Ready Release Date : 03,Jun 2011

Producer    Rajat Rawail, Bhushan Kumar, Nitin Manmohan, Kishan Kumar, Sohail Khan
 Director    Anees Bazmee
 Music    Pritam Chakraborty, Devi Shri Prasad
 Writer    Salim Khan
 Lyrics    Amitabh Bhattacharya, Neelesh Misra, Ashish Pandit, Kumaar
 Release Date    03-Jun-2011

Are you ready to endure two dozen noisy characters for one underplayed Salman Khan? If the answer is yes, Ready is the film for you.

Salman Khan almost gets into real-life role-play as Prem Kapoor, the most eligible bachelor in a Hum Saath Saath Hain kinda extended joint family. Enter Sanjana (Asin), a runaway bride who poses as a prospective bahu in the Kapoor clan. Anees Bazmee's fascination for keeping the audiences hanging on and his actors suspended from hilltops (No Entry, Welcome) continues as Sanjana and Prem 'fall' in love.

But Sanjana is sandwiched between two ham-burger mamajis (Akhilendra Mishra, Sharat Saxena) who are behind her ancestral assets. Prem befriends the chartered accountant (Paresh Rawal) common to both mamajis, to get close to their families. Bazmee almost revisits his earlier film Welcome, as Prem goes on a family furbishing mode by taming the rowdy ruffians and reuniting the separated siblings in their sixties.

Remade from the 2008 Telugu film Ready (Genelia D'Souza, Ram), the screenplay is adapted in fast-food format with cliched conflicts and so many characters that you lose count after a point of time. Understanding the character correlations is a task that could even baffle the Barjatyas. The director keeps his task simple by sticking to his brand of loud comedy, over-the-top acts, caricatured characters and silly slapstick.

The first half involves running around the trees (read beating around the bush) while the actual story starts only in the second half. The graph of the narrative does pick up somewhere in the second half but the tempo falls intermittently thanks to the convoluted writing and the protracted proceedings. By the time the film reaches its melodramatic high-voltage climax giving Salman simulated scope to go topless, it leaves you exasperated.

The entire villain tribe is unusually unkempt and intentionally irritating. The sidetrack of the pampered spoilt grandson (Mohit Baghel) being subjugated by Salman's buffoonery is annoying. Sajid-Farhad's dialogues don't elevate the humour much and when Salman expresses romance with lines like 'main kutta hoon, yeh kutiya hain', you know the film is going to the dogs. The music is inspired and the action has impact though thankfully not overdone.

Salman Khan looks suave, has smashing screen presence and seems in his comfort zone employing his standard set of dancing, acting and action skills. Quite unusual of him, he underplays his role in the second half and does a decent job at it. Asin looks good and shares comfortable chemistry with Salman. Mahesh Manjrekar, as a person who is at loss of words, reprises almost the same kinda character that Suniel Shetty played a decade back in Awara Pagal Deewana. Paresh Rawal is regular. Standup comedian Sudesh Lahiri gets the funniest scenes. Akhilendra Mishra hams outrageously as if he still is in the hangover of his Chandrakanta days. Arya Babbar is reduced to a junior artist. Nikitin Dheer is unrecognizable, not that he is a popular face. Child standup comedian Mohit Baghel is annoying. Amidst cameos, one wonders what Chunky Pandey was doing in the film?

If you are still ready to not see beyond Salman Khan in the film, Ready is the film for you!

