OM SHANTI OM- A Spoof on Bollywood!

Official Website: http://www.omshantiomfilm.com/


Director, Choreographer & Story: Farah Khan
Producer: Gauri Khan
Music Director: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone, Arjun Ramphal, Shreyas Talpade, Kirron Kher.
Duration: 2:45
Genre: Melodrama, Parody, Romance
Rating: ***1/2

It’s a parody, an extravaganza, a satire on filmi reality, a comic medley, a circus, a spectacle of many events, a total Bollywood masala all crammed into one movie!!

Loosely based on 1980’s Subhash Ghai’s super hit ‘Karz’ , ‘Om Shanti Om’ has the reincarnation of the hero and revenge on the villain theme, woven along with a common man’s Bollywood dream, but besides this, it’s the revivification of 70’s ambience, style, fashion, acting, eccentricities, mannerisms,…the whole nostalgia.

This is the story of ‘Om’ and ‘Shanti’ and ‘Om’! Om Prakash Makhija is the small time actor of the 70’s and ‘Shanti Priya’ a popular superstar of her time. He adores her and idolizes her; she is friendly and responsive but not necessarily reciprocative. A major fire incident changes their lives, one to death and another to rebirth of ‘Om’. Om Kapoor is a successful Filmfare awarded Bollywood actor, enjoying all the big and small desires and dreams he had in his previous life. Born with a fear of fire, he has flashes of memories of his old life, and on further exploration he remembers everything. This leads to avenging the deaths of ‘Om’ and ‘Shanti’.

But ‘OSO’ is also a story about Bollywood. It integrates the fun, funny and sad details of the film industry. It brings out the lives of the junior artists trying to make it big in the industry; It shows that surnames like Kumar, Kapoor, Khan matter for success with references to Govinda Ahuja, Om Makhija ; It features histrionics of an overacting filmy Maa’s ( Kirron Kherr); Highlights trade mark gestures of famous actors (Manoj Kumar episode) ; It models the 70’s dressing along with Bell bottoms and Elvis Presley hairstyles and artificial song settings ( Jitender white pants; badminton song sequences); Mocks the South Indian movie’s wacky gimmicks and jargon ( Rajnikant style ‘yenna rascala’, ‘mind it’!); Rakes up details on star son’s tantrums, fashionably late star schedules and superstars’ powers in influencing the direction of their films( introducing item songs like dard -e- disco) ; It explains how married actress are not easily accepted as heroines(the movie’s secret); It reveals the award ceremonies and their fanfare and favoritism; one actor nominated for multiple movies for similar roles ( Om as Rahul with Amisha Patel ; Om as Rahul with Diya Mirza ); It mocks the heroines’ common reaction to rumors “we are just good friends”; and innumerable such incidents are through out the movie.

Many a personal and biographic detail of Shahrukh Khan is also threaded into the movie which makes OSO so much personal for him! SRK started as a Television actor with a very encouraging mother, he used to have many a dream and desire before he made it big, which he fulfilled in his stardom like his home “Mannat”. He is often critiqued for overacting, which he makes fun of as ‘khandani’ in OSO.

Om Shanti Om will also be talked about for its amazing number 'Dewaangi, Dewaangi' for hosting 31 superstars in one number. It reminds you of Amitabh’s ‘john jani janardhan’ number in Naseeb(1981). The item number ‘Dard-E-Disco’ may not be ‘Dard -e- Dil’ but is good specially with SRK’s newly acquired six-pack abs. 'Dhoom Taana' is 70’s-80’s style pleasant number with unique specials effects of Deepika Padukone dancing with Sunil Dutt, Rajesh Khanna and Jitender besides Shahrukh. Both 'Ajab si' and 'Main Agar Kahoon' with very good lyrics sound melodious old time numbers. Jag Soona Soona Lage is sad and soulful.'Daastaan-E-Om Shanti Om’ doesn’t make the mark and falls short of Karz’s ‘Ek hasina thi’.

Shahrukh Khan acts and looks like Bollywoods superstar. Though his 70’s style image made him look old, the later image was his usual chirpy and charming self. Deepika Podukone makes an excellent debutante. She has a lot of grace and beauty. Shreyas Talpade is a confident actor whatever the role. Arjun Ramphal should continue in his villainous roles, he does a menacing job.


The overdone overacting and the movie racing through scenes shows lack of depth in characters, hence you don’t feel for the characters and situations. But the idea of the whole movie was to continuously wow the viewer, not necessarily make a sensible and logical story. Farah Khan seems to have a blast making the movie, her idea of having fun overflows into the movie. Her style of direction is unique and distinctive, but at times she looses the reins of the glitzy wild fun ride called OSO. Her acknowledgment of every member of the crew of the movie in the end titles shows great team spirit.


This movie can be enjoyed in theatre with a bunch of friends who can relate and laugh with you, about 70’s or 80’s! I did this hence it may have been more enjoyable then otherwise.

