blue ( trailer review)

Blue has arrived in town & no we are not talking about Sanjay Leela Bhansali here . An action adventure with sharks , treasure hunt is here & no we are not talking about an Hollywood movie here .There is style , bikes & sexy girls & no we are not taking about Dhoom 3 here . Infact It is desi film , we are talking about , touted as the most expensive Indian film ever made with a budget of approx of 100 crores woopie .
Yes the 100 crore is also India’s First underwater movie with 80% of it being shot with real sharks unlike Luck . The starcast is equally intimidating by Akshay who is trying to give at least one decent flick after plethora of trashy movies in the last one and & a half years , all could have been frontrunners for getting Indian Razzies if there was one . Hopefully , Blue will change it all . The promo starts with Akki short dialogue piece on Luck ( hope not to see any more thesis on that subject post Luck ) . We are then introduced to the others Sanjay ( who looks like aged ) Dutt , Lara floating under the sea like a sea fairy in hot bikini (she looks quite saucy man) , Katrina in a different tomboyish avatar , Zayed ( I cant act salaa ) Khan . Have to mention that Kat , Lara , Akki is going to be the only performance worth watching as Sanju looks jaded & aged for this hip movie & zayed can’t act saala .
The promo is a fast pace visual extravaganza with top underwater clips shown , bikes sexy babes , Boxing babas(fit Akki & sanju having a boxing match in one of the clips) . What adds to it is the outstanding background score By the genius of A.R.Rahman .That Kylie Minogue in the cast & Resul ‘Slumdog’ Pukooty behind the sound & also the action set pieces equaling any big Hollywood movie , so much so that people have already started talking about it being a copy of some Hollywood movie (the perception of every Indian Film being a copy of a Hollywood flick ) , this one is sure hit menu . The only thing it needs is a story .I hope it does have one as I m dying to watch a good adventure action movie in Hindi . Will surely catch it First day First show .

