A couple of weeks ago, Oct 21^st to be precise, Shammi Kapoor turned 75. Shammi Kapoor is and always will be my all-time favourite, so what if he had long moved into character roles by the time I was born! There are others whom I like a lot be it Amitabh or Dharmendra or Sunny Deol or Govinda or Aamir or Hrithik but no one comes even near to him. Shammi Kapoor is 1 to 10 on my scale all others are after himJ

There has been an article published on Screen to commemorate his birthday. You can view the article at:

http://www.screenindia.com/fullstory.php?content_id=13953

Now, for the most part I completely agree with the article, though there is an amazing blooper (Prince was not a disaster but a hit!). I would prefer to see some changes in the songs mentioned. For a fan like me, my list would also have included songs like –

“Tumne Mujhe Dekha” (Teesri Manzil)

“Muqabla Humse Na Karo” (Prince)

“Tumne Pukaara Aur Hum Chale Aaye” (Rajkumar)

“Aasmanwale Teri Duniya Se” (Laila Majnu)

“Mujhe Apna Yaar Banalo” (BoyFriend)

“Dheere Chal Dheere Chal” (BoyFriend)

“Chali Chali Aisi Hawa Yeh Chali” (Bluff Master)

“Jab Mohabbat Jawan Hoti Hai” (Jawan Mohabbat)

“Ya Dilruba Ya Dilruba” (China Town)

“Subanallah” (Kashmir Ki Kali)

“Singapore” (Singapore)

& a lot more….basically it might have included all the songs picturised on himJ what songs, what movies and what a star! There is none like him and none will ever be, though there have been wannabes trying to ape him!

Currently, like every year, I am waiting for his reply to the wishes that I sent him. Signing off in Shammi kapoor style.........

Tally Ho!

As mentioned in my previous post, here is why I would avoid this movie:

Farhan Akhtar’s Don releases this Friday in what is expected to be the highest grossing weekend ever in the history of Hindi cinema. This is due to the fact that another highly anticipated movie, with top stars like Akshay / Salman is also releasing on the same day. There are already reports of some amazing advance bookings for both movies. I am definitely not one of the people waiting to see DON. Naturally the question, why? Here are my purely personal reasons and is not a movie review as I haven’t seen itJ:

Remake: The movie is a remake of a classic. A classic that has ruled our hearts for a long time! Agreed even Don was not an original (I doubt anyone knows thisJ), it was inspired by the Shammi Kapoor starrer China Town (with famous song “Baar Baar Dekho”). Getting inspired is one thing and remaking as is, is another. As a rule I am against remakes (remixes also!) as I feel they mean that the person associated with it does not have enough creativity to create his/her own thing and is using something created by others. Farhan Akhtar lets down after giving us such classy original movies like Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya. A classic like Don should be enjoyed as the original. SRK/Farhan have consistently said this is a tribute to the original, but as a tribute they shouldn’t spoil the fun of the original. They say the current generation hasn’t seen Don, which should officially be categorized as the biggest joke of the year. Come on, in the last month the original has been on Set Max Channel a couple of times and is again scheduled this Sunday! Just watch the original and see the impact!

There are people who say enjoy this movie as is but don’t compare with the original. This might have been possible if not for all the talk mentioned above.

The main reasons one watches a movie could be for its casting or songs or dialogues. Let us dissect them here:

Casting: The most important reason for not watching the movie is its cast. This movie has the most absurd casting under the sun (apart from the crap that RGV is about to throw on us, which is a separate topic altogether). This is so bad that you want to tell Farhan to go to Agra! Let us dissect them one by one –

