Recently, in an award show Rakesh Roshan received the director of the decade award. So I looked up IMDB for his credentials. He did not make it big as an actor but as far as writing directing goes this guy is amazing. He has directed 12 movies so far out of which 8 are hits and out of those 3 are super hits.
Roshan Sr. has always tried his hand at something different. Whether be it a woman's revenge saga in Khoon Bhari Maang or the reincarnation in Karan Arjun or Hrithik's launchpad love story in Kaho Na Pyar Hai. He was the first director to try his hand in a sci-fi movie with aliens in Koi.. mil gaya and the first to make a Indian super hero movie with Krrish.
Apart from his obsession with the letter 'K' Rakesh Roshan has been innovative every single time. Sometimes his stories might be very cliched revenge sagas or love stories but he weaves it so wonderfully around a different theme/ plot and makes it so commercially viewable and enjoyable for the viewers which I think is a great skill. Yes some people might argue that all his films are "formula" based but its the way he portrays them which makes them different and enjoyable.
I mean apart from Karz, Karan Arjun is the only reincarnation movie which comes to my mind. I even watched it today after getting nostalgic about it :) . Even Kishan Kanhaiyya which was touted as a male version of ChaalBaaz had some magic to it. Khel, based on 2 con artists and their love story starring the then hit jodi of Anil-Madhuri is one of my favorite movies till date. Ditto for King Uncle. Although the movie did not work at the box office it was a lovable affair for me. I guess I do not even need to speak for Kaho Na Pyar Hai and Koi Mil Gaya as they were block busters and speak for themselves.
When Krrish got released, it got a bumper opening and was declared a super hit. But I saw it take a lot of flak from many people. I was really disappointed from the people who downright rejected the movie. I loved the film and respected Rakesh Roshan for trying his hand at something really really new for the Indian audiences. No one at that time even dared of thinking on these lines. With the limited finances for special effects that he had, he weaved a beautiful story around the main theme of a super hero flick and I really respect that. Moreover it really felt like a sequel to Koi.. Mil gaya.
Hrithik Roshan has always excelled beyond expectations under Rakesh Roshan's direction and that speaks volumes for the director itself. When Hrithik was down in the dumps with the disaster called Mai Prem Ki Deewani Hu, out came Rakesh Roshan with Koi.. Mil Gaya, which put Hrithik back in the spot light. Yes, it had a special effort from Hrithik, but it just goes to show how much difference a director makes for an actor.
Whenever the top director's list of this decade is made, people always talk about Adi Chopra (who has just 1 super hit to his name btw), Yash Chopra, Karan Johar, Ashutosh Gowariker, Farhan Akhtar, Raju Hirani etc. But it is Rakesh Roshan who heads the list with amazing consistency at churning out entertaining movies. Heartiest congratulations to Rakesh Roshan, take a bow sir. Awaiting your next offering as a writer director, Krrish 2 which has gone into production.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Jashnn - A little too late.
Jashnn was supposed to be a launch pad for Adhyayan Suman, the latest star(?) kid on the block. Directors Raksha Mistry and Hasnain S Hyderabadwala (after making straight copies in their previous movies, Killer and The train) decide to get inspired from a desi flick this time. Rock on you guys :)
Jashnn is about a young man and the mess in his life. With all that's happening in his life how he finds a way to succeed in the field of music, his true love is what this movie is about. This movie really has some nice emotional moments which makes me believe that the rumors of Mahesh Bhatt ghost directing this movie actually hold some sense.
Akash(Adhyayan) is a young boy for whom music is his life. He dreams of being the country's best singer. His sister Nisha(Shahana) is a mistress to a rich businessman, Aman Bajaj(Humayun) so that she can afford a good lifestyle for herself and her brother. Akash is disgusted by her attitude and walks out of the house one day. To add fuel to the fire he falls in love with Aman Bajaj's sister, Sara(Anjana).
The rest of the story is about how Akash continues with his journey to becoming a successful singer. This movie was being promoted for around a year and hence could have been more effective if it would have released before Rock On.
Jashnn is a performance oriented movie. It needed powerful performances from every character. All the actors do justice to their roles with putting in powerful performances. Adhyayan is great in his role and proves Raaz was not a fluke. Shahana was great as expected. Anjana surprised me with her performance. Humayun as the baddie was good too.
