Bad Joke

Film: Joker

Producer: Farah Khan, Akshay Kumar, Shirish Kunder

Director: Shirish Kunder

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Sonakshi Sinha, Shreyas Talpade, Minisha Lamba

Genre: Comedy

Rating: Below Average

by Bhawana Somaaya

Story:

In 1947 when the maps of India and Pakistan were being drawn, Paglapur went unrecorded. The village had the distinction of housing the largest mental asylum in the region. During partition, the asylum inmates broke loose and established their own republic away from the rest of the country. Paglapur remained neglected until a NASA scientist of Indian origin returns to his roots and changes destiny of home town.

What works about the film:
Lead pair Akshay Kumar-Sonakshi Sinha and all the supporting actors playing villagers who submit to the utter madness of the plot. All the dances lovingly choreographed by Shirish’s wife Farah Khan and punctuated with thumkas from Sonakshi. 

Performances:

As Agastya working on a top secret project for creating a device to communicate with aliens Akshay Kumar is competent. As his wife ready to follow his dream in America and Pagalpur, Sonakshi is endearing.
She enjoys being in front of the camera irrespective of what the script has to offer.

What does not work:

The illogical plot and screenplay. Director Shirish Kunder wanted to make India’s first extra terrestrial comedy but the fact is that Joker neither makes you laugh nor cry! You submit to the madness in exasperation. There is a character who thinks he is a lamppost and so hangs from a tree top. Another speaks gibberish. Everybody is in search of the aliens and this includes the White House, FBI, media and battalion of army waiting with cannons to attack them!!

Message confusing:

The pack of cards and Joker used as metaphors for Pagalpur village is contradictory. In the climax Akshay Kumar says Pagalpur does not need any patronage, then why did you go through all the trouble my dear Agastya?

Verdict:

It is a no show, sorry Kunder you served us bad cards!

The review appears as it is in Blockbuster, a newly launched trade magazine.

You can subscribe to it at sales@starblockbuster.com

Tiger roars…

Ek Tha Tiger

Producer: Aditya Chopra

Director: Kabir Khan

Cast: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey, Girish Karnad, Roshan Sheth

Genre: Romance- Thriller

Ratings: Superb

by Bhawana Somaaya

Story:

In the dark world of intelligence and espionage many secrets are stored for security but some escape the files and become legends. Tiger (Salman Khan works for Research and Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency and is always trotting the globe on assignments. On one such mission Tiger meets Zoya and what follows is a tumultuous journey watched and followed by two nations.

What works about the film:

Everything: from the opening frame showcasing credit titles against the back drop of Turkey to the closing shot freezing on a Black & White frame, writer -director Kabir Khan travels his audience through unfamiliar path and constantly surprises them.

There is not a dull moment in the film and for this the credit goes to the writers-Nilesh Mishra and Kabir Khan. The plot, characters and dialogues are completely believable.

The film has all the twists and turns necessary for a thriller and is ably aided by all the technical departments. Julius Packiam’s background score is seductively upbeat even though it has a striking resemblance with the background score of Akhtar’s Don. Rameshwar Bhagwat’s editing is razor sharp and action director Conrad Palmisano conceives fearless, magical moments on screen. Aseem Mishra’s cinematography captures blue seas, brown mountains, orange skyline, magnificent architecture and a gorgeous star pair!

It is a treat to watch virgin locations like Turkey, Ireland, Kazakhastan as part of narrative and not just for song and dance. Interestingly even the choreography and the songs are in harmony with the story. Special mention must be made of Katrina’s costume by Alvira Agnihotri and the vibrant production design.

Performances:

To all those who have complained that Salman Khan never breaks away from his star image, watch the actor play a RAW agent with sincerity and restrain. He is tough when on a mission, awkward when he is ogled by neighbours, attentive when with his senior, endearing in romantic scenes involving Katrina, anguished when betrayed and fearless when courting danger. Tiger alias Rathore Singh is a character suiting Salman’s age and image!

Katrina Kaif always underplays and that is her strength as an actor. She surprised everybody in New York and Rajneeti and Ek Tha Tiger is one more feather in her colourful cap. As Zoya she is mysterious and alluring and manages to affect you in all her important scenes.

What does not work:

Very small things: There is no explanation about what happens to Roshan Sheth and the Ranvir Shorey and Girish Karnad’s premise of disagreement is unconvincing.

What’s special:

The action sequences are majestic, that Kabir Khan dares to unfold a story untold so far, Salman Khan and most important, the politics of the film! The message was infallible in Veer Zaara and perfect now and both these films are produced by YR Films.