1. SRK as Don/Vijay (Amitabh in the original): SRK is a good actor, no doubt about that. But he has his limitations. He is good in the romantic movie genre but not in action movies. Anyone who does not agree with this can be broadly slotted into one of the two categories – an ardent SRK fan or people who haven’t seen his “action” movies. The ex-pressions that SRK has come up with in this movie remind you of those utter disasters of a movie watching experience called “Duplicate” and “Ram Jaane”. Just watch them! Also SRK’s role is somewhat similar to the one in Duplicate which also had a similar double role. His dialogue delivery is not what the public call “dum daar” and without that how do you expect the immortal lines from the original to be replicated. Already the one about “gyarah mulkon ki pulis” is on TV and is bad!
2. Arjun Rampal as Jasjit (Pran in the original): Actually this is more shocking. Pran was an accomplished and proven actor, a legend in his own lifetime but Arjun is nothing of that sort. Agreed he is a good looker but his acting…hmmm. Let me not even get into dissecting it!
3. Kareena Kapoor as Kamini (Helen in the original): Anyone who knows Hindi movies can be as disenchanted as I am when you plan to replace the incomparable Helen. Agreed Kareena looks good but dancing to “Yeh mera dil” ala Helen! She also tries to ape Helen’s movements which make her look stupid. There are some dance steps which should be left to the maestros and not be tried by novices. On top of this her statement was “People will associate this song with me in future, after this film” (the second best joke of the year!). The only reason this song picturisation is not the worst of the movie is that “Khaike” is hopelessly bad!
4. Priyanka Chopra as Roma (Zeenat Aman in the original): Zeenat was anyway not a great actress and Roma’s character needs to be shown sexy and flamboyant which Priyanka hopefully can pull off.
5. Other castings like Boman Irani as DCP Dsilva and Om Puri as Malik are actually good. Iftekar and Om Shivpuri (in the original) were not great shakes as actors but were ones who held their own. But these two are in a separate league.
6. No idea who all would play the roles of Deepu, Munni, Inspector Verma, Narang, Shetty etc…all characters which are etched in movie buffs memory!

 Songs: As already mentioned they are bad! The only decent song is the “Main Hoon Don” which has been done quite well. Udit Narayan tries to inject life into blasphemously pathetic re-mix of the classic song “khaike paan banaraswala” with his energetic rendering of the song but there is only so much a singer can do. The song reminds us of the “Jhakaar Beats” phenomenon that ailed the music industry in the 90s. Also point to note is the “dancing”. What on earth was Saroj Khan thinking about (maybe the judging in the reality show “Nach Baliye” has had an effect here!) while choreographing this one. Others are also bad.

Like somebody put it, “It seems casting people were on a holiday. SRK should have been in Jaaneman and Akshay in Don as the roles would have suited them better”. The movie will be having strong Pro or Anti sentiments also. Some people are watching it, just to see what has been screwed up, if at all. My take is that people who go to see what it is all about and come back saying it was as bad as expected are actually encouraging such movie makers. The makers just need people to watch it once and their box office collections zoom, which in turn mean that other film makers will try such stupidity. I for one don’t want to contribute to Ritesh Sidwani’s coffers (Producer of the new Don).

One thing for sure that the movie will be definitely good in, is the technicality. It would be amazingly shot for sure. It will also have a big opening weekend and maybe break records. But that is no substitute for a good movie watching experience.

This year has been amazing for Hindi film lovers. There have been numerous different movies hitting the marquee and they have made their mark. There have been movies which wowed the critics, movies which wowed the masses and movies which managed both.

Box office has never been this big. Movies touching 40 crore (Rs 400 million) net gross in India alone was a rarity, which occurred mostly once a year. This year we have had movies like Krrish (Rs 650 million), Fanna (Rs 530 million), Rang De Basanti (Rs 510 million), Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna (Rs 450 million) and Phir Hera Pheri (Rs 400 million) and the latest which is sure to break a lot of records Lage Raho Munnabhai (Rs 350 million in 2 weeks and running very strong).

With all this happening, the remainder of the year looks very promising indeed. Here I list the movies which I am eagerly awaiting:

1. Dhoom 2: This is definitely the movie that I am very curious about. The first part was different from the run of the mill and bought the biker movies to Indian films. This one is supposed to take it to the next level. With Hrithik Roshan as the baddie for the first time with the gorgeous Aishwarya Rai by his side and the news of some amazing stunts picturized for the movie. It doesn’t get bigger than this and this movie is surely HOT!
2. Guru: Mani Ratnam, arguably one of the best directors of India, returns to Hindi cinema with this movie. With Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Mithun Chakraborthy, the expectations are high!
3. Bhagam Bhag: Govinda returns to the silver screen after a hiatus in a comedy (that itself is enough for meJ). The best part is that he returns in a movie directed by the current king of comedy Priyadarshan and also has Akshay Kumar in the lead. Akshay has been amazing in the last couple of years and this makes the movie worth the wait.
4. Kaafila: Sunny Deol in an out and out actioner (what more do I needJ)with a different patriotic mode and the movie to be directed by Amtoje Mann whose movie about the 1984 riots "Hawaayein" was very well received by the critics.

