Well Done Abba Release Date 26-Mar-2010

Producer Reliance Big Pictures
Director Shyam Benegal
Music Shantanu Moitra
Writer Ashok Mishra
Lyrics Swanand Kirkire, Ila Arun, Ashok Mishra
Release Date 26-Mar-2010

Shyam Benegal’s political satire, Well Done abba narrates the tale of Armaan Ali (Boman) who works as a driver with a big businessman in Mumbai. After he arrives back from his leave, his boss decides to sack him since he came back after 3 months instead of the allotted 1 month leave. It is then when Armaan narrates the story behind his 3 months absence. Armaan narrates - He had gone back to his hometown Chikatpalli in Andhra Pradesh to hunt a groom for his daughter Muskaan (Minissha) who stays with his twin brother Rehman Ali (Boman again) and his wife Salma (Ila Arun).

Buzz up!

It is then when he finds out the state government has started a special scheme under which those living under the poverty line will be given a sufficient amount to build a well on their land. But when he decides to avail of this scheme, he has to face corruption at every drop of the hat. Eventually, he ends up with literally no money in hand to dig the actual well. Reason, every single person involved in this scheme ends up looting his share of pie from the amount the government had sanctioned. But his fiery daughter decides to turn the table back on all the corrupt officials’ heads. Arif (Sameer Dattani), the motor mechanic who is silently in love with her also joins her mission. The trio’s plan works and things spiral so much out of control that the Government gets on the verge of a collapse!

Benegal’s Well Done Abba is a sweet gem that works despite no big names. A very witty film that’s very well written (by Ashok Mishra) packing in many things together that are relevant to today’s society. The satirical humour may not exactly be of the laugh out loud variety but it manages to keep you smiling throughout the film. It ends up making just the right statement on the many development projects that the government initiates but which frequently get hijacked by systemic corruption.

Only issue many may have is with the pacing of the film. The initial few reels are extremely slow paced but with the introduction of each new character, the film picks up pace. However, one feels, too much screen time is given to the forever horny couple played by Ravi Kissen and Sonali Kulkarni and their track gets repetitive. music by Shantanu Moitra works in the context of the film.

But the film works big time because of the casting. Benegal has a keen eye for roping in just the right actors for his characters and he succeeds yet again. Boman in a Hyderabadi accent is simply superb. He is very good in the emotional moments with Minissha. He is hilarious in his twin brother’s role who is a thief. Minissha Lamba finally gets that role which she can be very proud of in her career. She fits the role to the T. Sameer Dattani is very natural and likeable. Ravi Kissen brings in the laughs as the engineer who is forever in the mood of making love to his wife. Sonali Kulkarni is wasted though.

Amongst the rest cast are Shyam Benegal regulars such as Rajit Kapoor, Ravi Jhankal, Yashpal Sharma and company who excel in their parts. If one remembers the TV serial Farmaan, its pretty lead actress Deepika Deshpande makes a comeback with a cameo in this one playing Rajit Kapoor’s bickering wife. Well Done Abba is not your usual comic fare. This Shyam Benegal gives a strong message without compromising on its entertainment. Do watch this one.

Mitali Mittal vs Karan Mittal Release Date : 26,Mar 2010

Producer Dinesh Chugh, Rajeev Kore
Director Karan Razdan
Music Shamir Tandon
Writer Karan Razdan
Lyrics Shabbir Ahmed
Release Date 26-Mar-2010

The Film

Mitali Mittal vs Karan Mittal is woman centric film with the female protagonist fighting for lawful right to live as she was subjugated to domestic violence and inhuman treatment.

The Synopsis

Mitali (Rituparna Sengupta) is a middle class girl and a busy model. She dreams of a happy married life. As fate would have it, she meets Karan (Rohit Roy) who belongs to the super rich business family of Mittals. While Mitali is a homely girl, Karan is flashy and flamboyant. But somehow, Karan is very much attracted by Mitali and he goes to Mitali’s house along with his parents (Dolly Thakore and Amar Talwar) and proposes marriage. Mitali’s parents (Reema Lagoo and Anjan Srivastava) are overwhelmed and agree for the marriage.

Once married, trouble starts for Mitali particularly from her mother-in-law and also from her husband. She walks out from her in-law’s house and files a case as she was subjugated to domestic violence and inhuman treatment. She hires a lawyer (Suchitra Krishnamurthy). Karan hires a top rung advocate (Gulshan Grover) to defend him.

The court proceedings lead to a surprising climax.

The Performances

Rituparna Sengupta gives a powerful performance as the woman wronged. Rohit Roy fits his role like a ‘T’. As parents Reema Lagoo, Anjan Srivastava, Dolly Thakore and Amar Talwar give very convincing performances. As advocares Suchitra Krishnamurthy and Gulshan Grover are very effective. All others do well too in author backed roles.

The Techniques

Karan Razdan scripted and directed an intense movie about domestic violence and the entire film is very topical in the present Indian social scenario. Cinematography is profound. Editing is punctual. Music enhances the narration style. Technically this is a well made film. Production values are high.

The Verdict

Mitali Mittal vs Karan Mittal is a must see film. It is stylish and slick with sick characters torturing decent people and getting kicked for that.

Hum Tum Aur Ghost Release Date : 26,Mar 2010

Producer Arshad Warsi, Maria Goretti
Director Kabeer Kaushik
Music Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy
Writer Arshad Warsi, Arshad Sayed, Soumik Sen
Lyrics Javed Akhtar
Release Date 26-Mar-2010

In this peculiar fantasy of a world, a Cosmo magazine editor (great opportunity for drowning the leading lady in labels) has fallen for a refusing-to-grow-up fashion photographer. Editor (Dia Mirza, very good) and Photographer (Arshad Warsi, coming alive only during the sparse comedy), exchange sentimental `i love yous’ in every sentence. There’s a parallel track about his assistant (Sandhya Mridul) who he insists must wear mini dresses; irked, the editor girlfriend drinks up and does a hot number on the dance floor with him. Okay.

