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Reviews
Kai po che! (2013)
Hackneyed. We've seen all of it before.
Kai Po Che gets some things right. Its marketing, for one, was quite spot on. The movie, in spite of dealing with what is now a done-to-death topic of male bonding, was able to create a mass anticipation of its release. Then it put together a cast of reasonably fresh faces, but ones who can act. And, the crowning glory, the editing. The entire movie is crisp, short, to the point and, within the limitations of the script, engaging. Unfortunately, that is where the gravy train stops. The story, by itself, has nothing new to offer. 3 Guys bonding over, well, archetypal guy things - the token sneak peek at porn, the rather exaggerated shirts-off-jump-lake sequences (seriously, do all guy friends jump off into lakes from rocks as a rule?), periodic moments of heated times, quickly followed by intense brotherhood. We've really seen it all before. Add to it a cricket angle (Iqbal like without the excitement), documentary like Gujarat events , Gujarat references (ala 3 idiots) and you have a rather stale dish on offer. Even so I would go with the movie as it is definitely leagues ahead of other releases going around, but for the complete lack of humor. For a guy movie, you would expect a good chunk of laughs liberally sprinkled across the screen time. That is almost entirely lacking here. Some extremely basic attempts at humor elicit the odd chuckle but thats about it. So in the end - how does this movie stack up. Standalone, this might be worth a watch, definitely on DVD and perhaps at the theater too. But is this a work to be celebrated - well a resounding no.
Burn After Reading (2008)
Well Done, and with a great after-taste
I am generally not a huge fan of movies which are all over the place and require one to carefully follow plots, sub plots and innuendos to be able to appreciate the flick. Having gone through the reviews on IMDb about Burn After Reading, I was fearful of this turning out to be exactly one of those kinds. But then, this ain't anywhere near that genre. T=And that is even more surprising because even though I thoroughly enjoyed this satire on humanity, I am still unsure as to which category does this movie classify into. We have had the Ceons deliver simple-plot-gone-terribly-wrong even before, number of times. But even so, this one was a class apart. This is a direct assault at each one of us, anyone who even briefly has day dreamt of being in a spy thriller in real life. Real life people do real life things and have visions of grandiose fed by high budget flicks and fast selling novels. Burn After Reading goes all out in squashing us common masses with batons of humor and ends up squeezing laughs and revenue out of us. Simply and truly fantastic. The plot - at first simple and stupid but by the end is complex and brilliant. All the threads weave in together perfectly by the end to create what one can safely call a perfect design. Throughout the movie we anticipate any (or all) of the characters to deliver a larger-than-life moment, an act of sheer genius, a dare devilry or at least a twist of ingenuity. And that is the beauty of this flick. Normal people, do normal things. The movie, in essence, communicates one thing - "Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity".
English, August (1994)
Gets you to crave for weed
The vision of Rahul Bose laying purposeless on that dilapidated cot, the curtains in the dark room fluttering to give a fleeting evidence of the raging heat outside, the fan on the ceiling turning with a reassuring repetitive noise, as the smoke slowly fills the screen. The rubber hits the spaced out road. I just had to light up, taken in by the movie hook-line-and-sinker. If you have liked fear and loathing in Las Vegas, if you have been riveted when Spud went Sputnik in Trainspotting, if you have split yourself during the round tables in That 70s show, then bet your bottom dollar on this one. Even if the names above sound Greek to you but you are a male who at least once in his life has felt you are somewhere you don't belong, have touched alcohol as a student and continued the virtue into adult life or if you have crossed teen and don't live with your folks - then do yourself a favor and watch this work of art. And if you dope, I am assuming you have watched this film one time too many already. Agastya brings into life the hidden snob in us, who is afraid to belong. H goes through the film meeting and rejecting people, creating an impenetrable social and cultural divide between himself and the people around him. As he resigns into his solitude, surrounded by colleagues and acquaintances, we are drawn into a trip of lethargy. The humor is silent and splitting. Contextual, self derogatory as well as condescending. One after the other characters from our everyday life enter the movie, your neighbour, the salesman, the loud guy who had sat at the table next to you at the café, the grocery store owner who wont give you credit. They are all there, and you are Agastya wading through them, one among them and yet far far away. It is a classic.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007)
A maze of uncertainities
Bhool Bhulaiya gives us what it does not promise. The trailers pronounced the flick to be a comic caper, prompting parents of infants to throng the theaters with their little ones in tow. What the film turns out to be is some different dish altogether. It is what the fine print said all along, a psychological thriller. Just that the fine print should have been the meat and the comic reliefs the periphery. However, to judge the film in isolation from the trailered promise, it is not a bad production at all. The first half is dedicated as a build up for the second half with the director attempting to keep the audiences involved and entertained with slapstick comedy which more often than not falls flat. There is the usual bathroom humor and situational confusions which may elicit a tickle from the infants spoken about above but are given a pass by the adult members of the audience. Have no illusions about it, the film is whole and sole about the second half. The entry of Akshay Kumar brings in a new life into the sagging build up and one realises that for all his faults and shortcomings, the guy really does have screen presence. The audience practically stirs out of it's slumber the moment Dr Aditya (Akshay Kumar) starts to unload himself on the movie. Even the humor starts being, well, humorous. The suspense builds up with twists and unpredictable turns and though you may have a strong opinion on the eventual guilty party, the motive is well hidden throughout. Overall BB is a reasonably well woven tale about a stereotyped village with it's share of village belles and bumbling idiots, a family of earstwhile royals, superstitions and supernaturals, the way we know it. Recommend a watch. And yeah, do leave your kids behind lest they scream and rant at the horror scenes and spoil the show for those around.
