Guzarish

It’s been three weeks since Guzarish was released. However, after I missed it in the first week, I didn’t want to watch it in theater. But things didn’t go like you think. I went to the theater to watch another movie but got to watch Guzarish and I don’t regret my decision.

I wanted to watch the movie since the first promo was launched. But think, they didn’t promote the movie too well. I mean around the days when it was to be released, there wasn’t any big buzz of the movie or may be I was too busy to hear anything about the movie.

Moving on.

Cast

I’m not a big Hrithik Roshan fan, but I do like his work. The last movie of his I saw was Dhoom which was about 3-4 years back and this is his third movie since then. Being not a big fan of him, I think I get biased when I think of him as an actor. Even though, people say that Hrithik performance was the best thing of about the movie, but I don’t agree with it. Same goes with Ashwariya Rai, another actor about whom I think of being overblown about. This is my personal opinion, “Ashwariya is no way near the actresses to whom she is compared with.”

May be my biased nature was the reason for me liking the other actors more than the lead. Argue with me if you think I’m wrong, but for me the best performer of the movie was Shernaz Patel.

Then, I also liked Suhel Seth and Aditya Roy Kapoor.

Actually, for me it’s the director who matters. I mean same actors work with different directors but one extracts “Jab We Met” and another “Khushi” or “Tashan”.

Moving On.

Plot

The movie is based on an quadriplegic, Ethan Mascarenhas (Hrithik) who was living in the state of complete paralysis and now wants to be free of all the pain and decides to plea for Euthanasia. Ethan lived a glamorous life of being the best magician of the world. But after his accident during a show, his life crashes in every aspect. He appoints his best friend Devyani (Shernaz) to file the petition in the court. Though being completely against the decision, Devyani decides to help his friend.

Sofia (Ashwariya), Ethan’s nurse, gets disappointed by Ethan’s discussion and for not being consulted after giving 12 years of her live to serve him. After Ethan’s plea gets dismissed for the first time, he uses his radio show to gather votes and support for himself. In his pursuit, he also finds a guy who wants to be his student and learn magic tricks from to be as best of a magician as he was once.

The movie is his struggle and journey towards achieving Euthanasia. Does he succeed in his fight against the law of India which doesn’t approve of Euthanasia in condition? Will the government of India make any amendments to more than 50 years old law?   

Good Things

Well, under the topic good things, I want to mention the name of the movie “Guzarish”. You may not the like the songs independent of the movie but it also becomes one of the strongest points when listened with the movie.

Bad Things

I’m giving a Zero on bad things for Guzarish.

Especial Mention

Here, many of us may not give the director the amount of respect and credit for a good movie but I’m, most certainly not one of them. I would like to take a moment and bow to SANJAY LEELA BANSALI for making such a great movie.

9/10 for me.

Crook - Real Issues, Filmy Story

Hey All,

First thing first.......... I'm at home now and enjoying the life here. It's proving to be a great vacation till now and fingers are crossed for ahead.

It's been a long time since i saw a movie in theater. The last movie i saw was "Knight and Day". Yea, this was the only movie i saw in theater in past one n half year. So, i had planned about watching a movie as soon as i come back home and so i did. I went to watch "Crook" today.

Crook comes from one of the most famous banners of India, The Bhatt Camp. Bhatt's have given some of the best of Indian movies of all time. Zakham being my personal favorite. They also work around the real issues in India or affecting Indians like they made a movie based on the flood that hit Mumbai about 4-5 years back. So this time too they went in to do something different.

Crook had made a lot of buzz around because of it's music. The movies has songs like "Challa" and "Mere Bina" which are already hits. Then, Emraan Hasmi is also very popular among the youth. So, i was expecting a good movie again from Bhatt Camp.

Cast

Emraan Hasmi, said to be the "Serial Kisser" of Indian movie fraternity. I like Emraan as an actor. He has done some really good movies. I especially liked him in his debut movie. He is also a product of NSD (National School of Drama)  which is supposed to be one of the best and many Indian great actors have been there like Nassir-ud-din Shah to name one.

