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.

Allah Ke Banday Release Date : 26,Nov 2010

Producer Ravi Walia
Director Faruk Kabir
Music Kailash Kher, Chirantan Bhatt, Hamza Farokhi, Paresh-Naresh, Ishq Bector, Tarun,
Writer Faruk Kabir
Lyrics Sarim Momin
Release Date 26-Nov-2010

"Allah Ke Banday pays homage to all the kids exposed to offense, misdeeds and crime," debutant director Faruk Kabir told me when he screened the first promo of his film for me. In times when senseless comedies, rom-coms and thrillers are being lapped up at the box-office, here comes a director telling a realistic story of a bunch of bad young men taking up guns when they are preordained to take up education, taking up abhorrence when they are meant to take up love. The consequences are drastic, with these kids turning into negative forces, taking up crime as their mission as grown-ups as well.

Now, this is a parable most directors would fear to make in their debut film, but Faruk seems to be on a mission to make Allah Ke Banday watchable not only for its genre. The question is, does his statement that Allah Ke Banday isn't a film about crime, but our society in general come across effectively? Does Allah Ke Banday have the power to magnetize the viewers all across or does it cater to a miniscule audience? Let's analyze.

The Indian social order is evolving and so is Indian cinema. More and more directors are coming up with fresher ideas to tell tales that highlight and also influence changes in the fabric of our society. Faruk Kabir also seems like a youngster brimming with ideas, having a lot to tell in his own individualistic style. However, Allah Ke Banday is not without its share of flaws. The screenplay vacillates between interesting and not-too-exciting moments.

Yet, all said and done, it's an honest attempt, a notch above the ordinary!

Allah Ke Banday is a film that spans the life of two twelve-year-old boys living in one of the most ruthless slums of Mumbai. From delivering drugs for the Mafia to looting people with their transvestite friend, the two aspire to assert their position in this world of crime. But when they are wrongly convicted for a murder and sent to the Juvenile Reformatory, they discover a world more chaotic and tough to survive in, than the one they left behind.

The senior inmates, with the participation and permission of the dreadful Juvenile warden [Naseeruddin Shah], subject the two friends to all kinds of torture to suppress their sense of power. But not the ones to take it lying down, they start developing a more sinister criminal psychosis, instead of reforming and set on a quest for ultimate power. Set free at twenty three, Vijay [Sharman Joshi] and Yakub [Faruk Kabir] form a gang of teenage boys to rule the slums they were born in. The vicious cycle of life continues.

Does Allah Ke Banday take inspiration from a foreign source? Is it inspired by the gangster flick Cidade De Deus aka City Of God [2003], as being widely alleged? I would say that the source of inspiration seems more like Sleepers [1996], which starred some of the best names in the business [Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt]. But despite the similarities, I must add that Allah Ke Banday is not only well shot, but makes an equally powerful impact. Besides choosing an offbeat subject for his debut film, Faruk has gone a step further and shot it at real locations too and that, very frankly, takes the film to a different level altogether. The film wouldn't have worked had the director erected sets of a reformatory or the slums where crime breeds.

On the flipside, the writing isn't convincing at times. Sharman and Faruk run the show from a dilapidated mansion-like structure in the basti, pushing school-going kids to the world of crime. This is done valiantly, without any fear of law enforcement agencies, which is difficult to absorb. Besides, Allah Ke Banday is dark and like I pointed out earlier, it tries to be as close to reality as possible, in terms of the lingo spoken by the characters or the bloodshed depicted in the film and that could act as a deterrent. Also, the film stagnates in the middle of the second hour, partly because there's not much movement in the screenplay.

Faruk Kabir makes a powerful impact as a storyteller. His handling of a difficult subject deserves brownie points. The sequences in the reformatory are very well shot. Ditto for the sequence when Sharman encounters Naseeruddin Shah, who is now reduced to a life worse than a beggar. There's not much scope for music in the film, but I'd like to single out the background score, which complements the goings-on well. The cinematography is eye-catching. The real locations have been deftly captured on celluloid. Dialogue are power-packed at times.