Music is the soul of the movie and new comers Toshi-Sharib and Nauman Javed really do a good job. I don't know what or how Toshi has impressed the Bhatts but he is getting tremendous footage in the Bhatt camp. For those of you who don't know, Toshi was one of the contestants in singing reality shows and 80% people including me hated his singing :)
Direction is well done. The movie flows at a nice pace. The songs fit into place. A couple of emotional scenes were handled really well and the baddy's transformation in the end was well shot too and credit to Humayun for some splendid acting in the climax.
Rating *** (Deserves 1 watch)
Jashnn is about a young man and the mess in his life. With all that's happening in his life how he finds a way to succeed in the field of music, his true love is what this movie is about. This movie really has some nice emotional moments which makes me believe that the rumors of Mahesh Bhatt ghost directing this movie actually hold some sense.
Akash(Adhyayan) is a young boy for whom music is his life. He dreams of being the country's best singer. His sister Nisha(Shahana) is a mistress to a rich businessman, Aman Bajaj(Humayun) so that she can afford a good lifestyle for herself and her brother. Akash is disgusted by her attitude and walks out of the house one day. To add fuel to the fire he falls in love with Aman Bajaj's sister, Sara(Anjana).
The rest of the story is about how Akash continues with his journey to becoming a successful singer. This movie was being promoted for around a year and hence could have been more effective if it would have released before Rock On.
Jashnn is a performance oriented movie. It needed powerful performances from every character. All the actors do justice to their roles with putting in powerful performances. Adhyayan is great in his role and proves Raaz was not a fluke. Shahana was great as expected. Anjana surprised me with her performance. Humayun as the baddie was good too.
Music is the soul of the movie and new comers Toshi-Sharib and Nauman Javed really do a good job. I don't know what or how Toshi has impressed the Bhatts but he is getting tremendous footage in the Bhatt camp. For those of you who don't know, Toshi was one of the contestants in singing reality shows and 80% people including me hated his singing :)
Direction is well done. The movie flows at a nice pace. The songs fit into place. A couple of emotional scenes were handled really well and the baddy's transformation in the end was well shot too and credit to Humayun for some splendid acting in the climax.
Rating *** (Deserves 1 watch)
ShortKut - The con is on (the public)
Promos / Trailers are an integral part of a film which can make or break a movie. When Priyadarshan had decided to show Hera Pheri as suspense thriller in his promos, he was very smart to leave out the humor element for the movie so as to not make it stale. On the other hand the recent CC2C's trailers consumed all of the movie's best scenes. One has to be really smart while cutting promos.
ShorKut was promoted to be a funny movie. The director's credits even forced you to believe it would be a funny movie. No offense to Neeraj Vora, but he has kind of been flagged as an average comedy film director. The public was fooled as the movie did not at all revolve around any comic situations. Mind you, I am not saying it was a bad movie. It was a good film, but I had expected something else out of it. This is a movie which shows the 2 different routes to attain success and the drama around it. Yes there are a couple of funny scenes in the movie but aren't those there in almost every movie?
Shekhar(Akshaye) is a talented script writer and is touted to make it big one day by his peers. Raju(Arshad) is a (non)actor who aspires to make it big in the industry. On one hand where Shekhar believes that only hard work is the key to success, Raju believes that there is always a shortcut to get to the top.
All hell breaks lose when Raju steals Shekhar's script and sells it to get a role in a film. Shekhar is devastated and decides to quit films, but his wife, fellow colleagues and his "basti waale" help him get out of the rut and make a movie. Shekhar decides that he will conquer his anger by working with Raju. Raju decides to ruin Shekhar and decides that he will leave the movie after 70% of its shooting.
For the climax, which is pretty good by the way, watch the movie.
Acting wise Akshaye is brilliant as always. I really feel he is the biggest underdog of Indian cinema. Whatever comedy there is in the film rests solely on Arshad's shoulders. He is supposed to be the bad guy with the gray shades. The final scene in the climax is where Arshad shows us that he is a fantastic actor as well. He gives some awesome expressions. I had really liked him in Sehar too. He should give a try for non comic roles as well. Amrita is OK.