Neha Sharma makes her debut with this movie. This is her first movie so went in with no opinion of her.

Arjan Bajwa, this is his second movie that i saw. Actually, i didn't even know that he was part of this movie till i saw him on screen. I also believe that the movie wasn't promoted well. I had good opinion of Arjan as an actor from his last movie. He was really good in the movie but his character wasn't one of the prominent characters of the movie and he had lesser footage.

Mohit Suri, has made some different kind of movies and which proved to be successful too. I think Murder was this most successful which also starred Emraan Hasmi, i we can deduct that Emraan hasmi has been kind of his lucky mascot and that's why we see them working together pretty frequently.

Plot

An Indian guy (Jai/Suraj) is shifted to Australia forcefully by his foster father, so that Jai can move away from the net of the bad people/mafia to which he was getting trapped.

Jai moves to Australia with a new name Suraj without any criminal records. He starts working for a guy as a cabbie. As suggested by his friend, he tries to not get into any illegal shit and also to get a PR (permanent residency) in Australia. As he starts spending his new life in Australia, he finds the Aussies being racist to Indian and beating them just because of their color. But he wants to stay away from the issue saying “that it’s not his war”. Eventually, he also falls in love with a girl who is working on getting Indians and Aussies to work together and to learn each others culture to kill the Racism issue. Even though Suraj tries hard of not getting involved but he does get into the shit.

How does he lands into the mess? What all he does to get out of it? Does he succeed in his plans? And many other questions are answered in the end.

Good Things

Music was certainly the high point of the movie. I liked the romantic moments in the movie which were really good. I loved the new comer/Debutant Neha Sharma in the movie. She was convincing in the character she portrayed. She looked innocent, cute, beautiful and sexy in different frames of the movie.

Emraan Hashmi has been a good performer and pulls a great performance in this character too. Same with Arjan Bajwa, who have really impressed me even though, this is just his second movie.

Bad Things

The script and the story line felt pretty weak. Would have loved the movie way more if only they had tried giving it a realistic touch. Discrimination on the base of color or nationality is a part of almost every nation which makes it such a great base for a movie but you do have to live up to the mark. The movie did try to chase a good topic but with a very filmy kind of attempt.

5/10 for me.

Udaan - Flying High With A Great Soul

When i first saw the theatrical promo of this movie, i felt so intrigued to watch this movie. The promo showed a teenager running as his father chases him, but as his father closes on to him, he accumulates all his energy and runs hard and beats father by a long distance. The promo also had a poem in the background which, for me, described the soul of the movie.

Then, as the promotion of the movie started, i saw one of the interview where the producer/writer - Anurag Kashyap and director/writer - Vikramaditya Motwane were talking about the story. At that time, the movie had already made quite a buzz in the critic domain of the industry as it bagged some of the prestigious award in various international movie festivals and also it was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival.

This movie was a must watch for me because Anurag Kashyap is one of my favorite directors currently and Vikramaditya Motwane was the writer of the best movie of last year - Dev D.


Cast

Well, to be true, if you have Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane duo directing and writing, the cast doesn't even matter that much because you can take it for granted that they will bring the best out of even the worst of actors in the industry.

Rohan/Rajat Barmecha

This movie bring two of the TV's most famous actors on to the big screen for the first time. Ronit Roy - who didn't had much of luck in the movies when he started his careen in the early 90's but made it really big with his characters on Television. I hadn't seen much of Ronit Roy on television and being in the industry for close to two decades now, i had good expectations from him.

Rajat Barmecha who makes debut with this movie is an unknown face to me. I haven't heard much of him before this movie but the director and producer said so many good thing about him that i was convinced.

