Ukindia Film Page 22
Ukindia Film Page 22 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
Marvellous movie which really brings out the friendliness and hospitatlity of the Punjabis very well. The half hour comedy scene at Jaspal Bhatti's house culminating in the Bally Sagoo song is just sheer genius.
Jackie Shroff is a typical psycho Bombay Police Inspector who likes to bury criminals alive in encounters and hatches a plot to save convicted killer Sanjay Dutt in a fake hanging to send him out to kill gangsters who blow up people in India and then hide in a foreign country . The twist is that he plans to kill Sanjay after he has killed all the bad guys so the govt doesnt get into trouble.
Manisha has acted very well and looks quite glamourous in Punjabi dress . NFAK's 'Ishq the Rutba' is filmed in probably the world's best hotel not Raffles in Singapore or the one in Hawaii but in fact its Sun City South Africa . This is really Bollywood at its best -taking us to exotic locales . Hundreds of other qawalis of his could be filmed. The computer generated song is also superb - starts with a scene from Venus - hot ground and lava flows and then it has the Apache helicopters , scenes from hell and much more . Background props are excellent - watch out for the furniture in Jaspal Bhattis house , the computer with global positioning satellite with a chip embedded in Sanjay's legs which keeps track of him all over the world , the red laser guns the Indian secret services have etc.
Some great dialogue -when Sanjay says to Manisha 'dont fall in love with me - you dont have any idea who I am ' she replies 'I dont know the one above but I still place my trust in him ' . Are there really snow capped mountains on the drive to Heathrow? The story may be a remake of the Assasin just as Chachi 420 was of Mrs Doubtfire - but the dialogue , songs , dances are all Bollywood . Must have when it comes out on DVD.
For the first 15 minutes I thought I had wandered into a Sanskrit movie . It does make the brain hurt trying to decipher words like apmanit , grina , bhagayashali , adamkhor !.. but thankfully it soon reverts to Hindustani .
The best part of the movie and truly outstanding is when the hero trying to apologize to Karisma comes to her house when she is not there and charms her aunt meeting her the first time ' where is your older sister ' and then lays it on really thick from there . I think women know it but they still love it . It really is a very funny scene.
The first two songs are awful , I think they had harmony , the title song is good but the one that really sets the strings of the heart vibrating ( I think I would make a good English shayar !) is the Dev Anand -Nutan one shown for a few minutes -fabulous - I am sure if they had musical evenings of 2 hours and showed a mixture of old and new songs they would have a good audience even during the weekdays.
One thing great about Bollywood is the way they slip naughty things in as dream sequences ! - there is one scene where the hero is told by his father that he is going to employ a 19 year old as a secretary for his son and the hero 'imagines' her as a mini skirt tart on his lap while he is stroking her inner thigh !
The second half is an action/comedy , they should try and speak a little slower so one can get all the jokes . Karishma says 'all girls dream of a white knight on a horse but usually have to settle for somebody with neither the right face or the right character ' -cheers from the women.
The villain making a statue of his girlfriend -as in Goldfinger - is really very good - the most realistic statue I have ever seen in any movie . The props are good and worth watching out for - the comfy orange sofa chairs in the villain's palace , the dress of the statue and Karishma's large square ear rings studded with diamonds .
Few years back, A tamil movie "SooryaVansham" drew huge appreciation and went on to become a MonsterHit. It also swept many awards , including the best actor category for SarathKumar who played the double role. Unfortunately, i gave it a skip at that time, given my slight and unexplained bias against "ruralistic" themes of many Tamil movies, under whose category this movie seemed to belong to.
Then, a year back, there was news that the movie was going to be remade into Hindi, with Baccan in the lead playing both father and Son. Not many were excited, given the pathetic response of a few of his comeback movies. And , when i noticed that this was going to be directed by the "ace comedyking director" of Telugu Films, EVVsatyaN, i thought this would be another entry to the list of comeback dud's of AB. Also, this was being presented by PadmalayaPresentations, famous for all those Jeetandra-Sridevi remakes in the 80's.