Evolution of Bollywood and Rise of a Superstar!

Book Review
Title: King of Bollywood – Sharukh Khan and the Seductive World of Indian Cinema.
Author: Anupama Chopra
Rating: ***
Book Genre: Non-Fiction/Pop Culture
Price: $24.99/U.S.



King of Bollywood…… may be a good book for Shahrukh Khan Fans wanting to know more about him, but the book is not all about him! The author has a lot more to pen about, focusing not just the life and rise of Shahrukh Khan as a phenomenon, but also on evolution of Bollywood, film making, films, and image of Bollywood, Bollywood dreams, audience psychosis and even boom of Indian economy!


The book traces the life and dreams, realities, fears, and even rumors of Shahrukh Khan. Born and brought up in a middle class Muslim family of Meer and Fatima in Delhi, his family roots are tracked to pre partitioned Pakistan. The book unveils details about his father and his death due to cancer, his mother’s daily struggles, but belief in Shahrukh’s good future, his college days, early acting in theatre, his mother’s death, and his stint in television and launch in movies. The actor’s ‘filmi’ style love affair with Gauri and married life in the film industry, his unconventional roles in many movies, his successes and failures, his production ventures, his competition, his diplomatic stance under mafia terror, his endorsements and brand image, all are talked about in relation to the film industry.


The author Anupama Chopra, a film critic and journalist, married to director Vidhu Vinod Chopra, sister of director Tanuja Chandra and author Vikram Chandra, and daughter of scriptwriter Kamna Chandra, has written two other books, including the British Film Institute-published Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge ("The Bravehearted Will Take the Bride"), which incidentally is what inspired her to work on the story of Shah Rukh Khan.


Here in this book, Chopra subtly says that Shahrukh may not have been the best actor of his period, but is a superstar more for his charisma than craft! She writes about how young directors like Aditya Chopra and Karan Johar shaped the new romantic hero and marketed the fantasy that shaped Shahrukh’s success. She also brings out the character traits of SRK’s persona of being a mercurial, spirited extrovert who seeks what he wants with energetic passion, but at the same time he is a very private person who internalizes his failures and disappointments. This also justifies what his wife Gauri says there are two Shahrukhs: Shahrukh One and Shahrukh Two. “One is saying one thing; the other is saying the complete opposite, and both in the space of a minute.”


The book is technically not a biography of Sharukh Khan as it has few direct interviews with Shahrukh Khan and hence lacks personal anecdotes and intimate details of SRK. Chopra focuses more on Bollywood and its growth and relates it to the reigning superstar of Bollywood! Her documentation of events and introduction and evolution of Bollywood is also very prosaic and colorless. She seemed to have crammed the content of many a film interview of her journalistic career into this book. The book doesn’t personify the flamboyant SRK; it even begins very uninterestingly, with an anecdote of fan in Georgia. The book leaves you disillusioned with the title ‘King of Bollywood Sharukh Khan’. It’s all about the subtitle ‘the seductive world of Indian cinema’.

Unfair Endorsement!

When will Indians understand beauty? It used to be ‘Fair and Lovely’, now its also ‘Fair and Handsome’!!! India and Indians are making waves, setting trends, and moving ahead, but some perceptions and prejudices will leave us backward in thought, hence lacking that balance and sensibility of life!! The worst part celebrity endorsements by iconic Bollywood star like Sharukh Khan can have a larger influence on the psyche of our population. This is not the face or the visage we want to see in our new generation……

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7010000/newsid_7011600/7011608.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm&asb=1&news=1


http://www.fairandhandsome.net/tv_com.jsp

Chak De India

Cast : Shahrukh Khan, Vidya Malvade, Anjan Srivastava, Javed Khan, Vibha Chibbar
Nakul Vaid, Sagarika Ghatge, Chitrashi Rawat, Shilpa Shukla, Tanya Abrol, Anaitha Nair, Shubhi Mehta, Nisha Nair, Sandia Furtado, Arya Menon, Masochon V. Zimik,
Kimi Laldawla, Kimberly Miranda, Nicola Sequeira, Raynia D'Souza, Mohit Chauhan, Joyoshree Arora, Vivaan Bhathena

Director: Shimit Amin
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Genre: Sports oriented movie
Rating: ***

Chak De India is the story of a hockey player who was victimized for his religion; the story of a coach who motivates an underrated women’s hockey team to victory; the story of a team which unites despite the diverse, racial, regional and personal prejudices and differences into one spirited team; and the game of hockey.

The movie has many an issue, cause and bias, at the same time showcases the sport of hockey. Chak de… is also loosely based on life story of former Indian hockey team goal keeper, Mir Ranjan Negi who was condemned for India’s 7-1 defeat to Pakistan in 1982 Asian games final, and later coached the women’s teams to win a gold medal in commonwealth games in 2002.

