Ukindia Film Page 21
Ukindia Film Page 21 Many of these movie reviews are from the RAMLI newsgroup (rec.arts.movies.local.indian)
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Mahima, Tabu , Shilpa, Sridevi, Manisha , Pooja , Ayesha , Naghma , Mayoori, Neelam , Deepti , Zeba , Dimple , Madhoo , Twinkle , Karisma , Sonali , Mamta, Kajol , Urmilla, Raveena ,Madhuri , Juhi , Ashwariya .
Also at Showcase Cinemas
Movies in Derby Sundays at 11 am and 8.40pm Tuesday . Phone 01332 296000 for more details or to www.uci-cinema.co.uk.
Movie info also on freefone 0800 192 192 and channel 4 teletext page 460
A superb intriguing action movie . Akshay Kumar and Twinkle are good as is Rajat Bedi ( is he the son of the Bond villain Bedi ? ) .
Akshay has a fight to the death with three female wrestlers from the WWF -and they are good ! -try to smother him with their breasts ! - OK I confess I am lying , but its close ! The villain -Bad Man - has these three good looking white female wrestlers and one big black wrestler and they finish off anybody he says 'kill' .
Kissing is frowned upon in Bollywood movie , but there is no prohibition against mouth to mouth resucitation . Thankfully there is not Fergie toe sucking , but there is one episode of toe biting . Akshay in a semi negative role . I think they were trying to court controversy and some free publicity for the film by naming one guy 'Bismillah '.
Songs are good , dialog is fine . One example ' Hawa ke badlte rukh se pata lagta hai ke toofan ane wala hai , lekin aurat ek toofan hai jo bina bataye aa jati hai or insaan ko barbaad kar date hai ' ' The storm signals its coming by the change in the wind direction , but a woman is a storm who comes without warning and destroys a man !' .
How true ! These are the sorts of dialogs which stay in your brain for ever and ever . Action sequences are good - a jet ski boat burning and crashing into the Gateway of India . People falling out of a plane and then the plane turns around to try and kill them -and its a huge cargo plane too. Excellent movie.
Excellent comedy movie set in England and for about five minutes in India . Even the Indian scenes may have been filmed in Britain - it might be an idea for the Bollywood producers to set up a studio there and have some 'authentic' Indian villages on site . Western streets, wide roads with so many cars seem so lifeless compared to the kachi Indian ones with kids playing on the roads .
Some good shots of London , Warwick Castle in Coventry , Co-op superstore somewhere in London - a bit cloudy but then they probably couldnt afford to wait as the last sunny day I believe was in 1975.
Indians love fair skin and there are two dances here with lots of lovely English blondes and brunettes but oh the dresses ! -they are so plain and drab ! Just compare with the one Urmilla is wearing when Daniel tries to make a hit on her in the dressing room , now if they could put that sort on the English girls - a few glass beads and decorations on the hot pants the front benches in India would go mad and the movies become a big hit .
The dialog is excellent . When the manager of the night club makes some suggestive comments to Urmilla -she says ' Please understand I respect you and I want to go on respecting you ' . He gets the message , no feelings hurt .
There is actually a truthful Jyotish in this movie ! and it was quite funny when he looks at the hands of the two women and says ' There is no husband -Ram- for you - in this life . In fact not even a Ravan ( demon king ) who would want to kidnap you !' .Of course they call him a fraud and refuse to pay him ! There is no need to speak so fast -ruins some of the Punjabi and Gujarati dialog and one misses some of the jokes .
Another incident was when Salman is being massaged by a girl-the producers do take every oppurtunity to show his naked muscular upper torso , and his grandfather the rich businessman comes on the scene and his secretary ( another great performance by Jaspal Bhatti) says 'She is getting him ready for Pooja ( play on the word for prayers and a girl's name) .
