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aloo chaat reviewed

Aloo chaat is a movie meant to be watched on a sunday afternoon on a tv on the condition of being extremely idle but is a blemish on punjabi comedies and is strictly not recommendable to be seen on silver screen.

the plot
aftaab shivdasani had gone to america for some inexplicable reason and when he returns he finds out that his parents are adamant on getting him married. they set up a veritable dekko for the couple and their to be in laws. shivdasani somehow ges rid of them. as the movie unravels we are made aware of the fact that aftab and his father kulbhushan kharbanda dont have a really understanding kinship and so he treats his cha cha ji as his confidant. he tells him that he already loves a girl(aamna) who is in america but is a muslim. so his cha cha ji contemplates a plot to instill make believe in aftab's family that aamna despite being a muslim is a homely girl compatible with aftab. what they do and what ensues comprises the meaty part of the movie

the positives
aftab shivdasani has grown by leaps and bounds as a good actor. certain comic punches are justified.aamna sharif looks pretty.acting of all the characters of aftab's family is truly to their potential.the movie is narrated brilliantly in a blue line bus in delhi by manoj phahwa in a very hillarious way. kulbhushan kharbanda sustains a very powerful punjabi accent. the foreign girls are very productive and forthcoming in their emotions. linda arseino,aftab's acting wife is just superb and deservedly must get credit for her performance. the two alloo tickee waalaas at manoj pahwa's clinic are way to brilliant and give a solid realism to the film.

the negatives
the movie fails to make you laugh continously. the intermittent jokes fail to keep up the momentum which is expected of punjabi comedies. everything unfolds as is expected. no twists and turns make for morbid viewing. aamna shareef has been underutilized and clearly looks just to tick her entry and foray into bollywood with this flick. Delhi has not been utilized at all in this "delhi based film". no reference is given to crude punjabi and even cliche jokes seem monotonous. the length of the movie is questionable too.
in toto it lacks the whiz and spark required to send the viewer into peels of laughter even while returning back home. i am astonished as to how this movie took 8 months to be made when so little of everythinng is depicted.

do not waste your time seeing or even mulling over such movies. id recommend you to see it when it comes on tv and review this review again. im sure you wont feel a tad different as dis.

ill go wid 1.5/5 for dis sagging saga far from being a rip roarer. it may not lull you to sleep but it evokes a resentment as to why one should see it.

stoneman murders reviewed

stoneman murders as a thriller has a brilliant plot but has laggardly action and cliched thrilling sequences

as is my new format. summary of the movie first.

kay kay menon is an inspector in mumbai police and resorts to barbaric beating of criminals whenever they don't regurgitate the authentic facts. one day he gets to investigate a fisherman who he thinks knows about a gory murder in a nearby area as he thinks him to be a vagabond loafing in the wild and committing the murder. he beats him black and blue and to his astonishment the person dies. subsequently kay kay is suspended to his opposition. he claims to solve the murder mystery which he thinks if left uncontrolled cud lead to serial killings.on his persistence in claiming to solve d case he is given d order of running a parallel inquiry but sans his police uniform or as a common man. he is inundated wid hurdles and hindrances in his quest to do so which form the rest of the story.............

the positives.
story is taken from real life and thats apprehensively why it seems believable.
kay kay menon is outstanding in certain sequences like the one in the bar and while enquiring about the case in a dhaba. he emotes despair,helplessness and his characters' restive state with characteristic aplomb. he is undoubtedly the highlight of the film. the reality in dingy by lanes of mumbai add too much reality into d muvee. the head police officer is good and so is virendra saxena as kamle. the small screen actor gives stiff competition to kay kay in acting. the viewer is all the more excited to know that it was a real story at the end of the movie.

the negatives
the movie ends in a very eclectic fashion involving occult which leave the viewer craving for a good completion. the bareback scene of rukhsana , kay kay's wife is consummately uncalled for and has no significance whatsoever. it just seems an ostensible signal from her to other bollywood directors that she can also dare to bare.too less thrilling phases make it a bit tedious.

all in all a good 100 minute watch. go for it if you are dying to see a movie before the producers' strike.
ill go with 3/5 for this thriller cum reality cinema. it rankles me that it didnt do too well at the box office but perhaps the indian audience is as strange as the pot boilers in bollywood.(but that is changing for sure).