5. Kabul Express: The promos look very promising and with Arshad Warsi and John Abraham expect a breezy adventure.

6. Jaaneman: The Akshay-Salman combo reminds you of the good time you had in “Mujhse Shaadi Karogi”. The promos are good and songs hummable.

Apart from the above there are the following movies which rate high for some people but they don’t as of now for me.

1. The promos of Vivah have just started and the music sounds very soothing, this movie might move up my ladder once full-fledged promos start and I hear the songs.
2. Babul I am not sure what to expect as I mostly stay clear of tear-jerkers.
3. As for Umrao Jaan, I don’t wait for remakes as a rule and the original was boring for me. This one does have Aishwarya who is looking absolutely stunning but am not sure whether I would even see this.
4. Then there is Don. Some people are really waiting for this and I am not one bit curious to see this one. Why would be question? I will list the reasons in a separate postingJ

Omkara is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello. The expectation from the movie is huge due to the accomplished names associated with it, both on and off the screen. As also that it is the first time some filmmaker has attempted to adapt a tragic Shakespearean drama. I watched the movie yesterday in the paid preview and here is my take on it.

Omkara( Ajay Devgun) is a ‘bahubali’ (name given for a local dons in UP/Bihar) who is very close to politician bhaisaab (Naseeruddin Shah). When Bhaisaab moves from being an MLA to an MP, he nominates Omkara for MLA seat. This leaves a vacancy for the bahubali and Kesu Firangi (Vivek Oberoi), a trusted lieutenant is made one. This enrages Langda Tyagi (Saif), another lieutenant as he expected the post. Raju (Deepak Dobriyal), the person who was supposed to marry Dolly (Kareena), Omkara’s fiancée, edges him on. The story then is about how a jealous Langda creates suspicions and manages to create a rift between the protagonists by poisoning Omkara’s mind about Kesu and Dolly. Indu (Konkona), Langda’s wife, becomes a pawn without knowing. By the time Omkara realizes the truth it is too late.

Some outstanding scenes/dialogues in the movie to look out for –
1. The dialogue Dolly’s (Kareena) father says to Omkara that a girl who can deceive her father can deceive anyone
2. The sequence where Omkara kills a rival for betting on his love and says “Sharath ghodon pe lagave hai kathor … sheron pe nahin” (“bet on horses not lions”)
3. The killing of bhaisaab’s arch rival
4. The climax is expertly executed and has a chilling effect with everyone doing an outstanding job here.

The movie succeeds in creating a rural UP ambience. The dialogues, the settings, the performances all work towards that direction. Cinematography is a plus which aids this. The movie never lacks in pace and is expertly edited. Another aspect is the music which is very good and Gulzar’s lyrics are fantastic, as can be expected from the master. “Beedi” and “Saathi Re” are the songs to look out for. The movie does tend to be a bit too realistic. The expletives used could have been toned down as also some ‘below the belt’ humor. Agreed these make the movie realistic but will put off quite a few people.

Coming to the performances, this is one area where the movie does not lack anything and the expectations from such a cast are completely met.

The one performance that really stands out head and shoulders above is Saif’s as Langda. This is no mean achievement considering that the movie has some splendid performers and Saif had never played such a character in his career. He is simply brilliant. Be it the limp in his walk or the stained teeth, be it the way he talks or the emotions he displays on screen are all fabulous. A definite award worthy performance!

Ajay Devgun as the smoldering Omkara is also very good. The pathos he shows when suffering with suspicion is fantastic.

Kareena Kapoor also puts in a fantastic performance. She plays the innocent Dolly to perfection. This is after a long time that I can talk about her performance. Just goes to show what she can achieve given the right directors and setup as otherwise most of her characters are way too loud (K3G, Khushi, Main Prem Ki diwani hoon come to mind) and those really put off a lot of people.

Vivek Oberoi is competent, so is Nasser who has what you can call a special apperance. Konkona Sen-Sharma is brilliant as Indu. Her ex-pressions in the climax are worth watching. Bipasha has only some scenes apart from the two songs where she performs very well. New comer, Deepak Dobriyal as the jilted lover of Dolly, thirsting for revenge is a find for sure. Whether he goes the way of Vijay Raaz is something to be watched out for.

Direction wise the movie is fantastic. Vishal Bhardwaj who previously directed the universally acclaimed Makdee and Maqbool is in form here as well. He is a multi talented personality. He has not only directed this but also given music and written the story and screenplay. He is a director to watch out for the future.

