Did you say Nuu Yok?

Well yes, New York it is.

Despite a lot of negative feedback and bad word-of-mouth publicity, I went to see NY. What the heck! TOI has given 4 stars to the movie, I should at least watch it. If nothing else, then for the sake of John Abraham and Neil Nitin Mukesh. C'mon now, what if they can't act. They're at least good to look at... paisa wasool :-)


My only other option was Kambakkht Ishq, and I was dead against it. Who would want to spend money to watch a middle-aged actor trying hard at comedy and an actress who seems so full of herself that she thinks she is obliging us by appearing in front of the camera?


It turned out that I should exercise my own discretion before I decide against a movie. NY isn't that bad after all. True, the plot is clear and simple. And if you are expecting a lot of masala and entertainment, NY isn't your movie. It has its 'moments', yet the progression is slow. There is not much unexpected that happens in the storyline, and the scripting could have been better. You can guess what is going to happen next, all with the Muslims in the US being persecuted & detained, post 9/11. Maybe the director did not want to risk rubbing the too-sensitive subject in, and he has managed to handle it in a balanced way.


As far as the characters go, Neil's (Omar) is the only one whose mind you can understand well, and empathize with. The rest aren't sketched out too well, including Maya (Katrina ) and Sameer (John), around whom the action revolves. Sameer, who is arrogant and an attention-seeker during his college days, is detained by the FBI post 9/11 and tortured for nearly 9 months. The detention shatters his self respect. But the contrast is not so clear, the focus being mostly on Omar during the first half of the movie. John tries his best to depict the change, and manages to some extent, but director Kabir Khan falters here. The transformation of a college hero into a terrorist should be justified. Not only by the story saying so, but by characterization.


The movie picks up well, manages to sustain interest as it opens, and ends on a dramatic note. There is a love triangle thrown in, and the director does well not to end the movie with the girl being left with the other guy... Neil is good in the movie, John does well too and Katrina in the role of a videsi Indian fits well, being herself :-)


And yes, our own Irrfan Khan as an FBI officer is a delight to watch on screen. Someone who knows how to time his actions and dialogues... neat.

Catch it once....

An unsettling insight into the Bombay blasts

After having won the reputation of being a jinxed director, scriptwriter Anurag Kashyap’s Black Friday finally saw light of the day two years after its completion this week. Kashyap’s debut venture Paanch has still not been released, and Black Friday, despite the delay, has given us all the more reasons to look forward to it.

Based on the book by S Hussain Zaidi, Black Friday is an unsettling movie that makes a strong statement by showing rather than telling. Without making any comment, the movie shows how one incident leads to another and an entire generation walks the path of fanaticism. There are no heroes, neither villains in the movie. The characters are real, their names are real- Tiger Memon, Dawood Ibrahim, adding stroke after stroke of realistic touches to a moving narrative.

Rather than excruciatingly narrating the planning and execution of the 1993 Bombay blasts, the movie begins with the scene of the blast, including details about time and places of each. This is followed by the ‘chapters’: investigations, arrests of suspects and finally a peek into the psyche of those who planned the blasts. The scenes keep moving between past and present and an excellent editing keeps the narrative involving throughout.

Despite the real time footages of news, interviews and scenes from the blast sites- gore and dead bodies- the film disturbs, not disgusts. At times you find yourself clenching a fist with the kind of realistic portrayal of the scenes- and the way the police carries out the interrogations. It doesn’t keep you at the seat’s end, but sink back and think of what happened and how.

Theatre and TV actor Pawan Malhotra deserves a bravo for the way he enacts Tiger Memon. Same with Kay Kay, who plays the Mumbai ACP Rakesh Maria. Though the latter has few dialogues to his credit in the movie, his acting is what speaks for him. Background score by the band Indian Ocean moves with the mood of the movie, and the soundtrack Bandeh at the end comes as almost the epilogue. Arey ruk ja re Bandeh… haunts you long after.