Moving on, the leading man realises he can see dead people. As is the case with most films of this genre, a psychiatrist is summoned who instantly says he is 'hallucinating due to exhaustion', and then spits out the 's' word.

Nowhere in the film, however, are we in a quandary whether he’s indeed suffering from schizophrenia or can he really connect with spirits. The ghosts put forth their requests to him; he agrees hoping they’ll stop harassing him thereafter. The requests range from playing cricket to marrying Aishwarya Rai – an attempt at caricaturing the ghosts for laughs. Finally, a lady ghost pleads with him to help her find her son, whom she’s been searching for 30 years; while the girlfriend gives him an ultimatum to shape up or ship out.

While the first half is about too little, the second tries cramming in too many things. The story doesn’t have enough substance to thrive through the running time, which is why the viewer is worn-out much before the finale.

Hum Tum Aur Ghost doesn’t know what it wants to be – a frothy romance, a dark comedy, or an Arshad-Warsi-starrer (his first production, this).

Of course a film can be all; but here, it’s none. The romance is tiresome because of weak characterisation, the comedy is laboured, and Warsi has done far better. Situations are repeated endlessly, from the ghost track to the insipid romance. Speaking of character sketches, they’re implausible. Working and living aboard, the characters choose to converse with each other in flawless Hindi.

Also, the editor’s rarely working (she’s sifting through glam photographs most of the time, yet picks up an excellence award) and mixes the personal with professional, firing her boyfriend for an assignment because he didn’t return her calls. Armaan’s graph appears slightly more fleshed out, because he has more screen-time. Heck even the ghosts appear, disappear and reappear indiscriminately.

Kabeer Kaushik (Chamku, Sehar) tells the story in an inhibited manner, playing by the rules, even adding an unwarranted emotional angle. But then the credit for this film gone wrong must also be shared with Arshad Warsi who is responsible for the screenplay-dialogue of the film. Admittedly a few witty dialogues combined with Warsi’s mumbling delivery style do crack you up – but that’s hardly a cause to spend two hours plus on an otherwise convoluted picture.

It's a Man's World Release Date : 26,Mar 2010

Producer Vijay Pereira, Rishiraj Handa
Director Rishiraj Handa
Music Gaurav Issar, Saurabh Sengupta
Writer Saurabh Sengupta
Lyrics Saurabh Sengupta
Release Date 26-Mar-2010

Like any successful entrepreneur, Vishal Rana (Mohsin Akhtar) has a blueprint for wealth creation. Though his mode of operation may not be found in a best-business-practices manual, his vision has plenty of takers. “It’s A Man’s World” is a compelling story of the hopes and dreams of his recruits who come to Mumbai from small towns in pursuit of a single-minded goal: To make big money and to make it quick. Perhaps, the one thing they have in common with their dollar-eyed counterparts in India’s premier B-schools.

Shakti is the erstwhile heart throb of teenyboppers in a sleepy town in Punjab. His father’s business goes bust, drowning the entire family in debt. Hoping to cash in on his chocolate boy looks, he makes the long trip to Bollywood. But barely gets beyond the casting couch. True, he steadily builds up a fan following, but it’s only at the local dance bar. And his nearest rival is a sex worker named Dimple. A woman he can’t help falling for despite their constant bickering.

Mikhil, from Uttar Pradesh, dreams of marrying his childhood sweetheart, but the murder of his father at the hands of land-grabbing relatives shatters his rose-tinted world. He seeks the help of an uncle in Mumbai to rebuild his future. Betrayed again he lands a profession that could easily set him up for life, but also ruin the chances of living with his one and only love, Lali, happily ever after.

Krish is very close to his mother. The fact that his father batters her has only strengthened the bond between mother and son. Determined to save her from such sustained cruelty, he escapes to Mumbai in search of a life that he can flee his mother to in the shortest possible time. He prospers swiftly enough to plan his mother’s journey to a new beginning. But will she approve of the means he’s chosen to this well-intentioned end?

Ranjit left Bihar as an eleven year-old to work as a domestic help in the city. After years of abuse at the hands of his paedophilic master, the boy discovers another way of making a lot more money to send back home.

To each of them, the hard-wired Vishal is a saviour - in a slave-driving, whip-cracking, ruthless sort of way. Much like aggressive managers that the over-ambitious corporate world breeds, Vishal is willing to do harm to achieve his objective. He’s prone to violent outbursts and undermines others without remorse. But the boys remain grateful. He has groomed them and given their small-town personas an urban makeover and a shot at easy wealth.

Until Aditi enters into Vishal’s life. And so the saga continues, this constant intertwining and unraveling of Dreams, Hopes, Reality - the very strands of our existence – pulling together to shape the evolving tapestry of life. It’s a Man’s World puts forward the shocking lives of male prostitutes blended with the humane and emotional side of the flesh trade.

My Friend Ganesha 3 Release Date : 26,Mar 2010

Producer Baba Arts Limited
Director Rajiv S. Ruia
Music Amjad Nadeem
Writer S. Sachindra
Lyrics Shabbir Ahmed
Release Date 26-Mar-2010

My friend Ganesha – Naughty Niceness

In the third of the series of Ganesha movies, we have Ganya (Rahul Pendkalkar), an orphan left at the mercy of his uncle Naagesh (Sayaji Shinde) and aunt Chandramukhi (Himani Shivpuri). They aren't kind to him and in fact the only reason they are even keeping him with them is because he is the heir to lots of financial goodies. So when he runs away they are pretty uptight about their 'wealth' slipping away.