The director Shimit Amin handles multiple issues such as image bashing of minorities, the prejudices and narrow mindedness in regard to different Indian regions, urban vs. rural bias, discrimination of the male chauvinist society towards women, and more such with equal sensitivity. But he deftly brings out the unfair standing of a Muslim in Indian society, where a Muslim is labeled guilty, till he proves himself innocent unlike judiciously – One is innocent till proved guilty! (Homo praesumitur bonus donec probetur malus)

Sharukh Khan plays Kabir Khan, who has a tarnished image as ex- captain of Indian hockey team who lost to Pakistan in world finals. He is accused as ‘gaddar’ or traitor for losing the match to Pakistan! After many years of trauma, he returns as the coach of women’s hockey team and leads them to world cup victory, proving his patriotism to the country and zeal for the game. His dream is to win the elusive gold medal, and belief is that nothing is impossible if you are motivated and spirited.

The movie has inspirations from many a Hollywood sport oriented film, but some strong motivational and zealant dialogs and scenes like “Mujhe sirf ek mulk ka naam sunaai deta hai-India” are picked from the movie ‘Miracle’ The movie was about ‘miracle on ice’ , the legendary ice hockey game played between USA and USSR during cold war timeframe. Here coach Herb Brooks of US ice hockey Olympic team asks the same question “ who do you play for” to which he gets reply’s like Mike Eruzione, (from) Winthrop, Massachusetts", Only when Eruzione responds with the answer "I play for the United States of America!" Brooks concludes his rigorous drill.

Excellent acting and mature look of Sharukh Khan with stubble in a different kind of role, makes us believe Sharukh is finally maturing! The hockey team of newbies is pretty good. Songs have a lot of energy. Chak De despite all the features of a good movie is not necessarily entertaining! But this is one decent movie we could watch with kids of the very many recent releases.


Positives: Motivation and team building lessons; confronts the discrimination against gender, race, region and religion; Good example for kids in team sports.

Negatives: Interesting, but lacks the entertainment factor!

Sanjay Dutt Jailed- Ridiculous and Very Sad.

Sanjay out on Bail!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6959708.stm




Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt has been jailed for six years

More News below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6923456.stm

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Sanjay_Dutt_gets_six_years_RI/rssarticleshow/2246619.cms

Cheeni Kum - A Mature Romance!

Ingredients- Salt, Pepper, Sugar, Spice, Lemon, Rain and Rice!


Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Tabu, Paresh Rawal, Zohra Sehgal
Direction: R Balakrishnan
Genre:
Rating: *** ½
Official Website: http://www.erosentertainment.com/cheenikum/


Cheeni Kum falls in a different genre of movies, not like any Hindi Movie. It’s a mature romance with out bells and whistles or song and dance. The humor is subtle; the dialogs are caustic and straight forward; the cast is perfect, each actor has an outstanding performance; the music and songs are very pleasant; script is crisp and movie entertaining.

64 year old acidic bachelor, chef and owner of London Restaurant meets his match in the 34 year old strong minded quick witted unmarried tourist and patron at his restaurant.
Passionate & perfectionist in his art of cooking, but himself a simple vegetarian; arrogant and self assured, but sensitive of older mother and neighborhood kid; He is Bhuddhadev or fondly called ‘Ghass Phus’! The spirited, confident woman who hadn’t yet found the man to match her rational, straight forward attitude and wit is Neena also dotingly called by Bhuddhadev as ‘Tangdi Kabab’!

Zafrani Palao helps make their acquaintance, and London rains and one dear umbrella helps their relationship blossom. Their romance is matter of fact but their chemistry is amazing. Another interesting part is broaching and convincing the 58 year old retired, food and cricket lover and part time Gandhian, Neenas dad, Mr Verma about accepting their marriage!

Cheeni Kum makes a very interesting unconventional movie to watch. Good script and direction by Balakrishnan, who beautifully and positively handled an odd subject among Hindi audiences. Beautiful songs by Illayaraja- Cheeeni Kum, Sooni Sooni, Bathein mein, Jaane do, all are good to hear and hum. Amitabh and Tabu make an extraordinary pair with amazing performances as the pony tailed brattish old man Bhudhadev and brilliant acting by Tabu in a role perfectly carved for her. Good performances include Paresh Rawal’s, Zohra Sehgal’s and child artist Swini Khara’s. The Ironic romance and an urbane setting make it a delightful sugar free treat!

Jhoom Barabar Jhoom - Spins tall tales without a story.

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Preity Zinta, Bobby Deol, Lara Dutta, Amitabh Bachchan (special appearance)
Direction: Shaad Ali Sahgal

Genre: Musical
Movie Overall Rating: *** (2.5 stars out of 5)
Length: 138 minutes


The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. Minor details may have been divulged for proper review!

Its crazy, outrageous, brainless, script less, bizarre, also different, glitzy and funny! But as advised by a family friend before we entered the theaters, leave your intellect, and logic behind!


