What story I shall tell you about Jaane tu… ya jaane na? The movie has tested and often repeated story of Love mistaken as platonic friendship.

You have seen it in Genelia D’Souza’s first Hindi movie “Tuze Meri Kasam”, you have seen it in many other films. A boy and girl who are studying together and are bonding so well that everyone else except themselves think as a perfect made for each other couple. After some ups and downs, they realize that they really are made for each other. So everyone has a happy ending.

Cliched storyline… isn’t it? But who says one shall not make movies on such repeated story lines if they have some new ways of telling it? Haven’t Manmohan Desai made at least half a dozen movies on same story line of lost and found formula? Isn’t every successive movie of his was bigger success than earlier?

As I often say in my reviews, a movie which is able to create an immersing experience for audience is a good movie. If a movie with repeat story does that, why deny it from its fair share of praise?

So why do critics has to talk about the cliches and lack of innovative story? What about innovative presentation? And if they can not relate to this movie, I must say they are too old to watch it. Be young at heart and watch this movie.

Aditi (Genelia D’Souza) and Jay (Imran Khan) are so thick friends that everyone think that they are … yes… made for each other. But they don’t think that about each other and laugh at it when they come to know that even their parents are trying to get them engaged. They decide to find a life partner for each other as they know each other better. So Aditi finds a girl for Jay. Jay really gels well with her.

Aditi senses that Jay is getting away from her and she starts to realize how much she really wants him in her life. But she tries to get away from that thought by getting engaged to someone else.

With lots of interesting twists and turns at the end, they unite. Happy Ending. Period

There is nothing much to talk about the story as its same old wine in new bottle…. but wait…. the new bottle is what makes all the difference…. and the older the wine the more classier it is.

From the first few scenes, we get involved with the characters sketched on celluloid for us. We forget that we are seating in the dark theatre with 100s of more people around us watching it. We just get absorbed inside the life of those bubbly, chirpy, happy characters on the screen. We try to re-live the magic of that age… (and we don’t even need to say that about the same age audience).

Abbas Tyrewala makes us weak in our knees with his prowess of storytelling, writing, dialogs, direction. Everything about this movies is just perfect. But still few things are unique which I must mention them here :

1. The relationship between Aditi and her brother
2. The relationship of Jay with her mom
3. The relationship between Jay, his mother and his father (?)
4. The character sketch of Jay’s new girlfriend

Every track, every stream, every ITEM of this movie is so well fitted and so properly interwoven that this script, screenplay will be an object of study for next generations.

The songs are perfect and already rulling the charts. A. R. Rahman again impresses us with a new sound and we appreciate his mastery over music whole hearted …. God knows how many times.

The choreography is perfect. The casting is spot on. The performances by everyone, everyone means absolutely everyone, is perfect.

Imraan never makes us feel that this is his debut movie. He is so seamless and yes… perfect. Genelia has done same role many times and hence she is …. perfect. Special mention to the actor who has played her brother. Extra special metion of Ratna Pathak and Nasiruddin Shah as they are … yes, perfect. Paresh Rawal in a small role is perfect (after all we thought that he is overdoing himself in the Priyan style movies). Double Special mention of Sohail Khan and Arbaaz khan in the cameo. They have got the best role of their life and they are not going to get it again in their life…. in this movie they are perfect.

Kudos to Abbas Tyrewala, Kudos to Amir Khan…. Kudos to everyone involved in this movie… They are perfect…

Everything in this movie is perfect….

This movie is a masterstroke.

It is a Cult!

Period.

I am giving 5 star for the first time to any movie and I was waiting from ages for that.

BR Rating: *****
BR Verdict: EXCELLENT !!
BR Recommends: Who am I to say anything? Just go and watch this movie again and again.

A lone young boy, Karan (Harman Baweja), lacking attention and affection both from his father talks to his late mother in loneliness. He feels he has no one who cares for him and hence he is big time into dangerous adventure sports.

While on his trip for mountain biking, he meets a girl, Sana (Priyanka Chopra) and it is love at first site for him. After many attempts of owing the girl with his passion, madness and love, he finally is able to capture her heart.

They depart after the vacation and (strange enough for this Internet and Mobile generation) they lost touch of each other (can they not share mobile number or email address?). This period of pain brings them closure and Karan finds her love in a city where he stays with his uncle Ya (Boman Irani). Uncle Ya is a scientist who is working on a Time Machine.

After Karan finds Sana back, he takes her to visit uncle Sana with her mom. He shows her the house and to impress her he even shows her the Time Machine. They try to time travel and set the destination year to 2050. Uncle Ya find them out and kicks them out of their lab. But in this process by mistake, Sana rubs a formula written by chalk on Blackboard. She corrects it according to her memory (which actually is correct formula that Uncle Ya is trying to find out from last 15 years…. how bollywoodish! ).

In all this love, romance and Time Machine story, something happens which changes the life for Karan….

What is that event… what happens after that…. is the story of Love Story 2050.