The movie made a quite release this week, without much hype or expectations. (unlike the preceding AB's movies, Mrityudata or Lalbadshah ). I couldn't resist checking it out, just out of mild curiousity. ANd with extremely low expectations.
The opening few minutes of the movie didn't seem encouraging. AB senior gets introduced in a typical Masala fashion, with loud background "noise" (by Koti, the once upona time Music director of telugu movies with Kreem). An attempted Rape follows in the next scene. The typical thakur lingo follows that. Oh! there we go again, was my silent groan.
But that was last minutes of boredom in the movie. What followed next, till the end of the movie - the plot and most importantly Bacchan's Acting prowness , kept me hooked for the next couple of hours . At the end , i realised this was vintage stuff from AB. The Amitabh ,we had known and admired, before he entered that cesspool of politics. This was the Amitabh, who was called the one-man industry. This was the Amitabh, who used to give credibiilty to the most ridiculous roles with his acting skills. In short, this was the Amitabh whom we feared had vanished and was popping as a caricature in movies like Mrityudata or Bademiyan etc etc.. and we had pretenders (like the overhyped SRK) to the slot vacated by AB, indulging in disasters like "Duplicate"
Fortunately, AB proves that given a strong and decent role, he can deliver the good like very few do. And the role of Son in SuryaVansham was the ideal platform for AB to do that. Ofcourse, the only jarring aspect was that he looks Old for playing a young Son. Leaving aside that, he gives a remarkable performance and makes the audience root for the "underdog, low in confidence, ill-treated, silent suffering" character.
Fortunately, there are very few "theatrics" in the movie. No long-winding dialogues, No bloody fights (except the one in the end), No ridiculous dances (there were two songs which was not that garish). I seemed to've underestimated EVVS's direction ability. (even though he has directed some likable comedies). May be, the director faithfully stuck the original tamil plot, without making too many changes and did a good job at that.
The story in short, revolves around a family . The father (played by AB) is the "strict, no-nonsense, straight as an arrow" type who expects the best from his Children. The youngest son (AB again) doesn't match his expectations and things come to a fall when the marriage between AB and his childhood love breaks off. His value is lowered in the house and he ends up doing menial tasks. A female visitor to his home, gets attracted to him and proposes to marry him. The rest of the plot deals with this pair comething together and the gradual reconciliation between the Son and the father.
AB dominates completely. Among the rest of the starcast, Soundarya, a popular actress in south, is pleasing and effective in her role opposite ABjunior and manages to make an impression.,' AnupamKher and KaderKhan provide the comedy angle, which is fortunately without any double-entendres. I guess the Senthil-goundamani comdey duo did the same roles in the Tamil version.
Music and Technical aspects are passable in this emotion-filled movie. It's a relief to see a Strictly rural based movie for a change! We had enough of the western plots, dances, music, dresses (tommy's etc etc) prevading the Hindi movies of late. There hasn't been a decent Family type movie in recent time, thanks to all those casual romantic flicks and action potboilers.
In short, don't miss this one. You will be in for a pleasant surprise.. raj
This made good viewing. A decent plot , contemporary in theme, gripping in presentation, not straying into "masala mode" makes the movie look credible. Much of the credit should go to JohnMathew's script and direction (his debut),
Aamir Khan's flawless performance wellsupported by others in the cast and lilting music score by JatinLalit. The movie is a nice blend of "arty style" and commercial elements (songs). One more good thing i liked about it was, it doesn't get too bombastic (fiery dialogues) or jingoistic (like some scenes of Roja).
The Subject of ISI inflitration and arms supply network is well handled. The strong commitment and motivation of Aamir's ACP character is well etched out. For once, we have a Cop who does not beat the daylights out of a bunch of goons singlehandedly or comes out from encounters without a scratch etc etc. It just heightens the credibility of the character and the movie.
The scenes about the communalisation of the police force (through MukeshRishi's Salim character) is handled sensitively. The Romantic part of the movie, involving Aamir and Sonali doesn't interrupt in the flow of the main theme. The songs pop up at the right time and all of them are well-picturised.