Ram Kapoor another actor who started with the small screen, gave great performances and now is making big at the big screen. Ram kapoor also resembles a lot to Alec Baldwin. Both a really good actors. Well, i hadn't seen much of Ram Kapoor before this movie. I obvisouly knew him because he is a really famous small screen actor and have been awarded for it.

Plot

The movie focuses on the troubled childhood of Rohan. Rohan, who lives in a boarding school away from home. His father has abandoned him and haven't came to see him for once for last eight years. The movie starts with the day when Rohan is expelled from the school, along with his 3 friends. Rohan leaves the school to go back to his home after eight years. His father - Bhairav - is a cold hearted person.At home, Rohan finds that his father got remarried after he left for hostel but the wife died after while giving birth to their son. His father is furious about him being expelled from the school and instructs him to work in their steel factory as a labour in the morning and to study engineering in the afternoon.

Bhairav/Ronit Roy

Rohan first retaliates but got beaten up by his father. Rohan wants to be a writer and is pretty good at it. But, his father forces him to be a engineer. With no other option in hand, he does the same as instructed. His father also instructs him to not call him as "Dad" or "Papa" but as "Sir". As, the days past by, Rohan comes close to his step-brother Arjun.

When day when he returns from his college and finds his father rushing to hospital with younger brother in hand. Father, explains that his brother tumbled on the stairs but later, rohan finds out that his father had beaten the young kid with a leather belt.

Rohan ends up with a huge fight with his father at the end of the day but could do much because he is dependent on his father financially also because of his younger brother. He talks to his uncle Jimmy (Ram Kapoor) to take care of Arjun and he'll runaway from home. But, his uncle doesn't support the decision.

One day, after a lot of thinking, Bhairav, comes up to the kids and asks them to forgive him. He also comes up with a solution to their problem. He decides to send Arjun to a boarding school away from home, instructs Rohan to give up engineering and to get remarried.

What does Rohan do ? Will he ever stand up against his father? Till what extent he bears the pain? All the questions are answered at the climax which is the best climaxes i have seen in recent years.


Good Things

The performances by the cast is amazing. I loved the background score throughout the movie. The writing and the script. The direction and the lyrics of the different poems and stories which rohan wrote. This is THE BEST movie of 2010. It's a must watch. Watch it for all the actors giving great performances. Watch it for Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane's amazing write up.


P.S. :- I'm not keeping the BAD THINGS part this time simply because there isn't any bad things about the movie. If you find one, you are stupid please post it here, so that i'll know something too.


10/10 from me

Aisha – Style Over Substance

Aisha made a huge hype before its release and majorly because of Abhay Deol, not Sonam Kapoor. The movie also came into news because it is one of those rare woman oriented movies made in India. It is another Anil Kapoor’s home production so it was obvious that Kapoor family will be part of it. Sonam was the leading lady and Rhea the director.

This movie almost feels like a commercial of big brands like Dior, Elle, L'Oreal and other, which got more importance that the important characters.

Cast

Sonam Kapoor should be sent into acting classes or if Abhay can give her some lessons than that would be good too. Sonam, was never convincing as the character Aisha. My perception of Aisha was that the character should be extremely confident of her personality and style because they show her as a style icon and also promoted the same but almost all scenes with Abhay Deol, Sonam seemed so vulnerable and intimidated. Whatever it was but it was surely not confidence.

Abhay Deol is the best among his contemporaries and I can bet on that, though, I felt his character must have given more importance and footage than what it got. Abhay was perfect with his comic timing. I’m a huge fan of him and haven’t missed a single movie of Abhay’s movie

Ira Dubey, daughter of Lillete Dubey, will now be known as Ira Dubey. She was the outstanding performer in the cast. Her portrayal of Pinky was the best and i loved her character the most from the movie. She was successful in showing all the different aspect of the character.

Amrita Puri was a shocker. I hadn’t heard much about her before this movie but think will going to hear a lot after this one. She plays this girl who is from a small town in Punjab who is forced to be one of the high society girls. Her portrayal of small town girl was so convincing that I actually searched for her interviews, after the movie, is she really a small town girl.