First the plus points:

1) Priyanka Chopra is marvelous. She is the saving grace of the movie. She is real asset for this sci-fi flick.

2) Harman is excellent. He is “Long Race ka Ghoda” to be sure. He needs to get perfect movies.

3) The 2050 setting is MindBlowing. The speciall effects are REAL….. and of international quality.

4) Archana Puran Singh and Boman Irani are excellent.

Now the minus points:

1) Script is weekest point of the movie.

2) The woving a girl sequences do not connect the audience to the characters making it effectless.

3) There is no proper story telling as there is not much story to tell. Harry Baweja is surely let down by the screenplay (story is his own)

4) Background Music is bad, Songs are mortal. Annu Malik is big disappointment.

5) Direction of Harry Baweja could have been better

So thats it, it sums the movie. But let me tell you, this is a movie which has lift the standards of Bollywood Special Effects to a very high level and has matched it to Hollywood movies. In fact, sometimes it feels like this movie is too much ahead in technical finesse by todays times.

Hats off to Harry Baweja for that. He has left no stone unturned in making 2050 a real world.

You really find yourself living there. So feel free and GET TRANSPORTED!

BR Rating: *** (2 for the movie/storytelling, 1 for the special effects)
BR Verdict: Good!
BR Recommends: Ek bar dekhna chahiye. Once a Watch!

Kunal Kohli…..

The new age directors who wants Indian cinema to take on the world and be recognized as its own brand. He wants not to be lured by Oscar Awards and hold our head high based on what we have achieved till now.

He came as a winner with “Hum Tum” and then being touted as a successful and dependable director with “Fanna”.

Kunal Kohli worked for the renowned and respected banner of Yash Raj Films. His friendship with Aditya Chopra has helped him to fulfill his long cherished dream of becoming a producer. “Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic” is result of this alliance and we really have great expectations from both of them.

Does this movie good to fulfill our desires as audience? Let’s see:

Thoda Pyar Thoda Magic (TPTM) is a movie about Mr Ranbeer Talwar who is a focused businessman with success at his feet. He wins award as a businessman of the year and while back on the way to home, he tries to operate mobile while driving and hits into a car. The car has Mr. and Mrs. Walia in it. They are both dead on the spot.

Ranbeer’s court case becomes a talk of the nation and media frenzy over it forces the judge to give a justice which can be an example for the others.

Judge summons Ranbeer that he has to take care of the 4 children of the Walia family and keep them with him. He can not leave the city without them and he can not put them to boarding school. If he fails to do so and if the kids are not happy, he will have to face 20 years in jail.

The children visit the home. They are filled with revenge and hatred for Ranbeer. They plan to annoy him to the hilt so that he misbehaves with them and in turn gets the 20 year jail.

During this little war, they many times remember their parents and cry out to God about it. Ranbeer is also unhappy and prays God to help him.

God (Rishi Kapoor) looks at them and listens their payers on his Hi-fi Earth Monitoring System. He decides to send his most disobeying brat Angel (Rani Mukherjee) to earth. Her job is to unite the kids and Ranvir as family and then come back.

What happens after that is a Magic and Fun story.

Kunal shows his grip on the media from the first frame of the movie. The movie instantly grabs the audience attention. The characteristics of the Saif’s personality are brought fore through the titles itself and when the titles end the accident happen…. fast…. super fast.

The tale after that regarding the media frenzy, judge’s verdict, kids visit to home and their purposeful annoyance caused to Ranvir, unfolds fast is interesting.

Immediately, the song of Angels breaks the pace of the movie. Then movies has ups and downs and the pace loosens. Its good at some point, its boring at some part. In spite of the fun and magic special effects, the movie lefts a hollow in the experience.

The script dies after the very good pace in initial part of the movie. The writers suddenly get out of ideas to pump life in the script and unfolds with a very predictive twists and turns. But due to the kids, angel, magic and fun, the movie keeps us glued to the seat. It fun film to watch with family.

Kunal Kohli does a fair job in direction and had tried to lift the movie with fun magic to cover the weaknesses in the script.

The performances are pleasure to watch especially Saif Ali Khan who looks like a greek God, Ran Mukherjee who fits the character of angel, The Sikh Kid and the Judge.

On the Music front, the songs fail to create any impact. Lazy Lahme is a good song but the visuals can trouble the family audience (but it can not be avoided watching as it has lots of fun for kids too). Kunla should not have put ameesha’s exposure meter on so high. It is contradictory picturization. He packs in sensuous exposure for adults and fun elements for kids in one single song which does not gel properly. He should have avoided that. Instead of the Angel Song, Lazy Lamhe could have been used in the start to give a break to the audience.

Cinematography is good and the special effects are plenty but those lack international quality. Feels like a low budget job done.

In spite of the flaw in script and boredom at some points, the movie is worth a watch once with family and kids. So go watch it.

BR Rating: **1/2
BR Verdict: Above Average
BR Recommends: Recommended to full family. Worth a watch!