Jhoom Barabar Jhoom is on the lines of Shad Ali’s favorite topic-spinning tall tales and fabricating inconceivable fantasies, ala Bunty aur Babli. Here the fibbers are laidback desi Londanite Abhishek as Rikki Thakral and Preiti Zinta as Pakistani Britisher Alvira Khan. Both having outrageous romantic stories to swap while waiting at a train station to pick passengers arriving from Birmingham. While narrating their love stories set in Paris with theatrical songs at Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe and other in London singing with Madame Tussauds supermen, this very unlikely pair - the Bhatinda born small time entrepreneur of illegal businesses who keeps saying “I have class!” and polished prim and proper Lahori British girl get smitten with each other!


The other characters in this farcical ludicrous love story are Pakistani Parisian Ritz manager Anaida Raza ( Lara Dutta) and Punjabi Britt millionaire lawyer Steve Singh( Bobby Doel).


Jhoom Barabar … starts and ends and jhooms intermittently with the bohemian gypsy Amitabh Bachchan’s singing and dancing in London’s Waterloo Station . His outlandish colorful designer jacket, feather hat, double-necked guitar, necklaces, rings, jeans and boots, makes him look like a cross of Carlos Santana, George Clinton and Jack Sparrow!


Except for the title "Jhoom" song, the rest of the songs in this musical movie are colorful wacky numbers! “Ticket to Hollywood” has Lara in micro miniskirt with ostentatious & theatrical back up dancers, “kiss of love” is horrendous with blonde Bobby dancing in court with superman and batman wax statues in background! “Bol Na Halke Halke” leads us to Indian railways,roadways, patli galis(bylanes), Taj Mahal and even Humayun ka maqbara with ridiculously confusing dream sequences. The dance contest with the elongated jhoom barabar song tries our patience.


Abhishek Bachchan carries out his funny guy character with aplomb. If JBJ does well for any reason, it will be for him! But this is his third movie with a similar character after Bunty aur Babli and Bluff Master. He should stop repeatitive roles even though he does it well. But as Thakkral, he overacted a little specially on the british colloquial "blimey". Preity is pretty as always. Lara Dutta is very accomplished in both her characters. She is equally at ease in her french accent and her south hall street foul talk. Bobby Doel both as the blonde lawyer and the gay optician looked and acted miserably. Huffy bhai aka Hafeez bhai, Rikki darling’s partner and associate in crime and illegal business is an interesting character. Played by Piyush Mishra who wrote his own poetic dialogs, added a witty dimension to the film.


The movie has some funny moments, some silly, some you may just laugh because you paid to watch it! There are some mistakes and many gimmicks too. - Preity’s butterfly tattoo changes from left to right in different scenes. Shaad Ali as a director is so enamored with films he grew up with, that he likes to bring in a thread of those into his own movies. -Abhishek Bachchan and Bobby Doel ride a motorcycle and sidecar just like Sholay’s Amitabh Bachchan and Dharamender, with the song playing in the background. -In a dream sequence, Abhishek acts like coolie with red shirt, just like his fathers movie - Shad Ali repeats the Bunty Bubli scene of wedding at Taj in another song sequence. - Abhishek snickers and talks about ashji and amit ji in Madame Touassads...... JBJ seriously needed a better editor and more importantly a script writer. What it had for sure was a choreographer and flamboyant dress designer!

Jhoom barabar jhoom is good when you have nothing to do and want to rest your brain!

Provoked to Act!

Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Naveen Andrews, Miranda Richardson, Nandita Das,Robbie Coltrane, Steve McFadden, Raji James, Rebecca Pidgeon

Director: Jagmohan Mundhra
Writer: Carl Austin, Rahila Gupta
Genre: Drama
Length: 113 minutes
Movie Rating: ***

Aishwarya can act! Provoked may be the first movie where Aishwarya makes an effort to be not herself but the protagonist Kiranjit Ahluwalia. Here she shows very less of the “I am Aishwarya Attitude”, a trait which made all the roles in her movies, seem like her!



Provoked is based on a real life story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia ( Aishwarya) a battered London housewife from Punjab who after ten years of domestic violence and abuse gets provoked to kill her husband –( Naveen Andrews) and is charged with third degree murder. But this landmark case re-defined the word “Provocation” in the British judicial system and changed the verdict.

The narrative flows well with intermittent flashback sequences of domestic violence and abuse. The movie based on the novel ‘Circle of Light’ an autobiography of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, shows her saga of torture, fear, freedom (ironically in prison!) hope, self transformation, and real freedom!

Aishwarya surprises with her ability to act! Her delicate helpless look empathizes with the character of the movie. But Aishwarya can’t stop being Aishwarya and does show her fashionable attitude in the later part as the confident transformed Kiranjit! Nandita Das as the South Hall Black Sisters’ social activist portrays the dedication and zeal of the character suitably. She is little dramatic at times, but it demonstrates the characters zest. Naveen Andrews impeccably plays the brutal husband Deepak and makes you resent and hate his character. Miranda Richardson as the sweet and friendly fellow prison inmate who develops Kiranjits confidence and demeanor and finally aids in her final fight for freedom is excellent in her performance.