A Strange Love Story Release Date : 03,Jun 2011

Producer    Suresh Bhagat, Shohreh Seth
 Director    Tarique Khan, Sahil Seth
 Music    Santok Singh, Dharmesh, Ripul
 Release Date    03-Jun-2011

A few weeks back, RAGINI MMS released, which had a blend of sex and horror. Now, A STRANGE LOVE STORY goes a step further by mixing love, horror, suspense and murder mystery. The film is about a photographer Kabeer (Eddie Seth), who's an expert in getting work done at the last moment. He invites trouble by shooting at a haunted dargah in the night, despite being warned by his friend Jennifer (Riya Sen). A few minutes after he starts shooting, Jennifer mysteriously passes out. After this incident, weird things start happening with Jennifer as she feels the presence of a person around her, who can't be seen. She's also accused of killing Kabeer's friend Baljeet Billy (Raj Zutshi), after which Inspector Iqbal (Ashutosh Rana) arrives from Delhi to investigate the case. A sequence of incredulous events ensues. Directors Tarique Khan and Sahil Seth have tried their hands at various things, but the outcome is hideously unfavourable. The script is haphazard and after a few minutes you wonder what is going on. As if all the humdrum sequences weren't enough, a random song intended to showcase the dancing abilities of Kabeer, is thrown at you. The climax is ludicrous, and like almost the entire film, defies all logic. You have to listen to the dialogues. Jennifer enters a police station with open shirt buttons that reveal a bit too much. Looking at her, Iqbal says, "Buttons band hote to acha hota. Iski kya zaroorat hai? Tum vaise hi itni khoobsurat ho." Basha Lal's cinematography is just average in spite of having the picturesque Shimla as one of the locales. Santok Singh, Dharmesh and Ripul's music is uninspiring. The bad performances only add to the agony. Eddie Seth makes a pathetic debut. Riya Sen (seen in minimal clothing) is passable. Ashutosh Rana fails to impress. Raj Zutshi hams. All the other actors don't add any merit. A STRANGE LOVE STORY is not only strange but outrageous. Watch it only if you find a skimpily clad Riya Sen alluring

Kucch Luv Jaisaa Release Date : 27,May 2011

Producer    Vipul Shah
 Director    Barnali Ray Shukla
 Music    Pritam Chakraborty
 Writer    Barnali Ray Shukla
 Lyrics    Irshad Kamil
 Release Date    27-May-2011

The film opens with a song which aptly captures the diminishing chemistry of a married couple, over the years, in a swift transition mode. How one wishes debutante director Barnali Ray Shukla could show the same alacrity throughout the film, which sadly turns into a lethargic lesson into nothingness.

More than a decade since their marriage, romance in certainly not as candyfloss as it used to be between Madhu (Shifaali Shah) and her husband (Sumit Raghavan). But when her husband forgets to wish her on birthday, a disheartened Madhu eventually takes it upon herself to make her day happening. She buys herself a car for just a couple of lakhs (and no, it's not a Nano)!

Further she stumbles upon a passport forger, Raghav (Rahul Bose) who she mistakes for a detective. And her idea of making her birthday happening is to spend it with Mr. Detective, understanding the nitty-gritty of his spying business. While you expect the contrasting characters to set on an adventurous ride hereon, they only make way for a lackluster and unexciting narrative.

The major setback of the film is Barnali's uninspiring writing which gives no graph to the narrative. After Madhu and Raghav check into some resort, the story becomes stagnant. Also their fake pursuit of a target doesn't take the story anywhere. Unlike Bose's earlier films like Mr & Mrs Iyer and Chameli , where his random encounter with an unknown female led to interesting outcome, here the proceedings only become boring and tiresome over time. Add to that, there's hardly any chemistry between Rahul Bose and Shifaali Shah which adds to your apathy.

The man seems to have his set of problems in life, the woman has her, they start discussing their problems and subsequently the viewer seems to have problem with them. To start with, Madhu's inclination to go spying with a stranger seems too flimsy and far-fetched. And while the viewer remains indifferent by their encounter, the two are influenced enough by their one-day adventure (or the lack of it) to have changed perspectives towards life. The criminal surrenders. The housewife encourages her school-going teenaged daughter to be open about her love life!

Shifaali Shah is decent but gets hyperactive with her expressions at times. Rahul Bose carries a forced accent and seems uncomfortable in his character of a small-time crook. The talented Sumeet Raghavan doesn't get much scope. Neetu Chandra speaks through her lipstick.

This dull film ends up being Kucch TV serial jaisa !