reason I say average may be my high expectations from the film but a cast of Amitabh and Ben Kingsley does deserve that attention. Still, both Amitabh and even Ben in his small role deliver good performances. Watch it if you want something new and are not afraid of getting bored in search of that new.

Toh Baat Pakki is a sweet film on a good story and a not-so-good screenplay where actors deliver some okay to very good performances and give you a clean movie that you might like to enjoy with your family. At the same time, I do not think it’s good enough to waste your money in a multiplex and there are not many cinema halls where you go watch family movies in single screens nowadays. Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is not about the situation of cinema halls in India. I’m just trying to explain what type the movie is, while expecting you to have some rough idea about the type too.

To start with, toh Baat Pakki is a comedy that makes you laugh on the subtleties of life, about the small things that happen when it comes to an arranged marriage and when it comes to boys and girls and above all, their elder sisters and their husbands. The movie makes you laugh a bit in the starting sequences, a bit more when you see the family drama of Tabu’s family and more than that her personal drama, but fails to make you laugh as it starts moving towards the climax. The good thing about the movie in these last sequences is that right near the end the director decides to go fast and skips a few scenes of drama NOT making you wait like hell for the movie to end.

Though, the director has not been as good as his intentions in many parts of the movie. While he tries to showcase the middle class family of Tabu keeping everything on earth, there are many things that go so dreamy as if I were watching Saanwariya. For example, the director’s Jaunpur is no less than Mussoorie while you see all buildings of Mumbai in a song going on in Palanpur. Bank Cashier Ayub Khan’s vintage car might be funny but is not very real for sure. Same can be said for the beauty of Sharman’s college, the village of his Mama and so on.

The best thing about the movie is… Tabu, as she acts so natural in the movie. Though there are times when her role goes a bit over the top, she mostly makes the most of her not-so-great role purely on her acting. Sharman Joshi is good but seems he’s getting typecast. Not very good for him. Vatsal Seth, for the first time, looks big enough to be a hero. Yuvika Chaudhary looks cute. Upasna Singh goes over the top. Ayub Khan is perfect in his small role. And overall, actors make a big part of the movie.

Interesting thing, though, is that kind of surprisingly, the songs of the album are good. Sonu Nigam is at his lung-stretcher best in Phir se, while Pritam sings Karle mujhse pyar with Rana and Soham, not bringing in KK for this one. Read the music review for that.

Overall, Toh baat Pakki is something that could be good or even more than that but lacks a sincere effort, by the team, not by it’s actors. So, at best, keep the movie for a viewing at home on a CD or television.

The best thing about My Name is Khan is that finally Karan Johar moves over himself. With the same Shahrukh Khan and Kajol with whom he made his debut film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. Though this very fact makes me wonder how much of his typical audiences are going to like it. Who knows what’s on girls’ minds after all?

To start with, I do not think My Name is Khan deserves five stars, but certainly the one star there, Shahrukh Khan, has worked well enough to make it a very watchable movie. At the same time, Karan Johar comes up with a good story and works even better on it. Additionally, you have some wonderful music that suits the film, thanks to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and their selection of singers, be it Shafaqat Amanat Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ustad Rashid Khan or even Adnan Sami Khan. Not to mention Shankar himself. No, I didn’t forget Richa Sharma and Shreya. They are great too.

My Name is Khan is exactly what the name claims, an all in all Shahrukh Khan show. Kajol gives a great performance there which comes naturally, but it’s Shahrukh who has the limelight over him. And while he does a role that doesn’t come naturally and demands a lot of homework, Shahrukh seems to have tried hard and worked hard, as he gives a lovable performance. The good thing about his acting is that he is quite consistent throughout the movie except for some rare points where he seems to pull a sentence or two a bit too much. Much better than I had expected anyway.

