RakhtCharitra - 2 Release Date : 03,Dec 2010

Producer Ram Gopal Varma
Director Ram Gopal Varma
Music Dharam Sandeep, Kohinoor Mukherji, Imran (1), Vikram (1), Sukhwinder Singh, Amar
Lyrics Roop, Shabbir Ahmed, Vayu, Abhishek Chatterjee, Sarim Momin
Release Date 03-Dec-2010

This is perhaps the first time in Bollywood that a single story is broken into two parts (RAKHT CHARITRA and RAKHT CHARITRA 2) by the same director. And both parts have released in quick succession, which is a laudable effort indeed. Ram Gopal Varma's PHOONK 2, which was a sequel in true sense, carried the same story of PHOONK ahead, but there was a decent gap between the two films. On the other hand, GOLMAAL, DHOOM and MUNNABHAI series had completely different stories and there was a sufficient gap between two parts. Barring the main characters, there wasn't anything similar between the installments.

RAKHT CHARITRA 2 marks the entry of Surya in Bollywood. He wasn't part of RAKHT CHARITRA. A humongous name down South, he starred in the Tamil version of GHAJINI in 2005. Aamir Khan starred in its Hindi version in 2008.

Ram Gopal Varma continues the revenge saga in RAKHT CHARITRA 2 that he started in RAKHT CHARITRA. In case you missed the first part, fret not. RAKHT CHARITRA 2 starts off with approximately 25 minutes footage from the first part.

The films trace the life of Pratap Ravi (Vivek Oberoi). While the first part was about his rise, the second part is about how his enemy Surya (Surya) takes revenge. What Pratap did to Surya that makes him want to kill him is what RAKHT CHARITRA 2 is all about. Bhawani (Priyamani) plays Surya's wife. All the other characters are the same as the first part.

RAKHT CHARITRA 2 is not a bad film. It's disappointing because it falls in comparison with the first part. Although there is bloodshed, violence and gruesome murders that take place, RAKHT CHARITRA 2 is definitely not as gory as the previous part. Ramu doesn't carry on the momentum and tautness that he had established in RAKHT CHARITRA. It even lacks the drama which was the highpoint of RAKHT CHARITRA.

Phas Gaye Re Obama Release Date : 03,Dec 2010

Producer Ashok Pandey
Director Subhash Kapoor
Music Manish J. Tipu
Writer Subhash Kapoor
Lyrics Shellee, Gopal Tiwari
Release Date 03-Dec-2010

Movie Review: If you can connect the crumbling of Wall Street to the `vela' (idle) gangs of moffusil India, you got to be smart. And if you can translate Obama's `Yes We Can' anthem into a bunch of small time hoodlums' war cry, then you got to be extra smart. And that's what smarty-pants director Subhash Kapoor manages to do with his smart-alec cast of actors who bring to life a roll call of characters that make you chuckle with glee.

From the Big Apple to the backwaters of small town India, this comedy of errors lives and breathes fire through its colourful characters and its witty screenplay. Unlike the usual run-of-the-mill comedies which Bollywood thrives on, Phas Gaye... makes you laugh because of its zany situations, rather than elicit canned laughter by making people slip over banana peels, go scatological or hit and pinch each other insanely. If Om Shastri is a conniving wheeler-dealer from Amreeka, then Bhaisaheb (Sanjay Mishra) is the local dada who is bogged down by the `mandee' (recession) in his business of extortion and kidnapping. Yeh mandee aaye kahan se? (Where has this recession come from) he asks his cronies. From Amreeka, they reply and manage to connect their crime and punishment graph to the going-ons in world politics: the trauma of Obama, the fate of Saddam, the goof-ups of Bush. And it isn't Bhaisaheb alone but his entire biradari (brotherhood) of bhai-log (small-timer Manu Rishi, Lady Gabbar Neha Dhupia, crooked politician Amol Gupte) who seem to affected by the economic meltdown in Obama's regime.

Terrific performances, ticklish humour and a trick-and-treat plot line: Phas Gaye Re Obama is a delightful end-of-the-year surprise package. After gargantuan disasters like Chandni Chowk to China, Warner Inc seems to have realised that small -- yet smart -- is truly beautiful. Remember Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey Release Date : 03,Dec 2010

Producer Ajay Bijli, Sanjeev K. Bijli, Sunita Gowariker
Director Ashutosh Gowariker
Music Sohail Sen
Writer Raoul V Randolf, Ashutosh Gowariker
Lyrics Javed Akhtar
Release Date 03-Dec-2010

Movie Review: Ashutosh Gowariker may have hit the headlines with films like Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar, but there is one film of his which looms large in terms of cinematic excellence. And that is the less successful Swades which peddled patriotism as the need of the hour; but it did it ever so softly, subtly andsensitively...Still remember it! Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey echoes a similar theme in a similar tenor. It celebrates the sentiment of desh-bhakti, yet once again with a sense of refinement.

The high point of Gowariker's film is the fact that it combines high-octane drama with a high degree of restraint. The film unfolds like a relentless thriller with loads of action involving the band of revolutionaries as they go about their bloody business. Yet no one hollers the national anthem at youor grows hysterical with patriotic pulp. Instead, the director gently salutes the spirit of nationalism in a seminal scene where the bunch of teenage revolutionaries discover the hypnotic allure of a hymn like `vande mataram' while resting under the shade of the trees in their village. And the fact that it all begins with a bid to get back their football field makes the teenage uprising even more endearing.

The film has an interesting ensemble cast of young boys who enlist in their local school teacher's (Abhishek Bachchan) desi army. Abishek's Bachchan's Surjya Sen is simple, uncluttered and played straight from the heart as are Deepika Padukone's Kalpana Dutta, Vishakha Singh's Pritilata Waddedar and Sikandar Kher's Nirmal Sen. Like the revolution, the romance too is underplayed and both Deepika and Vishakha create a smouldering, yet silent ardour on screen for their respective heroes. For there isn't much time -- and opportunity -- for love under the shadow of the bullet and the bomb, is there? The film maker has tried to recreate the 1930s Chittagong in Goa, but the authenticity of the period piece doesn't suffer. Both the styling and the cinematography of the film exhibit an eye for detail. But it is the director's narrative style and his attempt to re-tell history through a racy-pacy tenor that gives the film its movement and manages to drive the message home.

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey helps you rediscover forgotten heroes -- and a forgotten sentiment -- at a time when a scam-tainted nation needs to celebrate the national sentiment the most.