Archive for the ‘cinema’ Category

aladin webpageIts filmy friday and two big releases this week. Aladin & London Dreams. Aladin is directed by Sujoy Ghosh, produced by Eros Entertainment, and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez. Some early reviews are out and it looks like a mixed one.

Taran Adarsh(Indiafm) – On the whole, ALADIN is a terrible waste of a terrific opportunity. Hugely disappointing! – 1 / 5

Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – But all their enthusiasm and special effects wizardry is let down by the half-baked story. Aladin never soars. See it if you must – 3/5

Chandrima Pal (Rediff) – What Ghosh dishes out in its place is some half-hearted hocus-pocus, a clumsy mix of old world lore with contemporary indifference, sloppy trips to the flashback and awkward bursts of forced sentimentality. Make a wish, Genius insists. Too late for that, isn’t it? – 2/5

Gaurav Malani (Indiatimes) – Just in case a Genie ever emerges out from your lamp, wish for once that our filmmakers come up with better ‘bound scripts’ and more enthralling adaptations. Till then all flights of fantasy should go on strike – 2/5

Udita Jhunjhunwala (DNA) – You are left wondering who films like this will appeal to. They are not amazing enough for adults or fun enough for kids. If I had a magic lamp, I would use one wish to ask for some decent, sincere films, the kind Ghosh made once upon a time (Jhankaar Beats) – 2/5

Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – Few films encourage you to free your mind and unleash your imagination. Say what you will about the Amitabh Bachchan-Ritesh Deshmukh starrer Aladin, but you cannot complain that you’ve seen this kind of Hindi film before – 3/5

Anand Vaishnav(Buzz18) – Ghosh’s setting is neither magical enough for a fantasy nor identifiable enough to be real. It’s too confusing for kids and adults alike. Except for a few laugh early on and Bachchan’s stand out act, Aladin is another addition to Bollywood’s failed attempts at fantasy – 1.5/5

Nikhat Kazmi (TOI) – To sum up with the refrain (Aladin, Aladin, kahan hai tera jinn) of the film: Aladin, Aladin, kahan hai tera sheen? Truly, a big let down from director Sujoy Ghosh who lost both his jhankar and his beats after ‘Home Delivery’ and ‘Aladin’, his films following a scintillating debut with ‘Jhankar Beats’ – 2/5

Shubhra Gupta (Indian Express) – Aladdin’ proves just one thing: Indian filmmakers should stay strictly away from the fantasy genre. The magical mystery tour that this film is meant to be falls way short of its target – 1/ 5

Minty Tejpal (Mumbai Mirror) – Aladin is a good example of how to take a beautiful fairy tale, and proceed to fairly destroy it. Since we all know the timeless story, director Sujoy Ghosh decides to give us his own special updated version, starting from the revamped genie – 1/ 5

Mayank Shekhar (Hindustan Times) – At 65, his(Bachchan) on-screen presence is likely to get scarcer with age. Audiences are still interested in his work. If only he wouldn’t green-light unbelievable, hollow, expensive rubbish that’d be pelted on us merely because, he said yes – 1/5

Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) – Why has the Genie chosen Aladin to save the world from the hands of Sanjay Dutt, the Ringmaster? What will happen when the comet crashes into Khwaish? And will Genie get his wish and head off to retirement, to wear his blingy jackets and do the disco? Yes, all is revealed in the end, but by then we’ve had too much of Mr Muscular (Sahil Khan) and Ms Great Legs (Fernandez) – 2/5

So, why are critics giving bad reviews to Aladin ? Our theory – Because they took Sanjay Dutt too seriously who said…Buri aadat badal daalo, Aladin ko maar dalo!

London DreamsThe other big release is London Dreams directed by Vipul Shah, and stars Salman Khan, Ajay Devgan & Music. And from the early reviews it looks & feels like Gujju Rock On!