Songs disappoint big time. This has to be S-E-L's weakest work till date. They try to recreate Kajrare with Mareeze Mohabbat but fail terribly. All the songs are fast forward material.
Director Neeraj Vora handles the subject well. He tries phasing into a different genre. A good try. Ditto for writer Anees Baazme. Neeraj Vora doubles up as a dialogue writer and this is the best of the lot. Some dialogues really hit bulls eye. The second half could have been tighter with less songs. Amrita's angle was not necessary in the movie.
Rating: ** (Watch it with a clean slate perspective. You might actually like it.)
ShorKut was promoted to be a funny movie. The director's credits even forced you to believe it would be a funny movie. No offense to Neeraj Vora, but he has kind of been flagged as an average comedy film director. The public was fooled as the movie did not at all revolve around any comic situations. Mind you, I am not saying it was a bad movie. It was a good film, but I had expected something else out of it. This is a movie which shows the 2 different routes to attain success and the drama around it. Yes there are a couple of funny scenes in the movie but aren't those there in almost every movie?
Shekhar(Akshaye) is a talented script writer and is touted to make it big one day by his peers. Raju(Arshad) is a (non)actor who aspires to make it big in the industry. On one hand where Shekhar believes that only hard work is the key to success, Raju believes that there is always a shortcut to get to the top.
All hell breaks lose when Raju steals Shekhar's script and sells it to get a role in a film. Shekhar is devastated and decides to quit films, but his wife, fellow colleagues and his "basti waale" help him get out of the rut and make a movie. Shekhar decides that he will conquer his anger by working with Raju. Raju decides to ruin Shekhar and decides that he will leave the movie after 70% of its shooting.
For the climax, which is pretty good by the way, watch the movie.
Acting wise Akshaye is brilliant as always. I really feel he is the biggest underdog of Indian cinema. Whatever comedy there is in the film rests solely on Arshad's shoulders. He is supposed to be the bad guy with the gray shades. The final scene in the climax is where Arshad shows us that he is a fantastic actor as well. He gives some awesome expressions. I had really liked him in Sehar too. He should give a try for non comic roles as well. Amrita is OK.
Songs disappoint big time. This has to be S-E-L's weakest work till date. They try to recreate Kajrare with Mareeze Mohabbat but fail terribly. All the songs are fast forward material.
Director Neeraj Vora handles the subject well. He tries phasing into a different genre. A good try. Ditto for writer Anees Baazme. Neeraj Vora doubles up as a dialogue writer and this is the best of the lot. Some dialogues really hit bulls eye. The second half could have been tighter with less songs. Amrita's angle was not necessary in the movie.
Rating: ** (Watch it with a clean slate perspective. You might actually like it.)
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Kambakht Ishq - Kareena's Hottt and Akki's Cooool
Throughout the latter part of the 90s Bollywood churned out these "Keep your minds at home" genre of movies. This era was dominated by the David Dhawan - Govinda combo. Lately post Hera Pheri, a major part of the Akshay Kumar starers have turned out to be belonging to the same genre. So if you did not like the likes of Garam Masala, Welcome and Singh is King, this review is not for you and hence you can stop here.
Kambakht Ishq has a lot of eye candy and very little of logic and lots of humor. One should not apply any logic while seeing such kind of movies. Its mostly shot in Los Angeles and hence viewers get a free LA darshan. The music is peppy and adds to the movie's masala. Some of the jokes are really really funny and just cracks you up. I was laughing on a couple of jokes even after 5 hours into the movie. Humor is the soul of this film on the backdrop of a battle between the sexes.
As shown in the teasers, Viraj (Akshay) is an award winning stuntman in Hollywood and Simrita (Kareena) is a part time super model who is also a budding surgeon. The two main characters are cocky, arrogant and rude. They face each other when they try to stop their sibling/ friend (played by Aftab and Amrita Arora) from marrying.
In each other's ego trip they try their level best to break up these two. There are bets placed, accidents and what not. The humor changes into some sentimental drama (dont worry only for about 20 minutes) when KK and Akki realize that they have fallen for their biggest enemy. Characters are woven around these two central characters to provide even more humor. There is a random character of Mr. Keswani played by Javed Jaffery which just gets you rolling on the floor with laughter.