Overall the movie is good but the expletives-laden rustic language is a big put off for families. Another jarring point is the dialect in which the dialogues are spoken. It will be difficult for people outside of UP-Delhi-Bihar belt to really understand the nuances. This can make some not really grasp the movie which goes against it. Watch it if you can manage the language.

Given that most finals since 1986 have been rather drab affairs it was not right to have great expectations from this Italy Vs France final either. But it was a pleasant surprise. The match had all the elements of a potential blockbuster movie. A host of stars, who wanted a last hurrah, retiring after the match, added further spice. Also, Italy had not lost a match since 1986 in normal time (shootout in 90, 94 and 98; golden goal in 2002)

The match almost started with a penalty. France was awarded one in the 5^th minute. Zidane took an audacious shot and gave France a lead. Given that France had already had matches were all they did was hold on to a 1-0 advantage, there were fears that the rest of the match could be the same. But Italy came back very strongly and equalized by the 20^th minute. Materazzi, the guy who conceded the penalty, headed home a goal, how filmyJ The Italians then tried to get a lead of their own but that was not to be. The French defense of the set pieces was particularly awful. Every time Italy got a corner or free kick you sensed there was an opportunity but somehow they failed (once thwarted by crossbar also). Barthez was his usual incompetent self (the goal could have been saved).

Second half had the French coming out with more purpose but the famed Italian defence held on magnificently. I have to admit that no other team has given me so much joy in seeing tackles. The way Italians do is plain awesome. Cannavaro is the best defender in the world and I think he will get the golden ball as well. The match meandered towards extra time in spite of Italians getting Del Peiro, Iaquinta and De Rossi (back after serving a 4 match ban) in for a more attacking formation.

Extra time saw the moment of the day. With less than 10 minutes remaining, something possessed Zidane and he head butted Materazzi. Zidane was promptly and rightly sent off to end his illustrious career in a disgusting manner. What a shame! You don’t expect someone of this stature to end his career in this way.

But the match then went to penalties to give a sense of déjà vu. The only other final to go to shootout was 1994 were Italy had lost (thanks to Baggio and Baresi missing penalties) to Brazil and Italy had a poor record in shootouts. You got the sense that the goalies would be the difference but how wrong was that! Both of them did not have to do anything. It was amazing penalty taking. France missed their regular takers like Zidane(sent off), Henry and Viera (Substituted) but still were good. Only the second one taken by Trezuguet was missed. As Grosso stepped forward the tension was palpable and he had the whole nation’s expectations riding on his shoulders. He coolly slotted home to start wild celebrations. Italy had won a shootout 5-3 in WC, an achievement in itselfJ, but in the final made it all the more sweeter for them. France played well but just didn’t look threatening to take it past the Italians. A good match to end a fantastic WC!

Disclaimer: The review is my personal opinion and contains some spoilers. Read it at your discretion.

Corporate stars Bipasha Basu, Kay Kay Menon, Rajat Kapur, Raj Babbar, Vinay Apte, Lilette Dubey, Bharat Dhabolkar, Harsh Chaya and directed by two-time National Award winner and once-upon-a-time Ram Gopal Varma protégé, Madhur Bhandarkar.

On the back of Madhur’s previous movies like Chandni Bar, Satta and Page 3 (excluding his commercial duds like Aan and Trishakti) this movie has quite a bit of expectations around it. Also, the trailers gave the impression of a slick and gripping drama played out in the corporate board rooms. Movies like this have to rely on a taut script, great acting and gripping drama with no time to relax for the viewer. The movie shows the fight for supremacy between rival groups which leads them to abandon all ethics and morals, throw it out of the window. Like a character says “Business is not done with emotion”. All that matters is money and power, nothing else.

Corporate is a story about two rival food majors -- Marwah Group and Sehgal Group headed by Dharmesh Marwah (Raj Babbar) and Vinay Sehgal (Rajat Kapur) respectively – and their fight. The movie starts with election results being announced and the party supported by the Sehgals forming the government at the center. This helps them in securing a tie-up with a big multi-national as also go one-up on the Marwahs.

The state government, headed by a third party, announces divestment of a PSU for which there are multiple bidders. The movie then shows the wheeling and dealings that the contenders do to be the front runner. During all this, Ritesh (Kay Kay Menon) returns from London and joins his brother-in-law’s group (Sehgal) where his lover Nishi (Bipasha) is a top executive. Marwah CEO Parvez Merchant (Sandeep Mehta) is a person who lusts after everyone (including Nishi of course). Parvez’s secretary is actually a corporate spy who keeps passing on information to Nishi. She passes the info that Marwah’s are planning to buy out a competitor. The Sehgals buy out a couple of competitors with the help of their foreign collaborators but the Marwahs buy out the minister in charge of the divestment, Gulabrao (Vinay Apte) and eventually win the bid.

