Sunday, August 16, 2009

KAMINEY REVIEWED



Kamniney is a paradigm shift from the usual poitboiler bollywood movies,which goads the viewer to never drop his thinking cap throughout the 2 odd hours it thrills, yet it retains the basic premise of an Indian movie.

BRIEF PLOT
Shahid Kapur plays a double role. And both his roles have speaking impediments. One of the character he enacts is the simpleton Guddu who stammers and has lines drawn for his career path. On the other hand Charlie also played by Shahid has a lisp. They are brothers but separated 3 years ago in the wake of their father's demise. Guddu gets into trouble when he marries the sister(Priyanka Chopra) of an aspiring Mumbai politician who wanted her to marry a builder's son so that in return he wouldve got the funds for his political arousal. But when the brother discovers that his sister has married Guddu he commences his journey to nab him. Charlie on the other hand is a ragamuffin and a vagabond who bets on horse races. His miseries begin when he loses his money in a bet and tries to get hold of the winner of his lost money. Some police officers are involved in a drug racket whose member is the one with the prize money. Following the series of events the lives of the 2 brothers intersperse and story out of story emanates.

POSITIVES
1.From the outset itself, the foundation for the adrenaline pumping movie is laid.The wellspring is quite different from usual action thrillers.

2.Shahid Kapur is over the top and absolutely breathtaking and does wonderful justice to both his characters whom he through his impeccable acting makes 2 distinct characters look completely different almost as though they were played by different actors. How he has metamorphosed into an actor worth a lead role is a story youll know after seeing this movie. This is truly a filip for his career.

3.Shahid fans will be delighted to see his well chiselled and toned body. He flexes his muscles on more than one occasion so the viewer gets a wholesome sneak into his curves.

4. For Shahid selection of this sort of a movie after a dud and completely different movie like Kismat Konnection is truly commendable. He has got a well written script by a thinking director.

5.Priyanka Chopra sans a great deal of screentime impresses immensely and is truly the reigning queen of bollywood. The scenes where she cries look astonishingly real.

6. The cinematography is done like a hollywood movie with camera angles and sequences hitherto unseen in a bollywood movie. The starting and ending of the movie make you feel that Indian cinema has arrived on the scene.

7.The songs are not anything remotely like dancing and prancing about trees and beautiful flowers. They are so intelligently and astutely executed that you wonder where was the Vishal Bhardwaj all this while?

8.The side charcters are inimtable and seem to add colours to a well contemplated script.

9. After a very very long while has a movie come , the dialogues of which form the essence of it and adorn it so that the viewer takes along certain scenes to home and with uncanny ease remembers the parts of a complicated storyline.

10. There is no time frittered away in a move away from the habit of hindi movies ie vivid explanation of certain unnecessary scenes. Kaminey is to the point and some food for thought is left for the viewer also, an idea of story narration seen only in hollywood films.

NEGATIVES
1. The film complicates matters by piling one story over the other in a speck of time leaving the viewer literally no time to comprehend what the previous sequence meant. Its only at the end that the epiphany dawns upon the viewer and its only then that the "not understood pieces and scenes" in the mind start to fall in their place.

2.The movie is not meant for the undiscerning viewer as he would find it nonsensical and will not be able to comprehend the goings on throughout.

3.Screenplay becomes too fast for the viewer to understand the pace of things.


In toto this movie will delight the viewer who wants to see a tangible change in an Indian movie with distinct features which rankle the cerebra.

A great piece of work and a magnum opus of Vishal BHardwaj and Shahid Kapur. The film does live upto its hoopla and din and leaves a mark on the mind even some while after watching it.

ILL GO WITH 4 OUT OF 5 FOR THIS ONE. Id say go to the cinemas and take out some of your time from your busy schedule to see the transformation this movie brings to BOLLYWOOD.

Sunday, August 2, 2009

LOVE AAJ KAL REVIEWED



Love Aajkal disappoints the viewer with the same conviction as its trailers evoke curiosity and eagerness to see a good film. No points for guessing how it shapes up in the end.

BRIEF PLOT
There are 2 stories in the film.The irony is that both of them are parallel to each other in a distinct way. Saif and Deepika are a happy couple till one day they realise that they ought to part ways owing to their respective professional askance.They separate so amicably that it looks more like a patch up.Enters Rishi Kapoor who tells Saif that in him he sees himself of yore.He also tells him he also had a similar story like Saif but he choose to face the hardships rather than resort to escapism like Saif was doing. At first Saifs laughs Rishi's saga away But as time passes he realizes how difficult it becomes for gim to stay away from Deepika who harbours feelings akin to this . How all this happens and how they patch up again forms the rest of the story.

POSITIVIES
1.Though Saif overdoes his scenes many times but still he is the essence of the movie.
2.Rishi Kapoor is his usual pragmatic self. His histrionics too good.
3.The climax is happy for those who like elation ridden denouements.
4.The jokes are funny to an extent.
5.The story is simple.
6.Saif Ali Khan does justice to his role as the young Rishi Kapoor. He is brilliant at times.

NEGATIVES
1.Deepika Padukone has started to try but her acting can still be lucidly dubbed as hamming.
2.Saif Ali Khan over acts a la SRK.
3.There are too many scenes which defy logic.The director needs to justify how people can So easiy break up on someone and how they can comeback in their lives many seasons later? How easily at marriage parties, the bride exchanges messages on her mobiles? How a young Rishi Kapoor can elope with a girl on her marriage day?
How easily Deepika Padukone's husband played by Rahul Khanna allows her to spend time aloof and how easily he lets her go to talk to her "friend" in the name of "sab accha nahi ho raha hai". All these issues are inexplicable and in real life these things dont happen so easily and smoothly as is shown. Too much has been left on our hearts to believe. The film is a food for hear rather than thought.
4.Rishi Kapoor couldve been utilized more.
5.Locations like London and San Fransisco are completely squandered and their beauty not showcased in any manner whatsoever. Even Delhi is frittered away.
6. The songs are wasted.

It is an innocuous film as far as adult content is concerned. But on the other hand it has nothing in it that you can sit with your family and enjoy the movie.

All in all a one time watch wont make you feel huilty but this is a certain disappointment from the director who came up with a rib tickler like Jab We Met when he donned the director's hat last.

ILL GO WITH 2.5 ON 5. WATCH AT A THEATER OR IF AFTER READING MY REVIEW YOU ARE BOGGED DOWN. DONT HESITATE TO TAKE THE MOVIE IN PEN DRIVE FROM ME.

Love Aaj Kal