Jag Mohan Mundhra makes a good movie but it may be because of the story itself ! He overall doesn’t make a directorial impression or impact. Mundra’s choice of Aishwarya may have benefited the movie with a larger presence and popularity, but also his bollywoodization of the story softened the provocation!

Hopefully such incidence of domestic violence and brutality will come under check with more such awareness.

Aishwarya-Abhishek Wedding- Nothing Private about that!!

The A&A wedding was supposed to be small scale private affair! But if media got umpteen number of pictures and fans danced in the barat, it looked like any film shooting!! Except, like in many a movie, we have seen Amitabh Bachan singing and dancing in barats, ex " sona sona dil mera sona ".. But here he looked serious, haggard and stressed.

Well hopefully like a good movie, Abhi-Ash marriage will have a happily ever after ending......

A&A Big wedding -Small scale!

Finally this time its happening, but it’s a private affair, few invitees ( offending many in bollywood) and no media coverage!

Invitation: Golden box with multi page invitations tied together with a ribbon
Contents: Golden card with 'AA, the initials of the star couple, embossed on it in white gold; Another card with embossed Lord Ganesha and shlokas; A poem written by Amitabh Bachchan father and a known poet, Harivanshrai Bachchan on new begginings and marriage! Invitations to sangeet; Invitations to Mehndi; Invitations in English and hindi to the wedding ceremony at the Bachchan’s residence. Each invite has been signed by the parents of the bride and groom to add a personal touch.
Aishwarya apparently sent this 16-page wedding card in a box, accompanied by another box, of cookies!

Venue- Amitabh’s residences- Prathiksha and Jalsa.

Invitees: Bachchan relatives, Rai realtives, Kapoors, Nandas, Ramesh Sippy, Rohan Sippy, Yash Chopra family, Karan Johar, Ajay Devgan, Kajol, Sanjay Dutt, Goldie Behl, Apoorva Lakhia, Suniel Shetty, and Ram Gopal Verma .Bal Thackeray, Anil Ambani, Tina Munim Ambani, Amar Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav have also been invited.

Wedding dress: Aishwarya Rai's wedding outfits are designed by Indian fashion designer Neeta Lulla, Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.

Sangeet: Wednesday, 18, April 2007
Both Ash and Abhishek are expected to dance together from their film numbers; few other close friends and actors are also performing.
Mehndi: Thursday 19, April 2007
15 kg of Mehndi from soojat , Rajasthan is ordered for the mehndi function.
Wedding : Friday 20. April 2007

Best Wishes!!

A & A wedding in April!

The Aishwarya and Abhishek Bachan wedding is postponed now to April 18. The wedding is being planned as close-knit affair with family and friends at the Bachchan residence. Rumors say that exclusive rights of the wedding coverage have been sold to a foreign media house for an undisclosed sum of money!

This wedding is becoming a ‘Hollywoodish’ Bollywood affair!

AB sr, AB jr and now AB bahu….

Aishwarya and Abhishek's Big wedding on March 19,2007!

Abhishek Bachchan, bollywood’s most eligible bachelor and actor, son of legendary Amitabh Bachchan and former Miss World and actress Aishwarya are getting married on March 19, 2007. The venue for the wedding bash is a palace in Rajasthan, India.

After much rumor, gossip and buzz about their affair, mismatched horoscopes, ‘manglik’ or shadow of mars on Aishwaryas horoscope, havans and pujas , and Kumbh Vivah’s -Aishwarya’s marriage to banana trees etc, the real marriage is finally going to happen soon.

Abhiwarya is what they call the saga of Abhishek and Aishwarya in the media these days, on the lines of ‘Brangalina’ ( Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie) I don’t know why they didn’t think of 'Ashshek' like ‘Aashiq’which means 'lover'. Whatever the name, this story will be watched by India and Indians across the world. Speculations are already on the strength and length of the marriage and thier careers. Both Abhisheks and Aishwarya’s career prospects may go on a rise or slump affected by their wedding! Some say “they make a bad pair”; some say “they are made for each other”; some say “they don’t have chemistry”; some say “He was a fool and fell for her”; some say, “She hooked the biggest family in bollywood”; some say, "it was most practical and social relationship, to pair the popular Ash with eligible Abhishek" ;some await to see the jinxed Ash's and Abhisheks futurerama!; some say " they are a lethal pair!" Everyone these days has a say...... What is your say?

Amir Khan at British Academy of Film& Television Arts

Amir Khan an intelligent actor in an indepth conversation with Nasreen Munni Kabir about film making, scripts and acting.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5832618792525892669&hl=en

After the nomination of RANG DE BASANTI
at
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
www.bafta.org

“Eklavya- The Royal Guard” – Story of Rightful Reasoning!

