Lamhaa Release Date : 16,Jul 2010

Producer Bunty Walia, Jaspreet Singh Walia
Director Rahul Dholakia
Music Mithoon
Writer Rahul Dholakia, Raghav Dhar
Lyrics Sayeed Quadri
Release Date 16-Jul-2010

Lamhaa opens in the year 2009 and talks about the separatist protest movements that initiated in Kashmir which (it repeatedly claims throughout the film) had started ‘18 years’ back in the year 1989. Not only does the film goes appallingly wrong with elementary mathematics, but also adds to the audience ambiguity through its constantly changing geographical boundaries and jumbled history.

Lamhaa mercilessly doesn’t deal with the Kashmir issue in an outright jingoistic approach like those countless formula films that have been made on the theme that show India as a clear-cut hero and Pakistan as a definite villain to exploit patriotic sentiments. This film highlights several discrepancies in our own country from corrupt army officers, conniving politicians to scheming businessmen. But beyond that when it attempts to fit in a clichéd conspiracy theory within the preset political premise, it falls flat on its face.

Officer Vikram (Sanjay Dutt) is sent on an undercover operation to Kashmir when the Indian intelligence gets information of a probable big terror attack in the valley. There a separatist leader Haji (Anupam Kher) has been fighting against the Indian government since 1989 for Azad Kashmir. Haji’s protégé Aziza (Bipasha Basu) supports her mentor in his mission. Haji’s other ex-protégé Aatif (Kunal Kapoor), who is now a reformed militant, wants to contest elections from the valley to win his people and province.

For Vikram, spying seems to be a child’s play. He sneaks into the police commissioner’s office in broad daylight as if playing hide-and-seek with him. He walks into a seamster’s shop who gives him ‘tailor-made’ tips and tracks terrorist identity by just having a look at their jackets. (Was the writing conveniently inspired by the investigative tele-series CID?) For no good reason Vikram keeps stalking and supporting Aziza in her attempts. Thankfully (though the background score gives a slight hint) a romance track is averted.

Through all his lackadaisical spying, Vikram finally learns that the neighbouring country is going to repeat the assault of 1989 on a larger scale. So as you look forward to a striking climax, you are sorely disappointed to discover that the supposedly colossal conspiracy merely ends up being a bombing plan on a political rally, seen for a zillion times in Hindi films. The intended twist in the plot is predictable and the convenient culmination is void of any dramatic moments.

It takes time to absorb the wide-ranging characters and their varied conflicts in the film and yet you do not understand all of them. Vikram is specifically chosen for the Kashmir operation though he doesn’t belong to the region.

Yet there is no background account to justify his character, making him look shallow. In the initial reels, one tends to get confused if Anupam Kher’s Haji is a protagonist or antagonist as he keeps juggling between the two identities through the film. His fallout with Aatif is merely mentioned in a flashback scene. And then there is Mahesh Manjrekar playing Peer Baba in a cameo who remains quite undefined through the film.

The screenplay by Raghav Dhar and Rahul Dholakia appears disjoint with constant unconnected scenes and subplots. Though the writing attempts to touch several related concerns from the half widows of Dardpura village, victimized prostitutes to the psychosis of the border security soldiers; these works only peripherally without being plugged into the core narrative. Bipasha Basu’s public humiliation scene seems to be distinctly derived from Monica Belluci’s Maléna. Nevertheless the actress is poignantly effective in her outburst.

The pacing seems too hurried and the restless editing by Ashmith Kunder and Akshay Mohan barely allows you to breathe, gasp, feel, absorb, react or relate. The incessant disturbing camera movements by cinematographer Jamie Fowlds annoy you more than having an effect. Mithoon’s soothing musical score has its charming moments.

The performances are not bad but don’t rise above the script. Sanjay Dutt plays his age but his character seems half-baked. Bipasha Basu is decent in a different role. Kunal Kapoor adds grace to his character but sounds meek in delivering political speeches. Anupam Kher is effective.

For the common man, the politics of Kashmir has often been a complicated topic. This film doesn’t make it any simpler. Lamhaa doesn’t enthrall beyond a few interesting moments.

Tere Bin Laden Release Date : 16,Jul 2010

Producer Pooja Shetty Deora, Aarti Shetty
Director Abhishek Sharma
Music Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani, Loy Mendonsa, Dhruv Dhalla
Writer Abhishek Sharma
Lyrics Jaideep Sahni
Release Date 16-Jul-2010

Osama Bin Laden is back. He has put on weight and is looking younger with botox. And he is all set to attack you with some side-splitting moments in this crime con-medy Tere Bin Laden.

Set in Pakistan, Ali (Ali Zafar) works as a television reporter for local news channel but wants to migrate to the US for better prospects. After being deported from US once and having his American visa rejected seven times, Ali approaches a travel agent who assures him of an entry to America if he can manage a couple of lakhs.

That’s when he stumbles across Noora (Pradhuman Singh) whose facial features come too close to Osama Bin Laden. Ali hatches a plan to shoot a fake video of Osama with Noora and sell it to news channels for big money. So he hires services of a makeup artist (Sugandha Garg), an Arabic scriptwriter (Chirag Vohra), a dubbing artist (Rahul Singh) and a cameraman (Nikhil Ratnaparkhi) to create the video footage that creates big furor across the globe.