The action starts at the Jungles on AP-Maharastra border and moves on to Bombay, Pakistan, Rajasthan, with the Cops tracking the supply of arms from Pakistan to India. It's all nicely done. The supporting cast look natural in the roles and that included the team of cops who support Amir.
It was a relief not to see any "main" villian dominating the movie. Sonali Bendre does her part adequately and looks pretty good in all the different dresses. The songs involving her and Aamir were good. Especially, the "Is deeawany" number , which had a teasing feel about it. No gyrations or "drill" exercises in the songs ;-) Nasser plays the role of Ghazal singer with his usual brand of competence. MukeshRishi did a great job as the muslim Cop, who's looked upon with suspicion by his peers .
Aamir (once again), does a great act and much of the credit for the movie should go to him. Sensibly, he didn't try to overplay the action part. He also renders a song, basically a sequence of "shayari" in the Is dewaanay song.
It's a longtime, since i have had so many good things to say about a hindi movie. Ofcourse, there are few things to carp about, but i will leave it to the critics. raj
It would be interesting to hear what Pakistanis have to say about Sarfrosh although first reactions seem to be positive -eg Mohammed Ali Ikram the editor of Planet Bollywood's excellent reviews as always on http://www.indolink.com/bollywood/Film/
I am surprised he was not offended by Sarfrosh but was by Border which I didnt think had as many anti Pakistani refrences - in fact the only one I can think was a soldierly banter between Sunny and a Pakistani general on the phone where the general tells Sunny his wife is sleeping with someone else while he is on the border and Sunny replies that the General comes from 'Lahore ka nala' !
The first half drags a bit , mainly I think because there is not enough menace in the background music - there are just long periods of silence .The second half has some stirring dialog . One where Sonali insists Amir whisper some sweet nothings to her - he says 'Woman , the language of love is spoken not by the lips but by the eyes ' - hope they will translate properly on DVD .
The Mujhras and dancing bar girls songs are a bit too brief. Sometimes the distributors cut the songs a bit and one never finds out till afterwards . Just like touching an elder person's feet is a sign of respect ( I have never seen anyone do it with their father because in that relationship there is always a lot of hostility) so I think having the title in Hindi and Urdu would be a good idea .
One great thing in the titles is that each song is highlighted by the name of the singer , lyricist , composer although it is flashed a bit too fast and it maybe a good idea to put it first thing at the end . Sonali's dress at the ghazal is really beautiful . Inspite of being Marathan she does speak excellent Hindi and its not dubbed because one has heard it on Zee's Aap ki Adalat . The final half hour Mujhra and scenes at the beaufiful Rajasthan Haveli are really great .
The movies is written and directed by a Christian John Mathew Mathan and the main actors are Muslim -Amir , Naseeruddin Shah and the fact that they have made a movie like this is a statement of fact of where the minorities in India stand ..Mo
It is good that these movies start with the title in Hindi and some have started showing the name of the director in Hindi too . But I think the tradition of having the name in Urdu should be followed as they are not Hindi but more Urdu movies.
Another great Govinda entertainer . Raveena and Govinda are two poor people who think the other is rich and try to cultivate their love and both are good as always but Simran (the ankh mare ladki from tere mere sapne ) is fabulous even if she could do with putting on some extra adipose tissue . See her in the laughing song -another tour de force for Indian cinema . Truly amazing creativity .
Fights are great fun and the children in the cinema truly enjoyed them and Johnny Lever's imitation of Dahler Mehndi really had them squealing with delight. Its a good thing Hindu priests are tolerant , The movie starts with Govinda doing a great Bhajan song and dance - 'God give me lots of money and I will worship you all my life' ! .
Govinda movies are not for everyone - you really do need a well developed sense of humor . Music is fantastic , even the ushrettes come in during the songs. Must see at least twice .
Read also Mohammed Ali Ikram's as always excellent review onAnariI agree with him that the 'Kurta phad ke ' and 'Punjabi pyar da takda ' are excellent but that laughing song is just out of this world.I think I was really pleased about is that the background interior decoration -furniture etc . is back in the Indian style -curved chair backs etc. and trully great to look at .See it on the big screen if you can..
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.