Two of my favoruites songs are 'Akhiyon se goli mare' from Dulhe Raja and ' Ouch , ooh , aah' from Anari No.1 and so it was a great delight to see Punjabi kudi Jaspinder Narula who sings these songs , on screen doing the marriage song ' mera yaar bada sona ' . She did do another one in a movie I forget but there she was singing an English song in Western dress and its not quite the same . There is a world famous Sardarji with her in that song and I couldnt place him at the time but now I think it might be Jaspal Bhatti .

Story of a man - Akshay - in a kind of semi negative role - and his girlfriend consoles him ' agar koi rasta dikhane wala na mile to log aksar behak jate hain'- if one doesnt find someone to show the way ( in life) people often go astray' - very thoughtful and very good and that is why I keep saying if they kept the translation of this fantastic Urdu dialog literal they would attract a much bigger western audience .

Another one is when Karishma is berating her drunk mama ( mother's brother) who is trying to sell her into prostitution -'mama may do ma hota hain kyunki ma se bi uncha darja diya raksha karne ke liye - or words to that effect - mama has two ma's in it ( ma=mother) because society has given an uncle a role double that of a mother in protecting the honor of his neice .

The first half hour I missed , the next half hour is good , the next one hour drags a bit because they forgot to put in comedy breaks even though it hasJohnny Lever in it but the last half hour is intensely emotional and very very good .

They should put in a light hearted children's song in all these movies so they can drag the parents along . great perfomances by Akshay , Shilpa and the child Its not going to be a superhit but its worth watching and I like the ending for once.

Watch the view from the king villain's penthouse . With the WTC and Empire state building in the background -all lighted up at night I think part of this movie was actually filmed in New York..

Gair is a typical Bollywood movie , so it will upset those who are yearning for a good story line -read a good book instead .

However I found it fairly enjoyable , any movie with the beautiful stunning Raveena in it cannot be otherwise ! . Story of a rich mill owner who keeps favouring a young rival much to the anger of his own son . Most suspect that he is his illegitimate son but there is an interesting twist .

Female costumes are gorgeous as always but even the male ones with embroidred jackets are innovative . Quite liked the music too . Fights are good but too many . A recent Pakistani Urdu movie whose name I cant remember had a very good and comical fight in the boxing ring where the hero is getting whipped much to the heroine's delight until they bring in a Punjabi dholak band inside the ring . Brilliantly done , it doesnt matter what the budget is as long as imagination is used , unlike the boring car chases and gun shootings that seem to be a staple of Hollywood movies .

They also need to use the best film print and make high definition DVD masters so that these movies can be played at best resolution on cable and satellite . Once people get used to high resolution pictures on cable and satellite and terrestial TV , video piracy will die a natural death and rewards will flow to the movie makers . Pakistani films need to move to better prints and dubbing so that these masterpieces can be preserved for future generations.

Dialog is excellent -one guilty man about to kill himself is told 'Buzdil wo hai jo pap ko mitaneki jagha khud ko mita deta hai' 'A coward is one who instead of rubbing out his crimes , rubs himself out ' . It is these kind of uplifting messages that make these movies such a pleasure and the subtitlers should not ruin the effect and should translate them literaly . The Urdu is a bit difficult at times . Who knows what is 'magroor moonasib nahin' ? Who talks like that even in Pakistan? Background music is a bit of a let down .

Bollywood is certainly being allowed to get away with a lot nowadays by the censors and its good . One scene has Ajay moving down Raveena's buxom body in the garden kissing all bits until he gets real low and then the camera breaks away to show the look of bliss on her face !

Bollywood needs to add another bit to the formula and that is to have a young smart talking kid and a song for the children . Although in India its mostly teen men who go to see a movie in the first week and determine whether its a success or not , in the West kids do make a large part of the audience and are not much into adult orientated dances and dialog .

A better, formatted article is available at www.manfrommatunga.com/thakshak.htm

Wonders never cease! Despite thinking that Khoobsurat would be my last new Hindi film in a theater for a long time, I landed up seeing Thakshak at Plaza in Dadar, on a Tuesday evening. The beginning was ominous; the electricity went off for about half an hour just after the credits.