Verdict:

It guarantees a blockbuster opening and house full running for three weeks all over India in single screens, multiplexes and abroad. 

The review appears as it is in Blockbuster, a newly launched trade magazine.

You can subscribe to it at sales@starblockbuster.com

Self indulgent

Film:  Jism 2

Producer: Dino Morea and Pooja Bhatt

Director: Pooja Bhatt

Cast: Sunny Leone, Randeep Hooda and Arunoday Singh

Duration: 2 hours 12 minutes

Genre: Erotic thriller

Ratings: Below Average

by Bhawana Somaaya

Story

A porn star (Sunny Leone) is hired by a dashing intelligence officer (Arunoday Singh) to become a Honey-trap for a dreaded assassin (Randeep Hooda). In doing so, she not only has to confront her bitter-sweet past, but is also forced to make an impossible choice - one that will put her own life in double jeopardy.

What works about the film

Let me think…the title perhaps or may be the marketing strategy employed for the film promotion. They not only pre-poned the film by a week but were in the eye of the storm with so many controversies related to the film. Everybody is curious to know what is beneath the transparent sheet particularly since the government banned the posters on the eve of the release. What works also to an extent is Mahesh-Pooja Bhatt brand who seven years ago gave us a very bold film Jism.

Performances

All of them are extremely bad but if I have to put them in the worst order it would start with senior IB officer Arif Zakaria who is hilariously out of place, his junior Arunoday Singh who is expressionless through out the film, cop turned aggressor Randeep Hooda who is so inconsistent that I suspect he is performing to a different script in his mind and finally Sunny Leone –all she does in the film is to walk around in lingerie and heave her bosom heavily.

What doesn’t work about the film

Everything – to begin with there is hardly any ‘jism’ in the film – except some smooching scenes. The story line is anorexic with no insights into the making of a porn star. The art with low lights and ink blue walls is suffocating and self indulgent, there are too many songs and the overpowering background music interrupt an already shaky narrative. The Bhatts are known for their characterization but this time all the interpersonal relationships appear synthetic. Mahesh Bhatt’s dialogues are rhetoric. It is evident that he has nothing new to comment on the subject.

Verdict

The film will have a good opening because of the steamy posters and the controversies surrounding the ban on them but once inside the theatres, the audiences are bound to feel cheated. Pooja Bhatt has been saying in all her interviews that Jism is about the female gaze. The camera does not stop lingering over Sunny Leone’s bosom. I suspect the camera prefers the male gaze.

The review appears as it is in Blockbuster, a newly launched trade magazine.

You can subscribe to it at sales@starblockbuster.com

Kya Vulgar Hai Hum

Film: Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum

Producer: Balaji Films

Director: Sachin Yardi

Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh, Neha Sharma, Sarah Jane Dias, Anupam Kher, Chunky Pandey

Duration: 2hours 18 minutes

Genre: Sex Comedy

Ratings: Average

by Bhawana Somaaya

Story

Two good-for-nothing friends, Adi (Tusshar Kapoor) and Sid (Reteish Deshmukh) share an apartment and are forever looking for ways to earn some money and failing miserably. Adi is a struggling actor who dreams of becoming a superstar in films and fantasises titles such as Adidas a la Devdaas and Ekta Tiger a la Ek Tha Tiger.

Sid is a struggling DJ who has a way of getting into trouble and who shamelessly lives off his pug Suckru, the Vicky Donor among animals.

Desperate for love and money the two run away to Goa where they meet Neha Sharma and Sara Jane Dias.

Anupam Kher a jolly old widower spends time collecting film memorabilia and later part of the film getting obsessed with pugs.

What works about the film

Nothing actually but it is the perfect dish for you if you are looking for a musical X-rated screening in public place and enjoy double meaning dialogues. The screenplay is unapologetic.

Performances

As the struggling actor , Tusshar is crazy and has you in splits with his candour and Riteish matches him scene to scene and dialogue to dialogue.

Sarah Jane is beautiful and Neha Sharma, easily the next Parineeti Chopra. 

As the old man who believes that his mother is reborn as a pug, Anupam Kher is engaging but we have seen him in better comedies in the past. Chunky Pandey as the guru who chats with deities on the broadband is annoying.

What doesn’t work

There is an over dose of vulgarity and the censors allow it. The script makes digs at people, profession and films. The director makes sure to include every possible trick to make the film work so there are beaches and bikinis, butts and boobs, gay bars, lesbian hints, sexual innuendos, expletive one –liners which often hit below the belt!