10 Different incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Each life having multitudes of stories, sub stories and legends. Indian mythology is filled up with myths and stories about all this. It is not very easy to cut down all those information and create one flawless free flowing story on screen. However, Dashavatar excels in that. Period.

It starts with 2 kidnapped kids who run out of the trap of the goons. They take shelter in a Krishna Temple where they are saved by a pujari who is actually “Naradamuni” in disguise of the pujari. After the goons are kicked out by him, he takes them to “swarga” (heaven) and tells the story of Lord Vishnu and his 10 Incarnations.

It talks about all the avatars starting from Matsya to Lord Krishna. Each era, each hero is explained in details but in pace so you know everything and even do not get bored. Once all the initial avatars are over where we are not aware of much details due to our lack of Indian mythology, things get more interesting when movie reaches to the Story of Bhakta Pralhad and Narsimhvavatar. After that with the introduction of Parashuram, the movie reaches interval.

The first half can have mixed bag of reactions from different age groups. Though the second half takes it to another height as there are more familiar stories about Shri Ram, Shri Krishna, etc.

Even attempting this movie was kind of suicide. As we call it its like lifting the “ShivDhanushya” and the director has done it well. Hats off to the screenplay writer who has woven the narration so flawlessly flowing. The director deserves applause for the perfect HIGH TORQUE prensentation of so much huge subject.

Apart from that the animation is of international standards. It is even better than wht Toonz have shown us till now. Better than Hanuman and all previous movie. That is the level Indian Animation has reached today.

They have used 3D portions seemlessly wherever necessary with the basic 2D format. That is something new. This happens when the director understands that the medium is just a method or tool to present the story and it shall not overshadow the actual story. Nowhere you feel that you are watching a cartoon film or kids film. That is what animation film should be. We need to explain Indian public that animation is not for kids only. It is a medium which has unlimited possibilities which can portray never before seen visuals which are not possible (at least in our budgets) in normal cinema.

There are 2 high points of the movie as per me.

First is Narsimhavatar. It is orchestrated so beautifully and at the climax of that story a marvelous crescendo of audio visuals immerses the audience totally in the experience.

Second is “Vishwarupdarshan” or display of divinity by Lord Krishna to Arjun. I mean I was so stumped by it that I felt like I am watching it actually. That is what is called as cinematic experiance.

The background music is another important part of this movie which is as important as the visuals. The music director Anand Kurhekar has fabulous job on it. The songs are good and used intelligently to take the story forward (Narasimhvavtar, Ramvatar, Krishanavatar, etc.).

In the voice over by Shatrughna Sinha is used for narration. The other sutradhar of the story are the 2 kids, Naradmuni and the apsara. The boy voice is not very good and it sometimes artificial accent irritates. Also same with the Apsara. The best voice acting is done by Sachin Khedekar. That is a perfect casting. Sheryas Talpade as Narada is also good. Everyone has done justice to their part.

I must congratulate Percept Pictures which is no synonymous with animation films in India to support and distribute this film. They have done excellent promotion and I hope the movie shall pick with word of mouth publicity.

Too small kids will get afraid because there are too many rakshasas and to many fighting scenes which was obviously unavoidable. The dark portrayal of those can get the smaller kids to cry. I think the movie is perfect above 10 age group and mostly 10 to 20 and then 35 and onwards will like it very much. So this becomes a perfect movie for full family.

Apart from cartoon channels, this movie can find place in religious channels also due to its detailed portrayal of stories in “Purana”. The older age group people will love it. I recommend the “Vishwarupdarshan” the most for them.

So to get your lessons in mythology in most enjoyable way, visit your nearby theatre and watch “Dashavatar”.

BR Rating: ***
BR Verdict: Good!
BR Recommends: Recommended to full family. See your Gods in action!

Why do we watch movies?

Why some movies are good and some are bad?

I think the answer is we want to have a different experience in those 90-180 min movies. We wish to forget our regular world and pray that the storyteller of the movie grabs all our senses and takes us into a different world all together.

If a cinema does that its a good cinema, if it fails, its not one. It is as simple as that.

Why did Sarkar connected us to the protagonist Nagare family so much? Why do we feel the power should be with Sarkar, why do we feel he shall win?

This is another aspect of good and bad cinema. The characters of the movie shall fulfill some underlying wish of ours which is hidden deep inside. We like the dialog “Muze jo sahi lagta hai, main woh karta hun” because we get a pleasant shock out of it. It is a mixed feeling like “Can anyone live life like this?” and “Can I do something like this?”. It is the hidden wish of a person to be able to say so which Sarkar DOES! That is what connects us to that character.

Whenever such connect happens, it is a good cinema. If it doesn’t, its a bad one.

While narrating the story, the magicians of cinema weave a new wonderland for the “Alice” in us. In this process, they create some symbols, some protocols, some new identities which becomes rituals for us. If there is bound to be a sequel of the story, we hope it shall not destroy those symbols, shall not deviate it self from the protocols which the first movie created and has set in our mind.