Talking of the movie in terms of Story and Screenplay, My Name is Khan has a lot of material, probably a bit too much in places. While the movie moves slow and builds a good rapport in the first half, the second half doesn’t cash it so good as one might expect as Khan keeps on going one thing after the other. In fact, in this part Forrest Gump comes back to me even though I had completely forgot about the alleged similarities of topics. The African connection adds to the Gump effect. Basically the film moves you but in parts. The story is good but the movie didn’t cast a spell on me, the one that lasts after the movie too. I wonder if it will turn like Kal ho naa ho which I like more every time I watch it.

Moving towards technical aspects (or whatever I know of them) My Name is Khan is quite good. The movie has some crisp editing. The first song is introduced quite late and all the songs in the movie fit really well in their locations. In fact all the numbers from the soundtrack don’t even show up in the movie as Shankar Mahadevan Suraj Jaggan’s Rang de is nowhere and a great song like Allah hi Rehem manages to find place only at the end credits. Also, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy’s background music is wonderful. But Ravi K Chandran goes below expectations in cinematography, especially at some specific points where you expect something really big.

One interesting thing about the movie is that Karan has gone over the top while selecting his actors. While the movie is a Shahrukh Khan show, Kajol doesn’t have all that you expected in her role. In fact some other actress could have done it too, though that would reduce the charisma that Kajol brings with her. Zarina Wahab is a perfect choice for Khan’s mother and so is her son, played by Tanay Chheda. Jimmy Shergill has a small role as brother while Sonya Jehan performs her act gracefully. Arjun Mathur gets yet another role of an achiever in the making. But what made me wonder was the small role that is played by Vinay Pathak. And then there is veteran S M Zaheer in a nobody’s role and even for the smallest role there is Navneet Nishan. Still, the overall cast of the film is good and mostly effective.

Overall, My Name is Khan is something that lifts both Shahrukh Khan and Karan Johar a level up. The movie is good and certainly worth a watch. If not for the story and it’s treatment, watch it for Shahrukh Khan’s acting. And not just his name.

PS: Just realized, Shahrukh doesn’t spread his hands anywhere in the movie. Now that’s another thing positive about the movie.

From then on, I was quite busy with the movie until intermission, and though the intermission looked a bit strange to me, it was most probably because of the initial few minutes I had missed. And while the movie was quite serious even before interval, it grows more so in the second half.

The story of striker is quite new, even though there are many old things shown in a new mould. It’s the same Bombay full of bhais, but the bhais and their bhaigiri isn’t shown more than the story demands. It’s the same guy who used to be victim of circumstances but this one has a mind even with that ’70s anger. Though there are certain things you don’t understand the reason of doing.

The best thing of Striker, though, is Siddharth’s acting. He is superb, and so is his friend, Zaid, Oops! Ankur Vikal. Frankly, it is Siddharth who fills up for some of the slackness of the script. Aditya Pancholi is okay and Seema Biswas is perfect in her small role of a mother. Anup Soni looks good as brother. Vidya Malvade is fine even though I did not understand how she can find her brother in the movie when no goons of Bhai can. Nicolette Bird looks awesome and you can do some good ‘Bird’ watching there. Padmapriya is good in her mute role.

But then, there is something lacking in the film, though I cannot rightly spot it. The movie has an at least above average story, wow acting, good cinematography, some wonderful dialogs, and some fine enough music. But I guess the direction lacks that finesse which makes the movie really great. But at the same time, the movie should be something because I was compelled to think that it could be ‘great’.

So overall Striker makes a good, at least watchable experience. The script of the movie is a bit slack at times but acting fills up for quite a lot of it. And while the movie may not look all that good, there are scenes that move you. In short, the movie looks like a good attempt by a newcomer, though it falls a bit short of the image Chandan Arora creates as the director of Main Meri Patni aur Woh.

Ishqiya is an entertainment package. While the story of the film is okay with an old cliche given a new form, the direction of the movie is good, acting of Naseer, Arshad and Vidya is high quality, Vishal’s music is awesome and Rekha’s voice is beyond words.

