by Saayak Santra
There are not many black comedies in the realm of Bollywood. One of the reason for that may be that filmmakers do not think that black comedy goes hand to hand with the modes of storytelling from an Indian perspective, that it provides more of a European perspective towards life. Yet, Abhishek Chaubey, in his directorial debut, chose to go down that road.
“Ishqiya” is a 2010 Indian black comedy film starring Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi and Salman Shahid in the lead roles. The film tells the story of two thieves, Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi), who are on the run after stealing from their boss, Mushtaq. Khalujaan and Babban are uncle and nephew, and there is the added complication that Mushtaq is Khalujaan’s brother in law. Khalujaan tries to rely on this connection to escape Mushtaq’s murderous plans for revenge,...
There are not many black comedies in the realm of Bollywood. One of the reason for that may be that filmmakers do not think that black comedy goes hand to hand with the modes of storytelling from an Indian perspective, that it provides more of a European perspective towards life. Yet, Abhishek Chaubey, in his directorial debut, chose to go down that road.
“Ishqiya” is a 2010 Indian black comedy film starring Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi and Salman Shahid in the lead roles. The film tells the story of two thieves, Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi), who are on the run after stealing from their boss, Mushtaq. Khalujaan and Babban are uncle and nephew, and there is the added complication that Mushtaq is Khalujaan’s brother in law. Khalujaan tries to rely on this connection to escape Mushtaq’s murderous plans for revenge,...
- 5/21/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
BollySpice is proud to announce a new partnership with Mela, the new multi-platform entertainment service that provides consumers worldwide one of the largest collections of premium South Asian content. Mela has the largest collection of Bollywood movies available over the Internet with over 850 films with more being added regularly. This totally cool service is available now on PC and Apple computers, along with the Mela TV Apps on the iPad (outside India), Roku (Outside India and Us), Android, Kindle, Samsung TV and DVD (in Beta). Mela represents the diversity of genres, tastes, languages, and regional flavors present in the rich cultural heritage of South Asia by licensing premium content from some of the biggest movie studios and television broadcast companies in the region. Mela brings premium entertainment that includes dozens of live television channels covering news and entertainment, hundreds of hit Bollywood and regional movies (with an increasing number of...
- 7/31/2012
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Mumbai, Jan 31 - Bollywood actor Vidya Balan promoted her film ‘Ishqiya’ at a mall here on Saturday.
‘Ishqiya’ deals with the emotional journey of three individuals. Two thieves Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi), who are on the run from their boss Mushtaq (Salman Shahid), seek refuge with an old friend, but end up meeting his widow Krishna (Vidya Balan).
As they plan their escape, they are drawn to Krishna and the threat of imminent death puts them on a path of violence and betrayal.
The film.
‘Ishqiya’ deals with the emotional journey of three individuals. Two thieves Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) and Babban (Arshad Warsi), who are on the run from their boss Mushtaq (Salman Shahid), seek refuge with an old friend, but end up meeting his widow Krishna (Vidya Balan).
As they plan their escape, they are drawn to Krishna and the threat of imminent death puts them on a path of violence and betrayal.
The film.
- 1/31/2010
- by News
- RealBollywood.com
Movie Review: Ishqiya; Star cast: Naseeruddin Shah, Vidya Balan, Arshad Warsi and Salman Shahid; Director: Abhishek Chaubey; Rating: *** 1/2 -Wickedly funny.
Two crooks on the run, Khaalujaan (Naseer) and Babban (Arshad) arrive at beautiful widow Krishna’s (Vidya Balan) doorstep. They tell her they were late hubby’s good friends at one point of time. The duo has actually run away from their Jiju Mushtaq (Salman Shahid) after duping him of a huge sum of money and is hiding at Krishna’s house to save their lives from him. But Mushtaq arrives at Krishna’s house and warns.
Two crooks on the run, Khaalujaan (Naseer) and Babban (Arshad) arrive at beautiful widow Krishna’s (Vidya Balan) doorstep. They tell her they were late hubby’s good friends at one point of time. The duo has actually run away from their Jiju Mushtaq (Salman Shahid) after duping him of a huge sum of money and is hiding at Krishna’s house to save their lives from him. But Mushtaq arrives at Krishna’s house and warns.
- 1/29/2010
- by realbollywood
- RealBollywood.com
TORONTO -- Presented as a sober-minded venture in which veteran Hindi film producers present a gritty story in war-torn Afghanistan, Kabul Express has the benefit of a writer-director accustomed to making documentaries in the region. It offers authentic locations (making the shoot a dangerous one) and supporting cast and clearly understands the politics of the conflict. Still, the resulting film is a run-of-the-mill road story that will fare poorly with American audiences.
In its opening seconds, in fact, there is something that any sensible American distributor will insist on removing: Footage of the World Trade Center being struck by an airliner serves as preamble to the story, which would be an iffy decision even with a serious film. As Kabul quickly proves to be largely comic in tone, including this footage is simply unjustifiable.