Cast:
Amitabh Bachchan, Sharmila Tagore, Sanjay Dutt, Saif Ali Khan, Vidya Balan, Jackie Shroff, Boman Irani, Raima Sen, & Jimmy Shergill.

Direction: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Genre: Drama,
Movie Overall Rating: **** (4 stars out of 5)
Length: 1 hr 45 mins

The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. Minor details may have been divulged for proper review!

The philosophy of Eklavya is about ‘Dharma’ - What is Rightful and What you Believe is Rightful! "Dharam Wohi hai jo apna mann sachcha maaney.” an oft repeated dialog in the movie translates to “Dharma / Sacred Duty is what your heart and mind feel is right”!

Eklavya, the royal guard - Amitabh, is named after the legendry character Eklavya in Mahabharata who gave up his thumb as a Guru-Dakshina/ teacher payback to Dronacharya ; Eklavya, an incredible marksman, is duty bound and zealant in protecting the royal dynasty of Devigarh. Though the King Rana Harshvardhan (Boman Irani) is just a figure head in the modern democratic state of Rajasthan in India, the formality and splendor continues so does Eklavya’s duty and family loyalty to the dynasty which has been continuing for nine generations.

After the Queen’s (Sharmila Tagore) inconvenient death, Prince Harshvardhan (Saif Ali Khan) is called for from London. He is confronted with intriguing family secrets, conspiracies, deceptions, murder plots and confusion. This is followed with murders, deaths and bloodshed for money; revenge; or dharma/duty! Finally it’s the triumph of Dharma. You will have to check out yourself which facet of dharma!

Vinod Chopra excels in making a concise and succinct movie of 1 hr 45 minutes, yet building an action packed intriguing thriller with dramatic and spectacular action sequences, smooth screenplay with no loose ends, drama and melodrama, romance and comedy, all into one impressive movie.

Eklavya is amazing in the big screen experience with its beautiful palatial settings, picturesque deserts of Rajasthan and awesome cinematography. The action scenes in the movie need a special mention- the pigeon sequence which applauds Eklavya’s marksmanship is amazing; and another scene with a large herd of camels and a moving train in the desert has incredible choreography and cinematography. The music is good and doesn’t intrude, but accentuates the story. There is only one song – ‘chande re’, which makes us appreciate the director’s film making abilities of not intercepting the movie with a string of songs.

The movie boasts a magnificent star cast- Amitabh Bachchan has a brilliant performance as the ageing royal guard. The character, look, costume, and the bloody red eyes get enlivened with his dialogues and acting. Saif Ali Khan has been giving mature and amazing performances lately, and of course the Nawab Pataudi’s son carries his princely role with grace. Sanjay Dutt, as DSP Pannalal Chohar, adds wit and humor with his cheeky dialogs and delightful presence. The untouchable turned into a man of authority was depicted well. He is a classy actor and does well in every kind of performance. Sharmila Tagore, as the queen mom is graceful in the short role as Saif’s Mom! The enchanting Vidya Balan impresses in the role of Rajjo/Rajeshwari, the chauffeurs daughter, the prince’s romantic interest and the princess Nandini’s companion. Raima Sen acts well as princess Nandini, the mentally unstable twin sister of the Prince. Boman Irani plays a complex personality with a feminine side reasonably well. Jackie Shroff plays intensely the negative role of the Rana’s covetous brother Jyotivardan. Jimmy Shergill too pulls a good job in his small role of Jyotivardans son Udayvardhan.

Eklavya is not your typical 3 hr long masala movie. The movie is commendable for its uniqueness in today’s bollywood cinema with its ability to pack everything into a crisp movie. It’s surely worth a watch on big screen. But if you forget the hype about the movie, you will appreciate it much better!

Guru- Mani Ratnam, Abhishek Bachchan, Dhirubhai Ambani!

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Mithun Chakroborty, Madhavan,
Vidya Balan
Direction: Mani Ratnam
Genre: Drama, Biographical!
Movie Overall Rating: *** (3 stars out of 5)



‘Guru’ generally means a teacher. It gets applied to anyone who acquires followers and it is also referred to a person who has authority because of his or her perceived knowledge or skills in a domain of expertise.

Here “Guru” can be applied to Mani Ratnam, an intelligent director who excels in unique subjects for his films; Abhishek Bachchan, for his admirable acting in the complex role of a driven man, and the inspiration of this movie, the man who reached zenith from zilch, the business tycoon and founder of Reliance Industries - Dhirubhai Ambani.

Guru is a story of Gurukant Desai (Abhishek Bachchan), a villager, visionary and a winner. He is an ambitious dreamer who has vision, determination and a never ending spirit. Coming from humble origins, son of a school teacher in a village of Gujarat, he learns the worldly ways to succeed, working in Turkey. His ambition to start a business leads him to Bombay with minimal belongings, a wife (Aishwarya), brother-in-law and some money. He progresses very fast, by fair and not so fair ways. In spite of constant negative publicity from his truthful early mentor , a communist editor, Manik Das Gupta (Mithun Chakroborty) and his assistant journalist Shyam Saxena (Madhavan ) who use the power of pen and media against him. Guru still realizes many a dream in his relentless pursuit. Starting from being the first manufacturer of polyester in India to becoming the largest private sector enterprise in the country!