Ganya runs away and hides inside the jolly Shamsher's lorry. Shamsher, afraid of the liabilities that a kid brings along drops Ganya off at a Ganesh temple where as luck would have Gangu Tai wife of Shamsher and a bubbly female who longs to have a child takes him home.

But Ganya is soon found out by Bala (Makrand Anaspure, the pesky little brother of Chandramukhi, and taken to the Haveli where endless hours of being behind locked doors and serving his uncle and aunt are in store. Ganya is heartbroken and as taught by his surrogate mom Gangu Tai, prays to lord Ganesha to take him back to his 'Aai'. Lord Ganesha is impressed and appears to him. He frees him from the locked room and helps him go to his Aai's home.

However back at the Haveli we have another Ganesh (courtesy the miracle of lord ganesha), who also happens to be lookalike of Ganya, wreaking havoc and chaos. He is making everyone dance to his tunes. However, this is not enough to drive away the evil aunt and uncle. It takes a proper Bollywood 'ishtyle' fight complete with bamboo sticks for them to finally get the message. We have a happy ending when Ganya ends up with Gangu Tai and Shamsher with the grand Haveli all for themselves!

Yay…

The clean cut entertainment value of the film can be quoted as its USP. The Tom and Jerry kind of antics are adorable!

The color scheme of the film is bright. Perfect for kiddos at whom the film is aimed.

Ever heard a Ganpati bhajan with a bhangda twist? You'll catch it on this one.

All of the actors, especially the kid Rahul Pendkalkar, have done a splendid job!

Yawn…

My friends Ganesh-3 is being touted as an animation film. However, there's not much of it in the film. And whatever is there lacks luster and is amateurish.

The story seems to be a reverse of Cinderella with the evil twin angle tossed in…

Yes or no?
The film is a lot of fun, laughter and entertainment. Something the entire family can enjoy.

Rating: ***

Prem Kaa Game Release Date : 26,Mar 2010

Producer Ashok Kheny
Director Ashok Kheny
Music Raju Singh
Lyrics Javed Akhtar, Kiran Kotrial
Release Date 26-Mar-2010

Story: Arbaaz Khan gets the seven-year-itch when his wife, Tara Sharma goes to Mysore on family business, with their precocious kid. Can't blame him, since the no-brain neighbour, Madhuri Dixit, literally throws herself on him, with her funny mission of finding love, not marriage.

Movie Review: Sad. Salman Khan tries so hard to add some humour to this humourless film. But nothing seems to work. Neither the apology of a plot that tries to preserve the sanctity of marriage amidst extra-marital flings. Nor the plethora of comic actors, headed by Johnny Lever, who ironically make you cringe with their loud, crude, no-laughing-matter acts.

Try figuring out what the filmmaker means when he likens marriage to a public toilet and wives to an internet virus. Maybe Tara Sharma and newcomer Madhuri Bhattarcharya might be able to shed some light on the similes, as they try and keep pace with Arbaaz Khan's wooden antics.

Confused, Unimaginative. Avoidable.

Shaapit Release Date 19-Mar-2010

Producer Vikram Bhatt, Manmohan Singh
Director Vikram Bhatt
Music T-Series
Writer Vikram Bhatt
Lyrics Sameer, Nazam Sheraz, Aditya Narayan
Release Date 19-Mar-2010

After proving his mettle in the horror genre, with flicks like ‘Raaz’ and ‘1920’, Vikram Bhatt does not disappoint you in ‘Shaapit’ as well. In fact, he even goes a step ahead with his storytelling skills. Like every Bollywood horror flicks, this one is also divided into two parts - the past in which the crime or mishap took place and the present in which the past comes to haunt people. And, the manner is which Vikram Bhatt blends the present with the past and vice versa is what makes it different from the myriad other, ineffectual Bollywood horror movies.

A good horror flick is one that has enough of scary scenes to keep you on the edge of your seat and in this regard, ‘Shaapit’ has more than enough. The audience gets its fair share of chilling scenes and doesn’t come out complaining. At the same time, the climax of the film, though a bit lengthy, provides the perfect culmination to its story. Even from the technical aspect, right from the background score to the cinematography and even the special effects, everything works in favor of the flick.

There are a few flaws as well. For instance, Shweta’s revival from coma, towards the end, seems archaic. And the two background stories that explain what the shaap (curse) was all about would have been better with a merger towards the end. Now, coming down to performances, Aditya Narayan deserves a special mention. He is a complete natural on-screen and even sings well. As for Shweta, she is good, but didn’t get much scope, especially in the second half. Rahul Dev was brilliant in his understated role, while Shubh Joshi, Natasha Sinha, Murli Sharma, and Nishigandha Wad were able. A must watch, for all horror lovers!

Shaapit Pre-release Review

After Raaz, 1920 and Raaz 2, producer-director Vikram Bhatt is back with another horror flick, titled ‘Shaapit’. The movie marks the debut of Aditya Narayan, son of noted playback singer Udit Narayan, and Shweta Agarwal, as lead characters. The music for the movie has been provided by Vikram Bhatt’s cousin, Chirantan Bhatt, who promises to impress the audiences with some fresh melodious tunes, while the lyrics have been penned down by Sameer. The movie is set to release on March 19, 2010.

The story of ‘Shaapit’ revolves around a young girl, Kaaya (Shweta Agarwal), who has been trapped in a generational curse that makes her family’s life miserable and distressful. Kaya is in love with Aman (Aditya Narayan) and the two get engaged. However, soon after they exchange rings, the young couple meets with an accident, as their car spins and bounces off the road. As soon as Kaaya’s parents hear the news, they rush to her side. This is when her father discloses the curse that was incurred on their family as many as 300 hundred years back, by an angry Brahmin.

