Archive for the ‘Thoughts’ Category

Long long ago, when Shah Rukh Khan wasnt King Khan, one day he called up Anil Kapoor and asked him about brand endorsement and tv commercials. Anil Kapoor said soch bhi mat…paise ke liye yeh sab nahi karne ka…usme izzat nahi hai! But then, only few understand money like SRK does, and the rest, as they say, is history. Many followed his footsteps soon. But Anil Kapoor never changed his stand. All this years, no tv commercials, no brand endorsement. We are sure he must hav refused plenty of offers, if not plenty, atleast the 40 plus tablet offer must have come his way!

Post Slumdog Millionaire and his jumping jack act at Golden Globes, he is a different man. And here is Anil Kapoor in his first tvc avatar, with daughter Sonam Kapoor, for Mont Blanc pens. Though the commercial is terrible and its even shot in the most boring way.

BTW, do check out Anil “the power to write your own destiny” Kapoor’s dialogue delivery between 00:47-00:50 seconds. What attitude! We are ROFL! And what an irony, at a time when he is busy producing a film (Ayesha) starring his daughter Sonam Kapoor, he delivers the dialogue…Dont expect any help from me! The timing could not have been better!

Whats Your Raashee ?Mr. Tapan, where are you ? You saw the film ? BTW, if you are wondering who is Tapan, click here and check the comments section. (People try too hard but going by our record, we can say that we rarely go wrong. Hope its not sounding too pompous)

And now back to the topic. Call it the Titanic or Ashutosh Gowariker’s Aag, What’s Your Raashee is finally out. Am wondering if  Gowariker has checked his raashee predictions for the day! Because its going to be a long day of only bad news, or reviews!

Yesterday we put out a post on the film and placed our bets. Lets see if we got it right or not. 

The film is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, produced by UTV, stars Harman Baweja, Priyanka Chopra and has music by Sohail Sen.

Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – Ashutosh Gowarikar is a fine filmmaker who has consistently strived to stretch the boundaries of mainstream Hindi cinema – recall the Oscar nominated Lagaan or the less successful but thought-provoking Swades. What’s Your Rashee is a gargantuan misstep. See it if you must – 1.5/5

Taran Adarsh (Indiafm) – On the whole, What’s Your Raashee ? is a king-sized disappointment – 1.5/5

Sukanya Varma (Rediff) – And boy, what a lady! Priyanka Chopra transforms into 12 new skins with astonishing distinction, voice and spirit. The actress reinvents herself into this unique individual every single time ranging from batty, bashful and boisterous. This is simply her show. If only it weren’t three and a half hours long – 2/5

Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – There is no easy way to say this. Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Raashee? is an excruciatingly painful film to watch. For the most part humorless and misguided, the film lumbers along for an unforgivable three-hours-and-thirty minutes, during which even the most patient viewers might contemplate suicide – 1.5/5

Gaurav Malani (Indiatimes)The mystery on who will Yogesh marry in the end doesn’t hold much thrill as he himself isn’t certain of his choice. He is confused with most options open till the end. The viewer is exhausted for the exit door is still closed – 2/5

Avijit Ghosh (TOI) – Size matters. A less-than-ruthless editor could have easily trimmed What’s Your Raashee by 45 minutes without compromising on its soul. Gowariker seems to have fallen in love with his own work. Too bad, his indulgence prevents the audience from doing the same – 3/5

Suranjana Nandy (Buzz18) – It’s too long. Too inane. And at times, very boring. Buy the DVD, in parts if possible but there’s no way you can sit through it in the theatre – 2/5

Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) – What we have is a boring long epic, with 12 Priyankas, 14 songs and a host of minor characters whom no one particularly cares about – 2/5

Khalid Mohamed (Aslibaat) – it’s too darn lengthy at three hours-24-minutes which actually seem like 300 hours-240 minutes. Or an eternity which called for two intermissions. Mera Naam Boredom anyone? – 1/5

Minty Tejpal (Mumbai Mirror) – Alarmingly, there is no depiction or debate about the crucial in between act – sex, and this in the land of Kamasutra. Now that our divorce rates are spiralling, sexual crime is getting more regular and perverse, isn’t it time we grew up and addressed that little point also? After all, we are a hundred billion strong, so we must have done something to get there – 1/5

On an average, its 1.5-2 for Whats Your Raashee. Its a mixed feeling at the end of the day. Happy that we predicted the direction in which it was going and we are spot on. Sad because we are yet not sure what is Gowariker smoking these days! Can anyone enlighten us ?

Ashutosh GowarikerBlame it on Raashee! The film or his sun sign, we are yet not sure. But one thing is for sure – the film Whats Your Raashee (starring Priyanka Chopra and Harman Baweja) is UNBEARABLE! We might be jumping the gun here but heard that those who saw the film were pleading desperately for a gun! And some of them were even dead by the time it got over.

Today there was a press screening of the film. We managed to sent a spy who twittterd us some intersting every bit about the film.

Best part of the film – Interval!

Post interval – Am almost in a state of comatose. Wake me up before I die!

After sometime – BTW, there is ten minutes discussion on sampoorn sharirik sambandhan!