The first half of the movie is extremely funny. The second half opens with a bang with Akki hearing the Om Mangalam chants every where around him. It gets a little dull in between and a little too foolish in the end. A tribute to Sunny Deol is given by Sylvester Stalone in the end.
Akshay is funny as always with his expressions and acting. He looks cool in his new mohawk like hairdo. Kareena is hott. Although in parts she looks too skinny. Javed Jaffery is howwlarious. Aftab is ok and Amrita gets to enact herself on screen (a dumb girl) and does a good job. Sylvester Stallone adds star power. Denise Richards gets to act bollywood style in the end.
Sabir Khan doubles up as a co-writer and director and has a done a good job with whatever content he was provided with. Ishita Moitra has co-written the script and screenplay. But the clear winner is Anvita Guptan with her dialogues. It got me reminiscent of Kadar Khan's witty one liners in the David Dhawan era.
Music by Annu Malik is very peppy and hummable. But the chart stealer is RDB's Om mangalam. This song is a chart-buster. Although none of the songs make the story flow, they are shot very well which makes them a pleasure to watch. Not to mention the lyrics which are absolutely funny. My favorite line being "Kehti hai ki Taare dila do, maang mein fir mujhko saja do; Antariksha ka kya theka liya hai, bhaade pe kya rocket liya hai? ".
Rating: *** (Great watch if you are a fan of this genre).
Spoiler: The awesomest joke ever.. Javed Jaffery cons the hot dog seller by showing him a needle(sui) in the hot dog. He goes like "I am gonna sue you for this. You will be the suee(needle) and I 'll be the suer(pig). :)
Kambakht Ishq has a lot of eye candy and very little of logic and lots of humor. One should not apply any logic while seeing such kind of movies. Its mostly shot in Los Angeles and hence viewers get a free LA darshan. The music is peppy and adds to the movie's masala. Some of the jokes are really really funny and just cracks you up. I was laughing on a couple of jokes even after 5 hours into the movie. Humor is the soul of this film on the backdrop of a battle between the sexes.
As shown in the teasers, Viraj (Akshay) is an award winning stuntman in Hollywood and Simrita (Kareena) is a part time super model who is also a budding surgeon. The two main characters are cocky, arrogant and rude. They face each other when they try to stop their sibling/ friend (played by Aftab and Amrita Arora) from marrying.
In each other's ego trip they try their level best to break up these two. There are bets placed, accidents and what not. The humor changes into some sentimental drama (dont worry only for about 20 minutes) when KK and Akki realize that they have fallen for their biggest enemy. Characters are woven around these two central characters to provide even more humor. There is a random character of Mr. Keswani played by Javed Jaffery which just gets you rolling on the floor with laughter.
The first half of the movie is extremely funny. The second half opens with a bang with Akki hearing the Om Mangalam chants every where around him. It gets a little dull in between and a little too foolish in the end. A tribute to Sunny Deol is given by Sylvester Stalone in the end.
Akshay is funny as always with his expressions and acting. He looks cool in his new mohawk like hairdo. Kareena is hott. Although in parts she looks too skinny. Javed Jaffery is howwlarious. Aftab is ok and Amrita gets to enact herself on screen (a dumb girl) and does a good job. Sylvester Stallone adds star power. Denise Richards gets to act bollywood style in the end.
Sabir Khan doubles up as a co-writer and director and has a done a good job with whatever content he was provided with. Ishita Moitra has co-written the script and screenplay. But the clear winner is Anvita Guptan with her dialogues. It got me reminiscent of Kadar Khan's witty one liners in the David Dhawan era.
Music by Annu Malik is very peppy and hummable. But the chart stealer is RDB's Om mangalam. This song is a chart-buster. Although none of the songs make the story flow, they are shot very well which makes them a pleasure to watch. Not to mention the lyrics which are absolutely funny. My favorite line being "Kehti hai ki Taare dila do, maang mein fir mujhko saja do; Antariksha ka kya theka liya hai, bhaade pe kya rocket liya hai? ".
Rating: *** (Great watch if you are a fan of this genre).
Spoiler: The awesomest joke ever.. Javed Jaffery cons the hot dog seller by showing him a needle(sui) in the hot dog. He goes like "I am gonna sue you for this. You will be the suee(needle) and I 'll be the suer(pig). :)
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