And then, there is Dil to Bachcha hai ji.

Ishqiya is a movie that is all about presentation. Two guys running from a bhai, stuck with a lady, who happens to be not quite as they think she would be and then twists and turns. The story of the movie is not that great but with all those twists and turns and the great performances, it’s easily good enough to keep one interested for two hours. The good part is that the director hasn’t stretched the movie to make it cross the standard two and half hours.

The best thing of Ishqiya is, still, the performances given by its actors. While Naseeruddin Shah is a natural since time immemorial, Vidya Balan too does a role that not only suits her, but she looks almost perfect there. Arshad Warsi again does a superb job after helping Sanjay Dutt in Munna Bhai series. Talking of acting, even Nandu, the village boy does it well. Seems like Vishal Bharadwaj ke gaon mein ****** dhone se pehle acting karna sikhate hain!

The bad thing of the film, though, is that the film is quite complicated, and gets more so especially near the end. While Vishal’s last movie, Kaminey, also got a bit complicated, this time his screenplay falls there a bit again though the acting makes up for many things. Dialogs of the movie are good again and at times, Arshad’s dialogs make the movie a laugh riot.

As expected, Ishqiya is colored in quite the same color of eastern UP as Omkara, but then, there are many larger differences in the two and the films are completely different. In fact, Ishqiya is a bit less sophisticated, more storyish and less real than Omkara, especially in the first half. But on the other hand, the movie talks about the caste differences openly and not just to show that in dialogs but to add to the story.

But then, the movie is interesting, entertaining, and overall worth a watch if you are okay with the language. In fact even in case you could not like Omkara due to language issues, you might like this one as the language is a bit easier here in most sequences. Go for the movie if you are okay with the idea of an offbeat commercial entertainer.

Rann is a lot. It’s a good movie on a good topic. It’s Ram Gopal Varma back to the form; quite as he was in Sarkar. It’s an actor’s wonderful entry in Bollywood (though he was in Phoonk and is a well known Kannada hero). And above all these, it’s something that we should see.

Rann is a story of a person who is an ideal journalist in today’s time, ready to sacrifice TRPs for content and real news. A person who believes that a newspaper/channel should not take anything from anyone and knows there are no free lunches. But the good part is that even with Amitabh Bachchan playing this iconic role of Vijay Harshvardhan Malik, the movie is a story that does not completely belong to one person. The story gives space to its characters and you can see shades of grey in most of the characters even if they are in black or white.

The story of the film is definitely good and keeps you there even though many times you get an idea what is going to happen in the next scene. And then, there are moments in the movie which give you a high, making the movie what it is. The story has pace and looks quite crisp and though the end is a bit too long, it’s all worth a watch and thinking.

The best part of the movie is… it’s story, direction and acting. While the story and direction were good, actors have given some great performances in Rann. Amitabh is perfect for the role, even though he reminds one of Sarkar at times, while being all powerful and authoritative. Sudeep as Jai Malik is a watchable performance that matches Paresh Rawal’s awesome work in the movie.

Riteish Deshmukh is simply good while Gul Panag looks natural in her little role. Mohnish Behl gets a wonderful role and he performs with his usual sincerity. Or rather does better than his usual good. Suchitra Krishnamurthy is fine, but not as good as I was expecting from her, being so experienced. Rajat Kapoor doesn’t have much to do. But Rajpal Yadav gets a good role and while doing a better kind of comedy, he shows quite some truth.

The only disappointing part of the movie is its music. While a few songs are good in background as expected, some are unnecessarily obscene, especially Gali Gali mein shor hai. Even the background music in the movie gets too high when not so required. Still, that doesn’t give an overall bad effect.

In short, Rann is certainly worth a watch if you like reality, watch films for more than just entertainment, or have been an RGV fan sometime. Maybe you become one again.