With a talented cast like Naseeruddin Shah, Sharman Joshi, Atul Kulkarni and Zakir Hussain, you expect nothing but the best from each performer. Naseer has limited screen space, but he's dynamic every time he appears on screen. Sharman depicts the intensity very well. In fact, this is amongst his better works. Atul Kulkarni is wonderful, while Zakir Hussain is top notch. Faruk Kabir enacts a pivotal part himself and must say, he makes you sit and notice his talent as an actor. Anjana Sukhani doesn't get much scope, while Rukhsaar too gets less screen space. Suhasini Mulay is effective. The two kids, enacting Sharman and Faruk's parts, are excellent.

On the whole, Allah Ke Banday is a gritty, stimulating and provocative cinematic experience with a flipside: Not many would prefer a dark film about kids taking to crime and felony. Its appeal, therefore, will remain restricted to a niche audience.

Break Ke Baad Release Date : 26,Nov 2010

Producer Kunal Kohli
Director Danish Aslam
Music Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
Writer Renuka Kunzru, Danish Aslam
Lyrics Prasoon Joshi
Release Date 26-Nov-2010

With a promise of entertaining the youth, debutant director Danish Aslam tries to offer you an old story with some new twists and turns incorporated in it. However, you will enjoy the chemistry between the two young leads Imran Khan as Abhay and Deepika Padukone as Aaliya. They are childhood sweethearts, who share their first kiss when they watch Kuch Kuch Hota Hai for the third time. So, it’s genuinely a love story but with some added fun elements.

Aaliya is ambitious, gorgeous and stubborn while Abhay is aimless in his life. For Aaliya, love is not everything and wants to be a renowned actress. But they can’t stay without each other even when they fight. You must have seen her saying ‘Main Shah Rukh Khan hu’ during the promos and that is one funny seen where she is totally drunk. Even though, she is insensitive sometimes but knows Abhay is the strong pillar of her life.

To fulfill her ambition, Aaliya leaves for Australia and Abhay follows her. Here, you can see some funny but confusing scenes between them. Finally, Lillette Dubey enters the scene and she does not mind calling Aalia ‘chudail’ even when she has divorced thrice in her own life.

It has a soulful music and a story that youth can relate to. So, it’s not a bad idea to watch the movie during this weekend with friends!

Guzaarish Release Date : 19,Nov 2010

Producer Sanjay Leela Bhansali & Ronnie Screwvala
Director Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Music Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Lyrics A.M. Turaz, Vibhu Puri, Late Jagdish Joshi
Release Date 19-Nov-2010

Within a Victorian structure, inside an artistically designed home, behind billowing curtains and surreal lighting schemes sits quadriplegic Ethan (Hirithik Roshan), trying desperately to shoo a fly off his nose. Unable to use his limbs and accepting his fate, he lets the fly sit-- a passing visitor in Ethan’s handicapped life.

Sanjay Bhansali returns to form with the creation of a fascinating world where fact meets fiction. While the dreamlike production design and costumes inspired from modern art are awe inspiring fiction, Bhansali’s research on euthanasia (or mercy killing) seems to be based on fact. Does fact blend seamlessly with fiction? Unfortunately not.

Right from the start Ethan seems to embrace the brighter side of life. He laughs in the face of adversity, always has a mischievous one-liner on his lips, and even hosts a radio show to counsel depressed listeners and share the joys of being alive. If the point of a fulfilled life wasn’t made clearly enough, the background songs remind us literally, that ‘life’s good!’

Yet, in the very next scene, Ethan calls his lawyer to tell her he’s had enough and wants to die. She must fight the legal system and their stand against mercy killing. Just when and why did the man who fought death and went on to write a book about living successfully as a quadriplegic decide to end his life, is never clearly explained. From this point on, no matter how hard the director and his actors try to elicit sympathy for Ethan, it is hard for one to connect with him.

The flashback scenes showing Ethan in his full glory are beautifully treated and Roshan is gracefully choreographed in stunning settings. His magic tricks are initially exciting to watch, but you soon realize that the gravity-defying stunts that he performs are beautiful but unrealistic, never attempted by the likes of the great Harry Houdini even. The stunts seem to owe more to the wire-work and CG departments of the film, than any authentic magic research.