4/5

love aaj kal review

LOVE - Trunkcall to chota recharge
Imtiaz Ali is the new brand name of modern love in Hindi Cinema . He speaks a language of the youth & has had different interpretation of love stories which seem more closer to reality in sharp contrast to the melodrama of Hindi love stories . While his first film ‘Socha Na Tha focused on the concept of the arranged marriage being alien concept to the present hip society , his second , the Cult movie ‘Jab We Met’ focused on two temperamentally different individuals getting attracted to each other & how love can change the path of your life completely . But it seems Imtiaz is running out of screenplay ideas now & you can’t blame him for that as he is attempted a genre for the third consecutive time that has been the bread & butter of Hindi film makers i.e. love stories . Umpteen number of filmmakers have tried their hand at love stories , some have been extremely successful at it . But such has been the quantity & quality of love stories that anything that is done seems to make you feel like you have seen it before . Its extremely difficult to make it different .
So like his first 2 films Imtiaz has a novel idea that is the comparision of love between 2 generations . Generations which are completely different from each other , thus both believing that things in their generations were better than the others . Imtiaz experiments whether the people of Aaj , The ‘aam Aadmi or Mango people’ can choose love over practicality . Whether they can feel the pangs that the lovers of Kal – ‘The Laila-Majnus , The Heer- Ranjas’ felt in their generations or do they surely believe that all these are ‘Chutya panni stuffs that are made to confuse people’ . Are relationship for them just a means to fulfill the physical needs or do they have a heart that longs for companionship of each other . Has career taken precedence over Love .
In Imtiaz’s Love AAj Kal , Aaj is represented by the Jai & Meera a modern couple who decide to break up because they will be living in 2 different countries to fulfill their dreams , so since ‘long Distance relationship’ never works , they decide its better by calling it off & if they are doing so , let’s do it in style by throwing a break up party . Yes you heard that right , Imtiaz knows exactly what he is doing as he wastes no time in giving undue screen time in building up the fast paced relationship between Jai & Meera that starts on one September & ends in another 2 years later . The fast pace showing exactly the fragility of relationship which ends like a chota recharge card as quickly as it starts . That Imtiaz is a master of relatable punch lines & situations comes through in scenes , when a worried sub character conveys his confusion on what should he say in the break up party to the couple – congratulations or offer condolences to them , or jai’s friends( one of them being the talented Vir Das in a miniscule role ) go to a shopkeeper enquiring whether he has any presents for a break up party or the scene where a guilty & nervous Saif trying his best to express the breakup wish , but unable to do so ,as he keeps babbling about other stuff like the traffic not knowing that Deepika too has similar ideas .
So post the Break up party , Imtiaz introduces The Kal in Veer Singh ( the superbly natural Rishi Kapoor) who forces Jai to go to the airport to meet Meera & present her flowers . When Jai enquires the reason for interference in personal space , Veer Singh says he looked exactly like him when he was young , thus justifying Saif playing Younger Rishi , a real masterstroke from Imtiaz .There are many more such writing gems from Imtiaz whose superb gift of dialogues is seen in like - Deepika saying the lines post getting the flowers in the airport ‘ aaj pehli baar Phool who bhi ab’ , or ‘aakhri baar milna kyu zaroori hota hai’ or the scene when saif & Deepika discuss their flaws post breakup are superbly written . So this is when Veer Singh starts telling him his love story with Harleen – a pure , non physical love which will remain forever eve waiting for a lifetime for the beloved , like a trunk call ,where just a look is enough for Veer Singh to take a ‘Pratighya’ like a Hindi Film Hero that she will be mine for the next 7 births & following her to 3 different cities . Imtiaz gets the look of the set of the 1960’s , Delhi , Kolkata just right as well as Saif , who gets the body language perfect as Veer Singh , Though at times his Punjabi accent tends to get artificial rather than being real , as if The hip Jai ,a part that he plays so perfectly in the movie , wanting to break out of the Punjab da Puttar .
So at first Jai laughs off the Pratighya & the untouched love of Veer singh as he doesn’t understand How can he feel love for just one woman in sharp contrast to him who has fallen in love 15 times or with the fact that ‘Kuch Bhi nahi Hua’ between them so far, yet they are in love . But soon he starts identifying with the love story as it opens up his hidden feelings for Meera . But he ignores it as this is not practical . In the meantime , Meera gets pursued upon by her boss & Jai starts his ‘Khula Saand’ days by getting attached to a foreigner . This is exactly where Imtiaz loses the plot & gets back to his old formula of one of the lovers being attached to somebody else like Kareena’s character in Jab We Met & Abhay’s in ‘Socha Na Tha’ as well as both the lovers ignoring their feelings . The Aaj part tends to drag as Imtiaz tries putting in too many things & you tend to get impatient waiting for Kal’s Story to happen which seem to be much more captivating then the AAj one thanks to its innocent charm .
Soon Deepika & Saif realize love for each other , but that is after the 2 characters commitment to life & career respectively . But the scene where saif realizes his love forv Deepika could have been better written . Imtiaz showcases the mundane lonely life that Saif lives with a song in the background quite wonderfully as there is a transition from a cool Saif to a depressed one showed wonderfully & without overdoing it by the master filmmaker . Infact songs are used wonderfully taking the film forward like ‘Dooriyan’ a sad song is followed by the contradicting breakup scene to avoid a long distance relationship , ‘Twist’ signifying Jai’s ‘Khula Saand’ days & Chor Bazaari depicting the 2 lovers having a great time inspite of them being with different partners or believing that they have broken up , but from within they still very much together
. Although the 2nd half has its share of moments , it is in these portion that the melodrama seeps in as well as the pace of the movie starts to drop .Even there you do have Imtiaz’s brand of superb lines as well in scenes like when Jai’s new girlfriend asks –‘Jai do you love me’ jai Replies – ‘who knows what that is , I still have got to figure that out’ Another problem in this part is Deepika ‘s character who is not really fleshed out (even though expression wise Deepika comes up with her best performance , in some scenes her Dialogue delivery is indifferent) . In Jab We met Shahid’s character & in Socha Na Tha Ayesha Takia’s Character were very well written & that was the reason the 2 respective movies worked because both the protagonists vibed well with each other . In this movie Meera comes off sometimes as a person sure of herself , sometimes confused , sometimes stupid . There are many questions her character leaves unanswered . Imtiaz too seems confused while writing her character whether to make the 2 protagonist similar in nature like in Socha Na Tha or to make her a character opposite to Jai . Her confusion on the marriage & the person she loves inspite of having a good time with Jai contradicts her surety of her career & breaking up move as well as the right decisions that she takes as Jai puts it – ‘Tu hamesha Thik Baat Bol Deti Hai Jaaneman’.
Imtiaz in this movie surprisingly veers too close to Yashraj Brand of Blockbusterites cinema instead of real cinema . Yes he do find a fair amount of realism , but he tries to combine it with the melodrama that he has prevented in his earlier 2 films . I don’t believe that a good filmmaker like Imtiaz will bow down to market diktats , but there are traces of Yash Rajism in his movie , maybe as a means to pay tribute to Yash Chopra . That perhaps is the reason that what should have been ideally a much shorter crisp movie ends up becoming a 30 minutes extra drag . Infact a few scenes remind you of Kunal Kholi ‘s Hum Tum as well as Yash Chopra ‘s epic Veer Zaara . Now there is nothing wrong in paying a tribute to a legendary filmmaker like yash Chopra or the hit brand Yashraj , but somehow Imtiaz’s brand movie doesn’t combine well with Yashraj’s Melodramatic Candyfloss as it leaves a sour taste . Imtiaz also pays tribute in a small way to his first taste of Success ‘Jab We Met’ . The Punjabi song featuring the beautiful , unknown Harleen reminds you of that as well as the line ‘Pagalpan lagta hai naa , to karte hai’ ( Remember this line in scenes where Geet asks Aditya to flush his girlfriend’s photo in the toilet & Aditya later asks Geet to abuse her boyfriend on phone to wipe him & her out of their mind ) are small moments reminiscing his cult last movie . Love Aaj Kal is nor the superb Jab We Met or the identifiable ‘Socha Na Tha’ , it is easily Imtiaz’s weakest effort . Even then it is not a bad film & has its excellent moments combined with boring ones Had it been made by a first timer or a Kunal Kholi , it would have been liked & forgotten , the fact that it has been made by Imtiaz posts his first 2 gems makes it a little disappointing as the expectations were really high . I just hope that Imtiaz doesn’t attempt a romantis movie for a while now , as he seems to have consumed all screenplay ideas in this genre . He is much better filmmaker to just get stuck to one genre of movies & I m expecting something different from him the next time . Till Then Lagey Raho Imtiaz Bhai

