Tees Maar Khan Release Date : 24,Dec 2010

Producer Shirish Kunder, Akshay Kumar, Farah Khan
Director Farah Khan
Music Shirish Kunder, Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
Writer Ashmith Kunder, Shirish Kunder
Lyrics Shirish Kunder, Vishal Dadlani, Anvita Dutt Guptan
Release Date 24-Dec-2010

Farah Khan knows exactly what she wants (rather what she can get) from her cast and employs them to that effect. With her trademark film-inside-film setting, when she wants someone to play the role of a boisterous, atrocious and artificial actor in her film, the natural choice is Akshaye Khanna.

Katrina is cast as the quintessential Bollywood actress who has to wear more makeup and less clothes and do practically nothing in the film. The biggest novel (rather navel) factor she brings to the film is her super-sexy midriff and her hip-hot gyrations. With Akshay Kumar coming into picture, Farah seems to leave behind her Manmohan Desai masala method and adapts her film to brother Sajid Khan’s slapstick sensibilities.

Ten minutes into the film and Tees Maar Khan (Akshay Kumar) is introduced in the league of two other chindi chors, though he makes claims of being an international crime master. His latest assignment is to loot a locomotive loaded with valuables worth crores. Since the booty is in bulk, he would need help from many hands.

Khan hatches a plan to shoot a fictitious film in a village from where the train passes and use the oblivious villagers to rob the train. He lures superstar Aatish Kapoor (Akshaye Khanna), who aims for an Oscar Award, into his mock movie and casts his wannabe-actress girlfriend Anya (Katrina Kaif) as the leading lady.

Remade from Vittorio De Sica’s 1966 film ‘Caccia Alla Volpe’ (After the Fox) starring Peter Sellers, the only major innovation that Tees Maar Khan shows is to shift tracks to train theft from the ship in the original. While the climactic train heist could have worked as a smart suspense element in the favour of the film, the entire fabricated film formula is revealed at the very onset, leaving nothing to your imagination.

Also it appears too far-fetched that a filmstar like Aatish Kapoor won’t comprehend that this one-take shoot, filmed by a single handheld camera is a hoax for heist. Unfortunately the audiences are not as gullible as the villagers in this film.

The Academy Awards and its Bollywood aspirants (from Aamir Khan to Anil Kapoor) seem to be the butt of most jokes here. The film emphasizes and also employs the widespread sentiment of how a poverty-stricken India has become a perfect recipe for Oscar wannabes.

Farah however takes things a little too far with a literal Oscar Award setting in the final reels. Also this time around Farah Khan seems to have gone slack on her signature spoofs, which were a highlight of both Main Hoon Na and Om Shanti Om. Even her trademark end credits are not much inventively conceptualized or different from her earlier attempts.

On the contrary, the film retains a more fervent feel and flavour of Akshay Kumar brand of loud and slapstick comedy. Akshay’s gags are dreary and add to it the other Akshaye’s antics are deafening. And if that is not enough there is a recap of all these histrionics in the climax as a part of the film inside the film setting.

Akshaye Khanna could win the Ham Scene of the Year award for getting possessed by his character in the bank robbery sequence. Then there’s a headless horseman’s anecdote which could make you feel ‘sleepy’ for its ‘hollowness’.

The dialogues written by Shirish Kunder and Ashmith Kunder in synchronized stanzas try too hard to be funny but fall flat at most instances and are repeated too often without much repeat value. Vishal Shekhar’s music has mass appeal. Farah Khan’s raunchy choreography to Sheila Ki Jawani has Katrina Kaif at her sexiest best. One expected some action in the train robbery sequence but there’s none over here.

The role is custom-made for Akshay Kumar and while he plays it effortlessly, he is clearly getting repetitive in his comic act. Katrina Kaif is categorically hired for her sex-appeal and she exudes loads of it. Akshaye Khanna is expected to act terribly and he does that with such perfection that it gets on your nerves.

Apara Mehta makes up as a cheap imitation of Kirron Kher. Arya Babbar gets no scope. You never get to know whether Avatar Gill’s character is a spinoff on A K Hangal from Sholay or he plays a blind man for no good reason. Aman Verma hams. Salman Khan invites whistles and claps in his cameo.

To sum up in Tees Maar Khan’s trademark style of dialogue delivery, Akshay Kumar se zara hatke comedy expect karna aur Akshaye Khanna se kuch bhi expect karna bekaar hain. Tees Maar Khan doesn’t even guarantee thirty good laughs in its three hour runtime.