Verdict

It is a senseless, brainless, never ending film which will be patronised by college going crowd and sex hungry middle aged people.

The film will do super business all over because the ‘kool’ actors provide you entertainment, entertainment, entertainment.

The review appears as it is in Blockbuster, a newly launched trade magazine.

You can subscribe to it at sales@starblockbuster.com

Not Intoxicating

Cocktail

Producer: Saif Ali Khan

Director: Homi Adajania

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty.

Genre: Romantic Comedy

by Bhawana Somaaya

Story:

Veronica (Deepika Padukone) is a free spirited girl who has made London her home and life is a party for her where the music never stops.

One day, she spots Meera (Diana Penty) bag and baggage weeping in a drug store bathroom and brings her home. They are poles apart but soon become best friends.

Gautam Kapoor is a compulsive flirt and lives without commitments. He finds a match in Veronica and moves into her apartment.

Trouble begins when Gautam’s mother Kavita Kapoor (Dimple Kapadia) lands in London unannounced and wants to confirm an alliance for her son immediately.

What works about the film:

Many things: From the opening frame there is a refreshing take to unfold a regular story in a different way. The titles drop on the screen like attractive headlines of a magazine cover and in the ensuing scenes; characters engage you in interesting, insightful conversations.

 Writers Imtiaaz and Sajid Ali present complexities of love very simply but love is never that simple.

There are some really funny lines in the film like Deepika telling a restaurant full of people “His bun is in my oven.”

Seductively shot by Anil Mehta and punctuated with extraordinary music by Pritam, all the songs are heart rending and express the anguish of various characters.

What doesn’t work:

The characters are professionals but never shown working. There is just one scene where Meera declares she has found a job as a visual designer and Deepika Padukone clicking pictures to establish that she is a photographer. Saif Khan is shown attending office but it is unclear what he does for a living.

There are no defining moments for the blossoming or the fading of relationships.

Post interval the pace and punch drop drastically.

Performances:

Debutante Diana Penty is beautiful but has a fixed expression on her face.

Saif Ali Khan has played myriad romantic roles in the past and this is certainly not his best. He is witty, charming, exasperated and earnest but that certain spark he brought to his earlier performances is missing. He does not have to reduce himself to dress as a drag and dance to ‘Sheila ki jawani…’

Deepika Padukone has the best role and sparkles as the candid, compassionate, insecure, uninhibited Veronica. She is most effective when she is reacting!

Boman Irani and Dimple Kapadia as Saif’s uncle and mother bring a distinct dialect to their performances.

Director’s cut:

Homi Adajania whose Being Cyrus was a pioneering effort attempts to weave another complex tale of passion and intrigue but the intricate layers get entangled. He presents London as a character and takes you through all the colours, textures and climates of the cold city.

It travels through dingy corridors, shining night clubs, crowded streets, and shabby apartments to unobtrusively make shifts in relationships and emotions.

There is a word Meera says to Gautam in the concluding scene, ‘Focus’. I guess Adajania was lacking in focus!!

USP:

This is not a regular love triangle. Cocktail is about female bonding and more important about female gaze. Departing from Hindi movies, it’s about women who exercise choices and sustain relationships.

Verdict:

Cocktail caters to the urban 20 to 30s age bracket and will do well only in the metropolis and the multiplexes.

www.bhawanasomaaya.com

The review appears as it is in Blockbuster, a newly launched trade magazine.

You can subscribe to it at sales@starblockbuster.com

Leave your brains at home!

Bol Bachchan

Producer: ADLF Films & Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision Limited

Director: Rohit Shetty

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin, Prachi Desai

by Bhawana Somaaya

Story:

Abbas Ali and his sister Sanya are fighting a property case with their relatives and the court moves the judgment in their relative’s favour.  On the advice of a well wishing uncle, the siblings move out of Delhi in search of livelihood to a small town Ranakpur.In Ranakpur through a series of co-incidences Abbas unwittingly gets embroiled in circumstances where he is forced to lie about his identity.

Employed as a supervisor by Ranakpur’s feudal lord Prithvisingh Raghuvanshi, Abbas lives in fear of being exposed but cannot muster courage to tell his plight to his volatile master.

What Works:

There is madness to the film and it is inoffensive. All characters, situations and emotions are exaggerated and there are no pretensions about it. The screenplay is a series of action and comedy items and the dialogues outrageously crazy!

There is chemistry between Ajay Devgan and Abhishek Bachchan and it is a treat to watch their well synchronized action sequences as they jump into cars and mansions breaking bones and glass doors.