Taran Adarsh(Indiafm) – On the whole, LONDON DREAMS has superb performances from its principal cast and several emotionally-charged sequences as its two trump cards. But its biggest drawback is its climax and also the music, which is the weakest link of the movie – 3 / 5

Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – Most of us don’t watch Hindi films for their verisimilitude but honestly, how much disbelief can a viewer suspend. There are a few nice songs here and occasional moments of charm provided by Salman Khan, who once again, plays a variation of Salman Khan. Otherwise London Dreams is as much fun as a stuck record. See if it you must – 2/5

Anand Vaishnav (Buzz18) – Eventually London Dreams is all about the joy of watching Salman and Ajay’s chemistry. Their star power makes up for all the flaws. Both have put their heart and soul into the film, delivering powerhouse, career defining performances – 3.5 / 5

Chandrima Pal (Rediff) – You may like London Dreams for its beautiful frames, some paisa-vasool moments between Salman and Devgn, a good background score and catchy songs. For the rest, you need willing suspension of disbelief. And large doses of it – 2.5/5

Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – London Dreams, directed by Vipul Shah, is a frustratingly foolish film about foolish people. It’s the kind of film whose central conflict could be instantly resolved if the characters concerned simply sat down and had a chat – 2 / 5

Khalid Mohamed(Khalidsspot) – With all its mad flaws and inadequacies, Shah’s enterprise still sees him going beyond the klutzy rishtas and pishtas. If you think that’s sufficient reason to buy a ticket , check out this London Whippy Whippy Shake – 2 / 5

Shubhra Gupta (Indian Express) – With his latest film, Vipul Amrutlal Shah goes back to familiar territory : Punjabi ‘munda’ in London town, all set to conquer the world. Akshay Kumar did it wonderfully in ‘Namaste London’. This time around, it is Ajay Devgn’s turn, accompanied by partner-in-crime Salman Khan, but the two-for-the-price-of-one isn’t as much of a success – 2/5

Minty Tejpal (Mumbai Miror) – At the end, London Dreams is worth a watch, though it could have been far better – 2 /5

Mayank Shekhar (Hindustan Times) – This is how hinterland ticket-holders would like to see both.Don’t worry about the story-line. There is no writing, merely good locations and great lighting; wouldn’t shock me if it sort of lit up the producer’s balance sheet as well. Well – 1.5 / 5

Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) – Imagine Rock On!! in Punjabi with stereophonic emotional drama? Can’t? Well that’s London Dreams, where two best friends fall apart over a girl and their music. Now where have we seen this before? Yes, yes, everywhere. But Vipul Shah’s forte has never been originality. It has been energy and joie de vivre, which the film has in plenty. Almost enough to save it. Almost – 2.5/5

Our take – We think if they had gone to the stage with dandiya sticks instead of drum sticks it would have been good fun!

Forget the biggies, we are going to MAMI Film Festival this weekend!

3 IdiotsIts one of the most anticipated films of the year! And finally here is the first look of the film! The trailer of Rajkumar Hirani’s Three Idiots starring Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor, R Madhavan, Sharman Joshi & Boman Irani. The film is produced by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, has music by Shantanu Moitra and lyrics by Swanand Kirkire. 

Earlier a 10 second teaser was leaked out. Now here is the full 90 seconds trailer. Enjoy!

And if you missed it earlier, here is the story/plot/synopsis of the film…..

Two friends embark on a request for a lost buddy. On this journey they encounter a long forgotten bet, a wedding they must crash and a funeral that goes impossibly out of control.

As they make their way through the perilous landscape, another journey begins: their inner journey through memory lane and the story of their friend–the irrepressible free- thinker Rancho[Aamir Khan], who in his unique way, touches and changes their lives.

It is a story of their hostel days that swings between Rancho college romance with the spirited Pia [Kareena], and his clash with an oppressive mentor[Boman Irani].

Finally, in misty mountains of unparalleled beauty, the friends[R Madhavan and Sharman Joshi] find the key to the secret that they seek.

3 Idiots is a comedy of ideas that is as provocative as it is funny, as wildly entertaining as it is insightful. A laugh-riot that talks about the most important of human pursuits: self-actualization.

And on the red carpet premiere of his film Leatherheads! Aaahh!

Not sure how many actors get to experience the same. To have the premiere of your film in your hometown and to face your dad, who is on the red carpet with a boom mike in hand! So, here is Nick Clooney talking to George Clooney on film, family and more! A reader of your blog mailed us this link. Bit old but good fun. Do check it out if you still haven’t.

Aladin - Ritesh Deshmukh, Jacqueline Fernandez & Amitabh BachchanFor the first hundred people!! Yes, thats what he tweeted on monday late night after watching Aladin! And like us, if you are following his tweets, its difficult to say how many times he has already seen the film. He saw the film during edit – alone, with Sujoy, with Shekhar, on big screen – with Ritesh, with Sujoy and again and again! Have lost the count. To quote his tweet …

you know what? after tonight, i’ll stick my neck out. i’ve rarely seen a film as big as ALADIN, yet so complete as an emotional journey. 