I am getting a little sick of these semi-realistic, violent movies that are being served up by trendy, 'serious' directors. Satya, Shool and now Thakshak. Thakshak is an example of posturing at its worst; trying to be serious, and at the same time playing to the gallery. Govind Nihalini may have made Ardh Satya, but the only redeeming feature of this movie for him is that technically he doesn't seem to have lost his touch; story, editing, continuity and credibility can go to hell.

There is really only one reason to see Thakshak. Rahul Bose. Playing Sunny, the son of a mafia don, he portrays a manic, completely conscience-less character, who has no qualms about killing anyone who he thinks has crossed him or is in the way of his dream of total domination of the city. His accent, his abruptness of behavior and speech and the glint in his eyes work wonders for his character. The only time I have seen him earlier is in "A Mouthful of Sky", the first English soap on Doordarshan. I haven't caught English August or Bombay Boys, but one of these days I guess I will.

In that sense, Ajay Devgun playing Ishan or Eeshaan or Eeshan or Ishaan (why Hindi films never bother to give a list of cast and characters is beyond me) is a foil to Sunny. It is Rahul Bose who should be nominated for Best Actor and Ajay Devgun if at all for Best Supporting Actor. Tabu as Suman, plays a forthright, honest individual who still believes in the fact that the system can be changed and is thus willing to act as a witness against the mafia, in a multiple-murder case. This brings her in direct conflict with Sunny and coincidentally with Ishan, who falls in love with her.

The other interesting newcomer is Netra Raghuraman, who plays Nisha, a dancer/singer girl-friend of Sunny's, thus allowing the director to put in three songs and dances, with Netra flashing some parts of her body for the benefit of the 'char-anna' audience. She does have some potential and I just saw flashes of her in trailers for the "Bhopal Express", so maybe we will be seeing more of us in the days to come. The music is by A R Rahman, but except for 'Rang de', none of the other songs stay with you.

Coming back to Govind Nihalini. I feel like throttling him. A man who makes movies like Ardh Satya, eventually comes down to making a film like Thakshak. Sure, Thakshak has some terrific scenes, some great dialogues, some really edge-of-the-seat episodes (like the time when Ishan goes after the Pakistani ISI agent, in the night-club where Nisha is singing, and the fight scenes and song are superbly interposed), but as I have said before, a patchwork quilt does not make a movie.

Why don't people like him realize that making a mainstream movie does not mean that you have to screw the script and logic and flow of the movie? Or is that the hold of the distributors and financiers is so intense that unless you follow their dictates, you can't make a movie? I don't know.

This review is short, but there is nothing more to write about. I just wish the film had never been made and Nihalini hadn't gone through all this trouble..MFM

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One thing I love about Bollywood movies is how each one is so different . Different stories , settings , dialog .. The first half of Vastav is well worth missing but the second is very good .

I liked the 'Bada' a sort of high intensity housing for low income It is a multi storey complex with three sides of a rectangle and the fourth side is open to the world and in the middle is a courtyard . The balconeys of the houses all face the courtyard and it recreates a kind of village atmosphere with people coming out to the balconeys to see what kind of dances are happening in the courtyard and also to greet each other .

It is really superb and should be copied in the west instead of the atomized living in high rise twenty story high block of flats where one never gets to meet the neighbour and in many ways is far better than suburban houses but of course doesnt have much privacy .

Anyway this Bollywood movie creates a very intimate kind of scene. Some of the dialog is unintentionally funny . When the hero takes his girlfriend to meet his mother and she asks her name and the girl tells her and then she asks what is your father's name ? She says 'Baap ka naam pata hota to vaishya kyun banti !? If I knew who my father was I wouldnt have become a prostitute .

Another is a bar dance with three nubile girls all singing ' we are in a war with our youth , our passions roused and our bras feel so tight ' . And they carry on doing that while the gangsters are busy shooting each other .

Its probably a remake of the second Scarface but Sanjay doesnt quite manage the performance of Al Cappucino maybe because they dont spell it out clearly enough at the beginning . I liked the ending a lot .

The movie does say that it is all the fault of the corrupt politicians that all these gang wars take place and the one in this movie is a real baddy and also how the criminals quake when they hear that an 'encounter' order has come down from high up - ie an order that the criminal should be killed in a fake encounter .

But the real moral of the story is that it is very important for the Police to stay uncorrupt ptherwise even good people are forced to turn to crime . Also some scenes and takeoffs of Parsees and Tamils and I am not sure that showing minorities in a negative light is a very good idea or the singing of Hindu Bhajans while the Police are chasing the criminals .