13 B Reviewed

13 B may signal the coming of age of horror genre in bollywood movies but accentuates the failure of a solid storyline in hindi movies.

the story in a nutshell is that Manohar aka Mannu shifts to a new home encountering great hurdles and has a huge loan yet to be paid but is surfeit with the happiness which has ensued owing to that. everything goes hunky dory till a few eerie incidents take place which impel him to believe something amiss in his house. the suspicion turns all the more when he sees the programme ("sab khairyat")which his family regularly watches and of which he is hitherto overtly cynical.the events in the programme happen to match just what starts to happen to him and then he comes to realise that the programme is only telecast in his home and nowhere else. thats when he comes to know of a supernatural intervention in his abode. how he encounters these extra human elements forms the engrossing part of the story.

Firstly the positives.

The movie even without the use of gory murders,portentous roars and inexplicable scowls goes on to make u feel uncanny and scares you in certain sequences irrespective of the fact how strong hearted you may be.Madhavan is again praiseworthy and will stay in many a directors heart in mumbai as he has down south.Poonam Dhillon hasnt jaded a single bit and is as beautiful as she was 20 years ago.She carries off the role of Madhavan's mother with panache.Neetu Chandra again is conspicuous despite a very cornered role.After oye lucky and traffic signal she again fits in the role of the wife perfectly.Sachin Khadekar inadvertently shows whose the most senior actor in the film with his remarkable acting.The Subhash chandra bose actor seems to just move into the shoes of his character in any movie.
The sound effects make for a scary feel. Camera angles are applaudible.the movie enthralls one and exhorts one to stay at the seat throughout and this plus point has come up after quite a while in a bollywood movie which tend to sag half way down the runtime.

Negative points are headed by the repetition of eye close ups throughout the film. it is unfathomable as to how eye close ups will scare even the most captivated watcher.the rain and thunder effects are avoidable since people have grown over them and dey arent terrifying anymore.the ending isnt happy which couldve been so and left the audience go back home with a feel good explanation of the movie. another major shortcoming of the film is that although the intended scary scenes might be to their objective but they appear very sporadically throughout the movie. the viewer needed to be intimidated more. if comapred to a hollywood horror movie like say The Ring it stands nowhere but still its better than major hindi horror films.

considering the mesmerizing and dazzling pace and intuitiveness which the film induces it isnt a bad watch after all.
ill go with 2.5 on 5 for dis new age horror flick. watch it once and you wont rue.

Delhi 6 reviewed (guest column)

My dear reader ,
i am back and sorry for returning late. Actually the academic constraints have compelled me to this situation. anyways this week the review is of a 2 week old movie a very popular movie which failed to gross much at the box office. There is a small change in the scheme of things in this review. the change is that i am not rviewing this but my good friend Ms Priyam Bagga is doing it. i have already introduced you to her. i am thankful and grateful at the same breath to her for taking the pains for doing so. i hope you equally like her review as you did mine. awaiting your response

Over to Priyam:

Delhi 6 ------ All hype, no substance

With all the hype surrounding the movie Delhi 6, everyone went to the cinema hall expecting quite a show. Laughter, awe and maybe a few tears along the way. But the movie is far from that. Too much effort has gone into making the movie into an art film and the plot has been completely ignored which has turned the movie into a predictable chain of events which have been tied loosely together. The movie moves quite slow and the sequences are left incomplete. The movie tries to cash in on the monkey man mania in north delhi with a dash of comedy with all the news coverage that it got and how people reacted to the whole issue. The Background of hindu mythology makes the movie a bit more interesting to watch. With such a strong star cast a lot more could have been done to make the movie a success, eventhough it has been accepted internationally, majority of the Indian audience didn't quite enjoy it. Waheeda rehman is one of the strongest characters in the film along with rishi kapoor. The aesthetic aspect of the film is very nicely done.corruption in the police department, lower caste untouchability, problems of civic amenities- lack of water and electricity, shown in a very comic light.Also the superstitions and occult practises by some of us is shown in a very prudent manner. The drawbacks of the same are accentuated . Other side of delhi, the more urban one has been completely ignored. The use of masakalli, a dove whose wings had been tied up to show the connection between a father (om puri) who's afraid to let go of his cherished daughter. Sonam Kapoor portays the daughter who has big dreams but his father is forcing her to get married. The end of the movie is too abrupt and disappointing- leaves the audience with many unanswered questions. The dream sequence is one of the most artistic sequences of the film merging new york and new delhi but it ends as ubruptly as the movie itself. The hindu muslim unity in chandni chowk makes u feel good but then the minor incidents that cause a riot are worrying, but at the end of the day peace prevails. abhishek's accent is a bit too much. jalebi and the prejudices against the lower caste- only an outsider can understand the triviality of it all.

i go wid a mediocre 2.5 on 5 for dis high expectation breaker.