According to the curse that has been plaguing Kaaya’s family from generations, any girl born therein will never be able to get married. And if she tries to do so, dangers will follow her on every step. Though Aman and Kaaya do not believe this initially, the constant accidents leave them with no other option, but to accept it as the truth. However, they love each other immensely and cannot let go so easily. So, Aman meets the master of the ways of the spiritual world, Pashupathi and learns about the evil spirit who is always at duty to pass on the curse down to each generation.

Aman seeks Pashupathi’s help in destroying the spirit and getting rid of the curse. The latter tells him that though there is a way to take over the spirit, it is not easy and the stakes will be too high. Aman decides to go ahead and soon, there is a war between man and the devil. Will Aman be able to win the eternal fight with the evil? Will he be able to get Kaaya’s family out of the dreadful generational curse? Will Aman finally be able to marry Kaaya? ‘Shaapit’ attempts to deliver an adventurous horror love story, the very first in its kind in India. Wait till 19^th March to find the answers to all the questions bogging your mind.

Love Sex Aur Dhokha Release Date : 19,Mar 2010

Producer Ekta Kapoor, Shobha Kapoor, Priya Sreedharan
Director Dibakar Banerjee
Music Sneha Khanwalkar
Writer Urmi juvekar
Release Date 19-Mar-2010

At the outset if you are expecting Sex and skin from this film, be prepared for a dhokha (betrayal). Don’t let the theme of voyeurism mislead you into believing that Dibakar Bannerjee’s Love Sex aur Dhokha is a cheap gimmickry to titillate your senses. The film is bold, bare, intense, stark and dark but Bannerjee’s storytelling is so superlative that it stimulates your senses without having to resort to tawdry elements.

At several levels, Love Sex aur Dhokha is at par with some of the best titles in world cinema in terms of its treatment. Like The Blair Witch Project or the more recent Paranormal Activity , the ‘entire runtime’ of the film happens to be video footage shot on handheld camera by one or the other member of the cast. But neither is the genre horror, nor is the feel docu-drama! Rather the film follows a hyperlinked storytelling pattern to come up with three individual episodes of voyeurism that intersect intermittently to form a non-liner narrative. One of the best films in this format is the less-popular Irani gem Ashkan The Charmed Ring and Other Stories and Love Sex aur Dhokha comes quite close to the masterpiece with respect to the storytelling genius. A dark sanguinary scene (in the otherwise lighthearted film) reminds of the Filipino film Kinatay which had a prolonged body-butchering sequence.

But despite all these global references, Love Sex aur Dhokha is absolutely original in its content and can’t be remotely inspired by any of these recently released titles. The referential analogy is just to corroborate how director Dibakar Bannerjee’s intellect is in sync with the best works around the world. While the prose of his story is splendid, the grammar of his storytelling is superlative that adds to the beauty of the film.

The narrative opens in three different subplots. The first has a final year college student Rahul (Anshuman Jha) gearing up for his diploma film which ends up being a shady spoof on DDLJ. Through the filming process he falls in love with the heroine of his film (Shruti) with whom he elopes and gets married. The second has a tech-savvy store manager Adarsh (Raj Kumar Yadav) attempting to woo the store salesgirl Rashmi (Neha Chauhan) to secretly film her in a sexual act on the store security camera. The third has a journalist Prabhat (Amit Sial) who rescues a girl Mrignaina (Arya Devdutta) from her suicide attempt and subsequently prepares her for a sting operation against the country’s top pop star Loki Local (Herry Tangri).

The first story starts on a comical note with a satirical shade and just when you think the entire episode is frivolous, it ends with a bang and hits so hard on your senses that you might not want to gulp down anything in the interval. The second story is almost a predecessor to the MMS episode that Anurag Kashyup filmed on Kalki Koechlin in Dev.D . It details the entire modus operandi and motivation behind the making of the sex clip. The third highlights the regular casting couch syndrome in glamour world along with the equally unethical sting operations devised by the manipulative media channels. Each episode in Urmi Juvekar’s story is derived from sensational headlines of national dailies and is well-sketched. But you admire the real beauty when you notice the correlation of each subplot with the other. The screenplay by Dibakar Bannerjee and Kanu Behl is designed like a game of jigsaw puzzle where your excitement rises the more you get close to assembling the interlocking pieces as the final picture becomes clearer at every step.

As mentioned earlier, the entire runtime of the film happens to be video footage shot on handheld camera by one or the other member of the cast. This happens to be its major highlight since unlike Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project ; Love Sex aur Dhokha is not a single-setting film but has three subplots. Nevertheless the director justifies the use of camera in each episode and not once does it appear that the video footage is forced to take the story forward. This fact also amazes as to how a video camera is no more a sophisticated gadget and has become a common element and an integral part of everyday life in present-day society.

Dibakar Bannerjee shows his versatility as a director with his diverse choice of subjects but one aspect that he retains from his earlier attempts is the trademark Delhi flavour that comes across in the dialogues, characters and setting of the film. Cinematographer Nikos Andritsakis maintains the callowness with his unstable camera moments to add authenticity to the handheld camcorder sequences. Namrata Rao efficiently edits the cross-connections in the stories to amazing outcome. Sneha Khanwilkar’s music is as unconventional as the film with a rollicking title track by Kailash Kher.