The life story of Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani popularly called Dhirubhai Ambani is very similar. Many focal incidents of Dhirubhai’s life become the story of Guru. The enterprising Indian entrepreneur has humble roots from Chorwad, Gujarat, who started his entrepreneurial career by selling "bhajias/fritters" to pilgrims and travelers over the weekends. He worked for few years in oil company in Aden, Yemen. He returned to India and started a textile company which imported textile from Yemen. Sensing good opportunity in the business of textiles, Dhirubhai started his first textile mill and manufactured polyester fabric. Over time his business has diversified into petrochemicals, telecommunications, information technology, energy, power, retail, textiles, infrastructure services, capital markets, and logistics.


He made millionaires out of ordinary men and first time investors, simply because they had faith in his vision and invested in the Ambani dream. - The Reliance textile IPO.

He was deterred at one point in time by his old friend Ramanath Goenka of Indian Express. The Indian Express, published articles daily against Reliance Industries and Dhirubhai which claimed that Dhirubhai was using unfair trade practices to maximize profits. The tussle ended in his stroke which paralyzed his right hand.


The man with an iron will kept going. - The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is India's largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy and materials value chain. Group's annual revenues are in excess of USD 22 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a Fortune Global 500 company and is the largest private sector company in India.

In spite of so many similarities, Guru was not publicized as a biography of Ambani, I guess to avoid getting sued from the largest Indian conglomerate for any kind of defamation!

Guru also seems inspired from Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Aviator’ starring Leonardo Di Caprio.

The Movie ‘Guru’ is Abhishek- centric all the way. His performance through out from youth to the older successful tycoon was enacted with maturity and depth. At times he clones Kamal Hassan’s ‘Nayakan’ image and even his father Amitabh. The driven roles are getting to be his forte. Lately many of his roles in other movies too have been ambitious, goal oriented, single- minded characters.


Aishwarya doesn’t play much of a role. Mithun is carving good roles in his comeback. Madhavan and Vidhya Balan had good performances in their minor roles and weak characterization. Their roles seemed heavily edited but surprisingly not the smooch! Mallika Sherawat makes a scintillating presence in a Mediterranean dance number.


The A R Rehman’s music with Gulzar’s Lyrics together made some good songs. The movie though could have done without one or two songs. Though the intention of alternating the events with songs may have been to avoid a chronicled documentary like film, but eventually it prolonged the length and slowed the pace of the movie.

It also comes with a few editing glitches. Though guru’s favorite dialogue is “I came to Bombay with 2 shirts, a wife, a brother-in-law and Rs25,000 to start a business”. The bro-in-law disappears from the story after a small tiff! Madhavan’s and Vidya Balan’s characters after getting the editing axe, lack depth and detail.

Though the movie is a cinematic excellence, it’s not a high entertainer. While most Mani Ratnam movies are commended for his balance of artistic and cinematic excellence with commercial entertainment. This movie may fall short on the entertainment factor.

The timing of the movie seems perfect and pertinent when the Indian economy is in accelerate mode due to rapid corporate growth of manufacturing and business services, and domestic and multi-national companies. Guru may inspire many an entrepreneur or even instigate questions about the reality of corporate world!

Lage Raho Munna Bhai. - Awesome bole toh Awesome!

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani, Dilip Prabhavalkar, Dia Mirza, Jimmy Shergill, Kulbushan Karbanda, Abhishek Bachchan (guest appearance)
Director: Raj Kumar Hirani
Producer: Vidhu Vinod Chopra
Screenplay: Abhijat Joshi

Genre: Comedy
Movie Overall Rating: **** (4 stars out of 5)

Not many sequels have been made in history, where the sequel outshines the first one in the series. Nor have there been movies which are amazingly entertaining while carrying a moral message. Lage Raho Munna Bhai is one such excellent movie.

Sanjay Dutt - Munna Bhai/ Murli Prasad Sharma is at his best with his permanent sidekick Circuit/ Sarkeshwar- Arshand Warsi in this awesome sequel. Though it’s a sequel of Munna Bhai MBBBS, both stories are independent and comprehensive, with no connection or continuation from the previous movie. The only links are Munna Bhai and Circuit characters. The villain again is Boman Irani, but in a new character. Hence a new concept of sequel movies, at least in bollywood! Apparently there will be one more sequel in this series and I bet that too would be worth watching! Lage Raho Munna Bhai is an amusing comedy with vibrant and colorful dialogues, spectacular performances and fresh and exuberant story.

Munna Bhai/Murli Prasad Sharma is floored every morning with the melodious voice of radio jockey Jhanvi- Vidya Balan. His desire to meet this voice makes him tread into books of history and philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi! Adopting a totally new technique called ‘Gadhigiri’ as against his regular ‘dadagiri’, he philosophizes and preaches and practices the non violent style in making things work in his favor.