Writers Sajid Farhad serve a bhelpuri concocted out of the English language and prepare scrambled eggs out of Hindi language to evoke laughter and they succeed. Music directors Himesh Reshamiya and Ajay Atul go berserk and colour to the crazy banquet.

What Doesn’t:

The film and the characters are predictable and there are no surprises in content or technique. The narrative gets rhetoric; the action sequences after Singham appear childlike andAmar Mohile’s background score breaks your eardrums. The characters take too long to confess so the climax drags unnecessarily. There is absolutely nothing to take home.

Performances:

Ajay Devgan as the large hearted, simpleton obsessed with speaking faulty English is sincere and engaging. Abhishek Bachchan cast in a sort of double role effortlessly transforms from macho Abhishek B (his name in the film) to effeminate Abbas Ali punctuating his dialogue with ‘Na dhin dhinna!’ His dance medley to entertain Prithvisingh has you in splits!! Supporting actors Neeraj Vora and Archana Puran Singh (also in double role as Zora and Madhmati) have better roles than the two heroines Asin and Prcahi Desai who are most of the time relegated to the background.

Directors Cut:

Rohit Shetty has, from his debut film, flirting with comedy and action genres. With Bol Bachchan, Shetty proves that he can and will balance all kinds of films in his kitty. His target is box-office and unabashedly combines all the ingredients of a blockbuster, as a result the script explores every issue under the sun be it urban- rural, sibling-parent, job-marriage, items-jigs, English –transgender, Hindu –Muslim, double roles and double entendre.

The opening song of the film where Amitabh Bachchan makes a guest appearance and emerges from an egg shell speaking breathlessly a la Anthony Gonsalves in Amar Akbar Anthony and his explanation of Bol Bachchcan is the USP of the film.

Ferrari Ki Sawaari takes us on a ride!!!!

Iss hafte do release hain.....

Chakradhaar jo Banarasi pandit ki kahani hain

Aur Viddu Vinod Chopra ki Farrari Ki Sawwari jo baap bete ki kahani hain.

Kuch saal pehle Vinod Chopra ne writer director Rajkumar Hirani ko Munnabhai MBBS Lage Rahe Munnabhai aur 3 Idiots mein break diya tha.

Ye teeno film direct karne se pehle Raju Hirani ek lambe arse tak Vinod Chopra ke assistant rahe.

Ab 22 saal Raju Hirani ke saath kaam karne ke baad writer director Rajesh maouskar apne guru ko gurudakshina dene ke liye taiyaar hain.

Farrari Ki Sawwari ek pariwar ke teen generation ki kahani hain. Bade pappa Boman Irani. Pappa yaane sharman Joshi aur kayo yaane Ritwik sahore.

Teenon kirdar ki apne routine hain.

Boman Irani purra din khursi par baith kar TV dekhte hain.Sharman Joshi subah breakfast banate hain- din mein RTO mein naukri karte hain aur raaste par traffic mein sab ki madad karte hain.

Kayyo school jaata hain aur school ke baad cricket khelta hain.

Teenon ki zindagi shayad aise hi nikal jaati agar unki zindagi mein ek avsar nahi aata.

Aur wo bhi aisa avsar jo rishton ke liye chunauti hain.

Ek baap ke apne bete ke prati aur ek bete ka apne baap ke prati Vishwas ki chunauti.

Film mein bohat saare sub plots hain aur bohat saare kirdaar magar jis tarha se alag alag kahaniyaan-  aur alag alag tracks main plot se jud jaate hain aap ke hosh ud jaate hain.

Farrari ki Sawwari film hain sachai ki – ussulon ki – adarsh ki – ashavaadi ki – aur sabse zyada sapnon ki.

Film mein na hi action hain – na naach gaana – na glamour aur na hi koi big stars.

Writer Rajesh Mapuskar aur Vinod Chopra Hirani ke dialogues ke saath pehchani gulliyon se nikalkar naye kisse aur naye hauslon ka parichay karwate hain.

Film ki kahani – screenplay – dialogues- saare characters – saare performances lajawab hain!

Boman aur Sharman ka Parsi ghar aur Sachin Tendulkar ki Farrari gaadi apne aap mein characters hain.

Jiss tarha se director farrari ko introduce karta hain maano koi glamorous diva!

Kissi bhi actor ki taarif karna muskil isliye hain kyon ki saare performers film mein actors nai characters hain.

Farrari ki Sawaari ko hume hamare zameer se parichay karwane ke liye Big Entertainment Ratings milte hain 4 stars.


The review appears in an edited version over weekends on 92.7 Big FM