The entirely new cast acts as an added advantage to the narrative of the film because with their relatively unknown faces you don’t tend to recognize their presence at first glimpse in subplots where they aren’t the focus. The performance from every member of the cast is absolutely brilliant. Anshuman Jha is unassumingly hilarious. Raj Kumar Yadav is expressive, especially when he brings out his jealousy pangs on seeing his girl getting friendly with another guy. Neha Chauhan is amazing in her breakdown sequence and the director uses her raw sex-appeal to good effect. Amil Sial (last seen in Hope and a Little Sugar) efficiently plays the straight-faced journalist. Arya Devdutta perfectly exemplifies a wannabe starlet and Herry Tangri plays a pop icon pretty well. The actor who plays father in the first story and the girl who plays Rashmi’s colleague in the second story deserve special mention for doing absolute justice to their typical characterizations.

Love Sex aur Dhokha shouldn’t be restricted with tags like experimental, offbeat, path-breaking, low-budget or multiplex cinema. While it happens to be all of these, it goes beyond with its smart story and superlative storytelling to be a brilliant and entertaining film. This autobiographical account of a camera is absolutely recommended!

Lahore Release Date : 19,Mar 2010

Producer Vivek Khatkar, J.S. Rana
Director Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan
Music M M Kreem
Writer Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan
Lyrics Junaid Wasi
Release Date 19-Mar-2010

Scowl, jowl. Ministers of every hue-hoo, from this and that side of the border, are casting those creepy-crawly looks straight from the Bollywood text books. Inference: these politicos just don’t want to sort out the Indo-Pak imbroglio. Oh oh, no no.

Okay, so Sanjay Puran Singh Chauhan’s Lahore seeks a state of pacifism, employing sport – kickboxing if you please – as a means for narrating a plot that has been bludgeoned to death. Alas khallas really. There you go again then: A man seeks vendetta for the death of his brother – this time in the boxing ring. Ping. Now, the Dharmendra-Sunny-Bobby Deol movie Apne wasn’t exactly like that, but hmmm, Sunnyji did step into the ring to avenge foul play on bro Bobby. Slight similarities, you guess, are purely coincidental.

To Chauhan’s credit, the muted colour palette, the eye-filling locations and a nail-biting climax are marvellous. The rest of the movie frequently verges on the absolutely exaggerated if not implausible. The characterisations are caricatured, and the montage songs are slower than a bullock-cart on three wheels. Oh well.

Over then to the brothers, one a kickboxer (Sushant Singh, competent as always) and the other a sixer-hitting cricketer (Aanaahad). Kick bhai is knocked out in the ring by a Pakistani opponent, and breathes his last on the spot. He is survived by Mom Nafisa Ali (okay types, but can’t really reprise Waheeda Rehman’s act in Rang De Basanti), a madly devoted fiancee (crying, crying, crying in close-up), and of course IPL Bro. Yo?

Meanwhile, a garrulous Hyderbadi-accented coach (Farouque Shaikh, first-rate) looks sad, a red-eyed minister strikes those meanie-beanie looks, and hello, Saurabh Shukla and the late Nirmal Pandey merely hang around the margins. Curiously, Pandey has no role at all except to dart uber angry looks at the camera. Whatever, the result doesn’t serve the actor’s memory well.

Next: A Pakistani, dupatta-enveloped girl (Glycerine Bano) apologises to the cricketer-turned-kickboxer now, and says, that the people in her country are not all bad. Huh, quite a tricky line of dialogue that. Anyway to cut a short story shorter, Cricket Bhai is in Lahore, heading the Indian Kickboxing team, and must of course beat the daylights of his brother’s `killer’ (Mukesh Rishi looking far too senior for the role). Throw a couple of fist-and-leg combatants in the ring, and you’re bound to muster up sufficient tension and throb. Gratifyingly, Chauhan handles the denouement with far more chutzpah than the rest of the dramaturgy which keeps bristling like a porcupine with cliches.

Technically, the film’s look is grittily styled (except for some unnecessary, cheesy special effects), and the sound design’s crisp. The editing and the music score are serviceable.

On the acting front, Aanaahad is singularly expert at the action stuff, but when it comes to emoting, he places your teeth at edge. Particularly weak at dialogue delivery, he fractures practical every line assigned to him. Shraddha Das and Shraddha Nigam don’t exactly reassure your shraddha in new faces. A pity.

In sum, this Indo-Pak treatise may have been wah-wahed at film festivals (carry a magnifying glass to read the names of the festivals on the posters please), but all said and seen just about makes it to a notch above the average.

Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke Release Date : 12,Mar 2010

Producer T. P. Agarwal
Director Rahul Agarwal
Music Lalit Pandit
Lyrics Mudassar Aziz
Release Date 12-Mar-2010

A wide majority of Hindi movies look at urban issues. Right from the outfits to the lingo, there's no denying that Hindi movies also look at West for inspiration. In real life too, burgers, pizzas, sizzlers and colas have replaced sarson ka saag, dal-roti and sherbat-n-gola. But you do crave for desi food when you keep munching non-desi stuff all the while, don't you?

Buzz up!

The fact is, desi stories, with real characters, can never go out of fashion. In fact, a number of present-day film-makers often tell me that they look upon, besides other reputed names, Hrishikesh Mukherjee as an inspiration. On one hand you had Amitabh Bachchan, the reigning superstar of 1970s and 1980s, doing a Sholay and an Amar Akbar Anthony and on the other hand, doing a Bemisaal and a Chupke Chupke for Hrishi-da.

Debutante director Rahul Aggarwal also, very respectfully, credits his inspiration to Hrishi-da and his first outing Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke mirrors the fact at several points of the narrative. The protagonist in the film is like any other non-descript person you set your eyes on the street, who is as helpless as you and me in a life-changing situation.

A film like Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke ought to have a simple, uncomplicated plotline and actors who can pull off these roles without 'acting' those parts. While the writing is interesting at times and wobbly at places [the climax is weak], the set of actors are more or less believable.