wake up sid (trailer review)

Now this one was totally unexpected . Dharma Productions comes out with one of the best promos of this year with Wake up Sid . This one does promise a lot & there is a feeling that it will deliver . Especially with someone as honourable as Anurag Kashyap speaking of it as one of the best coming of age Drama scripts that he has ever read in his blog at PFC . This should indeed be an honest confession as the whole world knows the contrasting views on cinema that Karan Johar & Kashyap have .
Wake up Sid’s theatrical trailer starts of with Sid ‘s mother( the extremely underutilized Supriya Kapur) asking him to be a hero as he does nothing himself , to the next clip showing Sid wanting to have just some fun . We are then introduced to the title song which is penned as an awakening song where Sid is asked to wake up from his sleep of laziness & not taking responsibilities .. As the song is played we see visuals of Sid yawning , in his own world with his friends( one of them being Namit Das who played the Gay character in the enjoyable President Is Coming) having a great time . There is also a conversation between Sid & his father( Anupam Kher) on him coming to office for a car . We are finally introduced to his love interest Konkona Sharma & her conversation with Sid .
In short The promo gives us a sneek peek into the world oF Sid which is surrounded by his lack of taking responsibilities & his only interest to have some fun . The visuals are extremely relatable , as if you have seen it happening with someone close to you or Yourself . This is what makes Wake UP Sid different from flashy first look of other movies .Simple & captivating , The last time I felt like this about another movie was Taare Zameen par . Wake up Sid rekindles that kind of feeling . A must watch


4/5

dil bole hadipaa( trailer review)