And the ticket refund one….

 loved ALADIN so much tonight, that if you go, and don’t like it, i’ll refund your ticket-price, for the first hundred people! there!

Woohoo! So, BIG is the key word here. The film is directed by Sujoy Ghosh and stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Ritesh Deshmukh and Jacqeline Fernandez. The cast and the crew have been tweeting non-stop about the film since last few weeks forming a mutual admiration club. Here’s what Ritesh tweeted after the screening last night….

saw Aladin @sujoy_g extremely proud of you and the film. You delivered more than u promised me. BIG THANK U for my BIGGEST FILM

“Big” is again the key word. It becomes bigger to BIGGEST! Big B also blogged about it. To quote from his blog….

I live with the images that last night’s trial of ‘Aladin’ have impressed upon me. I am proud to have been a part of this venture, that has certainly created a finesse and grandeur in fantasy film making much much more than what I had expected from it. It is smooth and vibrant and not in your face yet effective enough to know that it is. The characters , the settings, the music and the situations all have been blended in a most ingenious manner. For the first time in my entire career of film trial history, the audience that habitually consists of trade people, applauded after a song sequence came to an end. We in the business have become accustomed to watching films with the patent ingredients that help us assess the potential of a film. It was and is difficult for me to state whether I found those ingredients last night in ‘Aladin’ and therefore a prediction is difficult to come by. But then some of the last few releases had drummed up sufficient passion in their patent ingredients, but did not come up winners. The unpredictability of this business is the only predictability.

Well, unlike Vishal, Bachchna is not willing to stick his neck out but wraps it up on a slightly skeptical note. So, what do we know ? Here is what our spies told us.

OK. Its BIG in scale. Big is surely the key word! And better. Much better than anything you have seen in a hindi film. Unlike other hindi films, the special effects are damn smooth. But its a children’s film, as in, its a complete masala entertainer for family. With a hero, heroine, villain, love story and a Genie – what else can you deliver!

So, you going for Aladin or London Dreams this friday ?

And if you go by Rotten Tomatoes score card, its a new low in Mira Nair’s career!

Amelia1

For Top Critics, the score is at 12%, lowest rating for any film by Mira Nair so far! Her last film The Namesake scored 87% on the same scale.

And if you have not been following the film and wondering whats Amelia, then read on. 

Amelia posterAmelia is a biopic on the life of legendary American pilot Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while flying over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 in an attempt to finish a record breaking flight around the world. It stars Hilary Swank, Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor. When it comes to biopics, Hollywood has delivered some great ones on screen and with the big ones, they rarely go wrong,  and manage to pick up few Oscars too.

So what went wrong with Amelia ?

To quote from the review of Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers…

“Who wants a life imprisoned in safety?” Amelia asks in a voice-over. And you want to shout, “This movie does, honey.” There’s not a real or spontaneous minute in it.

Click on the Rotten Tomatoes link at the top of the page to read other reviews. Though Roger Ebert seems to be in minority this time as he has rated it 3/5. To quote from his review….

I’m not suggesting that Mira Nair and her writers, Ronald Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan, should have invented anything for “Amelia.” It is right that they resisted any temptation. It’s just that there’s a certain lack of drama in a generally happy life. 

Amelia” is a perfectly sound biopic, well directed and acted, about an admirable woman. It confirmed for me Earhart’s courage — not only in flying, but in insisting on living her life outside the conventions of her time for well-behaved females.

BTW, if you havent seen the trailer of the film yet, click on the play button.

 

SwadesAshutosh Gowariker’s Swades is one of our favourite films. And among those counted few films in which we really liked Shah Rukh Khan.

What we knew was that the film is based on a tv series. What we didnt know was the long story behind this long film! A reader of our blog mailed us some interesting info about it. Its in first person account by Mr V. On Swades, Whats Your Raashee, Lage Raho Munnabhai & more! Have replaced few names with their intials. Read on.

Hi…Last afternoon I was at a brunch hosted by AL to celebrate his birthday….As the wine, mojito’s and beer started doing the rounds and the guests were getting a tad reckless…..Sanjay Chhel who was seated at my table along with GB suddenly stated…Swades was V’s script…..we all knew it… It had come on Zee TV’s Yule Love stories as a 1.5 hour, two 45 minutes episode story in 1996!!!!!!!!! Ashutosh played SRK’s role in it as an actor….i was taken aback at this sudden announcement! It was a de ja vu.