A green signal for this one? Maybe.

If you liked Page 3 or Chandni Bar, there is some chance that you will take well to Traffic Signal; it bears the typical Madhur Bhandarkar stamp. Unfortunately, this very effect has begun to weigh down upon his creativity- with the treatment of the films becoming repetitive.

We loved him when he came first, because he was different. But he is now his own self over and over again. The obsession with the alleys of Mumbai- the bar dancers, the business tycoons, the socialites and the goons - works against the storyteller despite his strokes of genius. Yes, that is another reason why you could watch Traffic Signal. If you were born in Mumbai or stayed there, relating to the movie will be much easier. (Those who are there will understand what I mean) For the rest of us, it is just the multitudes living on the Mumbai streets- fighting, begging, pleading for survival. And money. Those whom we have seen in glimpses in movies. Only in the movies.

The protagonist, Silsila (Kunal Khemu), tells us about the ‘industry’ spread around each traffic signal in the opening scene. The movie takes it much further- to the manager of one traffic signal who collects his weekly shares, or hafta- to the gangsters, policemen and the politicians - all somehow integrated into what Bhandarkar claims to be a 180-crore business. And finally, Silsila himself is used as a ploy to what results in the collapse of the business around their traffic signal- which used to be life and bread for the people living there. Though people may find the end a little abrupt, but it is open-ended in a way that allows the audience to draw their own interpretations- without any dramatics on the director's part.

Bhandarkar deserves due credit for handling such a vast theme effortlessly. Within a scene or two, one gets to know about the lives of the characters- portrayed in a realistic way that disgusts at times, adding positive points to the director’s score sheet. The first half of the movie introduces too many characters too quick. And there is a melange of scenes building up the general feel of the movie. But before the viewer went further into their stories, the movie reaches its climax. But the characters as a mass entity come together to scintillatingly portray the life that Bhandarkar wishes to show - one that is overlooked by passers-by everyday.

Bhandarkar also brings in Konkana Sen- his Page 3 star in a 'special appearance' as the prostitute who lurks about the same traffic signal where his story is based. We end up looking for more of the fine actress. Ranvir Shorey is impressive in his acting as the drug-addict too, and the touching Ranvir-Konkana story breathes life into the movie.

Atul Kularni finds mention in the credits, but is conspicuous by his absence on screen. In less than two hours, Bhandarkar tells a lot and also touches on issues related to the characters.

Salaam-e-Ishq: Tell-tale love?

Not that I am going to write off the movie now, but I liked Salaam-e-Ishq better when I watched it first—before I slept over it. The hangover continued for the rest of the day after I walked out of the morning show. Imagine walking into the theatre early morning rubbing your eyes, just to find an unusually full house on the first show of the first day. I would’ve preferred quieter company. But right after the opening scene, Adnan Sami’s lazily romantic version of the title track, Dil Kya Kare, stuck into my half-awake mind for the rest of the movie. So much so, that I sat through the three hours and half without complaining.

Then of course, there was good old John Abraham to gorge the eyes upon, alongside Vidya Balan, Salmaan Khan and Priyanka Chopra—and that defines only half the line-up of stars. The larger their number, the smaller their roles.

Now, Valentine’s Day may still be far off and love may not really be in the air, but it is definitely all over this movie. Director Nikhil Advani’s fascination with love stories has led him to string together not one or two, but six different love tales in one movie: Salaam-e-Ishq as different phases of love.

Nikhil’s second directorial venture after Kal Ho Na Ho, Salaam-e-Ishq is well-directed, the treatment being uncomplicated despite a large number of characters. But unfortunate editing makes the movie lose its track too often. The stories are many, but seem to be half-told on occasions. Music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is one of the high points of the movie.