The music is a bit of a let down - too Westerny - the only good song is 'Love hua ' and the Indian dance in the second half ..Mo
For another view check zafilk
An enjoyable yarn . A lot of people say Amitabh should stop playing hero roles. Why ? Does anybody tell Sean Connery not to play Bond and flirt with the pretty spies ? As long as Amitabh can do flying Karate kicks , dance well ,dub with his booming voice , do such good comedy as in this one and BMCM and as in this movie even sing a song ! why should he stop?
Diaolg and Shairi by Anwar Khan is very good . Manisha is a revelation in this film . Playing a cheerful life insurance agent she is truly great and if she does a few Zee interviews speaking in Hindi she can really vow the audiences and build up a big fan club.
Those males with a weak heart are advised to walk out for a few minutes in the dance with tens of women in hot pants !
One good thing in this movie is towards the end when there is as usual a lot of 'mara-mari' they bring Manisha back to charm the Punjabi guards - she only has to say 'bale bale' to them and they start doing a Bhangra ( as in Betaabi) and she slips past them . Well the Sardars in the audience didnt seem to mind ! .
The action sequences are filmed in the palace on top of Jaipur and its fun seeing them fighting going from beautifully decorated room to room. Just one magical four minute song can transport you into another heavenly world ( Q. What is cow's heaven called ? A. The udder world !) and in this movie its the 'Dhano ki ankh sharabi' . There is no other movie industry in the world which can create such works of beauty . It takes place in the floodlit courtyard of the Palace . Such color co-ordination ! They could have ruined it with clashing reds and browns , but in facts its beautifully done with yellow salwar kameez of Manisha , a cream color of Amitabh's outfit with the pale orangey background of the Palace - and the music superb ! This movie is worth seeing just for that .
Even DVD cant really create the magic of the big screen and its a pity Lal Badshah wont be seen on many screens -hence some suggestion outlined below for all South Asian movies.
- add a song before the start on to the reel of a movie which has just gone off screen or which will soon be in theaters , this will arouse interest and lead to DVD and ticket sales .
-add a couple of songs in the interval and before the start of the second half . Pakistani movies cant get theatre space and if they hitch a ride on Indian movies in the West , this would increase sales of videos -it would be nice to see Mr Fraudia on the big screen .
-as in Hollywood makes stories from best selling books . $10,000 will probably buy the rights of any book ever published in India and with movies being made for an average $2m , this is a small amount .
-remake top hits from South but use Hindi actors/actresses . People wont go to see movies where they cant identify .
-let the camera linger long on the historical , beauty sites . There are a couple of beautiful shots of Jaipur city from the fort high above but its only as a backdrop to the fighting . Instead let the hero show the heroine for a few minutes and let him explain a bit of history -'from that valley over there the Mughals attacked 'etc. It will make the movie a big hit in that town !
-respect the intelligence of the audience .For eg they talk of Mumbai shahar when in fact everybdoy knows its Jaipur , so why not say Jaipur shahar . In Aarzoo let them say its Scotland
-Never compromise on the songs and dances and costumes and above all the dialog .
-Have musical shows , say one hour of all the songs from one movie eg KKHH , HAHK , then 20 min interval and songs from two movies recently off screen eg Dukhe Raja , Doli saja ke rakhna ie a total of 2hrs 20min . It would be interesting to know from Lisa and Irwin what they think of this idea . The songs could be subtitled . A four min song only needs 1min of subtitling as the verses are repeated and there are musical interludes in between so it would be almost imperceptible. I have a feeling that these music shows would become extremely popular judging from the number of cassettes , music videos being sold .
Amitabh plays the role of an 'Angry middle aged man ' very well and will one day graduate to 'Angry old man' . He doesnt chase the heroines -they chase him ,as Manisha the Nepali beauty says 'mujhe dekh kar goonge bi bolne lagte hain- seeing my beauty even the dumb start to chat me up and this man just ignores me ( the dialog is always the best part of these movies ) .
Hopefully Eros will insert the 'Dhano ki ankh sharabi' in front in forthcoming movie releases . DVD sales will go through the roof . Its one song and dance you can see a 100 times and never get tired .
