Dulha Mil Gaya Release Date : 08,Jan 2010

Movie Review: Dulha Mil Gaya: Star cast: Fardeen Khan, Sushmita Sen, Ishita Sharma, Mohit Chaddha, Tara Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan (Sp. App); Director: Mudassar Aziz; Rating: * 1/2 - Is a predictable bore.

Settled in Trinidad and Tobago, Tej Dhanraj aka Donsai (Fardeen) is a rich playboy who lives to party hard and have fun with the most attractive gals minus in commitment. His only good female friend is the hot shot super model Shimmer (Sushmita Sen). Donsai hopes of leading a fun life ahead as well comes crashing down when his late father’s will is declared by his lawyer Mr. Vakil (Vivek Vaswani). A clause in the will makes it compulsory for Donsai to get married to his father’s friend’s daughter living in a Punjab village if he wants to inherit the huge riches of his father running into 5 Billion Dollars. A reluctant Donsai only agrees for the same when Vakil suggests him a loophole. So he marries the Punjab small town girl Samarpreet Singh (Ishita Sharma) in quick court marriage and comes back to Trinidad minus her. He stops any communication with her but dutifully keeps sending a fat cheque every month end to her family. Longing for him, the sweet and simple Samarpreet then decides to go to Trinidad herself. But on landing at his doorstep she is in for a cultural shock and is stunned to see Donsai having fun with other females. She is even insulted and thrown away from the house by his bodyguards even before they both meet. Following her accident she lands up in Shimmer’s house. The snooty, high society girl Shimmer at first detests her but after hearing her story she decides to help her. How Shimmer manages to help Samarpreet woo Donsai back by completely transforming her as a hottie Samara and how in the same course also learns a lesson or two about true love of her long time lover PRG (Shah Rukh Khan) forms the rest of the plot.

With a plotline that offers nothing new apart from a unique location setting in the West Indies isles, the predictability of Dulha Mil Gaya puts you off to sleep long before it is over. Shah Rukh Khan in a special appearance making a proper entry just post interval too cannot salvage the film. Just by taking off her glasses and appearing a bit mod, Samarpreet manages to hoodwink Donsai into believing she is someone else, just like Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi’s SRK’s Suri character! While the first half breezes past quickly, the problems begin when the 2nd half begins. After SRK’s entry your expectations rise but as soon come crashing down by some really juvenile sequences added. The whole cruise sequence is extremely tackily shot. The climax too is simply lame. Lalit Pandit’s music works well when watched on screen. The entire track of lovers played by Tara Sharma and her DJ boyfriend Mohit Chaddha is a waste of time.

Fardeen puts in the efforts and delivers an okay performance. Sushmita Sen never looked so hot before. Her comic timing is very good. Newcomer Ishita Sharma last seen in a small cameo in Dil, Dosti Etc. is extremely likeable. Be it emotional sequences or comic ones, she gives it her all and leaves you mighty impressed. Tara Sharma looks good but still hasn’t got rid of her pathetic dialogue delivery. Mohit Chaddha is passable. Vivek Vaswani is good but Johnny Lever is complete wasted in the role of Fardeen’s butler. Finally, SRK even his small party, gives a glimpse of his famous romantic lover charm. The superstar puts in his 100% in his half backed character.

Debutante director Mudassar Aziz’s Dulha Mil Gaya could have worked had it been released a decade back. But now it seems too outdated. It constantly keeps you giving a feeling of déjà vu with sequences appearing quiet similar to films like Ponga Pandit, Namastey London and even Dil Bole Hadippa!

Give it a miss guys unless you are a hardcore Shah Rukh Khan fan who doesn’t mind sitting through a 150 minute bore only to catch a few sequences he succeeds in holding your attention in an otherwise boring film.

Pyaar Impossible Release Date : 08,Jan 2010

In the film, Uday Chopra devices a computer software on which any operating system is compatible. The script that he writes is as much compatible with any operative feel-good film, frequently coming out from the Yash Raj banner. The geeky loser-in-love act that he attempts is not much different from what SRK did in bade bhaiya Aditya Chopra’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi (though thankfully there isn’t an image change).