In this unconventionally hilarious yet sentimental comedy Sanjay Dutt has a multifaceted broad persona. His ‘talk shows’ (Dr. Laura Schlessinger style) and reality radio are very poignant and moving, and so are the tender moments with the second innings team. The vibes of Dutt with Boman Irani –the unscrupulous antagonist and his banter with his sidekick and counselor, Circuit, and lastly his rapport with ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ are interesting and hilarious to watch. Though Warsi is technically a side kick, he has a chunky role and his performance is outstanding. Boman Irani again an excellent actor on the rise performs his character of unprincipled man but still a doting father, well. The chemistry between the beautiful and talented Vidya Balan and handsomely ageing Sanjay Dutt is wonderful. Vidya Balan’s voice and sparkling eyes do add an aura to her Good Morning Mumbai!

Lage Raho Munna Bhai scores for also handling the subject of Psychiatry well. Not all movies do a good research of subjects and facts accurately. Here the psychiatric analysis with demonstration is detailed out for clear understanding of audiences. Of course this is paralleled with the notion that you will see what you believe!

All the Songs ,"Lage Raho Munnabhai", "Samjho Ho Hi Gaya", "Aane Char Aane"," Pal Pal...Har Pal", and " Bande Mein Tha Dum Vande Mataram " are energetic and lively, and as I have known from a recent long car trip very much humable even by toddlers. The favorites replayed and re-sung being "lage raho munna bhai", "pal pal har pal", and "Aane Char Aane"(Go Hyderabadi Karunya-Indian idol singer) !

The movie gets four stars for its excellent performance by ever cast member; catchy and vibrant dialogues; energetic songs; and finally for the amazing script perfectly balancing the emotions with humor. Don’t miss it.

Babul- Extremely Sentimental

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan Hema Malini, Salman Khan, Rani Mukherjee , John Abraham, Om Puri, Aman Verma, Parmeet Sethi, Rajpal Yadav, Smita Jaykar, Avtar Gill, Gargi Patel

Director: Ravi chopra Producer: B.R.Chopra
Primary Audience: Older Audience
Genre: Family Drama
Movie Overall Rating: ** (2 star out of 5)

Sentimentality needs to be balanced either by good story content with depth or by hilarious comedy. Neither happens here. Hence the sentimentality goes overboard. Babul looks like an ineffective joint sequel of Baghban and Viruddh, both well handled sentimental movies. Babul in spite of having a noble subject like widow remarriage, top of the line stars and great acting as always from Amitabh, it lacks the ability to touch hearts because of a superficiality and cliché kind of dialogs, settings and cast; very predictable story and not to mention the image branding of many products.


The movie revolves around Amitabh Bachan, ( Balraj Kapoor)- the Babul.The story in brief is about the buddy son Salman Khan( Avinash/Avi) and daughter-in-law Rani Mukerjee( malavika/Mili) who have a typical romance, marriage and child. When Avi exits, Amitabh wants to reintroduce her to her old friend John Abraham( Rajat) to get color and happiness back in her life!


The first half of the movie was much longer to create a highly sophisticated, progressive and sporty image of the characters of the movie, having modern outlook and traditions. All this to help in the image branding for Audi! Hence there were prolonged car racing with the Audi in focus; golf games, American education, Hi flying parties and kabhi khusi kabhi gham like settings.


Well that was not enough, we had chai time with Taj Mahal Tea in coffee shops, painting kid’s room with Nerolac paints, and even a life insurance was advertised. Not only did the movie gain money for advertising for many products like Audi, Taj Mahal Tea, Nerolac Paints and Kotak Life Insurance; it even got a tax break for the subject of widow remarriage. Hence I guess producers were not worried for audience response and viewers money!


In spite of Amitabh Bachchan’s good acting and even singing his songs, it wasn’t enough to make the movie worth watching. Hema Malini miraculously still looks her beautiful self, but alas still carries the south Indian Hindi accent after so many movies! Salman Khan is aging but caries himself well. Rani Mukherjee does well in the complex role. The handsome John Abraham shows least enthusiasm to be part of this movie, except when he is in a song! Sarika is also in this movie, but don’t know why she came back in an insignificant role.


Music of ‘Babul’ was average. ‘Kehta Hai Babul’ and the theme song sung by Amitabh Bachchan were touching. The songs of the movie were not something you remember and hum later. Some of them are slow too. The bhangra number ‘come on, come on’ looked like the K3G ‘Shava Shava’, with pink dress dancing blondes replaced by blue! A number (Bawri Piya’) showing intimacy is getting common these days in many movies.


Babul would have been a better movie if it had not just taken the existing productized formula and just added the subject of widow remarriage to it. I hope the producers learn to realize that audiences have a limitation to digest formula masalas movies, and make movies with intelligent and exclusive style.