But there are some heartening moments in an otherwise style dominated film; like the scene where Ethan reminisces about his mother and says that the biggest magic trick he performed was to put a smile on her face; the scene where Ethan’s former lover (Moni Kangana Dutta) calls him on his radio phone line understanding his need for euthanasia is nicely done. Dutta has this one scene to prove herself as an actress and she does so with all heart.

Another well executed scene is the penultimate courtroom sequence where Ethan locks the unsympathetic government lawyer in a small a box for sixty seconds. As Ethan describes the free environment in the outside world, the lawyer begins to suffocate and pleads to be let out. Ethan releases him and makes his point. ‘Imagine living in a box your entire life, if you could not stay inside for 60 seconds’.

While Hirithik Roshan does well for the most part, he is challenged by an ill-defined character. It is Aishwarya Bachchan as Sophie, Ethans loyal nurse for 14 years, who brings some heart to the slickly made Guzaarish. Aishwarya chips in a restrained performance as the stern nurse whose only purpose in life is to care for Ethan. The actress seems to have matured enough to give this otherwise airy film some solid grounding.

Guzaarish is based upon a great idea (as were the English films ‘The Sea Inside’ & ‘Whose Life is it Anyway’) and has some terrific moments. But sadly for the cast & crew who seemed to have worked hard to make this film, it is also over-the-top, has forgettable music and a weak climax. Watch it for a peak into Sanjay Bhansali’s wonderfully imaginative mind but be prepared not to feel his heart.

Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu Release Date : 19,Nov 2010

Producer Amarjeet Singh
Director Makrand Deshpande
Music Vasuda Sharma
Writer Makrand Deshpande
Lyrics Makrand Deshpande, Vasuda Sharma
Release Date 19-Nov-2010

'Shahrukh Bola...' would easily hold the distinction of being one of the most pointless and lacklustre films to have hit the screens this year. Given the fact that it's title contains the name of a superstar, it is all the more heartbreaking.

Reason being that there isn't any script to begin with. Moreover, the presence of Shahrukh Khan appears to be nothing but a (poorly) disguised marketing tool. His name does appear at the beginning, in the end and then a few times during the 100 minutes length of the film. Still, it hardly holds any prominence whatsoever in the bigger scheme of things.

In fact there is a loose thread of 'Devdas' that runs right through the film. While the lead protagonist here is Sanjay Dadheech, a bookseller at traffic signals, his Paro is a flower-seller (Pritika Chawla) and his Chandramukhi, a slum prostitute (Choyoti Ghosh). Choyoti loves Sanjay, Sanjay loves Pritika and Pritika loves Shahrukh, and that too because she has seen 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' dozens of times, knows the film's dialogues by heart and believes that he is her God ever since she had a chance encounter with him where the superstar complimented him with five words - 'Ae Ladki, Khoobsurat Hai Tu'!

However, the entire Shahrukh Khan buck stops here as the film is mainly a triangular love story more than anything else. In addition, there are also some random sub-plots being thrown around a local gangster (Makrand Deshpande), a 'bhai', a cop, a drunkard, his wife and a journalist couple. To the pity of the audience, there isn't much that ties them up together and worst, none of it is really important to the film's storyline, if one can even acknowledge the presence of one.

'Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu' has such an incoherent screenplay that at number of times, you are totally lost w.r.t. the semblance of the scene which was playing earlier and the one which has followed soon after. Worse, there is no real 'mudde ki baat' here as more than half a dozen odd sequences are just thrown in that do not bear any relevance to the film. There is no clarity on the purpose behind the story telling as well while entertainment value is absolutely nil.

Even performances are just about okay; nothing exceptional here. Pratika is decent but marred by a characterisation that never quite explains how Shahrukh managed to turn into a God like figure for her. Sanjay is hardly the kind that makes for a lead actor in Bollywood. Choyoti is okay while the couple playing the journalists hardly leave an impact. Music too is nothing to boast about.

2010 is throwing some real turkeys at the box office. Just a few weeks back there was 'Hisss', then there was 'Raama - The Saviour' and now 'Shahrukh Bola Khoobsurat Hai Tu'. One wonders though how could Shahrukh Khan actually lend his name to this film. Though he does appear in a couple of shots in the entire film, one strongly suspects that he actually bothered to even go through the script that director Makrand Deshpande must have offered to him.