Like most romantic comedies, the basic problem with Pyaar Impossible is that in the first ten minutes of the film you can predict the last ten minutes. Seven years since college, nerdy Abhay Sharma (Uday Chopra) is still in fancy-love with the campus beauty Alisha (Priyanka Chopra) whom he never dared to speak with. His software program is plagiarized by Varun (Dino Morea) who is now selling it to a Singapore company.

So Abhay flies all the way to Singapore to get back his pride and program and expectedly there he stumbles upon Alisha who is now a divorcee and has a daughter. She mistakes Abhay for a nanny and hires him to look after her naughty daughter Tania (Advika Yadav).

More predictably now Varun attempts to hit on Alisha and Tania turns the Kuch Kuch Hota Hai kid with her attempts to hook up her mother with Abhay. And before Abhay can make his confession to Alisha, he is exposed of his nanny trap. Suddenly the frothiness of the casual conversations is replaced by routine melodramatic lines like ‘Maine tum par trust kiya tha Abhay. Ab samjhane ke liye kuch bacha bhi hai?’ and you understand where the film is heading. Finally Alisha runs back to Abhay on comprehending the truth from Tania’s annual day act, making it all seem like a child’s play.

Uday Chopra’s screenplay is as much conservative as the convenience with which he makes a geek of himself through a bespectacled look. He also makes a chocolate-boy of himself (literally) in a vivacious scene where he, as the nanny, serves Thai food to some guests while hiding his face from Varun. Director Jugal Hansraj imparts a light-hearted feel to the romance, building conversational chemistry between the couple and thankfully giving no background accounts to justify Alisha’s broken marriage.

But after a swift first half, both the pacing and proceedings drop in the second. Salim-Sulaiman’s rocking musical score adds vigour and value to the film. Manish Malhotra deserves special mention for styling Priyanka Chopra as a smooth-textured eye-candy and sensuously desirable. Cinematographer Santosh Thundiyil doesn’t get much scope to capture Singapore with a breezy charm.

Apart from appearing gorgeous, Priyanka Chopra comes up with a natural performance. Uday Chopra’s acting isn’t as disappointing as his writing. Even Dino Morea is decent. Child actress Advika Yadav is rehearsed but still cute.

The moral of the film is that one shouldn’t judge a person by their looks. Going by that, however cool this candyfloss flick might appear, it’s still shallow on content. Pyaar Impossible might have certainly not aimed for a ‘10 on 10’. But is it really impossible to even strike an average?

Raat Gayi, Baat Gayi? Release Date : 01,Jan 2010

Movie Review: Raat Gayi Baat Gayi: Star cast: Rajat Kapoor, Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Irawati Harse Mayadev, Navneet Nishan, Dalip Tahil and Anu Menon; Director: Saurabh Shukla; Rating: *** 1/2 - A classy, slice of life affair.

Advertised hinting the film as the desi version of Hollywood’s 2009 super hit The Hangover, Raat Gayi Baat Gayi is anything but that! But that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s a wonderfully crafted entertaining affair.

It is basically the story of Rahul (Rajat Kapoor) and his wife, Mitali (Iravati Harshe). The couple had, the previous night, attended a party with friends including Saxena (Dalip Tahil) and Amit (Vinay Pathak) and their respective wives, Jolly (Navneet Nishan) and Nandini (Anu Menon). At the party, Rahul had had a drink too many and had been following Sophia (Neha Dhupia), a sexy woman, at the party. The two had escaped to a room upstairs and were about to get naught, but Rahul just cannot remember what happened thereafter and if anything at all happened. Waking up in the morning with a hangover, Rahul is not sure whether his wife knows anything about his one-night stand with Sophia, that is if ever there was one. But his wife is in a foul mood. His friends, Amit and Saxena, don’t make things easy for him. Amit himself is in the midst of a marital crisis because Nandini has thrown him out of his house for cheating on her by prefering online porn over. As for their novelist friend, Saxena, he too has skeletons in his cupboard but he is a smart operator. What funnily shocking revelations tumble out as Rahul goes in search of what exactly happened in the night makes for a fun watch.

