Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 521

Roy reveals too much

4/2/2015

Sometimes the filmmaker destroys the suspense for the audience with extra information and if the producer of Roy is not careful it is going to happen to Roy. Why is the promotion team going out of their way to tell the world that the heroine of the film Jacqueline Fernandes is featured in a double role, one opposite Arjun Rampal and the other opposite Ranbir Kapoor?

Was this necessary? Could not they wait for us to discover this inside the theatre as an audience? I don’t know how others feel about this but for me the magic of figuring out the story has diminished!

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 520

Are the Gods listening?

3/2/2015

Varun Dhawan is leaving nothing to chance when it comes to promoting his new film Badlapur. He is on an aggressive promotion trip for the film and in between manages time to woo the Gods as well. Last seen he was at the Golden Temple, seeking blessings for his film.  When his first film was releasing Varun’s mother went to Shirdi for him, this time Varun is doing the temple rounds himself.

Typecast as a romantic hero so far popular in singing dancing roles Varun is keen that the film fraternity accept him as an action hero as well and therefore praying hard, rather literally knocking on the doors of the temples. The question is: are the Gods listening?

Bhawana Somaaya @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 519

Rani is now the queen of Poland

2/2/2015

For all of you whose imagination has been working overtime that Rani Mukherjee is invisible because she is pregnant let me spill the beans and that Rani was in Warsaw where her film Mardaani premiered in Poland at the Kino Muranow Theatre, one of the oldest art house theatres in the country. 

Polish DOP Artur Zurawski who had worked closely on the film was proud to be associated with Mardani and congratulated the actor attending the premiere. 

Shivani Shivaji Roy and Mardani are significant in Poland notorious for holding a very high rate of crime against children. Rani said the reactions at the premier were overwhelming because the audience’s identification with the subject was hundred percent and she will forever cherish the memory of the moment and the love and adulation she received today from her Poland audience after the screening of Mardani.

Bhawana Somaaya / Twitter- @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 518

Rahasya is gripping Hawaizaada is unengaging

30/1/2015

Robinson Duggal/ Monica Vimal produced; Manish Gupta directed Rahasya ek doctor couple ki eklauti beti Aisha ke khoon ki kahani hain.

Ek raat Aisha ka neend mein qatal ho jaata hain aur police ko saare gharwalo par shaque hain.

Film ka plus controversial subject aur layered screenplay, film ki anokhi casting aur ensemble performances.

Writer director Manish Gupta indoor/ outdoor sequences ko baariki se pesh karte hain phir wo action ho, sound, ambience, crowd ya costume.

 Film ka first half gripping hain magar second half unusually isolated hain.

Aisa lagta hain ki ek CBI officer ke sivay iss case  se kissi ko lena dena nahi hain jab ki satya ghatna par adharit iss case ne samaj/ police/parivar/ media/ kanoon aur medical profession ko lekar bohat sawal uthayein thhe.

Kaash, hum kahani ke rahasya ke saath saath, kahani ke kirdaar Aisha ke baare mein bhi thoda jaan sakte.

Kaash, doctor ke alishan ghar ke saath saath, hum unke kaam ka vatavaran jaise dispensary aur aspatal bhi thoda bohat dekh paate.

Kaash, ye murder mystery ke saath saath ye human stand bhi leti…

Ye khamiyon ke bawajood Rahasya dekhni chahiye kyon ki  director kuch naya karne ki koshish karte hain

Aur kyon ki film ke saare actors khaas taurpe Kaykay Menon, Ashwini Kalsekar aur Tisca Chopra film ko dilchasp banate hain.

Rahasya ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 3 stars.

                                    *****

Reliance produced aur Vibhu Puri directed Hawaizaada Indian scientist Shivkar Bapuji Talpade ki kahani hain jinhone desh ka pehla unmanned plane banaya tha.

Pre-independence saal1895 Bombay mein basi aur Saurabh Bhave likhi ye kahani hain Subbarya Shastry, yaane Mithhun Chakraborty aur uske shagird Shivkar, yaane Ayushman Khurana ke junoon aur sunghursh ki.

Film ka sabse bada problem film ka sur hain. Apne desh ke liye aeroplane nirman karne wale krantikari pata nahi kyon har samay mazaak ke mood mein rehte hain.

Film ka pace behad dheema hain, aisa lagta hain jaise kahani uss samay ke saath ruk gayi hain.

Film ke kuch dialogues, kuch gaane manmohak hain magar jee nahi behlate.

Film mein Tagore ka zikr hota hain aur Lokmanya Tilak ko sarvajanik Ganpati sthapna karte hue dikhaya hain magar sab kuch upri aur khokla sa lagta hain.

 Hawaizaada desh ka garv ho sakti tha, magar ye udan nasafal rahi.

