ishel Reviews

Dil Ne Jise Apna Kaha (2004)

Fairly average, not up to usual Bollywood export standard

[6/10 · 22 September 2004]

Bhoomika Chawla and Preity Zinta provided sweet eye-candy in this movie, and there were a number of colourful dance sequences which were quite pretty, but overall I am surprised by the high rating the few voters have given it so far. It would be one of the weaker efforts I have seen this year, and I suppose my main criticism would be the quality of the acting. Apart from the two female leads, a lot of the other acting was not as good as it should have been, and especially a number of the supporting cast were quite wooden at times. Dhani's grandma was quite hammy at times, as were some of Rishab's work colleagues, and even Rishab himself was not as well played as I have seen Salman Khan before, in "Mujhse Shaadi Karogi" for example. Some of his tearful bedside scenes were just a little hard to watch, not because of the pathos but because it wasn't believable. I did enjoy moments of the film, and the dance sequence in the nightclub was very hot, but on the whole I have seen better.

Dhoom (2004)

Hot, fast-paced and whimsical

[8/10 · 9 September 2004]

"Dhoom" is in my opinion a delightful movie. I know it has features which many will 'bag', such as predictability, stereotypical characterization and holes in the plot you could drive a truck through. BUT I went to see this movie wanting to be entertained, and I was so entertained that I went back and saw it a second time. It has action, romance, the wonderful dance sequences that Bollywood is famous for, colour, music and general excitement. I just loved Uday Chopra's character, who combines both tough guy and fully man so effectively. The main lead, 'Jai', is a little flat at times but he mainly provides the opportunity for others to 'do their thing'.

Rimii Sen as his wife, delightfully named Sweety, is gorgeous, and I love the way she controls some of the details of Jai's life; and Esha Deol as the mystery woman (I won't throw in any spoilers!) is also beautiful and engaging - her dance in the rain when her car breaks down is absolutely delicious, and the director hasn't wasted any opportunity to make the most of Esha's physical charms! The music is a highlight, and the credits track "Dhoom Dhoom" by Thai-American Tata Young, who has just released her first English language album, is fast and hot, with the added advantage that while the song is playing and the credits are showing, what I presume is the video clip showing a ravishing Tata Young gyrating her way through various sexy situations is a lovely bonus. Overall, it's a great bit of fun not to be taken too seriously!

Fida (2004)

Chameleon effect

[7/10 · 7 September 2004]

This movie is one of the most chameleon-like I have ever experienced. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it; but the mainly relaxed, whimsical, romantic opening (after the first encounter with the crime boss, who almost then seems to get forgotten for about 40 minutes, though you know he must resurface sometime) is filled with extravagant Bollywood dancing (though often with a more sexy feel than I have usually encountered in my so-far limited Bollywood experience) and over-played but highly amusing protestations of love on the part of the main character, Jai. In this portion, the aficianado of Bollywood ladies has plenty of opportunity to admire the very sexy Kim Sharma as Jai's childhood friend Sonia, and also of course his new love Neha played by Kareena Kapoor, who is more restrained in her sexiness but just demurely lovely. But after about 30-40 minutes, the pace and tone completely changes with one dramatic moment, and after that we are very much engaged in a helter-skelter action movie with multitude plot twists, wide-ranging shifts of location from India to Dubai to South Africa and even (I think) a small vignette in London, and a fair share of unarmed combat and exploding gunshot wounds. This is not a movie for the faint-hearted or the lover of simple romantic Bollywood stories, but overall it is an enjoyable ride!