Cut Back to:-

Swades Premiere. December 2004 at Fame Malad…. During the interval inside the smoking room of the multiplex… as I was puffing away along side Abbas Mastan and a few others… Anurag Kashyap walked in saying…. V- Bhai this is your script Waapasi on Zee Tv… I will never forget it…..Abbas-Mastan turn to look at me wondering who the hell i am… and also who the hell is Anurag!!!!!!!!!

That night post the premiere….Satya the producer of the Yule love story who gets the credit for story of Swadesh, Anand Subramanium, an alumini of FTII who directed Wapasi and myself were stopped by Ashutosh wanting to know our reactions as we were the original creators of the film according to him……..All we said was he fucked up a simple love story of an NRI who comes to pick up his Kaveri amma…discovers his roots in a village, feels guilty seeing poverty and exploitation of poor and also finds his soulmate and decides to stay back.

By trying to be in Appy’s words ‘A shantaram’ he went haywire with that electricity making incident which is incidentally a chapter in a Book titled Bapu Kutir… Bapu Kutir is a compilation of events & expereiences of some 10 people who gave up lucrative careers in the corporate world to follow Gandhian principles!!!!!!!!!!

The event in the film comes as tangent from no where… The Yule Love Story episode begins with the hero landingin Delhi looking for Kaveri amma and meeting the herione in the travel agency who gives him the wrong address and he takes a caravan bus to trace her and the story ends when his caravan leaves the village and the herione thinks he has left for good and turns to walk back and to her surprise he comes back in his caravan and honks behind her!!!!!!!!!

The character of Dayashankar Pandey of a village buffon wanting to go to USA in Swades is a character created by Naushil Mehta and myself in a play called Suitable Bride way back in 1996. Incidentally Suitable Bride is the inspiration for What’s Your Raashee…Its infact a straight lift of my play…. NM and I directed the play and also adpated it for stage from the novel Kimball Ravenswood. Seema Kapoor played 12 roles and Babbloo Mukherjee played Yogesh Patel…Darshan Jariwala plays the same character he played in the play!

Incidentally the play was a musical and had 12 songs… we had to drop the songs after the first 5 shows as the running time of the play was 3.5 hours and we realised audience were getting impatient. What’s Your Raashee is also 3.5 hours with 13 songs!!!!!!!!!!

There are 8 people who get the credit for screenplay in Swades and one of the guys told me that my dialogue script of Waapasi was photocopied and circulated amongst the 8 of them to change it from TV to a film script… Scene to scene, dialogue to dialogue ( i used to write dialogues in those days) were kept as in the original!

And exactly like Swades I am told I am getting a credit in What’s Your Raashee too in the begining acknoweldgements………You may ask why am i talking about it NOW!!!!! ST the producer of the show on Zee wanted to file a case against Ashutosh and UTV for cheating me of my credits and compensation… I didn’t want to file a case as i felt it was pointless exercise.

Ashutosh on his part had asked my permission to do the film saying he is using only the story and changing the screenplay….Well he did change the screenplay….By adding 40 minutes of NASA begining and end of film and a good 30-40 minute of the Bapu Kutir.

The reason I am talking about this today is I feel after what Amole Gupte went through…and more over… SC…whose idea Gandhi and Godfather… narrated to Mr. Dutt during the making of Khoobsoorat becomes Lage raho Munnabhai!

I feel there is no harm in giving the due people their credit or atleast let people know the real people behind these works…My name comes in the acknowledgements of Swades and Whats Your Raashee but I feel Swades is more Anand Subramanium than Ashu Gowarikar…..And Lage Raho Munnabhai is Chel rather than Hirani and Abhijat Joshi… and as for Taare Zameen Par… people in the know… know who directed the film 🙂

Wooohoo! Some revealations and it all seems so believable except the Lage Raho Munnabhai part! Whats your guess ?

BTW, according to IMDB, the writing credit of Swdes has nine names as follows.

Story – M.G. Sathya and Ashutosh Gowariker

Screeplay – Ashutosh Gowariker, Sameer Sharma, Lalit Marathe, Amin Hajee,  Charlotte Whitby-Coles, Yashodeep Nigudkar & Ayan Mukherjee 

Dialogue – K.P. Saxena

SiddharthWe have been hearing a lot about Chandan Arora’s new film Striker starring Siddharth. The film is ready for release and Studio 18 has got the rights. Here’s what we got to know about the film from someone who worked on it….