Manisha is so poor that when entertaining Amitabh at an expensive hotel she orders only one cup of tea telling him the food is awful . She gets half a cup and he gets to drink from the plate . Its quite funny and so if the writers think hard enough they can always create comedy situations to lighten the movie along the way . The kids also loved the way the villain begs for mercy in the final scene -see for yourself , its quite funny .
The 'Om Namo Shiva' song in the temple starts off sounding really good and the audience was really getting into it but is terminated abruptly . A pity , all Bollywood movies should have one devotional ( eg the Sufi song in Kache Dage) or classical piece ..Mo
BOLLYWOOD AWARDS It is with pleasure and pride that we announce the launching of the first international BOLLYWOOD AWARDS for movie arts in Indian cinema. The BOLLYWOOD AWARDS of 1999, will be the first gala event, like the OSCAR AWARDS, of international stature honoring the outstanding achievements of Indian moviemakers and artists during the prior year.
Over the years, millions of Indians have made their homes outside India, yet each of them retains a warm and vibrant link with their motherland through the medium of movies.
The BOLLYWOOD AWARDS will be a celebration of moviegoer's admiration for performances which shine above the rest. The nominees will be chosen by votes cast by non resident Indians.
The BOLLYWOOD AWARDS function will be held at the NASSAU COLISEUM, NEW YORK, on MAY 1ST 1999, a location which at one time or the other has hosted every superstar performer in America. Unparalleled and lavish resources in terms of capital, planning and people will make the first BOLLYWOOD awards function a historic event.
The most extensive and elaborate preparations are underway to make the BOLLYWOOD awards night a spectacular and dazzling event. No effort will be spared to make this event both different and memorable. Live entertainment from leading stars of the Indian screen will be part of a stage show glowing with laser lights and pyrotechnics.
Various celebrities from the Indian and Hollywood movie industry as well as business magnates, politicians, and other dignitaries will attend this event. Apart from a live audience of 14000 people the event will be telecast on India's national television network- DOORDARSHAN and several TV stations throughout the world. In recognition of the Indian movie artists the video cassette of the event will be distributed worldwide.
AWARD CATEGORIES Bollywood Movies are the most potent medium affecting the minds and hearts of millions of people. Movie stars in turn have created awareness, following and excitement for the non resident Indians. We are celebrating the link between India and Indians living overseas through the medium of movies by honoring the Bollywood movie industry with awards to artists who excel in various categories, as listed below.Below is a list of the categories: 1.Best Actor etc. Ticket info can be found at their website at www.bollyawards.com ..Irwin
A movie with the usual predictable storyline and so it fails to tug at the emotions . Music of course is very enjoyable and the dialog is fine - for eg , Rich Amish advising his daughter not to marry the poor boy Akshay - kagaz ka phool jitna bi sungho mehek nahin ayegi - no matter how much you smell a paper flower it will never have any fragrance .
Some English proverbs are translated literally eg every dog has his day -har koote ka din ata hai -talking about some villains and this works beautifully and the same can happen the other way - if the translators do Urdu ->English literally they will be greatly appreciated by all culture groups.
For the first a game of squash is filmed from inside the court . Now this is international squash ( you can tell from the lines on the court) played with a softball ie one which bounces only a little and this makes the game very exhausting to play . Even if you are at one end of the court and facing the wrong way , you know you can turn , run to the other end and get the ball before it bounces again and so one gets exhausted in only a few rallies . With American squash and hardball ie which bounces so fast its either past you or bounced twice the rallies last very little time , one can play a whole hour without breaking sweat !
I dont how these movies get past the censor - maybe they reinsert the cut bits for overseas showing . Here there is a scene where Madhuris toes are being sucked Fergie style and honey is poured in her navel area and licked up ! In Daag there were lots of naked bedroom romps ! Smoking ! -ont even ask .