I believe Cyrus Sahukar also delivered a commendable performance. However, again, felt he should have been given more footage.


One thing I want to point out which I felt really irritating was importance given to Sonam’s character. Yes, it was the lead character and the movie is named after this character but her performance was so irritating that I was more intrigued to know what’s happening with the secondary characters than Aisha.




Plot

Well, many a times I felt if there is any plot in this movie but anyways here it goes. Aisha is a younger daughter of a rich family. Aisha is a style icon, at least which is what they wanted us to know. Aisha, who is more interested in others life than her own, is a self proclaimed cupid. Shefali is a small town girl moved to Delhi to get married to a rich guy. Aisha, self pronounced cupid, tries to set her up with Randhir, who actually loves Aisha. Aisha takes shefali as a project (which reminded me of” Mean Girls”) and gives her a makeover from a village girl to an urban girl. But, when Randhir tell her that he is interested in her not shefali, she first rejects him and then starts over to find a new guy for her, knowing that shefali likes a middle class guy form her town.

She messes both Pinky’s and Shefali’s life by imposing her decisions on them. After which both of her friends leave her. See, I summarized the whole story without even talking about Abhay’s character and this is why I think his character should have got more footage.

Anyways, Abhay plays Arjur, neighbor and friend of Aisha, who always criticizes Aisha for interfering in others life including her friends. Arjun is the one person who is always trying to bring Aisha back to reality or ground, but he is a good friend. Arjun is the one person Aisha falls back to whenever in need. Both of them love each other but not able to tell the other.

How Aisha and Arjun get together and where her relationship with her friends goes is the climax of the movie.



Good Things

The movie was good songs and music. You will surely get some styling tips from the movie also. Though, there aren’t many scenes without Aisha/Sonam but all of them are really good.

Bad Things

Sonam kapoor, I believe, if you can somehow get rid of Sonam or get her replaced, then this movie would have been much better.

5/10 from me.

Khatta Meetha -- Funny Kick To Corruption

I won't say that i'm a huge fan of Akshay Kumar movies. especially because he is making some really stupid movies nowadays. If i pick up few of his last movies like De Dana Dan, Housefull, Kambaqt Ishq, CC2C, Singh is King, Welcome etc, there is not a single movie which i regretted watching. However, i still try to watch a movie forgetting what the cast and crew had done earlier.

Khatta Meetha, what i believe, was promoted as a comedy, i mean i atleast got that kind of vibes from the trailers, However, it didn't turn out to be one of Akshay's out n out comedies. Thank God to that.

Khatta Meetha was not one of Priyadarshan's attempt to create another laughter riots. I only wished,  if they hadn't promoted it as one.

Cast

The biggest attraction of the movie was Akshay Kumar and if you have a comic movie in hand, i don't believe there is any better option. Akshay kumar, Rajpal Yadav and Manoj Joshi - the three usual's of a Priyadarshan movies. All of them have given a good performance.

Manoj Joshi is one actor i want to point out here. I have never talked about his earlier but he is one of my favorite character artists. He has given performances worthy of being applauded.

Trisha makes her Hindi Movie debut with this movie. She is a huge star in the Southern movie industry and have been awarded for her brilliant performances many times.

The cast of the movie looked very convincing.

Plot

Kulbhushan Kharbanda

Sachin Tichkule (AK), youngest son of former Judge Kulbhushan Kharbanda- is good for nothing. He is a small contractor, who is always low on money and drowned in debt whereas his brother in law is a big contractor and also runs the family. Sachin, tries to make a good impression on the new Municipal commissioner but get shocked seeing his ex-girlfriend, Trisha, as the new commissioner. Trisha, who's in new to the system and tries to correct it which creates issues for Sachin. He isn't able to clear his bills and thus not able to pay his workers, which means more debt. He conspires against Trisha and gets her arrested by anti-corruption department alleging her to have taken bribe from him. Trisha tries to commit suicide after that incident but is saved. Then, Sachin realizes that he is wrong and pledges to work in honest way. Parallel to that, one of the falt bridges made by Sachin's brother in law breaks killing many people. Sachin, fights for right against his own family and support Makarand deshpandey, who looses everything after the incident.