Me– Nishkarsh kya nikla (conclusion)

He – Thankfully none!

Moi – whats the point ?

He – That should have been the name of the film or atleast the tagline!

Conclusion – This is Gowariker’s Aag! Nobody can like this film. People might buy the ticket and go inside but lets see how many can come out alive after 3.5 hours!

Be ready to roll out the red carpet for the new member of the club whose preveileged members includes Subhash Ghai, Ram Gopal Varma, Sanjay Leela Bhansali among many others.

Are we surprised ? Naah. Everything was indicating in the same direction. Harman Baweja, Promos, Songs…we hated everything. Then came out the duration 3.5 hours, the Variety review and someone even leaked out the print! Seems this time even luck is not on his side. To read our earlier post on Variety review click here.

One person must be laughing out loud! Sajid Khan. And as someone said after the press screening, Gowariker deserves this one, he was taking himself too seriously, flying too high like Sanjay Leela Bhansali. This one will get him to ground. But its surprising that UTV gave him so much freedomand!

Ideally we should wait for the reviews. But am willing to stick my neck out and say this is going to sink faster than Titanic! Wanna bet ?

The first look of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi starrer Kurbaan is out. The film is produced by Karan Johar and directed by Rensil D’Silva. Check it out….The tagline is Some Love Stories Have Blood On Them!And to know why, how and what blood this love story has, scroll down. 

Kurbaan2Kurbaan

And if the second poster is any indication of things to come, expect full on smooches and love making scenes between Saif and Kareena!

Here is the exclusive dope! The plot/story/synopsis of Kurbaan.

SPOILER ALERT! Dont read further if enjoy every small surprise!

This one also starts in USA, like other recents films of Karan Johar! Kareena is based in US and comes back to her hometown Delhi when her father suffers a heart attack. She meets Saif Ali Khan, a Delhi University Professor and falls for him. Phir kya…yaar, ishq, mohabbat, naach gaana and the couple gets married. They go back to USA with dreams of a new family life. But its not what it looks like.

Kareena discovers that her husband (Saif Ali Khan) is not professor but a mastermind terrorist who used her to protect his identity! Dhen Tedan!! Saif figures out that Kareena has found his true identity and puts her under house arrest.

Enters Vivek Oberoi. The high profile tv journalist who works with a big news network in USA. Kareena gets to know that Saif Ali Khan and his men are planning to hijack and bomb an airplane. The same plane which Vivek is going to board soon for some assignment. The rest of the film is about how Kareena with the help of Vivek tries to save the lives of passengers onboard.

What happens to the “blood”y love story ? Your guess is as good as mine. So, place your bets! 

couples-retreatHave you heard of a film called Couples Retreat ? If you havent, you should. This film marks A R Rahman’s entry into mainstream Hollywood post-Oscar!

Couples Retreat is a romantic comedy revolving around four couples who visit a tropical island resort for vacation, and to reinvigorate their marriages. From the synopsis, its difficult to imagine how much musical scope it can have. Its directed by Peter Billingsley and written by Jon Favreau. The cast includes Vince Vaughn, Faizon Love, Jason Bateman, Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, Malin Akerman and Kali Hawk. Check out the film’s promo.

The official track list is still not out. Till then enjoy the unofficial list and click on the play button to listen to the promo songs from the album…. 

Kuru Kuru Kan Kuruvae by rahmaniacdotcom

Couples track by rahmaniacdotcom

Tarana by rahmaniacdotcom

Coming Back by rahmaniacdotcom

Journey of Life by rahmaniacdotcom

KanchivaramWho says National Awards don’t matter! It does, atleast to few. And things do change accordingly.

After bagging two national awards (best actor & best film) for Kanchivaran, the makers of the film Percept Picture Company are now ready to have an all India release of the film on 30th October. Almost 2 years after its completion. If am not wrong, earlier the film had it release in Chennai only.

Directed by Priyadarshan, the film is a must watch! If for nothing else, watch it only because of Prakash Raj. What a powerful and moving performance. Saw such acting after a long time. And he looks so so differnt in real life!

Priyadarshan wanted to make the film nine years ago but had no takers that time. Mohanlal was suppose to star in it. But when Priyan got producers for the film, Mohanlal was busy with other films. And so Prakashraj came onboard!

All you who crib about not getting to see regional films, dont miss it this time. And here is a trailer of the film…

 

48hour film projectIf yes, read on.

48 Hour Film Project – Its a unique gathering of filmmakers (amateurs and professionals) to make short films from scratch. And everything in just 48 hours!

Date – The second Mumbai 48 Hour Film Project will commence on Friday, 2 October, 2009.

Rules – On this day (2nd october), the participants will get a character, a prop, a line of dialogue and a genre, all to include in their movie.  By Sunday, 4 October, the movie must be complete.  

Details – Navdeep Singh and Ram Madhavani are on  the panel of jury.   The competition is supported by The British Council and Screen – the entertainment and business weekly. All the films will be screened at British Council, Nariman Point on 9 and 10 October, 09.