One grievous fault is filiming in Edinburgh and pretending its India ! All those pointed roofs , Scots on the street ! They might as well have made it a story of NRIs. The fights are superb , the one in Tesco and other places Saif Ali Khan and Akshay are very fit and great in action sequences but then Akshay was a Karate instructor . He also does sky diving - another first in Bollywood .
Worth seeing for the songs and music. Sonu Nigam's -Jai Mata song is also very good . It shows the pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi in Jammu hills . Pilgrims have to struggle through a narrow cave , to visit the shrine of Durga . It is one of the world's top pilgrim spots and attracts millions each year . The reason the wise men made it sacred of course is that the pilgrims could delight in the beautiful mountain views as can be seen in this movie . So go there to enjoy the view.
One good idea from this movie is a way of 'conflict resolution' . When members of the opposite sex wont let you talk use the word statue so they are frozen . Then have your say and say 'release' at the end . A lot of misunderstandings can be avoided that way.
All Indian and Pakistani movies should add one more thing to the formula - at least one classical song and dance sequence in each . Thanks to Zee's Saregama and Alaap programmes one appreciates more and more the classical base of South Asian music .
Apart from the Tandav dance in Daag , there was the gem of a song in Saajan chale Sasural beautifully done by Govinda , the Qawwalis in Kache Dage and Mohra ( dam mast qalandhar -> Cheez hai mast mast ! ) by NFAK , and Rekha's dance in Qila.
As with the movies like MKS and Mrityudatta they also need to start being creative again with the calligraphy in the opening titles. One good piece of dialog in Arzoo 'Jitni zindagi ki raftar badti jati hai , utni hi traffic slow hoti jai jai !' 'The faster the pace of life becomes , the slower the traffic seems to get ' Each Bollywood movie is full of clever dialog like that .
One memorable incident in the movie is during a traditional dance when Madhuri stands still for a fairly long time and just moves her stomach muscles quite fast to the music . It drove the men wild and she had a smile on her face as if to say to other actresses 'follow that !'.
The female I was with kept telling me 'this scene is copied from Nine and a half lives , that scene from ..' until I felt like saying 'woman shut up ! ' The ultimate blasphemy when she told me that she preferred Hollywood movies for the story line ! Bollywood movies have nothing to do with the story line . If you lose the language and cant understand the dialog ..Mo
Like you said many times before, Bollywood movies are only worth watching for the songs, dances, and costumes. Storylines and good acting are secondary.. Niraj
A fine example of the genre was a solo ghazal performance at the prestigious Kennedy Center here by Vatsala Mehra, who is Washington-based and has, over the years, evolved into an outstanding ghazal singer and winner of theBest International Woman Ghazal Singer award.
Her opening rendition of the Ghalib piece — Dil-e-nadan tujhe hua kya hai? — might have been too much in the classical style to suit those attuned to the film version of “Ghalib lite,” but it was clearly to the liking of the assembled connoisseurs and Ghalib himself would probably not have been unhappy. Vatsala Mehra left her stamina in no doubt as she regaled the audience for well over two hours with hardly a break. Her repertoire consisted not only of the traditional ghazals that delved the depths of human and divine love and the pangs of separation, but also a number of light, lively, lilting tunes that had the audience clapping along.
As India’s Chief of Mission Ambassador T.P. Srinivasan said while congratulating her at the end of her performance, Vatsala Mehra breathed life into her ghazals and sang with verve, and it was not necessary to understand all that she sang to enjoy the good music. The Americans in the audience seemed to agree. One person who clearly understood the nuances of the Urdu poetry and appreciated the singing was Pakistani Ambassador Riaz Khokhar. The appreciative listeners, and particularly the Americans among them, were completely bowled over by Jai Prakash Gupta on the tabla. His intricate, rapid fire patterns often brought the house down.
Meanwhile, Vatsala Mehra, who infused just the right amount of sensuality into her ghazals, has developed a strong stage presence and perfected the art of carrying her audience with her. She is bound to become an ever more effective cultural ambassador between India and America..NC Menon