Nishi then comes to know (thru the spy) that Marwah are not going to use the PSU for mineral water production but for a mint-based drink launch. She steals the proposal from Parvez, by using a model after whom his lusts and Sehgals come up with their own plan. After some more drama, Sehgals launch their drink ahead of the Marwahs and capture the market. The twist, before the release they come to know that the drink has more than the prescribed limit of pesticides but Vinay asks the project to go through. At this their CEO Naveen (Harsh Chhaya) resigns but still the product comes out. This news reaches Marwah who uses his clout to bring the issue in the open with the help of media and the helpful minister. To save themselves the Sehgals ask Nishi to take the blame and she takes it to become the scapegoat.

This is Corporate for you.

How many times have you seen such kind of stories? Replace the entrepreneurs and soft drink with zamindars/builders and land of the old and voila it is same old story! The only difference is that it is given a glossy, corporate look with all characters sporting Allen Solly suits and taking about their millions. The movie moves at a decent pace wherein it does not bore you to death.

The culprit here is the script. The movie set out to be novel but ends up as new wine in old bottle. There is nothing new in the movie that you didn’t know and is all too predictable. Me and my friends were trying to guess the next move and were pretty accurate every time! Does say something doesn’t it? Also, too many things are crammed in the story to show all kinds of nexus’s that exist, with the end not being satisfying enough. There is the politician-businessman nexus and the corruption that goes on. There is the businessman-media nexus and the bollywood angle as well. There are too many cinematic liberties taken (I do agree certain number is required). The songs should have been chopped as they are a hindrance to the narrative. There was also no need to take a dig at a particular director by showing a character (Manoj Joshi in a cameo) as coffee-loving, gay movie director.

The conversations between the office assistants as also the ones between the ministers’ bodyguards bring a few chuckles.

Bipasha made statements like “If a man does not have ambition he is a loser if a woman has one she is a b****” while promoting the movie. She also has dialogues to the effect that career oriented women are not looked favorably by the society and all. This made us believe that this is a different movie. But, what does her character do? The character was anything but career oriented. Agreed she plays games to get secrets from competitors but she gives all up for her love. The statements, dialogues and actions of the character don’t go hand in hand. Let us ask ourselves a question here – who in his/her sane mind, being career oriented, would take a fall and accept that all wrongs done are by them to save the company’s reputation, that too so that her lover’s family’s reputation does not get affected? All this after she suddenly talks about ethics and opposes the move (after doing all unethical things herself) and finally finds herself dumped. Wow!

Most of the characters are half-baked.

Bipasha is ok and that is an awesome step for her, considering her previous outings where she ‘acted’. The kind of faces she makes while showing concern or while crying needs to change for her to be taken seriously.

Kay Kay Menon is good in parts but the character is not etched properly and ends up looking like a confused “dhobi ka kutta”

Rajat Kapur as the suave, cold-hearted Vinay Sehgal is very good. So is Raj Babbar as the religious Marwah. Achint Kaur is also ok.

Sandeep Mehta is good as the lusting CEO but his character is cut off mid way. It could have been used to make the movie more interesting. Harsh Chhaya is ok.

Vinay Apte as the scheming minister is fantastic. Lillete Dubey and Bharat Dabolkar are completely wasted.

Minissha Lamba looked pretty and was good in her debut movie Yahaan but here she does not look pretty neither does she get any scope. Totally wasted!

Sameer Dattani has one dialogue in the movie and 3-4 scenes. He is better off acting in Kannada movies where he is somewhat of a success with movies like Monalisa and Amrutha Dhare doing well. Again wasted!

Noted people like writer Javed Akhtar and ad film maker Prahlad Kakkar make special appreances and play themselves. Even that does not make proceedings interesting.

Madhur’s direction lacks the punch of his earlier movies. It says a lot when at the end, the viewer doesn’t feel for the character and is indifferent to her plight. I think the movie won’t be liked by the ‘intelligentsia’ as well.

Overall a disappointing movie which is not worth the admission price. You are better off watching it when it comes on TV and wait for a highly anticipated Omkara or the Pirates of the Caribean sequel releasing later this month.

Rating – 1.5/5