Final word? Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke may not be that small little gem that sparkles brightly even in the dark, but it's an earnest effort from a first-time storyteller [Rahul Aggarwal] nonetheless.

Devki Nandan Tripathi [Rahul Aggarwal] is a simple, rustic man who decides to try his luck in the city of dreams, Mumbai. He gets a job at the Mausam Vibhaag. In the city, he comes across an array of people who often find his innocence amusing and comical, but Devki realises that they stick with him even in the thickest of bogs that his life hauls him in.

The very first sequence of Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke sets the mood of the film and you instantly get drawn into the world of Devki Nandan Tripathi. While major portions of the first hour are plain ordinary, it's the second half that catches your eye. The sequences between Paresh and Rahul are the mainstay of the film and the subsequent arrival of the villagers to prove that Rahul and Narayani are indeed married brings a big smile on your face.

But the smile transforms into a frown as the film nears its climax. The chase and the subsequent marriage in the police station premises appears filmi and a complete compromise from the writing point of view. A better culmination to the story would've only enhanced the impact.

Debutante director Rahul Aggarwal knows the grammar of film-making right, but a little more emphasis on the screenplay would've helped enormously. Lalit Pandit's music is strictly okay. K. Rajkumar's cinematography is alright.

Rahul Aggarwal enacts the pivotal part with conviction. Narayani Shastri does a decent job. Both Paresh Rawal and Om Puri are first-rate. Neena Gupta is wasted. Ravi Kishan carries off the loud character very well. Ananth Mahadevan is alright.

On the whole, Na Ghar Ke Na Ghaat Ke is a simple film told in the most simplistic manner. Should appeal mainly to those who cherish the Hrishikesh Mukherjee movies of yore.

Right Yaaa Wrong Release Date : 12,Mar 2010

Producer Neeraj Pathak, Krishan Choudhary
Director Neeraj Pathak
Music Monty Sharma
Writer Neeraj Pathak
Lyrics Sameer
Release Date 12-Mar-2010

Usually one who does the right thing is called the hero. But in Bollywood, whatever the hero does is the right thing. And anything that his opponent does is wrong, irrespective of the ground reality. So what is legally wrong is made cinematically right by director Neeraj Pathak in this debate on Right Yaaa Wrong.

After one tacky item number, two clumsy fight sequences and Sunny’s shady dance attempt in between, the story struggles to start in the third reel. Paralyzing Sunny Deol before the action starts might not be the sanest and safest of ideas but the director takes the risk and restricts the driving force of the film to a wheelchair. Crawling at a sluggish pace, the narrative ironically t(race)s the route of Abbas-Mustan’s thrillers.

Ajay (Sunny Deol) is the crippled officer whose wife (Isha Koppikar) is having an adulterous affair with his stepbrother. The duo attempts to knock off Ajay on the undying life-insurance money motive, only to be double-crossed into death. Ajay’s friend and colleague Vinay (Irrfan Khan) suspects Ajay as the murderer and investigates against him. Vinay’s sister Radhika (Konkona Sen Sharma) defends Ajay in court.

The story penned by Neeraj Pathak, Girish Dhamija and Sanjay Chauhan loosely reminds of 1986 crime thriller Qatl where a blind Sanjeev Kumar plans revenge on his adulterous wife (Sarika) and later proves the same in court. The supposed suspense in the first half is as lame as its protagonist with a perceptible double-cross at the interval point. The identity of the killer is revealed to the viewer soon after and with nothing left to your imagination, the genre changes from suspense-thriller to courtroom-drama.

While the conflict between the cops adds momentum to the drama in the second half, the letdown is that you already know the verdict of the case. Surely the director could have opted for a more imaginative storytelling pattern to maintain the mystery. The script is deceptively devised such that it supports the hero at every step, as he outdoes every cross examination which includes playing an episode of ‘Sach ka Samna’.

But when the climax of the film merely ends up being a moral justification of the hero’s wrongdoing as right, the viewer feels wronged. Didn’t we know the hero is always right? Was this the only lousy reason to sit through till the end? With an ordinary end like this, even the two-hour film seems like a lengthy exercise into nothingness.

Technically the thriller is plain average with Monty Sharma’s lackluster background score, Tinu Verma’s uninspiring action sequences and Ravi Walia’s passable cinematography. Ashfaque Makrani’s editing could surely have been tighter.

Sunny Deol is neither good nor bad – simply his standard self. Isha Koppikar suffers with a sketchy characterization. Konkona Sen Sharma fails to impress in an extended cameo. Irrfan Khan is the only saving grace inducing some lively moments.

Hide & Seek Release Date : 12,Mar 2010

Producer Laxmi Singh, Apoorva Lakhia
Director Shawn Arranha
Music Chirantan Bhatt, Gourov Dasgupta, Ritesh Batra
Writer Apoorva Lakhia, Suresh Nair
Release Date 12-Mar-2010

Hide & Seek is a suspense and thriller film directed by debutant director Shawn Arranha. In General the film starring relative newcomers and helmed by a first-time director comes with zilch expectations. Debutante director Shawn Arranha surprises you in his very first outing. It may not be the most captivating thriller you've watched, but there are moments that keep you hooked to the proceedings. Also, a suspense saga works if you continue to play the guessing game till the end and in this case, you can't tell who the culprit is. That is nothing short of a victory for this film!

The film unfolds the story of six friends Om, Abhi, Jaideep, Imran, Gunita and Jyotika. They were kids And it all started as a game on a chilly Christmas night. But little did they expect that night that the game would change their lives forever. Twelve years later, while some still wrestled with memories of that fateful night and others left it buried deep within them, it was a past that came back to haunt them again.