If the story of the sequel properly manages the balance of keeping the symbols, protocols, identities intact and still surprises us with a new experience (which we want at least as good as first), the sequel is good. It it fails to do it, it is bad.

Why I am getting into all this before actually writing the review? I will reveal it at the later part of the review.

Coming to the story of Sarkar Raj, the new King of the Raj, Shankar Nagare (Abhishek Bachchan) is doing well. He is better than his father (Watch the scene when Amitabh declares this and after that Shankar weaves his had to the Aam Junta. You we bend in knees watching the expressions given by Senior Bachchan).

Anita (Aishwarya Rai Bachchan) , the director of a Sheppard Power corporation wants to setup a power plant in Maharashtra. She is informed that it can happen only if she is able to make Sarkar a party for this project. Sarkar is reluctant to do this project as it involves shifting villages comprising 40,000 people. But Shankar believes in the project and feels that it make Maharashtra’s progress speed up further. So he convinces Sarkar.

He makes it clear that he wants the people to take decision about this project by choice and not by pressure. So he rally around all potentially project affected villages to convince them and succeeds in that. But Sanjay Somji who is local leader does negative publicity about the project and the things get out of control.

What happens after that, you can watch it in nearby theatres.

The biggest highlight of this movie is Performances. The lead characters from Bachchans are bound to raise the expectations sky high and they deliver the job fantastically. Apart from main leads, the surrounding characters have been pillars in Sarkar and so it does in Sarkar Raj also. There is splendid performances by Govind Namdeo, Sayaji Shinde, Upendra Limaye. Rajesh Shringapure as Somji is ok.

The background music of movie is again good. Cinematography is excellent except the blue tinted scenes which came in between instead of sepia toning.

Dialogs are good and entertaining in first half.

First half of the movie is better than the prequel. We get happy that RGV is back with all his form. We are delighted to be part of the experience. We expect things go same way in 2nd half if not better. I had personally given 4 star in my mind to the movie before interval and was expecting that RGV manages to get another half in 2nd half of the movie. I  was back to the screen with excitement and eagerness after the interval, but ……

RGV takes a total U turn and the movie goes down spirally and finally gives us a below average 2nd half. He has given totally unwanted twists to the movie and has presented a dull fair which makes us wonder …. WHY?

Coming back to my initial discussion, why am I getting into all this before actually writing the review?

Because I feel bad about what happened to the story of Nagare Family in Sarkar Raj. Because it has broken the symbols which it created in our mind in first movie. It does not follow the expectations of the audience (each one can have different expectations, so people can differ) properly. Audience already has a story line in mind for the sequel and expects it to be better than what is in its mind…. RGV has done total injustice to the story….. which has left me frustrated and I am not able to get over that frustration. I am totally exasperated.

Everything was going fine in the movie… everything was perfect…. they why this lack of imagination? Why this lack of creativity? There was no connectivity of the audience to what is happening on the screen in second half.

What happens in second half is as bad is getting HIV after giving a Blood Donation….

But do watch this movie for the first half. I strongly recommend the first half.

May God bless RGV with creativity!

BR Rating: 2 (4 star for the first half, 1 star for the 2nd half)
BR Verdict: Excellent First half, Bad second half.
BR Recommends: Watch it for the first half. It is a must watch. Can not say anything about Second half. You decide yourself and do post comments. I really need comments on this movie and my review this time.

Tashan…..

The most awaited movie of the year….

I do not say it, a survey says this.

So what’s the fate of it today on the D-day?

The story:

It is about Bhaiyaji (Anil Kapoor), Akshay Khanna (Bachchan Pande), Saif Ali Khan (Guruji) and Pooja (Kareena Kapoor). Saif Ali Khan is call center employee and trainer. Kareena requests him to teach English to he boss, bhaiyaji. Bhaiyaji is learns “tod-fod” english from Guruji. In the process guruji falls in love with Pooja.

One day Saif comes to know that Kareena is being tortured by Anil Kapoor  and is stuck with him due to 5 crore loan on her father from Bhaijayee. They both make plans to steal 25 crore of him and run away. They successful do the operation and return to Saif’s home. Saif goes for a visit to office and gets stuck there. When he comes back, he finds Kareena missing with money.

Bhaiyajee hires Bachchan Pande i.e. Akshay Kumar, who is from his town Kaanpur, to find these two people and get his money back.

What happens after that is a roller coster ride called…. TASHAN!

The promos, promotional material did not excite people much…. first impression is last impression. The first look of the movie was Kareen on bike with Saif and that has generated huge curiosity due to Shahid Kapoor and Kareena Breakup. The publicity was low key. So it did not give any clue to audience about what to expect. Akshay Kumar with jeans and long shirt with Gamachcha on his head was quiet interesting to see.. Kareena and Saif in urban atires, Anil Kapoor in some weird dress up. It was all confusing but was interesting.

The movie is like that. It is a mash up i.e. “Bhel” of rural and urban masala with southern style tadaka. Some may like it, Some may hate it.