Johnny Gaddaar (2007)
This one came in from the cold
I have a simple test of a masterpiece. Once you come out of the theater do you masticate the movie in your mind, going over every character, discussing their nuances, idiosyncrasies, opining on the modus operandi and going home to listen to the soundtrack. Johnny comes through on all these counts. A brilliantly scripted, directed and edited tale with convincing performances by the players. There is not a moment which allows you to leave the theater even if the nature's call is of particular urgent nature. The lead actor, Nel Mukesh, does fit the bill in his role as the cold killer but then on a neutral ground I was not too impressed with his histrionics capabilities. The credit goes to the director for riding with all the actors, unique in their own right, and blending them better that those Hawaiin cocktails with little umbrellas on them. Every Hindi thriller that I have seen, be it Don II or Dhoom, I have always tried to guess the twist and have succeeded, more often than not. Well, happy to admit that Johnny G got the better of me. With so many gray characters floating around, twists come dime a dozen and well thought through at that. The movie surely stands as among the top ten best made Hindi movies in my list.
Raqeeb (2007)
Confused and overambitious
The movie sets out to be a gripping thriller with numerous unpredictable yet well carried out twists but ends up a hash of everything filmy. To be fair, the movie does get around to catching your attention for a while in the second half. However, the director finds himself in the twilight zone unable to decide between making it a 'wild things' or a 9:00 pm TV Soap. The final half hour or so seems more like a free for all with perhaps everyone from the actors (most of them of the ham variety), to the spot boys contributing dementedly to the script. The twists are not in sync with the first half of the movie and are as believable as Tanushree Dutta's histrionics. If Sidharth (Sharman Joshi) was always hand in glove with Tanushree, then why would he speak to her over the phone in the beginning and do the whole act of introducing his friend as a gay. For such an expert planner, why would Sidharth and Tanushree just go off for a Bahamas vacation immediately after the murder. If the plan was just to shoot Mr Khanna, then why did Tanushree have to entice, trap, sleep with and set up poor guy Jimmy Shergill. Any hired killer would have done it without a hassle. How did the money suddenly disappear from the ICICI account.And yeah, did they really have to bring in a tormented mother angle to the proceedings, why couldn't Sharman Joshi be just plain vanilla evil. These and many more remain either unanswered or imminently avoidable or both. If only someone had paid a little more attention to details in the movie, this one could well have been one of the better ones to come out of Bollywood. A pity.
Socha Na Tha (2005)
DVD for keeps
This is one of those flicks which plummets at theaters and then hits home with the viewers on DVD. Although that might be because the flick has a very understated urban appeal to it. One can imagine the movie would have been an unwatchable headache generator if it had cast the Govindas and Kareenas of the world and had been made with a high hand of melodrama. Instead, Miss Takia makes us all fall in love with her, Mr Deol included, by just twisting the pencil and being herself. Abhay puts forth a honest performance and the director truly takes us through a breezy ride, pleasant as a walk through the jungle on a windy morning. Buy a barca lounger, uncork the wine, get cozy and enjoy!
One Fine Day (1996)
Delightful surprise
One fine day is one movie which me and my wife saw together and neither walked out till it finished. George Clooney shows why he is the most charming one around and the chemistry between Pfeiffer and Clooney explodes on screen. The movie is crisp, pleasant, witty and very lovable. Unline most other romantic comedies (serendipity and the likes), this one is utterly believable and goes easy on sweeteners. This is a day right out of a working couples life, just a lot more charming and slickly presented. It is a great watch with the loved one cuddled in a recliner with a supply of coffee on a pleasant Sunday afternoon. One place where it could have scored a little more is perhaps added more substance to the peripheral characters (Clooney's editor looked promising for an enlarged role). Overall a must see.