Of course, I had read so many reviews before I saw the movie and that was one of the reasons I saw the movie pretty late. But once I entered the theater, there wasn’t one time I felt I shouldn’t have come.

I know Veer is not the so-called sophisticated movie with right facts and logical script/screenplay. But if you are a Salman Khan fan and ready to join the madness which can be called Salmanism, you ARE going to enjoy the movie. After all, Veer still accommodates more mind than, with all due respect, Rajnikant movies do.

And before I say anything more, I would like to say there are a few people who have been of huge importance to Veer. Sajid-Wajid with their compositions, Gopal Shah with his marvelous cinematography, and Gulzar with his words.

Frankly, when I went to see the movie, I was in no misconception that I was there to watch a period movie. In fact, I had almost no expectations, and was there to see Salman Khan and the songs from the best album of Sajid-Wajid. But then, the movie didn’t look bad in the start. And the same feeling was there till the end. Except for some sequences where I was ecstatic, which mostly happened to be the songs or at times, some beautifully pictured scenes which show a superb work by cinematographer.

The story of the movie isn’t great. Salman Khan, son of one of the Pindari top ranks Mithun, tries all Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed to beat the king of MadhavGarh who had cheated upon Pindaris once and killed some 4500 of them. And Salman, Veer, does so because Mithun had pledged to kill the king. Like all movies, Salman falls in love with the daughter of the king adding a ‘twist’ to the story. And then comes the treatment of the story, which happens to be completely dominated by Salman Khan, as expected. While the story has flaws which was again expected from a director like Anil Sharma, the good point is that except these flaws almost entire movie manages to be okay with Salman Khan’s acting and action, and some absolutely wonderful cinematography by Gopal Shah. I was extremely impressed by both the types of cinematography, be it close up shots, or the ones taking a view of entire battlefields and palaces. In fact, during the scenes depicting the entire battlefield in a desert, I was wishing for an even bigger screen.

The songs are wonderful, and while Sajid-Wajid have given probably their best for Veer, Gulzar’s words look much more meaningful in the movie as almost every line fits in the story and sequences of the movie. Surili Ankhiyon wale, which is the best song of the album, however, has been used a bit too much as it appears again and again and again in the movie. I think it would be a better idea to get more than two antaras done for the song which would give the director scope to place the song in a better way. Remember Kalyug? Interestingly, there too, the best and the most repeated song, Jiya Dhadak Dhadak jaaye, was sung by Rahat only, but since the director knew he’d use it a lot, we just had a few extra antaras ready. Anyway, still no complaints with the song as it’s too good anyway.

In the movie, Salman Khan is exactly what he was expected and made to be. He does action sequences perfectly and his acting is good enough for the movie. The best part is that once a role model for all today’s body-building heroes manages to look superb even at forty-four.

Mithun, again, looks fine as he finds yet another good, though not that great, role for himself after Guru. His character in the movie is quite balanced and he gives a good performance. Sohail Khan doesn’t get much to do though and the part given to him during their entry in London probably are the only so-out-of-place part of the movie as the director seems to be forgetting for a few minutes whether he’s making Veer or Hello Brother. Zarine Khan quite resembles Katrina and it gets realized more during the initial sequences. The good part is that the girl manages to do more than just smile even in her first movie while Katrina has reached that stage quite recently. Still, as we all know, apart from the movie, Katrina is Katrina.

Overall, Veer is of course not a movie from the times we belong, certainly not one for the today’s ‘multiplex audience’, but if you are a Salman Khan fan or have a group of school/college friends who make almost every movie worth a watch and/or love to whistle in the movies instead of watching silently, do watch Veer. As Anupama Chopra says, such movies will be extinct in a few years.

PS: Do NOT watch Veer with girlfriends, especially if they’re the ones who cry in SRK movies. Not even on DVD in that case.

PPS: I had slight doubt about Veer being a hit after watching the reviews. Now after watching the movie, I am in no doubt. Veer is a hit.