Hawwaizaada ko Big Entertainment ratings milte hain 2.5 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 517

Superstars and daughters

24/1/2015

The music launch of Shamitabh would be incomplete without Bachchan rendering the Piddley song and there was a thunderous applause when he concluded. Bachchan paid a special tribute to Illaiyaraaja and R Balki said 1000 is not a number but just an excuse to celebrate the maestro.

There was nip in the air and  when Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan came on stage to deliver a vote of thanks it was time for a trailer repeat.

The evening had ended but nobody wanted to go home. Not the hosts and certainly not the guests. Tabu lingered on reliving her memories of shooting Cheeni Kum with Balki. Sridevi lingered on reliving her memories of her shooting English Vinglish with Gauri Shinde wife of Balki.

Kunal Ganjawala was humming a tune and Bappi Lahiri chatting in Bengali with Shreya Ghoshal.  I saw a happy Shruti Haasan dive into the car with a smiling Kamal Haasan and an overwhelmed Rajnikanth gently led by daughter Aishwarya out of the green lawns.

Shamitabh is the biggest star studded musical event I have attended in my long career, there were as many superstars on stage as there were in the audience and after a while I stopped counting.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 516

Baby is responsible; Dolly ki Doli is unconvincing.

23/1/2015

Bhushan Kumar produced aur Neeraj Pandey likhi directed Baby kahani hain aatankwaad yaane terrorism ki.

Kaise aatankwaad humare beech palta aur phailta hain aur saath hi mein Baby kahani hain Espionage team ki jo desh ke liye jeete hain aur ladte hain.

Hero Ajay Singh Rathore/Akshay Kumar chief Firoze/ Danny Danzongpa ke kehne par apni 2 member team, Jai/Rana Daggupati aur Shuklaji/Anupam Kher ke saath mission par nikalta hain.

Film ka plus film ki tez raftaar, to the point dialogues aur super engaging screenplay.

India se shuru hoti, Nepal, Turkey aur Middle East safar karti Baby multi layered/ multi tracked hain aur har pal surprise aur tension se bharpur hain!

Bohat saare kirdaar hone ke bawajood sab ke apne characterizations aur aapsi rishte hain aur sabhi ne ummda performances diye hain.

Phir wo Sushant Singh ho, Rasheed Naz, ya stheer aankhowale Bilal yaane Kaykay Menon.

Baby Akshay Kumar ka ab tak ka sabse bahtareen performance hain. Action scenes ho ya pariwarik  jasbaad, minister ki office ho ya mohalla, Akshay Kumar kabhi mukke se kabhi aankhon se aur kabhi dimaag se aap ke hosh uda dete hain!

Film beshaq thodi lambi hain magar vishesh hain.

A Wednesday aur Special 26 ke baad Baby Neeraj Pande se ek aur zinmmedaar film hai jisse har haal mein dekhni chahiye.

Baby ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 4 stars.

Arbaaz Khan produced aur Abhishek Dogra directed Dolly Ki Doli kahani hai ek looteri dulhan ki.

 

Sonam Kapoor aur uska jaali pariwar amir ladko ko shaadi ke bahane phasate hain aur baad mein unhe loot kar rafoo chakkar ho jaate hain.

Film ka sabse bada problem film ki writing hain. Na ek bhi robbery interesting hain aur na ek bhi kirdaar convincing.

Puri film ek hi sur mein bejaan si chalti hain, na kahani mein high hain, na low, na drama na jasbaad!

Film ka best performance ladke ki maa Archana Puransingh ka hain aur uske baad jilted lover Rajkumar Rao ka.

Sonam Kapoor sundar hain aur ache kapde mein acha naach gaa leti hain.

Dolly ki Doli youngsters’ ke liye time pass film hain.

Dolly ki Doli ko Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 2 stars.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya

Cutting Chai with Bhawana Somaaya - Day 515

30 years after Geraftaar

23/1/2015

Director R Balki of forthcoming film Shamitabh is an admirer of Illaiyaraaja wanted to make the music event special for his idol and therefore asked the South brigade Rajnikanth- Sridevi and Kamal Haasan to felicitate the maestro. The heroes recounted interesting anecdotes about time spent with the music director. While Rajnikant admitted he has little sense of music, Kamal Haasan revealed an interesting and for him an embarrassing story while working with him on Hey Ram.

When Amitabh Bachchan joined the duo superstars on stage, they struck a pose for posterity. The last time the trio was seen together in a single frame was in Geraftaar more than 30 years ago. It was a nostalgic moment.

Everybody became emotional when a nervous Akshara walked up the stage with her father Kamal Haasan and showed him the second trial of Shamitabh and waited anxiously. Kamal held his little ones hand and said ‘Baby I’m as nervous as you today’.

The album was released by Jaya Bachchan and Gulzar, joined by the producers, the lyricist, the singers of the film and surprisingly all the musicians Pankaj Udhas, Bappi Lahiri, Adesh Srivastav, Ila Aroon present in the audience to come on the stage.

Bhawana Somaaya/ @bhawanasomaaya