Twelve years later, someone was bringing them all together. To play that game all over again. Six best friends turn into worst enemies when trapped in a shopping mall.

Performance wise, all the newcomers did a wonderful job. All of them played their part very well. Purab Kohli is superb, as always. Arjan Bajwa gets into the skin of the character. Samir Kochhar leaves a strong impression. Ayaz Khan is decent. Mrinalini Sharma springs a pleasant surprise with a 'spirited' performance. Amruta Patki impresses as well.

On the whole, Hide & Seek is a nice thriller film. Good work by debutant director Shawn Arranha. Nice experience to watch such a thriller film.

Viewer's Review

A Nice Suspense and Thriller Film

by Amit Vashisht (posted on : 13-Mar-10) Rating: (Good)

Overall Hide & Seek is a very nice suspense and thriler film. Positives: 1. Excellent direction by Shawn Arranha. 2. Brilliant performances by lead actors. 3. Suspense in the film is unpredictable. Negatives: 1. The plot is a bit confusing when the film goes back and forth with regularity. 2. The camerawork lacks finesse. 3. Climax of the film should have been simplified.

Do Dilon Ke Khel Mein Release Date : 12,Mar 2010

Producer Dr. Wajahat Karim, Dr. Surhita Karim
Director Akash Pandey
Music Dabboo Malik, Sujeet Chaubey
Writer Akash Pandey
Lyrics Panchhi Jalonvi, Vijay Akela, Nafies Alam, Sujeet Chaubey
Release Date 12-Mar-2010

Zeekay Films in association with Star Creations International brings together a light hearted comedy subtle with a simple love story and full of emotions - Do Dilon Ke Khel Mein, directed by Akash Pandey. The movie stars Rajesh Khanna, Nausheen Ali Sardar, Rohit Nayar, Satish Kaushik, Anu Kapoor, Kiran Juneja, Kishori Shahane, Mushtaq Khan and Preeti Singh.

The story revolves around two infancy friends from the village of Punjab, Joggi (Rajesh Khanna) and Goggi (Anu Kapoor). Joggi in his young age shifts to London, whereas Goggi shifts to Mumbai. After shifting to Mumbai, Goggi falls in love and get married to a South Indian girl Laxmi (Kishori Shahane).

After spending 20 long years in London Joggi returns to India and wishes his son Rohit (Rohit Nayar) to get married to a Punjabi kudi. On the other hand Goggi and Laxmi have a daughter Isha (Nausheen Ali Sardar) and she is of the age of marriage. Goggi wants Isha to get married to a Sardar, but being an inter caste marriage his wife wants his son-in-law to be South Indian.

However co-incidentally Rohit and Isha come across each other during a journey and develop hatred towards each other. The two being completely opposite in nature, regret even seeing each other. But when they come to know the fact that they are kids of the childhood friends and their parents are planning to get them married, they start planning things. The two create brawl and fight between the two families so much so that the childhood friendship between Joggi and Goggi turns into enmity. Thus realizing that their childish behaviour led to hatred between the two best friends, Rohit and Isha feel guilty for their deeds and pledge to re-establish the friendship.

Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge ? Release Date : 05,Mar 2010

Story: Puneet and Munmun, an archetypal nuclear family, find their ordered life being shaken apart when they have a visitor, Chachaji, who refuses to leave their house, despite an extended stay. Will they miss him when he goes?

Movie Review: Neat. Subtle. And softly funny. Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge is quite unlike the hysterical laugh acts that have been trying terribly hard to make you laugh in recent Bollywood. More of a chuckle-and-a-smirk drama, this one doesn't even try to convince you that life is all ha-ha-he-he. Instead, it creates situations and characters that fill you with warmth and make you smile with the familiar quirkiness of recognisable situations.

Now when was the last time you pulled your hair out when your `unwanted' relatives from Gorakhpur, or any other small town, landed in your pint-sized flat with their pet peeves and infuriating habits. Like gargling before the break of dawn, creating man-made floods in your tiny washroom or converting your favourite window into a make-shift clothesline...Well, that's what our avuncular Chachaji (Paresh Rawal) does when he arrives unannounced at friend Putani's son, Pappu's (Ajay Devgn) house. Pappu's uptown wife (Konkana Sen Sharma) is soon forced to fry pakoras and play hostess to his neighbourhood friends who are naturally drawn irresistibly to this friendly old man who has a grandma's remedy for all their cures and a bhajan for all their woes. It doesn't take long for anger to be replaced by genuine warmth, as Chachaji carries with him a whole culture into the antiseptic flat which had hitherto housed a family that was simply running in a rat race.

Paresh Rawal leads the gentle humour brigade that finds great foot soldiers in the likes of Devgn (restrained and likeable), Konkana (earthy and grounded), Satish Kaushik (watchable) and Sanjay Mishra (impressive). Is it truly back to the 1980s for Bollywood comedies? Wait and watch out for some more of the Basu Chatterjee-Hrishikesh Mukherjee brand revival.

A word about:
Performances: Paresh Rawal's pitches a picture perfect Chachaji, while Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Mishra are immensely watchable.

Story: Robin Bhatt and Tushar Hiranandani pick up a familiar tale and give it a refreshing twist.

Dialogues: The humour is gentle and subtle and never tries to drown you with its desperation to make you laugh.

Styling: Upper middle class Mumbai fashion meets mofussil town chaddis and dhotis.

Inspiration: The 1980s family-ishtyle comedies of Basu Chatterjee and Hrishikesh Mukherjee.