Yashraj are the baap of brilliant first trailers . Whatever be the quality of the respective movies , yashraj will produce a trailer that is bound to excite the audience . They are gurus who had revolutionized Film promotion in Hindi Cinema , the kings of packaging a product . Whether it’s the Potboilers like Dhoom series or the experimental Kabul Express or duds like Jhoom Barabar , Yashraj has come out with stunning promos which many a times have turned out to be better then the final product ( Bunty or Babli) .A case in point is the recent New York whose first teaser was so good that it got the movie-goers excited , wanting to watch the movie . As a result of this New York has turned out to be one of the few hits this year .
With such reputation , you are not surprised when you see the first look of their new movie ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’ . High on energy & Punjabipan this promo will make your heart skip wanting to join the fun . Whatever may be the final product as far as quality of the movie is concerned the first look has done its job . Though its not as spirited trailer as Bunty or Babli , it has an high energy quotient . With Mika Paaji( I think it is him with his usual nasal energetic voice) crooning the title track with lots of punjaabi lyrics ,Yashraj has gone back to their tried & tested formulaic setting of ‘Sarson de keth’ & ‘Baigan Da Bharta’ . With the song in the background the visual images coming in the fore were of the 2 leads Rani ( good to see her after a long time) & Shahid , the new poster-boy (this comprises of an interesting lead pair which looks quite good) doing some bhangra – shangra to the peepy tunes as well as some Filmy lovers fight in middle indicating they will have the usual Nok-Jhok . We are also introduced to the interesting supporting cast comprising of Anupam Kher , Dalip Tahil (good to see him in a movie , last saw him in the extremely forgettable Hello ) , Vrajesh Hirjee ( the snake man of Golmaal) . We also get to see the queens of controversies Rakhi ‘Syamvar’ Sawant & Sherlyn Chopra in the first look . After showcasing the the interesting acting team , the big crux of the story is revealed , when Rani’s Sardar look is unveiled as well as her cricket connection where she is seen holding a bat , & hitting sixes with the trailer finally ending with a cricket field .So it seems to be a fun film with a cricket angle to it . But as I have already mentioned Yashraj’ s high-level product promotional capabilities , you have no choice but lured to see the movie .
There is only one glitch . The promo reminds you of previously released Yashraj movies from Rani’s girly look reminding of Bunty Babli as well as in one scene depicted of Saathiya . We are also reminded of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom & Veer-Zaara in certain shots shown .Also the concept of a girl wanting to play a sports inspite of opposition is reminiscent of the enjoyable ‘Bend It like Beckham’ Though I might add its too early to talk about the concept as the movie hasn’t released . But whatever little I have heard is that desperate to play cricket , Rani disguises as a sardar to get into a men’s team .
I hope this movie does have its own voice though as the formulae had resulted in the Yashraj getting into a rut of flop movies & it looks very similar to movies seen before at least the first look make you feel so .After the grim & unlike Yashraj movie New York had hit the jackpot , this (if it is so mentioned ) will be taking a step backwards

3 ½ /5 .

luck(review)

WANTED
A Screenplay writer for director Soham Shah who could double up as a dialogue writer. The writer should be able to give shape to Soham’s unique ideas as well create interesting characters for it . He should also be able to write realistic lines which should take away from the boredom of heavy duty lines as felt by the tortured audience of Luck .

CONFUSED IDEOLOGY
This was the first think that came into my mind as I was watching Soham Shah’s Luck . Soham Shah is someone who has great eye for visuals as his scenes are extremely well shot . He also has unique ideas too . But this is where he gets stuck at , he doesn’t know where to go from here , How to make the idea into a viable 2 & half hour movie ..
The film opens well with a superb train sequence which introduces Sanjay Dutt’s character Moussa ( ya I know he had the same name in Gupta’s movies , infact Shah seems to have been heavily inspired by Gupta’s school of cinema which prefers style rather than substance ) . Post this excellent sequence & Moussa’s introduction, the movie goes on a downhill . Too much time is spent on introduction of the other charcters & none of them are interesting enough to hold the audiences attention thanks to inept writing & kiddy dialogues which takes the audience for a ride Add to that are the many loopholes in the screenplay .Sample this Ravi Kisshen is a dreaded criminal who is sentenced death penalty . But is released by the authorities when he is lucky to escape the hanging as the hanging rope slips away . Now How cool is this , which judiciary does so , release a criminal who has killed many people because he is lucky . The film has many more such childish piece of writing .
I felt things might change once the real action of human betting starts . Now a theme of human betting is unique & Shah could have used it to a more darker & grim end . What he ends up doing with it is giving it a more 80’s action kind of structure where there is a hero , side characters & a villain . There are even old Hindi Cinema formulaic elements of revenge , twins etc used in the script .Add to that , is the shoddy climax( Shah had done the same in Kaal with the climax , a clear writing deficiency) which is the lowest piece of writing that one has seen in this movie so far ,where Imraan challenges Sanjay . It takes the movie to a new low & shows Soham didn’t know where to go , whether to follow the sophistication of multiplexes audience or go for the single screen which loves the 80s kind of treatment . In short , he didn’t know where to head as far as screenplay writing is concerned .So he decided to mix both the elements to make a kichdi , a not so tasty one I might add . Soham Shah should have either gone for a kickass action fun movie or a grim one . He follows both & falls badly
Shah is not the first one to fall into that trap , remember Tashan which had a great first half but ended up making a bad second half in order to please everyone. We all know what happened with Tashan . It is indeed surprising at a time when unique & well written movies like Aamir , A Wednesday has done extremely well earning money as well as praise from the critics, Shah decides to go back revisiting the 80’s perhaps the worst time of Hindi cinema as far as writing was concerned with the exception of a few .