The movie opens with the story of central pair of Ashutosh-Tehzeeb (John Abraham-Vidya Balan) and proceeds to build the other plots around their story, with love as the integrating factor. The couple is the one that involves, while the rest of the stories are simply those you have seen in various movies earlier- a marriage on the verge of breaking, a husband bored with his perfect married life, pre-nuptial jitters of a groom-to-be, a woman looking for her lost love- and realisation dawning on all in the end. The movie makes an impressive opening, slightly slows down somewhere in the middle and picks up again later. The movie measures a little over three and half hours, and a little pruning here and there could have done no harm.

As Nikhil had said, there is comedy and yes, there is lots of romance in the movie. Govinda’s humour isn’t as loud as he was in Bhagam Bhag, and the love-struck cab driver taking a phoren madam around the country to find her lover, comes across as a mix of Raja Hindustani and Rang de Basanti’s DJ. The Isha Koppikar-Sohail Khan thread is purely comic, and could have easily been done away with.

Also making an appearance are Salmaan Khan and Priyanka Chopra (Rahul-Kkamini), with Priyanka humorously parodying the Bollywood bimbette looking for stardom. “From item queen to tragedy queen,” she proclaims as she prances around. We also get to hear Advani’s friend and mentor - Karan Johar’s voice in the backdrop as he makes calls to Priyanka offering film roles.

Anil Kapoor-Juhi Chawla, Akshaye Khanna-Ayesha Takia and Govinda-Shannon Esrechowitz represent the rest of the love-struck couples.

All said and done, Salaam-e-Ishq could turn out to be the hit that Box Office has been waiting for after Dhoom 2.

Guru bhai- The New Revolution?

Little Bachchan is again walking into the footsteps of his father. He puts on the accent, the countenance and the attire. The concoction works, though he has treaded the line toeing away from Big B often over an array of movies, including the latest Umrao Jaan and Dhoom 2, not finding too much success. Appearing for the second time in a Mani Ratnam movie (after Yuva), Abhishek portrays one of the most convincing characters of his career.

As for Mani Ratnam, long after Yuva, he strikes Bollywood again with Guru, a veiled biography of India’s foremost entrepreneur who displayed a spectacular rise in a short span of time. Though such life stories haven’t generated much interest in the audience in the past, Mani’s style of storytelling is perfect - with impressive cinematography by Rajiv Menon, music by A R Rahman and wonderful lyrics by Gulzar.

Guru- the rags to riches story of Gurukant Desai is based on the story of Reliance Industries founder Dhirubhai Ambani, though that fact doesn’t find mention anywhere. Like Gurubhai in the film, Dhirubhai came from a small village in Gujarat, was a person of humble means who started from scratch; he was the son of a schoolteacher, worked at an oil-filling station for Shell and created a business out of polyester on returning to India. He is also finally struck by a paralytic stroke while he tries to battle legal hassles over his business.



Wherever there is success, there are detractors. The press questions Guru’s success, his rivals- who have taken decades to achieve what he did in a few years- try to buy him, and then there is the judiciary, with charges against his business. The last sequence is a bit unconvincing, with Guru delivering a monologue in front of the jury, justifying his working style. That wasn’t really needed, since only two of the charges levelled against him are proved true. For the rest of the movie, Guru subtly shows shades of gray, being the staunch businessman- marrying for money, partnering for money and even corrupting people to achieve his business goals. He almost transforms himself into a hero in the end.

The story that centres around a single character is unconventional in its own way, despite the standard elements of romance, dance and music thrown in without disturbing the plot. That could be one reason to count if the film doesn’t attain commercial success. There have been questions about the Abhishek-Aishwarya chemistry. Those again remain unanswered, since the screenplay develops such perfect characters that the actors don’t have to strive too hard. Vidya Balan, Mithun Chakraborty and R Madhavan are the surprise packages of the movie, presenting a bunch of talented actors together. Mallika Sherawat too does a cameo in the song Mayya Mayya.

Watch it for Mani Ratnam- if not anything else.

Bhagam Bhag: Entangled in mirth!