The story is a thin plot and is like Manmohan Desai style. The narrative is unique where each characters tells the story and takes the movie forward. The low point is screenplay. The movie has up and down graph of excitement and engagement which is tiresome and boring at some points. That is troublesome. The dialogs could have been better with so much witty star cast. Anil’s hindi-english blabbering was not necessary for full time. I mean, once you learn English, you don’t use it always. Using that mix language was not at all required for full time.

The biggest hitch is Songs. Those are not very long lasting and some are bad. All songs sound same with rustic rural flavors and urban mix to it. However those does not move the story forward except the “Dil Dance Mare Re”. If those are removed or only small part of song is used, then it can be helpful to the movie. Vishal-Shekhar disappoints this time.

The first half is fast and furious and ends in straight 70 mins. But the 2nd half lingers and goes round and round. Direction from debutante director Vijay Krishna Acharya is promising but it has full south Indian movie touch. What let’s him down is the screenplay.

Cinematography is excellent. Locations are beautiful.

On performance side, Akshay is excellent, Anil is entertaining, Saif is ok (it is not his problem, he has been wasted). Kareens is mind blowing. She looks Billion Dollars (million will be less for her). She acts good. She does the given job with full justice. And yes…. she is in bikini…. and all other outfits are also not much bigger than bikini. So there is lots to watch for Kareena fans.

There are not many other characters and whatever are there are ok.

This was supposed to be comeback of Akki in action film genre. There are only 2 action sequences in the movie both are after interval. Akshay shines there. However, while trying to maintain the rustic and raw feel, the director has lost a chance to deliver a sleek action movie product. So though the scenes are good, they are not extraordinary. This is a chance wasted by the banner and the director.

To sum it up, I think Aditya Chopra is trying to develop some Urban/Rural Mix formula from Bunty aur Bubly. A formula which will apease to all kinds of audiences (Om Shanti Om?). He is not yet getting success in it. So this movie goes over the top, weird and boring at many places. After all making movies without a story is not very easy art.

BR Rating: 2 (1 star for the movie, 0.5 for Kareena, 0.5 for Akshay)
BR Verdict: Average
BR Recommends: You must watch this movie if you like south Indian masala movies or 70s failed headless formula movies. If you like good movies, you can stick to Shaurya.

Krazzy 4…. one of the most awaited movies due to the tremendous hype created by SRK item number followed by Hritik Roshan’s with added “tadka” of Rakhi Sawant. Also there were many controversies created to generate public attention. Not to forget the last minute fight for copyright which cost 2 cr to the producer and  made a bad black spot on the Roshan’s. A movie which made 2 cr loss before its release…. due to the copyright issue.

Forget about all the above and just have a look at the credentials of the promoters and the actors. Roshan’s as we all know are the marvelous masterminds who know the key to Indian Audience’s heart and have been in the industry with very less failure ratio. The actors including Arshad Warsi, Irfan Khan and Rajpal Yadav have shown great flavor for comedy in the past. People look forward to their movies if its an comedy. Even Suresh Menon has fan following who watch TV a lot. I mean a combination of all this can be a dynamite of laughter. That’s what Krazzy4 promises and is meant to be…..

Does it fulfill its promise? Does it live up to expectations? I will leave the verdict for the end.

First let’s talk about the plot or the story (Rakesh Roshan). Its about 4 mental patients who are being treated by their Dr. Suman (Juhi Chawala). Everyone has different mental disorders with heavy medical names. In layman terms, Raja (Arshad Warsi) is very very short tempered and can get violent over small issues. He was a cricketer and was in love with Shikha (Dia Mirza). But due to his anger, he had breakup with her and is being treated at hospital.

Dr. Mukherjee (Irfan Khan) is obsessed with cleanliness. He has to get treatment when that obsession turns into an disorder. Gangadhar (Rajpal Yadav) is researcher in Freedom Movement and later assumes himself in pre-independence era and as a freedom fighter. He is being treated to get back normal to current times. Dabboo (Suresh Menon) has selective mutation disorder means he can speak but when and where, one can not tell. Not even he himself. (But why does he acts like a child?) So he is mute throughout the film with 1 word (Kidnap) to utter and a dialog at the end.

Dr. Suman finds a lot of progress in them and thinks they are ready to face the society now. She wants to take them to watch cricket match on Independence Day. Defying the oppositions of the fellow colleagues, she takes them out. On the way she stops at her husband’s house to take some papers and is kidnapped by some goons. Dabboo witnesses that but as he can not speak, he can not tell anything to anyone.

Despite strict orders of Dr. Suman that no one moves out of the car till she comes, everyone is out with their own reason. So 4 krazzy men are out on the streets of the city…. What happens next? You can see that when you watch the movie.

This was a great comic plot. But sadly it does not turn into great comic screenplay and movie. Credibility gained by Ashwani Dhir is being at stake after 2 movies back to back i.e. 123 (one two three) and Krazzy4. He does not have expertise on the movie medium as he has on television. He is good dialog writer but that does not help a bad screenplay and a bad movie. He sure needs to get back to basics.