The story unfolds with how sachin fights against the bad people and his own family.



Good Point

Akshay Kumar, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Urvashi Sharma , Manoj Joshi and Rajpal yadav has put in good performances but there is nothing in the script. I have heard that the original Malayalam version on the movie was a super hit, though, i haven't seen it but heard it from reliable sources. The malayalam version was also directed by Priyadarshan. Priyadarshan was not able to create the magic again

Bad Point

Well, there were many. As soon as the movie starts, with in 30 mins you can guess the climax. There were many scenes which i felt was not required but were kept for god knows what reasons. The music is bad. I didn't even like one song from the movie.


5/10 for me

Valley Of Flowers - Love Lives, Lovers May Not

I was wandering around on IMDB, when read about this movie. I was intrigued towards watching this movie after reading brilliants comments by the users and also looking at the Indian Cast in the movie.

Cast

The only two people I have know from the movie were Nasir-ud-din Shah and Milind Soman. Nasir is a brilliant actor and i admire him as an actor. He doesn’t have to prove anything. He is already at the top of my favorite actors list. However, i won’t say had faith in Milind though I always liked his choice movies. From “Rules” to “16 December”, he always tried doing something better and different but the fact that he never succeeded in that. None of his movie did a big or even a decent business in the market and being a model-cum-actor, I don’t think he would have found many believing in his acting skills.

Other than the two, the whole cast was new and after reading so much about the movie, I knew that I was in for a treat.

Plot

The movie is based in Himalayas some 200 years ago. Milind (Jalan), leader of a bunch of looters, who used to rob the silk traders who used to travel through Himalayas to go to India to sell the silk. During, one of the robberies a girl from the herd stays back and asks Jalan to keep her with him. Jalan, living any from any human civilization bring her with himself and after a night of pleasure he asks her to leave and catch up with the people with whom she came the valley. But the girl, Ushna, wants to stay with them. Jalan decides to keep her with the herd even after when other members oppose the decision.

Ushna, proves to be worth of being in the herd when she takes them to different lands in search of more money. Slowly Jalan falls in love with Ushna. Ushna convinces Jalan about a potion which will make them immortal. Jalan goes on with ushna to take then immortal potion but the rest of the herd decides to abandon them.

Ushna and Jalan follow the potion and ultimately get them. However, they realize that Nasir (yeti) is following them to stop them from reaching their destination.

Immediately, after drinking the potion, yeti catches both of them. Jalan thinking that both of them are now immortal shoots at Ushna but Ushna dies of that bullet and Yeti let go of Jalan so that he will live alone, regrets and suffers throughout his whole life.

Jalan lives through decades till present year 2006, where he is now a doctor who helps people towards natural death.

How the story does ends? Does Jalan ever dies? 

Good Points

I find the movie pretty good. It’s a nice love story with some supernatural touch to the movie and the movie also has good performances by all the actors. Best thing about the movie is its cinematography. The way it movie have been shot in the beautiful valleys of Himalayas is amazing. I also liked the way the local actors and people have been utilized. The way they speak, their traditions, myths, culture and everything is shown is wonderful. I would also like to praise the background score of the movie.

Bad Points

The movie is too slow and most of the time you’ll feel like it’s been dragged, also fewer amounts of dialogs also make help the same. I think about 30-40 percent or more of the movie doesn’t have any dialogs which may induce boredom to the people.

The story line of the movie is also a confusing. You really have to dig deep to understand it and which is something not many people like to while watching a movie. It’s certainly not an entertainer kind of movie which throws many exciting events to the audience but it’s a good love story.

Watch this if with content and time in hand.

7/10