Toonpur Ka Superrhero Release Date : 24,Dec 2010

Producer Kumar Mangat, Krishika Lulla
Director Kireet Khurana
Music Anu Malik
Writer Raagi Bhatnagar, Kireet Khurana
Lyrics Munna Dhiman
Release Date 24-Dec-2010

Toonpur Ka Superrhero is not only India's first live action full-length animation feature, made on a lavish budget, it also has all the matinee masala that the other Friday offerings do. There's a hero, a heroine, a bunch of virtuous as well as wicked characters, a femme fatale and a baddie. The only difference is that this film has flesh and blood characters intermingling with animated characters.

Twenty-two years ago, Robert Zemeckis gave moviegoers Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which is talked about to this date. It was one of the initial motion pictures that depicted animated film characters interact with human beings. But it took years of development, preparation, research and homework for the makers of Toonpur Ka Superrhero to integrate animation with live action. Thankfully, the effort is worth it.

The motive of animation films or films like Toonpur Ka Superrhero is to entertain the entire spectrum of audience, from kids to adolescents to adults. So far, the target audience for our animated films has only been kids. But, hopefully, Toonpur Ka Superrhero should change the attitude and outlook. It's a film for kids and adults alike, who may take away different things from the experience, but who will be united in their sheer excitement of this visually exciting experiment. Of course, the film lacks finesse at places, but at least director Kireet Khurana and the technicians who worked on the film have made an effort to charter a new path, which, in my opinion, is worth acknowledging.

Final word? Toonpur Ka Superrhero blends inventive animation with old-fashioned values to deliver a decent family adventure. This one's an underdog!

Bollywood actor Aditya Kumar [Ajay Devgn] leads the perfect life: He has a doting wife in Priya [Kajol] and two adorable kids. But his children want him to be their hero not just on screen, but in real life as well. He can't do any of his own stunts, that's why gets stunt doubles, but he has to find a way which will make him look like a real-life hero in front of his children. Aditya finds an opportunity to become his kids' hero when he somehow lands in his kids' favorite cartoon show, Toonpur, where he must work with the Devtoons [good guys] to fight the Toonasurs [bad guys].

One doesn't take to Toonpur Ka Superrhero initially. Right from the lifeless and flat commentary [by Sanjay Dutt] at the very commencement of the film, to the sundry animated characters one is introduced to, to the conflict that Ajay has with his kids, Toonpur Ka Superrhero fails to take off the way one expects it to. But, gradually, the proceedings start making sense. Slowly and bit by bit, one gets a hang of things, although the impression that you hold at the intermission point is strictly okay.

It's the post-interval portions that do a complete turnaround. In fact, the film actually takes off in this hour and I must add, it has several moments that keep your attention arrested. For instance, the song with Rubdoot is appealing and so is the confrontation with the villain, Jugaro. The climax leaves you with mixed feelings. It holds your interest in bits and spurts, not in entirety.

Toonpur Ka Superrhero could've been an invigorating experience from start to end if it was backed by a watertight screenplay. The writing just doesn't complement the animation, which, in my opinion, is path-breaking by Indian standards. The visual excellence aside, the film doesn't engage you in entirety and that's a shortcoming. The music [Anu Malik] is pleasant and easy on the ears. 'Jeetoge Tum' stays with you; it's a motivational track. However, the picturisation of the songs is better, with a good integration of live with animation.

VOTE: BEST OF BOLLYWOOD 2010

Ajay dares to accept a challenge yet again. It must've been most tough for this intense actor to don a character which involves working with imaginary creatures in an animated film. To act with cartoon characters is extremely challenging because it's almost like attempting a soliloquy or a monologue. He must have had no actor across for the action-reaction custom. But he delivers a convincing and credible performance yet again.

Kajol doesn't really get scope, but she handles her part well. Veteran Tanuja appears in one sequence. Child artiste Amey does well. The animated characters, especially Bolly, Guppy and the villain's moll, are most noticeable.

On the whole, Toonpur Ka Superrhero is a delightful and endearing kiddie movie. It has an engaging narrative [second half mainly], neat performances and adorable animated characters. The real stars are the technicians [who created the animated characters], the director [Kireet Khurana] and of course, its lead man [Ajay Devgn] who pulled off a technically remarkable achievement of having humans and animated film characters interact with each other. Revisit your childhood while watching this one!