BORING DIALOGUES
‘mai khareedhta nahi , sirf bhare mai leta hoo’
‘mujhe paiso ki nahi sirf tujh jaiso ki zaroorat hai’
‘biz dino k liye tu mujhe apna luck bare pe dede’
‘laxmi tika lagani aayi hai aur tu eid ka chand bana hua hai’
These are one of the many filmy lines that you get to hear in this movie . In fact it stays in the movie throughout with every character speaking the same language so much so that beyond appoint it starts to irritate you . What is also there is an entire Soham Dictionary on luck as a concept with the same 80’s style of writing .It was almost as if Mr Shah is writing a thesis on Luck & wants to acquire a doctorate on the subject . Well , I have to say that I had no choice but to call him Dr Soham Shah after the irritation the Dialogues had caused to me hoping I could escape the headaches such lines were giving me . But alas , the lines kept on coming as if he was enjoying the torture that he was giving to the audiences .
A word of advice would be to take admission in the Imtiaz Ali school of dialogue writing whose refreshing & relatable lines can take even a water-thin plot to a new level . So go & Watch Jab We Met Mr Shah & be the first to catch Love AAj Kal as well . You need it boss .

CONFUSED ACTING
Great performances are the key to a thriller’s success . Sometimes the caliber of the actor takes even an average thriller to a new level . Examples of this fact are movies like Khakhee ( AB, Akshay Ajay , Atul ) , Dus ( Sanjay , AB Jr , Pankaj Kapur ) , Gulaal (the entire cast) . These films show that good acting is a key to a thriller’s success .
But in the case of Luck , Confused scripts lead to confused acting . Shah doesn’t seem to be a guy who has great control over his actor’s performances . So you get to see a disinterested Sanjay Dutt who looks like he was mouthing the dialogues in sleep . You could see his eyes not emoting at all , just mouthing the lines with a need to go home quicky attitude . Now this is the 2nd time in a row after Kidnap we have seen him like these . If you are not interested , don’t do the movie , why waste so much money for bad acting . Poor Soham might not have the guts to tell him so after his first movie in Kaal hasn’t worked , he needed a good actor .Mr Dutt seems to be more interested in the elections rather than acting . I hope this is not the case as it will be a pain to see a good actor like him waste his talent for political gains
Add to this is Imran who gives strange expressions ,trying too hard to look tough . In fact his expressions remind you of the PSII game boys characters mechanical expressions . Imran still has a long way to prove himself as an actor & that Jaane tu…. wasn’t an effort due to Abbas Tryewalla’s brilliance . Shruti who looks scorching hot in this movie until she opens her mouth to say some dialogues , she is a superb singer though . Mithun‘s character is the most underwritten yet he is okay , Danny is good , but he is the saddled with most of all those filmy lines , so you get irritated after a while thinking – ‘Now what the hell is he going to say’ . The only 2 people who are decent here besides Danny is Ravi Kishen & Chitrashi Rawat . Rawat’s character is the only one after a while who gets to you emotionally as far as Kishen is concerned , there are times he hams . But considering what he plays in the movie , it goes with the character .

HINDI CINEMA’S FINEST SPECIAL EFFECT SCENES
Luck has great action sequences – full marks to Allan Amin & the VFx team . The parachute scenes is quite superb as well as the under water sequence . The train sequence is the best of the lot . Unfortunately Soham keeps the action choreography to a limit & focuses on the story which is the most boring part of the movie . He should have filled the movie with action .
One of the factor that do make the action scenes even more enjoyable are the invisible Vfx or special effect . This Soham Shah movie can at least be proud of one thing that it has the best special effects ever produced in India so far . Look at the under water shark scenes as well as parachute scenes to see the effect of invisible Vfx . I call it invisible because it is indeed hard to decipher that these are Vfx scene . Can’t say the same about the climax though where the standard Of Vfx goes down suddenly after pinnacle heights achieved in the initial action scenes. But Shah should be credited to bring the novelty & realism that we have not seen in Hindi Cinema Vfx or special effects so far

It is well aided by Santosh Thundiyil’s cinematography capturing the beautiful visuals & action scenes beautifully especially the under water ones .
Soham Shah is not a bad filmmaker ,he has great ideas , good technical expertise , his only problems are writing & performances . Now does that make him a good filmmaker , I don’t think so too . Oh I m confused , must be the effect of confusion after watch The Unluck oops sorry LUCK .