Registration – Teams will have to register in advance to participate in the competition. The project is open to pros, amateurs, and students alike. Folks can just put together a team and register online at http://www.48hourfilm.com/mumbai/.

Winner – The winning Mumbai film will go up against films from around the world for the “ Best 48 Hour Film of 2009”.

Last Year – The first Mumbai 48 Hour Film Project was held in Mumbai in 2008, and brought over 400 film professionals from Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Pune together. The films were premiered at PVR Cinemas, Juhu. Baba Azmi, Shabana Azmi, Soha Ali Khan, Sudhir Mishra and Vinay Shukla, evaluated all entries to declare one winner.

History – The 48 Hour Film Project was incorporated in the US in the year 2001. Since then, 48HFP has taken place more than 150 times on four continents. This year, the 48HFP is visiting over 80 cities across all four continents.

The Man Beyond The Bridge (Paltadacho Munis) – We wrote about this Konkoni film’s selection at TIFF in this post. And now the good news! The film has bagged the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize, voted by members of the International Federation of Film Critics at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The film is directed by Laxmikant Shetgaonkar.

Laxmikant ShetgaonkarThe jury citation for Shetgaonkar’s film read: “Far from the sensory overload of India’s big cities, this film explores smaller but enduring dilemmas, drawing together keen environmental sensitivity with a nuanced view of village dynamics.”

Shetgaonkar studied theatre arts and began his career as an acting instructor at the National School of Drama in New Delhi. He has directed several theatre productions, as well as both documentary and fiction films.The script prior to its production also went under fine tuning in the Script Lab organized by NFDC in ‘Film Bazaar 2007’.

And here is the synopsis of the film…

man beyond the bridgeThe Man Beyond the Bridge is a story about Vinayak, a forest guard, who lives a lonely life, with just the memories of his dead wife in a Government house in the dense forests of Goa-Karnataka border. His repeatedly rejected pleas for a transfer by his superiors in the Department of Forests have left him bitter. One night, he comes across a filthy, unkempt mentally challenged woman lying in the compound outside his house. He drives her away but she keeps returning. From his initial irritation with her filthy appearance and irate behavior, he slowly gets used to her daily visits looking for food and sleeping in the courtyard. With time, he begins to derive comfort from her presence.

Vinayak’s growing relationship with the woman initially, attracts some comment but evokes a strong protest in the village only when she gets pregnant. The villagers question Vinayak’s right over mentally challenged and helpless woman. They maintain that his relationship is morally incorrect and should be ended. However, for Vinayak, the woman is his companion and the mother of his child and there is no dilemma in his mind over this. Thus begins a conflict between a society that refuses to take responsibility of such a woman and one man’s endeavour to integrate her in his life. 

Whats Your Raashee ?The first review of Whats Your Raashee is out! This one is from Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) where the film had its premiere. And as we told you in this post, Whats Your Raashee is indeed 3hrs 20mins long. Variety confirms it. So get ready with your pillows and bean bags if you plan to catch the film!

Back to the review or mini-review. Though the review doesnt say much but click here or scroll down to read the full review. 

For an hour, “What’s Your Raashee?” — the first romantic comedy from director Ashutosh Gowariker (“Jodhaa Akbar”) — zips along on a silly premise: Returning home to Mumbai, a young and handsome Chicagoan (Harman Baweja) has 10 days to find a wife and earn Grandpa’s inheritance, lest his brother’s gambling debt bring the family down.

But as Baweja’s sweet Yogesh proceeds to “interview” each of a dozen ladies (all played by Priyanka Chopra), and the film stretches to a whopping 211 minutes, even Bollywood aficionados will consider breaking the engagement. Likable leads can’t guarantee a sizable dowry upon the pic’s Sept. 25 release.

Each with a different astrological sign (or rashee), Chopra’s prospective brides run the gamut. Girl No. 1 is ditzy; No. 2 is a hot microbiologist with, alas, a boyfriend; the gum-snapping third girl occasions a big dance number; the fourth is painfully shy, a victim of past heartbreak; the fifth is a fussy businesswoman who brings along a prenup agreement; and after the sixth, who believes in reincarnation, there are still six more to go. Two or three peppy songs prove woefully insufficient to sustain a 3½-hour trifle, however good-looking.

The film is an adaptation of the novel Kimball Ravenswood. We hated the music (Sohail Sen), the promos, and now it seems the film will complete the full circle! Should Harman Baweja look for a new career option? Think so. Its high time! And Priyanka Chopra might get her name in some record book for potraying 12 roles in a film but all she needs is just 12 scenes! Watch Kaminey, ask Vishal Bharadwaj!

The film will release in India on September 25th. Am in no hurry to book my tickets! Who knows, might have to watch it in 12 installments!

She came, she conquered and she went back! She came back, a forgettable film Sorry Bhai, and has been since missing. As they say, every actor and director got atleast one classic film in their lifetime. And the worst is if it turns out to be your first film or if it comes early in your career. We hope its not true for her, and for Hazaroon Khwashein Aisi! 

So where is she and is she upto these days ? A new film titled 2 Days 2 Nights  and a morning by Sudhir Mishra. Check out this interview by CNN IBN’s Rohit Khilnani.