Striker, as the name suggests is about Siddharth who is a brillant carrom player. And so the title Striker! Its set in Malwani area, where carrom competition is quite a big deal. But the carrom and striker connection ends there. At the core, its a revenege drama involving his girlfreind, a close friend, mafia man and everyone getting involved in some drug deal going wrong. And if its a hindi film, the end is not difficult to guess.

carromThis sounds bit  disappointing because Chandan Arora has given us  two beautiful & small films with big heart! Main Madhuri Dixit Banana Chahti Hoon and Main, Meri Patni Aur Woh! Looking at both the films, its easy to guess that the director is the same. But Striker sounds completely new & much different from his old school!

Also, in the larger scheme of things, the carrom playing part really doesnt matter. It holds no connection to the main story. And all this while we have been wondering if its like Chake De India for carrom! 

Hopefully our source and we will be proved wrong! But that rarely happens!

Anurag Kashyap Kalki KoechlinOn his blog diary, Anurag Kashyap has announced his new film titled That Girl In Yellow Boots (TGIYB)!  Its written by him and his girlfriend Kalki Koechlin and is a thriller!

He has already started shooting it and is experimenting with the newly launched Canon 7D! The film features Kalki in the lead alongwith Prashant Prakash (her co-actor in the play The Skeleton Woman) and Naseeruddin Shah. It also features other theatre actors like Gulshan Devaiyah, Pooja Swaroop, Kumud Mishra, Shiv Subramanyam and Divya Jagdale. After discovering Amit Trivedi (Aamir & Dev D), Anurag is again launching a new music director Naren Chandavarkar. Rajiv Ravi is behind the camera again!

This film is not part of Anurag’s nine film deal with UTV. Its complete indie, funded by independent producers. He has already started shooting the film and will complete it by next month.

So, what else we know ? Ahhmmmm….wwhmmm…cough cough….Plenty! But not now. Ok, it will have enough shock value, much like Dev D. And a happy ending too, much like Dev D ? Hmmmmm. Yes, ofcourse but not actually! Keep guessing till our next post.

You can read his full post here.

Rocket SinghHuh! Such a long wait! Just a few hours back, we wrote this post on what we saw in the trailer and how we are still searchig for it online. Finally some kind soul has done the good deed for the day!

The trailer/theatrical promo of Shimit Amin’s new film Rocket Singh – Salesman Of The Year is finally here. Its written by Jaideep Sahni, produced by Aditya Chopra (Yashraj Films) and stars Ranbir Kapoor and Shazahn Padamsee.

Though the trailer doesnt say or show much about the film but check it out! Ranbir Kapoor selling the film to you in just 60 seconds. Will you buy the ticket ? We surely will. Not based on the trailer though, which connects well with the concept of the film but is quite unimpressive otherwise.

What we know – As the name suggests, Rocket Singh (Ranbir Kapoor) is a salesman who is doing great at his work. The story is about how this salesman slowly becomes a conman and how he starts operating a parallel company within the same company in which he is working without the knowledge of others.

Though we are quite repulsive to Yash Raj Films’ Hadippa genrae of films but with Jaideep Sahni & Shimit Amin, we hope we will not be disppointed!

Its one of the much awaited films of the year! Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year starring Ranbir Kapoor.  Its produced by Aditya Chopra (Yashraj Films). Director Shimit Amit & writer Jaideep Sahni, last time the duo came together and delievered the blockbuster Chak De India ( Har team me ek hi goonda hota hai..woohoo) !

Here is a new pic from the film.

Rocket Singh

BTW it seems the trailer of the film is also out. WTF! Why is it still not online ? Why would anyone want to hide it when the whole point of the trailer is to get everyone curious about the film! We are not going to watch any of three duds to catch the trailer! We saw a teaser of the film today (is this the trailer? ) in which Ranbir Kapoor comes on screen, introduces himself and as a salesman tries to sell the film in 60 seconds with a clock ticking on left corner of the screen! It ends with Ranbir Kapoor doing few dance steps, in the same salesman attire. It doesnt say or show much but we are waiting and how!

What we know – As the name suggests, Rocket SIngh (Ranbir Kapoor) is a salesman who is doing great at his work. The story is about how this salesman slowly becomes a conman and how he starts operating a parallel company within the same company in which he is working without the knowledge of others.

Also, if you look carefully, its easy to spot SHIM IT Computers & JAIDEEP Computer Solutions in the pic which suggests the kind of company Rocket Singh is working for!