Director Jaideep Sen must be happiest man before the release of the movie thinking that he has got the chance of his lifetime to prove himself and that to with FilmKraft as his launching pad. The poor guy got carried away with the chance and overtook a bad screenplay. It is like being captain of a ship with a big hole at its bottom. He shows his direction skills in emotional and patriotic scenes of the movie (like Rajpal Yadav’s scene when he stands still as national anthem plays). I am sure he can do wonders with a emotional or patriotic movie (with good tight screenplay). However, Krazzy4 is complete dull product from him. I hope he gets second chance to prove himself.

The first half of the movie is STAND STILL. Nothing happens in it. It takes 35 mins to get the first good laughter from the audience. Can you imagine? First laugh after 35 mins in a movie which is supposed to be comedy which can make you krazzy. Sure it does but due to the thought that why on earth we choose this movie to watch. Even 123 was bearable.

Second half picks up little bit when the 4 guys come into action. However, there are many things which you feel as made up (climax talk), childish and amateur. We come out of the theatre dancing to the title tune only because of SRK and Hritik. But inside we pray that thank God! The movie Ended.

I mean why on earth you have to make a movie for which you even don’t read the script? Why did Irfan Khan chose this role? First of all, why did Rakesh Roshan chose this story? It was good story but why he did not look into details of the screenplay? Didn’t he feel that it is going to be a weak product? Or is it that he knew it and hence he used star power like SRK and Hritik Roshan (even Rakhi Sawant) to create hype? I think thats what he did and business wise I hope he will recover due to low budget of the movie and highly over hyped publicity. I can be a successful business venture for FilmKraft, but for the audience, it’s a heartbreak.

Music by Rajesh Roshan is already in news for good and bad publicity. The item numbers for which they paid 2 crore are the only saving grace of the movie and also Rakhi Sawant song can be paisa wasool for the masses. Cinematography is average. Locations are average.

Talking about performances, Irfan Khan and Arshad Warsi are totally wasted. Arshad is more like a angry young man of the movie than being a krazzy comic character. He does his job well but its not comic. Irfan Khan does not have much to do and should have clearly stayed away from this movie. Ditto wasted is Suresh Menon. Again he does his job well. Dia Mirza is ok. Juhi Chawala has got perfection in the role she play i.e. of a sweet lady. The character and performer who gets out most laughs and also stands out in touching scenes is Rajpal Yadav. Afterall, all good things come in small packages.

Err… but not the movie… it is small (approx 100 mins) but it feels long and bore. Being small can not always guarantee a good product.

So to sum it all, stay away from this movie. Download the item number on your mobiles and mp4 players, watch it on TV, buy its VCD/DVD. Because that’s all this movie has to offer. You don’t need to go to theatre for anything else. If you wish a better movie to watch on weekend, I will suggest you to buy or rent out DVDs of even Dhamal and Dhol, but stay away from Krazzy4.

BR Rating: *1/2 (1 star for the item songs, 1/2 for the movie)
BR Verdict: Below average
BR Recommends: Why these guys just burn their money? It will be more fun than making such movie. Audience, you can also do that with your ticket money than to watch this.

Do you like to watch movies?

Do you like to watch GOOD movies?

 If yes, then go watch Shaurya!

This is first time I am using the lines I would usually write at the end to sum up the review or in the BR Recommendation section. However, I am so thrilled to bring you a GOOD movie, that I want you to know my excitment at the start.

So let’s get to business now. The movie is about a court martial against Javed Khan (Deepak Dobriyal) who has shot his officer in command from point blank distance and is silent about it. Major Aakash Kapoor (Javed Jaffery) is roped in as prosecution lawyer and his friend, Major Siddhant Chaudhry (Rahul Bose), the most reluctant man on earth who wants to do nothing about anything, follows him by force. But to his misery, he is posted there as defence lawyer of the accused.

Siddhant is in deep trouble when he opens his mouth in front of a journalist Kaavya Shahstri (Minissha Lamba). As he does not know anything about the case, he speaks something which gets him into trouble. Then he is inspired by Kaavya’s sincerity and motivation about the case and her job. He then tries to dig the garbage on the case. Eventually the process transforms him into a grown up man and a good army lawyer.

He requests for inspection of the crime scene and there he gets to see the hatred against the army. Also there he meets Brigadier Rudra Pratap Singh (Kay Kay Menon) and his indispensable attitude.

Now how he moves further in this investigation? How he manages to catch the main crux of the issue. Why Javed is silent? Does he speak up? All this answer can be found in this really intriguing tale about everyone’s perspective of Shaurya i.e. Bravery and what really is Shaurya means.

Its a very offbeat story. Its about army but not ON army. Its about court case but not normal Bollywood style court cases. Its about bravery, but its not about War. Still its a worthy story which really needs to be told. While the script scores big way, screenplay isn’t behind. Screenplay (Jaydeep Sarkar, Aparnaa Malhotra and Samar Khan) is tight and focussed on the theme and mood of the story. On top of that, the dialogs are excellent, class and in turn create an indulging experiance.