After a quick bit of scene-setting narration, we are dropped into Afghanistan in November 2001, where a pair of journalist buddies from India have been assigned to get an interview with a member of the just-unseated Taliban. Out of their depth, the pair wind up in the middle of some uncomfortable skirmishes. Soon they meet their quarry, but not on the terms they wanted: The two Indians and their Afghan driver are hijacked by Imran Khan Afridi, a fugitive Pakistani who fought with the Taliban and demands that they drive him home. Along the way, the group picks up another hostage, a female American journalist.
Writer-director Kabir Khan wants to explore the various moral and political issues here, and he does work in some agitated bickering that dramatizes the conflicts. But Khan also spends quite a bit of time on tangents designed solely to entertain -- debates about the relative merits of various cricket players, the eternal battle of Coke vs. Pepsi -- which are only mildly amusing. (The latter discussion at least affords the villain a chance to make his most pointed anti-American statement: "This is what the Americans do -- pump all the oil out of a country and fill it with Coke and Pepsi!")
The gang goes through a few reversals of fortune that would make for sharp tension in a thriller but are played as lightweight comedy here. As power shifts from kidnapper to hostage and back again, the ice breaks a bit and the inevitable "we're all the same, why can't we just get along" message begins to emerge. By the voyage's end, we realize that this all-terrain vehicle will carry a multicultural band of buddies.
Viewers who aren't bothered by the tone will find little to complain about. The cast suffers from caricature (Salman Shahid, as the Taliban soldier, was evidently instructed to sneer constantly and resembles SCTV's Joe Flaherty doing a Snidely Whiplash act) and just plain lousy acting (Linda Arsenio, as the group's sole Westerner, gives a performance that would be laughed off the set of the trashiest U.S. production and makes the screenplay sound as trite as it is), but it all fits the tone of a film that might play well overseas but will leave most American audiences scratching their heads.
KABUL EXPRESS
Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Kabir Khan
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Executive producers: Rajan Kapoor, Swaratmika Mishra
Director of photography: Anshuman Mahaley
Music: Julius Packiam
Editor: Amitabh Shukla
Cast:
Suhel Khan: John Abraham
Jai Kapoor: Arshad Warsi
Imran Khan Afridi: Salman Shahid
Khyber: Hanif Hum Ghum
Jessica Beckham: Linda Arsenio
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 106 minutes...
In its opening seconds, in fact, there is something that any sensible American distributor will insist on removing: Footage of the World Trade Center being struck by an airliner serves as preamble to the story, which would be an iffy decision even with a serious film. As Kabul quickly proves to be largely comic in tone, including this footage is simply unjustifiable.
After a quick bit of scene-setting narration, we are dropped into Afghanistan in November 2001, where a pair of journalist buddies from India have been assigned to get an interview with a member of the just-unseated Taliban. Out of their depth, the pair wind up in the middle of some uncomfortable skirmishes. Soon they meet their quarry, but not on the terms they wanted: The two Indians and their Afghan driver are hijacked by Imran Khan Afridi, a fugitive Pakistani who fought with the Taliban and demands that they drive him home. Along the way, the group picks up another hostage, a female American journalist.
Writer-director Kabir Khan wants to explore the various moral and political issues here, and he does work in some agitated bickering that dramatizes the conflicts. But Khan also spends quite a bit of time on tangents designed solely to entertain -- debates about the relative merits of various cricket players, the eternal battle of Coke vs. Pepsi -- which are only mildly amusing. (The latter discussion at least affords the villain a chance to make his most pointed anti-American statement: "This is what the Americans do -- pump all the oil out of a country and fill it with Coke and Pepsi!")
The gang goes through a few reversals of fortune that would make for sharp tension in a thriller but are played as lightweight comedy here. As power shifts from kidnapper to hostage and back again, the ice breaks a bit and the inevitable "we're all the same, why can't we just get along" message begins to emerge. By the voyage's end, we realize that this all-terrain vehicle will carry a multicultural band of buddies.
Viewers who aren't bothered by the tone will find little to complain about. The cast suffers from caricature (Salman Shahid, as the Taliban soldier, was evidently instructed to sneer constantly and resembles SCTV's Joe Flaherty doing a Snidely Whiplash act) and just plain lousy acting (Linda Arsenio, as the group's sole Westerner, gives a performance that would be laughed off the set of the trashiest U.S. production and makes the screenplay sound as trite as it is), but it all fits the tone of a film that might play well overseas but will leave most American audiences scratching their heads.
KABUL EXPRESS
Yash Raj Films Pvt. Ltd.
Credits:
Director-screenwriter: Kabir Khan
Producer: Aditya Chopra
Executive producers: Rajan Kapoor, Swaratmika Mishra
Director of photography: Anshuman Mahaley
Music: Julius Packiam
Editor: Amitabh Shukla
Cast:
Suhel Khan: John Abraham
Jai Kapoor: Arshad Warsi
Imran Khan Afridi: Salman Shahid
Khyber: Hanif Hum Ghum
Jessica Beckham: Linda Arsenio
MPAA rating PG
Running time -- 106 minutes...
- 9/14/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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