Narrated in a non-linear manner by actor cum writer-director Saurabh Shukla, the film is his finest effort as a director. Also, full marks to the production company PNC for delivering what one can truly term a ‘multiplex film’. The production values are of absolute high standards and the setting perfectly upmarket. There is absolutely no sleaze and the adult humour is just what one often hears at the parties. Great one-liners spread across plenty of sequences leave you laughing your guts out. The twist at the end is again a big surprise. The peppy songs are pleasant to the ears and very situational with the Love in C major being the pick of the lot.

Neha Dhupia in what can be called her first major multi layered role is a real delight to watch. Playing a sassy tease, Neha tantalizes, decieves, emotes and also brings out her character’s vulnerable side with amazing ease. Rajat Kapoor is very natural as always and shares great chemistry with his buddy on screen Vinay Pathak. Vinay after a long time is back in form. He is superb in the scene where he apologises to his wife. Irawati Harshe is yet another natural performer and one hopes we get to see her more often. Channel V’s Lola Kutty fame Anu Menon is very impressive. Navneet Nishan is very endearing. Dalip Tahil fits his part perfectly well. Ranvir Shorey as the attention seeking NRI is a laugh riot. There are also a host of cameos amongst which the most impressive being of filmmaker Sudhir Mishra.

Don’t expect a sleazy sex comedy while going in for this one and you shall be in for a great pleasant surprise.

Accident On Hill Road Release Date : 01,Jan 2010

Movie Review: Accident on Hill Road: Star cast: Celina Jaitley, Abhimanyu Singh and Farooque Shaikh; Director: Mahesh Nair; Rating: * 1/2 - Audience become casualty.

Sonam Chopra (Celina Jaitley) works as a nurse at an old age home. She is due to go to London for a job she has landed with the Red Cross Society. She has got a call for her visa interview after two days and life couldn’t be more exciting for her. But things for her go terribly wrong when after a binge drinking night party, she knocks down a man, Prakash Srivastav (Farooque Shaikh), while driving her car. Unfortunately, Prakash gets stuck in the windshield of her car with half of his body inside and half outside the car. Fearing that she’d never get her visa if the matter came to the knowledge of the police, she does all under her control to keep this accident a secret. Prakash languishes, badly injured and half-in-half-out, in her garage where she has parked the car. She calls her boyfriend, Sid (Abhimanyu Singh), to help her but he goes away after spending the night in bed with her instead. The next morning, she is shocked to learn that the accident victim is still alive. Prakash pleads with her to extricate his body and let him go and even promises not to complain against her to the police. When Sonam gets more frustrated, she even tries to kill him but Prakash still lives seriously injured. It is then when Sonam requests Sid to help her to eliminate Prakash so that she gets her visa. But destiny has something else in store for the all of three!

With the basic concept copied from the Hollywood film Stuck, Accident on Hill Road makes for a painful watch for the audience because of its childish screenplay and the unbelievable manner in which the film’s major characters behave. Imagine, a boyfriend instead of helping his girlfriend out of a situation which involves a possible dead body stuck in her wind shield, opting to make out with her all night and leaving without even caring to take a look at the car. Also, when the victim, Prakash pleads with her to let him go and allays her fears of a police complaint against her, Sonam doesn’t so much as think even once before turning down his plea and infact doesn’t mind risking a murder against her name rather than trying to solve the problem she has landed herself in. The attempt to create edge of the seat moments fall flat. Debutante director Mahesh Nair shows technical finesse but fails to hold together a thriller. However, his execution of the climax is superb. One hopes with a good script on hand he delivers a much better film next time.

Celina Jaitely gives it her all and delivers a good performance. Abhimanyu Singh is good but is saddled with a half baked role. But one really wonders what made a talented actor like Farooque Shaikh choose this film?

Accident on Hill Road is an absolute waste of your precious time, check it out on the DVD that too only if you are a big fan of Celina Jaitley who looks super hot throughout the film.