Hello Zindagi Release Date : 05,Mar 2010

Starring: Mrunmayee Lagoo, Milind Gunajee, Kitu Gidwani, Neena Gupta, Kanlwajeet Singh

Directed by Raja Unnithan

A rebellious teenage daughter Kavita of a traumatized couple doesn’t know what to do with her life. So she takes off on a journey away from home with a lonely neglected but brave middleaged woman to Goa where Kavita saves turtles…and herself.

Kavita goes home redeemed. We are not so sure about ourselves. We remain partly involved with largely distanced from this ambitious but flawed look at life through the eyes of teen rebellion.

Director Raja Unninathan has his heart at the right place. He creates a world of gossipy aimlessness sweaty parties tacky repartees and, ahem, one-night stands for Kavita. But the words sound more like replications of the emotional outbursts associated with the generation gap rather than actual situations created in a specific crisis.

A more authentic parent-child crisis would be the one in Ayan Mukerjee’s Wake Up Sid or better still the television soap Ladies Special where two very talented actors Shilpa Tulaskar and Sandeep Kulkarni played harassed parents grappling with a rebellious teenage daughter.

We empathized with their helplessness.

In Hello Zindagi Neena Gupta and Kanwaljeet Singh specially the latter are in fine form as Kavita’s parents.

The writing constantly lets all the actors down. The one performer who manages to hold her head above the material provided is Kitu Gidwani, Playing the dignified unloved but outwardly well-to-do wife Gidwani epitomizes grace under pressure.

Her section of the film with her indifferent though not cruel husband (Amit Behl) have some interesting moments, like the one where Gidwani goes into the kitchen to get coffee made by her husband, and then pours it quietly down the sink.

Gidwani’s journey to Goa with the rebellious Kavita is charted with affection. Very rarely do we get to see a movie so gentle and warm about female bonding over differing generations.

What Kitu Gidwani shares with the debutante Mrunmayee Lagoo echoes Jessica Tandy’s bonding with Brudget Fonda in Deepa Mehta’s Camilla.

Except that Gidwani and the girl don’t go skinny-dipping. The blackest spot in the film is its lack of sexual energy.

The character’s are almost unvariably frigid in their thoughts and desires. A thwarted indecisiveness runs across the narrative -profile rendering the characters weak and unconvincing.

The save-the-turtles message at the end seems forced.

Nonetheless there’s enough tenderness and warmth in the relationships shared by Mrunmayee with her screen-dad Kanwaljeet and with Kitu Gidwani to make the film worth a watch.

Hello Zindagi doesn’t bowl you over. But it makes you smile even when the debutant director displays that trite and selfsconscious social purpose that makes the film look like a documentary on how to save teenagers and turtles when they don’t want to be saved without drowning in the attempt.

Rokkk Release Date : 05,Mar 2010

Genre: Horror, Thriller

Director: Rajesh Ranshinge

Producer: Sumeet Saigal, Krishan Choudhary, Vipin Jain

Banner: Ikon films

Story Writer: Rajesh Ranshinge

Star Cast: Tanushree Dutta, Udita Goswami, Sachin Khedekar, Shaad Randhawa, Ashwini Kalsekar, Murli Sharma, Arif Zakaria, Nishigandha Wad

Release Date: March 5, 2010

Horror films made in India follow standard rules and guidelines. Every possible ingredient that viewers have witnessed since the Ramsay era automatically finds its way into horror films even today. ROKKK too borrows everything available on the shelf.

ROKKK hinges on a half-baked script, but what saves the film from complete breakdown is the execution of the material by debutante director Rajesh Ranshinge. The proceedings may be far from innovative, but keep you hooked nonetheless.

Anushka [Tanushree Dutta] weds an elderly man Ravi [Sachin Khedekar], who has remarried after the death of his first wife. Anushka's mother [Nishigandha Wad] refuses to accept their relationship.

Anushka and Ravi begin their journey in a beautiful home that Ravi gifts Anushka. However, strange and quirky things start happening there. Anushka tries to share her experiences with Ravi, who in turn thinks that his wife is hallucinating. They decide to move back to their earlier home, but the incidents don't seem to stop.

Anushka seeks advice from a healer [Arif Zakaria] and tries to discover the motive behind these unexplainable incidents. The story takes a turn when Anushka murders her husband and sister-in-law. Ahana [Udita Goswami], Anushka's sister, begins her journey to rescue her.

Horror movies ought to have a great start and a pulse-pounding finale. Unfortunately, ROKKK has a lacklustre start and a convenient finale, with the makers leaving scope for a sequel, if the film works. The film suffers due to inept writing, with several questions remaining unanswered till the end.

No reasons are offered why Tansuhree marries a man much older to her, except a fleeting reference by Udita. No reasons are offered when Tanushree enquires about the circumstances that led to the death of Sachin Khedekar's first wife. That's not all, Tanushree even manages to escape from the asylum even though the spirit almost gets her. Now that's difficult to gulp!

But things do stabilise in the post-interval portions. The spirit now set her sights on Udita and the sequence in the elevator sets the ball rolling. Ditto for two more sequences - [i] Arif Zakaria wanting to free the mansion from the spirit and [ii] Ashwini Kalsekar's story of how the blood-thirsty spirit came into being.

With the film holding your attention in the second hour, you expect the finale to reach its zenith, but it does an about-turn and touches the ebb. Tanushree's re-emergence on the scene is formulaic and ruins the impact. If the writing is patchy, the effects are tacky and the background score relies on the same sounds that one has come to expect from horror films.

Both Tanushree and Udita try to make the proceedings watchable. Udita is efficient, while Tanushree uses her eyes effectively to express fear. Shaad Randhawa is decent. Sachin Khedekar is okay. Ashwini Kalsekar is the best of the lot. Murli Sharma and Nishigandha Wad don't get much scope. Arif Zakaria is perfect.

On the whole, ROKKK is ordinary at best!