I also liked the way a couple of white beauties suddenly appear in the folk dance out of nowhere in the middle of the bada .

Often they cheat when there is a time for a romantic song they will suddenly go round a street and there will be scenes from Switzerland . In this movie they avoid that kind of unreality by actually giving the couple tickets for a Swiss holiday ..

Superb comedy film with brilliant dialog by Sanjay Chehl .A con man enters a rich household under false pretences and sorts out the family disputes . The rich lonely girl whose mother died in childbirth and who has low self esteem and reads 'How to become smart in 30 days ' 'How to make friends and infulence people ' without much effect is taught a valuable lesson in life - you have to confront your fears and take risks if you want to change your personality .

The first half of the movie is a laugh a minute riot with the real star the cutest little jet black dwarf bulldog ever in any movie . The second half takes a little serious turn and has some weepy bits for the women .

Its probably a copy of some Hollywood movie which take their ideas from books but Bollywood always in my opinion turns them into great song and dance musicals which stay in the mind a lot longer . A must see and it will be a great hit on DVD if they keep the translation literal and subtitle the songs too .

What he and the others don't seem to realize or if they do realize, pretend to ignore, is the fact that these programs, even though they sucked, did well only because the concept of satellite television was new at the time; anything and everything was popular in those days. Yet, Chhel has also worked on the screenplays for 'Rangeela' and 'Yes Boss', which makes you wonder.

So what is the movie all about! It is loosely based on "Bawarchi", the Rajesh Khanna, Hrishikesh Mukherjee film, where he goes as a cook into a large family and endears himself to everyone, patches up troubled relationships and helps out those in need. In this film, Sanjay Dutt, plays Sanju who is forced to become a con artist after a 'bhai' named Jogiya (an over-the-top Paresh Rawal) kidnaps an orphan girl that Sanju dotes on, in return for Rs 50 lakhs, which was the cost of the drugs that Sanju had helped the police seize from Jogiya.

To steal money, using a false identity, he enters the house of a big Barjatya-wannabe family that consists of an elderly father (Anjan Srivastava), mother (Farida Jalal), three sons (Om Puri, Ashok Saraf and Jatin Kanakia), their wives (Supriya Sachin, Himani Shivpuri), children and Om Puri's daughter, Shivani played by Urmila. Sanju manages to get close to each one of them and soon becomes part of the family.

I saw Khubsurat, I did not have great expectations for this movie. It was better than the average Hindi movie. The Paresh Rawal and the confused brother jokes were one of the better comedy I've seen in recent movies. The songs were hummable (ok, they probably didn't have to go to Sweden or Switzerland to shoot them). This probably covers 1hr of the movie. Another half over was ok, the remaining hour was bit of a drag. But I didn't mind the time and money spent.

There are good Hollywood movies and bad movies. And there are good Bollywood movies and bad Bollywood movies. Lets not try to mush the two to be similar. We don't want movies to be like everything else - franchised and branded to look the same everywhere, do we?.. Sriram

This movie got a 10 out of 10 from Ali Ikram one of our finest young reviewers at
http://www.indolink.com/bollywood/mvierevs.html

It is a gangster movie -the first scene has a politician who wont be bought being stabbed by the gangsters , then they see his foot move and stab him again and again in the right side not realizing the heart is on the left !

Shool is a truly excellent movie . Make sure you have three hours spare because you simply will not be able to get up for the whole time .

I am not sure if it doesnt send the wrong message that these gangster politicians are just too powerful . Manoj Bajpai as the easy to anger incorruptible police officeer deserves the best actor award . Together with Satya - how can anyone act any better ? Raveena is very good too . The villain in this one is a real menacing baddy which means he is excellent in his role .

The dialog by Anurag Kashyap in this movie as always in Bo movies is excellent . Point and counterpoint rising to a high pitch between Manoj and the corrupt police officers both trying to win the arguement and with his wife . If the subtitling is done literally these movies can acquire a big following and market in the West as they really do stimulate the brain.

Ho movies in contrast have very understated dialog - maybe western audiences are very bright and dont need everything or spelt out or maybe since its mostly teens who see these movies they wont appreciate them .

Its not a typical Bo movie as there is only one glamor dance but its a movie that will stay in your mind like Satya for a very long time .