Narration, storytelling, direction (Samary Khan) is first rate and deserves applause. He also excells in characterization and setting up the plot. There are very few scenes after interval which could have been avoided to make the movie sharper. But still the movie isn’t long. Its 2 hr long and thats a good duration. Cinematography (Carlos Catalan) is world class. Kashmir is shot beautifully.

There are no scope of songs in this movie still there are short versions of songs one of which is used properly. It does not hamper the speed and progress of the movie. The first song is ok and wrapped up fast but the 2nd one after the interval could have been avoided or made shorter.

This movie packs in lots of power performances by the lead actors. Rahule Bose effectively inacts the role of a carefree, careless boy transformed a sensible, caring man of strong beliefs. He does it like a cakewalk even if its a hard role. Javed Jaffery supports him perfectly. Minissha Lamba looks stunning and performs good. I am going to watch “Yahan” which I had missed, just for her now.

Kay Kay Menon is par excellence in his self centered character who thinks himself indispensable. He carries the poise, the class of the character with elane and surprises the audience with his controlled outburst in the climax. Watch the kaleidoscopic expressions this great actor shows on his face at the end.

The new actor Deepak Dobriyal takes us by surprise with his performance. He has very less dialogs and he emotes via his eyes and body language. He deserves more good roles in the industry.

Moser Baer being the producer, the production values are great.

The movie gives us what we demand from a good movie when we go to watch it….. a good cinematic experiance. And sharya scores a lot in that.

BR Rating: ***1/2
BR Verdict: Very Good!
BR Recommendations: BR Rating: *&1/2
BR Verdict: Below Average
BR Recommendations: All movies can not be for mindless entertainment of thrill. There are some worth watching for the cinematic experiance, artistic expression and a thought provoking subject. Some of these are “class”. If you fit in that class, don’t miss this movie.

Sau Sau mausam leta hai
har paudha banane ko tree

How weird but true writing. It takes a lot for a writer/director to mature and deliver a movie that works! The latest flick, 123 (OneTwoThree) proves that again. Ashwini Dheer who is wellknown for his best comic teleseries “Office Office” debutes as director for this feature film. Let’s see how he fairs.

Speaking of the script, the screenplay based on a small story line which is stretched to feature length. Its about a diamond which is being transported from pondicherry to bombay. But the goon’s man is killed by two underworld people from Pondicherry. The man runs after he is shot, and before the death, he gives the diamond to Upen Patel and Tanisha who put it in petrol tank of the vintage car they are driving. They both work as salesman at a vintage car showroom run by Sameera Reddy.

Sameera is in trouble for her loan nonrepayment and desperately needs money. She is informed by Mr peepat from Bombay that his right hand man will come and purchase that car for 10L. Name of that man will be Laxminagarayan (1) played by Suniel Shetty. Sunil Shetty is over efficient employee who has habit of “bal ki khaal nikalna” and keeps asking irritating questions. Sunil is informed that he will be staying at blue diamond hotel and he will get details in an envelop about whom to meet with photo of that person.

In same hotel, another Laxminarayan (2) played by Tushar Kapoor is in another room. He is an apiring shooter who desperately wants to make “career” in underworld. He is there by the order of the Mumbai don to kill the Pondicherry goon and get back the diamond. He is also instructed that he will get envelop with photo of the goon to be killed.

In same hotel, another Laxminarayan (3), a role esseyed by Paresh Rawal is there. He has a undergarment store which he runs in a car in Chandani Chauk of Delhi. His business has grown and he now owns a factory of undergarments. His son wants to take the business to another level and sends him to Pondecherry to meet a lingerie designer (Esha Deol). Apperently he is also supposed to get information about whom to meet in an envelop at the hotel reception.

Now as u may have guessed, this comedy of error happens due to exchange of the envelops. The wanna be shooter gets the photo and address of lingerie designer. The undergarment seller gets details of the vintage car dealer. And Suneil Shetty gets information about the Pondy Goon.

Now how everyone gets in trouble and gets out of it and what happens at the end could have been a fun to watch movie. But somehow this movie fails in that. However the last 10-15 mins of the movie are good laugh.

The story is small, screenplay is weak. Direction is OK. Dialogs however are funny. Ashwini Dheer excels in dialogs. Some events in the movie are cheesy. At the movie start, the shoot is blurred we dont know why a reshoot is not done. Because afterall it did not include any set and busy stars.

Performancewise Suniel Shetty is true to his character and delivers sincere performance however his left right questions irritates later due to repetitiveness. Paresh Rawal is as usual. Tushar Kapoor is ok. Sameera Reddy is good. Tanisha is cheap. Upen Patel and Tanisha are invisible in movie means they don’t have even few mins on screen. Upen does not even try to perform in whatever time he has got. Esha Deol is so thin that she looks anorexic model. Performance wise she does not impress. All ther actors do their job perfectly.