Unfortunately his plan backfires when Pakistanis are forbidden entry into US due to security reasons after Osama’s reappearance. Further an American intelligence officer (Barry John) arrives in Pakistan to trace Osama’s whereabouts.

It’s impressive how an Indian director makes a film entirely set in Pakistan and takes several digs at Pakistan’s infrastructure and America’s intelligence in a smart and subtle manner. Writer-director Abhishek Sharma humorously pulls off every politically incorrect aspect that we unofficially know about the two nations through the comic genre of his film. This one is India’s very own Hot Shots Part Deux.

Slapstick in some scenes, satirical in most and silly at times, Tere Bin Laden clicks primarily because above all its farce, it has an entertaining story to narrate. The writing is witty, funny, crisp and moves at a brisk pace so much so that one doesn’t look for too much of conviction in the bigger picture.

The con game in the film is redolent of the con-comedy Khosla Ka Ghosla. Also the song ‘Ullu Da Patha’ written by Jaideep Sahni is in the vein of ‘Chak De Phatte’ written by him in Khosla Ka Ghosla. The dialogues have an authentic Urdu touch to it but with pungent Punjabi punches, it’s not difficult to appreciate the humour. Noora’s rendition of Arabic lines as Osama is hilarious. So is the scene where his most priced possession, a murga turns into a martyr. Thankfully the film doesn’t divert into unnecessary romance track or forced song-n-dance.

Showcasing comical flair like Riteish Deshmukh and a façade like Shahid Kapoor, Pakistani actor Ali Zafar effortlessly glides through his role. Pradhuman Singh is hilarious while pulling off an Osama Bin Laden. Barry John pretty much justifies the firang character he plays. Blessed with impeccable comic timing, Piyush Mishra is uproarious. The ensemble character cast of Sugandha Garg, Nikhil Ratnaparkhi, Rahul Singh and Chirag Vohra play their parts well.

Tere Bin Laden is laden with some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. Entertaining, enjoyable and surely worth a watch!

Udaan Release Date : 16,Jul 2010

Producer Anurag Kashyap, Ronnie Screwvala, Sanjay Singh
Director Vikramaditya Motwane
Music Amit Trivedi
Writer Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane
Lyrics Amitabh Bhattacharya
Release Date 16-Jul-2010

Much against our will, at several instances in life, one has to helplessly bow down to some entity – be it your teacher, boss, kin or anyone else. Udaan narrates a tale where a son is almost on an extended detention under his disciplinarian father’s domain. Through this allegory, Udaan inspires one to break away from all bindings of life and fly freely.

In its very first scene, four teenagers jump off their hostel compound wall to indulge in an adult film. Caught by the warden, they all are expelled from their school. One of them, Rohan (Rajat Barmecha) is sent back to his hometown Jamshedpur where his father (Ronit Roy), whom he hasn’t met for years, isn’t much happy to have him back. Rohan is also introduced to a younger stepbrother Arjun (Aayan Boradia), who he never knew existed.

Much against his aspirations of being a writer, Rohan is forced to study engineering and work part-time in his father’s factory. The tyrant rule of his father cuts off all the independence he enjoyed in his school days. As life turns more and more claustrophobic under the roof of his dominating father, the only respite he finds is in his uncle (Ram Kapoor) and college senior (Anand Tiwari).

The story of Udaan can be encapsulated as the unspoken track in 3 Idiots where the disciplinarian dean (Boman Irani) loses his son whom he tries to mould in his way rather than letting him live his life.

Interestingly, Udaan doesn’t merely restrict the father-son divide till the academic expectations that parents have from their children, like in 3 Idiots or Taare Zameen Par. Ronit Roy’s multifaceted father figure is added with layers of frustration of being a single parent, a widower and having a regimented past of being brought up under as much discipline by his strict father which he carries forward to his children. He is caring but not loving. His quest for control has conquered his warmth as a parent. So much so that he wants his son to address him as Sir and not dad.

The writing by Vikramaditya Motwane and Anurag Kashyup is real, refreshing, straightforward and effective. The initial few sequences simply communicate the daily lifestyle of the father which the son is attempting to adapt to. But the proceedings keep you riveted because the routine is as much unusual to the viewer as much to Rohan. Also the writers at no point get carried away to portray the father as an outright villain.

His character is balanced with sporadic humane shades but since he is too rigid and incorrigible, the story works towards the liberation of the son over the rectification of the father. The continual dominance of the father on the son doesn’t get monotonous, since the prolonged narrative gives time to Rohan to reach the threshold of his tolerance. That justifies, both, the slow pacing and the long length of the film.

The screenplay delicately works towards the relationships between the central characters.

While the rift between Rohan and his father increases, reciprocally, he develops an endearing attachment with his kiddo stepbrother. Some scenes are kept long to stay with the protagonist and allow you to experience or at least relate to his mental turmoil. Yet the sequences don’t seem stretched and the director keeps the treatment comprehensible without tending to get artistic or abstract.