This movie illustrates the Bollywood formula . Some people who should know decry it , but I find it quite fascinating and Bollywood's success in being perhaps the only foreign one holding out against Hollywood speaks for itself .

One of the elements of that formula is that they take a regional setting and faithfully copy the mannerisms and language of the people there and if they keep making so much money in the West will soon start doing it to the Irish . Scots , Welsh , Italians etc .

In this movie the Bihari setting is great - the prevalent use of the royal 'we' etc.

Another great feature about Bollywood movies is the backgound score , here by Sandeep Chowta , even the Sanskrit prayer sequence has been incorporated well when the policeman decides on his course of action . The last 20mins are absolutely brilliant. See it on the big screen if you can.

One great thing about Shool are the fights by Ahamad Khan, Very untypical of Bollywood and very realistic and you really feel the pain of every blow .

Shool is one more list to the addition. But, Shool doesn't have the trappings of a typical Masala film. Even though the basic plot is familiar , it has a arresting feel about it. The characters seem real, the plot winds through at a gripping pace,; editing is very sharp, there is not a single scene which can be considered unnecesary or out of place ; Acting from the starcast is topclass;

The action starts straightaway at the beginning : A chilling introduction to the PoliticanDon Bacchu Yadav (sayaji Shinde) in a lawless town of Bihar, who murders his party candidate with a maniacal frenzy, in the early hours of the last day of election nominations.

Cut to scene two, with a ordinary looking man stepping out of the train , with his luggage , wife and kid in tow. When the Station coolie demands an outrageous charge for porting his luggage, the man refuses to give in. The man's wife looks on quietly with a worried look on her eye as the argument turns nasty . The local Constable chips in by threatening the man to pay up!

Cut to scene three: The constable and the man, who is none other than the recently transfered Police inspector(ManojBajpai) at the local police station. Despite the pleadings of his inspector colleagues, Bajpai files a charge against the constable. Here we get a quick idea of the corruption within the police ranks itself and the singlemindedness of Bajpai in doing his duty.

I quoted the first few scenes, to emphasise the brilliant no-nonsense style of presentation by the debutant director E.Nivas. There is a honest depiction of the ordinary lifestyle of the inspector , which is nicely highlighted in the Restraunt scene where the demure wife ponders over the steep prices on the menu card. The sidey characters are also given fair coverage . The two inspector colleagues initially share a buddy relationship with ManojB but as the movie progresses the corrupt one becomes openly antagonostic.

On the Bacchuyadav front, glimpses to the various shades of his villianous character are shown at regular instances. His ridiculous argument in the assembly over electricity , his powerlust, his insatiable appetite for women, his listening enthusiasm for wierd sounding folk tunes ; his blatant abuse of power - are all brought out in quick scenes at various intervals, giving him a realistic feel. His cronies too are given a decent footage.

The situations unfurl with the cop fighting a vain and hopeless battle with everything ranged against him. The climax may seem melodramatic for a film which sticks to realistic presentation for most of it's length. But, obviously, there can't be a satisfying ending for movies with these sort of themes.

On the acting front, ManojBajpee is brilliant. Even the best of actors couldn't have done better than this. A young Amitabh or a Nasser or Ompuri would have matched the performance in this role. Considering that he played a Don with stunning conviction in his first movie Satya, this is a remarkable turnaround!

Sayajee Shinde's potrayal of BachooYadav is another highlight of the movie. He blurs the difference between reality and fiction It was a good move to cast an unknown , talented actor to this role, rather than playing the regular bigwig villians .

Raveen Tandon is impressive in a role shorn of all glamour, in the role of a quiet subdued wife, who flares up in agony at the very end, when all seems to be lost. Songs aren't much to write about, but they don't look unneccesary in the movie.

If you are looking for a well made movie, with superlative acting, decent direction and which entertains/provokes by presenting a allfamiliar real/reel story in a refreshing style, Shool fills the slot.. cheers Raj

Quite an enjoyable movie . The song 'Dhola' in the first half is excellent and well worth the price of admission alone . Shazia Manzoor could do for Pakistani movies what Lata did for Bollywood . And its nice to be able to hear the lyrics as they drop the volume of the instruments during the voice singing .Many a time the radio stations dont have the CD of the song one wants and it might be an idea for them to ask people to send the CD in and donate it , in return for playing it say ten times over a month or so . Asian stations could build up their libraries quite quickly.. more next month