subbigio Reviews

Sorry Bhai! (2008)

Best work of Onir so far!!

[9/10 · 8 December 2008]

I had watched this movie with many a premonitions in my mind...believe me for a bollywood movie, this on really sets some standards : whether be it for a good script, a good casting or overall holistic treatment given to the movie.

Sorry Bhai is the story of a family which goes to attend the wedding of its 'prodigal' son in Mauritius. As it is obvious from the title the story then focuses on an another obvious theme : 'a love triangle'. But if you dismiss this movie right about now, saying that you have been there and seen such kind of movies, its very unlikely that you are wrong. For bollywood doesn't produce such good and seasoned films many times in a year ...and as the year 2008 has almost come to an end, Sorry Bhai definitely earns it place in the elite cadre.

To mention about the strengths, this movie has definitely got everything in place : its actors, it beautiful location (in Mauritius of course) and a storyline (which except for some points in time seems to be a bit immature/unacceptable for Indian audiences) never loses track or its feel-good factor.

IF you are expecting a totally masala flick from this movie, then I suggest you give his one a miss, but if all you want to do is watch a movie and have a good feeling about it at the end then this one is definitely for you.

My rating 9/10 ...the reason for 9 being that it falls short of a little more panache and mature screenplay/dialogues which definitely could be incorporated at certain portions during the film. But what the heck, I believe all of you who would be watching the movie, would be your own judge for that matter.

Salaam-E-Ishq (2007)

No "Salaam" to this one!!

[6/10 · 29 January 2007]

Its been quite a few years since the release of " Kal Ho Na Ho", the movie which had completed the troika of hits for Dharma Productions and had launched Karan Johan's assistant Nikhil Advani in the director's seat. This time around Nikhil is back with "Salaam-e-Ishq" (which incidentally is his first movie out of Dharma Productions) which lets us know that he is all set to run his own show.

As this movie is the second release of Nikhil Advani as a director and as it also flaunts of a multi star studded star-cast they are many expectations in the minds of the audiences as they expect a movie which is supposed to re-create the "movie magic" displayed in the director's previous work. But on the contrary, what we get to witness is a movie which has nothing new in it and has employed exhausted story lines most of which a normal Indian movie-goer has already witnessed on screen over and over a zillion times.

The movie keeps moving back and forth between five main story tracks (Yes!! five and not six) each of which try to portray a different shade of love. The characters of each story try to depict everyday characters who are either in love, waiting to fall in love or running away from it. Each of the stories move around in different paths in their own respective circles until fate makes them cross paths at the end.

The movie falls short in many aspects be it the script, the story telling or the pace which just never seems to be fast enough throughout the movie. Though the movie makers have taken pains to provide the movie a good cinematography and have even taken care to polish their product with new graphical techniques, they have missed out upon one of the basic building blocks i.e. the screenplay on which the progress of the entire plot and hence the movie depends upon. The end result: a three and a half hour long movie with a story which has more than a dozen characters, most of whose roles aren't well figured out

The actors and actresses have tried to put up their best for their respective roles: Govinda as the happy-go-lucky taxi driver who is waiting for his "dream girl" to materialize, John who plays the role of a concerned husband as his wife is suffering from amnesia, Akshaye as the man who gets quirky before his marriage and decides to runaway from it, Priyanka who plays the role of an item-girl dreaming to make it big one day and Anil Kapoor the middle-aged family guy who is tired of his "boring" married life.

During the movie there are certain times when the audiences gets to laugh and this helps them get rid of some of the boredom they are burdened with and thus keeps them awake. Also the main song sequences are well pictorised and choreographed, so the audiences get to see the the makers aren't amateurs and are capable of delivering quality entertainment.

But despite this in the end the movie fails to gain the approval of the audiences who find no ingenuity and uniqueness in the movie and are mostly not impressed (if not disappointed) by the poor quality of the product which the director and the story writers have created. If only the right kind of treatment would have been given to the script and the roles of the characters were better framed, the movie could have done wonders.

The Transporter (2002)

Transporter rocks ,truly

[7/10 · 24 October 2005]

Are u Bored??Are u a fan of hand-to hand martial combat techniques?? Want to watch a good action flick??Then go ahead and watch The Transporter

Jason Statham is really the man for the job as the Transporter ,who is this ex-military now retired guy who ships object or transports people from here to there without asking questions.A solemn man who does his job by the rules and does it really good,Statham fits very well into the role of the transporter.

Then comes the day when he breaks his rules while transporting which leads to a series of events which brings out the professional hunter in him.

I had watched it after much hesitation and after watching it i felt that i was more than wrong about the movie.The action sequences are really good and Statham has this very cool style of fighting throughout the movie(which though is sometimes unbelievable but strategical)

If u r done with movies like The Matrix and KillBill and haven't watched this one then go ahead and watch it immediately .Neglect the lack of a proper script and the sometimes-dragging melodramatic scenes in the movie and u'll have a good time.

The performances put up by the supporting cast ,Francois and Qi Shu are also up to the mark.A very well made movie ,transporter doesn't miss out on the stuff required to keep its audiences glued to their seats yearning for more of it.

Batman Begins (2005)

Truly Batman does"Begin" here

[7/10 · 16 July 2005]

After years of waiting for the next Batman flick here comes a movie which gives us a totally new perspective of "The Dark Knight".The story spans the life of the person Bruce Wayne,the orphaned multi-millionaire boy and how he moves through his early life,the first days of his struggle to fight crime and how he finally transforms to Batman .We come to know more about Bruce,the ideologies he has,the sacrifices made and the hardships faced by him so as to finally become competent to fight crime. Light is shed on the unfamiliar part of Bruce's life, and this brings in a new dimension to the character of Batman. So as to do this the plot brings in characters who were untold in the previous stories and portrays them very well.We come to see him as a intellectual mind and a true detective and not any other vigilante who rushes to save the day.(A point not properly focused upon sadly by the previous movies).And as for the usual stuff the fans expect to watch this movie doesn't lag behind :his gadgets,his gravity defying moves and the Batmobile do prove to be breathtaking.The audiences might feel a bit alienated when the story moves much around the unknown years of Batman but then Nolan carries it off really well and finally gives us truly the beginning of this hero.If you are a true fan of Batman then this is surely not to be missed .