Don’t look back while you run. There may be gangsters, cops and hoodlums behind you. Bhagam Bhag, as the name suggests and the director promises, has a mix-up of chases, confusion, comedy and more. Though it isn’t the regular cop-gangster story, but a whole lot of people throwing each other into trouble, due to mix-ups, and more mix-ups.

As Govinda makes a comeback in an area which used to be his exclusive territory, a complete laugh riot is created with the current ruling laughter champions of the Box Office. He completes Priyadarshan’s trio in Bhagam Bhag, pinning himself besides the classy characters of Akshay Kumar and Paresh Rawal. Though Govinda seems to lose his old charm at certain occasions, the rest manage to keep the audience rolling in laughter, with hilarious dialogues and comedy bordering on the loud side at times. Suneil Shetty’s bit is missing, we have got used to him as the quintessential simpleton in Priyan’s movies.

Bhagam Bhag sees the momentum builds up and the plot keeps getting entangled further with each scene until it finally explodes in the last sequence, when all characters end up creating a ruckus in the Big Ben! We trusted the director to have done better than that, though. Champak Seth (Paresh Rawal) and his troupe, who get their golden chance to perform in London, are looking for a heroine to play the leading lady in their show. But they find trouble instead: a brief case full of heroin, a woman Nisha (Lara Dutta), who agrees to play the part, but disappears right before the show, a pack of gangsters determined to kill them, and the cops.



Though Priyan’s style of storytelling amuses throughout, confusion replaces laughter towards the end, when things get so muddled up that it is difficult to get the pieces together, unless the final sequence comes to the audience’s rescue, when everything pops out suddenly. Though Paresh Rawal is his usual entertaining self, sharing an interesting equation with the others, Akshay Kumar is getting even better at his craft. Tanushree Dutta does a cameo in the movie, while Rajpal Yadav as Gullu, the helpful cab driver, is thoroughly entertaining.

A movie that can be enjoyed to the core; keep the logic locked up safely at home. Watch out for the laughter riot!

Kabul Express: Right on Track!

Succeeding movies like the stylish Dhoom or the melodramatic Baabul and Vivaah, comes Kabul Express- laidback and subtle. The routine cinegoer should look before he leaps to watch it! There’s no leading lady, no songs and no romance. Only a short and crisp story- a little below two hours- set in a foreign land, that won’t allow you to walk out until the action is over.

Here you have two TV journalists trapped in a post-Taliban Afghanistan with Imran Khan Afridi (Salman Shahid), a Talibani refugee trying to flee back to homeland Pakistan. He lands with the two- Suhel Khan (John Abraham) and Jai Kapoor (Arshad Warsi) and an American girl, Jessica (Linda Arsenio) from Reuters. While they try to get their ‘scoop’ out of this special encounter, the ‘Talib’ routes his escape through them.

Kabul Express is a subtle comment on the way the Taliban regime and worse, the war, ruined Afghan life. The dusty, devastated landscape of Afghanistan is the perfect visual relief one could have asked for from the gaudy sets of multi-starrer movies. A place where Indians are recognised through “Amitabh Bachchan! Shahrukh Khan! Amir Khan!”. Certain shots are reminiscent of movies focusing on post-Taliban regions, like those by Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami.

The plot goes a level further. It shows the humane face of the Talibani man; his love for Indian cigarettes and Hindi songs like ‘Main fikr ko dhuen mein udata chala gaya…’, which he hums with the Indians while the Afghani cab driver, Khyber (Hanif Hum Ghum) fumes at their amity. But at the end of it, while they will have to edit portions of the friendliness from their story, Imran has a surprise for himself in his own country.

You see the standard Arshad Warsi as the cameraperson. Any other actor would have made the character fade out. John fans should be making a beeline to the cinemas as soon as possible; the man has got his due after a long time. Though a journalist as suave, doing push-ups early morning is rare in the real world. Arshad is more convincing as the smoking, complaining and witty camera person.

The subtle humour, an insight into the Afghani war, will need to be understood well before you could swallow Kabul Express in one whole.