Cinematography is ok. Production values are average. Postproduction is good but the computer generated effects are visible so are not perfect to be seemless. Background Score is interesting. The song 123 is already popular on charts. Other songs are strictly ok. But I think the only person to get benefitted by this movie is music director Raghav Sachar.

Le’ts see how this movie does on the BR Meter:

BR Rating: *&1/2
BR Verdict: Below Average
BR Recommendations: Watch it only if u have nothing else to do.

The movie is housefull from the morning shos in multiplexes. No tickets are available at the booking counter. This shows the hype surrounded around “Race”. The are festivities around with long extended weekend. The hype is working its magic and opening is fabulous. Why there shall not be hype? It has gorgeous babes, hot male actors, foot tapping music, slick promos and the name promises an edge of the seat thriller. Apart from that its from thriller expert Abbas-Mustan. What if their last 2 movies failed due to week scripts….. the duo still commend a lot of cradibility for their entertaining thrillers like Gupt, Ajnabi, Soldier, etc. But can they spell their magic on the silverscreen this time? Does the film work?

And the good news is…..

YES! It works BIG TIME!

I wont dwelve into the story too much as its a suspense thriller and I won’t play spoil sport by revealling too much about the plot. I will give u a short brief to increase your curiosity about the movie. The movie is about 2 brothers and their girl friends (wives?). Ranveer (Saif Ali Khan) is a stylish businessman who is into business of horse racing. He has a stud farm and raunch house and all the luxuries money can buy. Apart from that he likes living on the edge and is big time into adventure sports. He loves his horses and his young brother Rajiv (Akshaye Khanna) and takes care of them a lot. Rajiv on the other hand is a alcoholic who keeps drinking all the time. Sophia (Katrina Kaif) is Ranveer’s secretary and right hand. Ranveer depend a lot on her for his office work. She secretely loves him but he does not understand that. He in turn loves a hot model Sonia (Bipasha Basu). At a party, Ranveer introduces Sonia to Rajiv and Rajiv falls in love with Sonia.

What happes next? Will Ranveer sacrifice his love for Rajiv or viceversa? Or will there be race between them to get their love? Is the movie all about this love or money? Watch it to get these answers. I promise, you will have good time.

Its a taught thriller and everything about the movie works great. The narration is brisk, the script is tight, the screenplay (Shiraz Ahmed) is lightening fast, engaging and entertaining.

Abbas-Mustan’s direction is crisp, sharp and keeps audience totally glued to their seats and eyes on the screen. There is not a single moment which is dull or feels like seen before. Thats the most commendable part of the movie that it has surprises every nook and corner of the story and your brains keeps overworking on the guessing part for whats next. However, the writer-directors are successfull in shocking you everytime. The only track left unused is that of Ranveer’s rival. It could have been used to add more suspense angle to the movie.

The cinematography (Ravi Yadav) is breathtaking from the opening shot of the movie. The heavenly locations of Durban, Dubai and India are beautifully picturised. The action sequences mind blowing (the accident shot, the car chase, etc). Editing (Hussain Burmawala) needs applause as its the ingredient which makes thrillers work.

Music (Pritam) of the movie is already hit. 3 songs are block busters. ‘Allah Duhai Hai’, ‘Touch Me’ are rocking and ‘Pehli Nazar Mein’ by Atif Aslam mesmerizes you. The choreography (Bosco-Caesar and Ganesh Acharya) is good and song picturization is apt. Background music (Salim-Sulaiman) is perfect.

Special mention shall be given to the dialog writer (Anuraag Prapanna, Jitendra Parmar) who makes the movie more enjoyable. The dialogs are funny, raunchy and edgy whereever required. Styling (Anaita Shroff Adajania) made the movie promos interesting and makes the movie what it is…. stylish, sleek thriller.

All these departments needed mention because they are outstanding in this movie. However, the last but not the least department of performances is a big plus point. Abbas-Mustan are successfull in extracting the best performance from every actor/actress/performer.

The best of the lot is Anil Kapoor. He time and again amuses us with his energy, comic timing, impressive body language. He essays role of the investigation officer and he does it the Karamchand way. Only instead of Gajar, he keeps eating different fruits in every scene. He also have a dumb secretary (Sameera Reddy) like Karamchand does. Anil Kapoor is the comic relief in this movie.

Saif Ali Khan impresses you by his style, acting and action. He looks hot and fits the role to the T. He looks the winner he is. Akshaye Khanna does the role of brat drunken brother with aplomb and makes you hate him for what he is on screen.

On the fair side, the females add the required jazz to this movie. Bipasha looks hot and does her role perfectly. Katrina Kaif looks gorgeous and acts well too.

So on the whole, this is more than value for the ticket money and you can buy lots of popcorns, coldrinks and still it will be more value for money.

BR Rating: **** (that’s 4 stars after so long)
BR Verdict: VERY GOOD!
BR Recommendations: Go watch it again and again with as many people as you can. It’s SUPER HIT!