Posts Tagged ‘Aftab Shivdasani’

30 Filmy Fundas of 2009 – The good, the bad & the fuglies!

Posted: December 31, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, cinema, News, Thoughts
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2009 – The Master of Feel Bad started the year delivering his career’s first hit and the Master of Feel Good Cinema ended the year with a recording breaking monster hit! Aha, not that bad if we count only the boundaries. After the musical notes of the year, we sat down to discuss the filmy notes of the year. Here it is – the good, the bad and the fuglies!

1. Best Credit Roll – If ever a credit roll said something so simply and superbly, this is it. Luck By Chance. Also great debut by Zoya Akhtar.

2. Anurag Kashyap turned musical and how! More than a dozen songs and we discovered Amit Trivedi.

3. Anurag Kashyap – 2009 belongs to only one director. Dev D, Gulaal and even Paanch finally got a release, you know where. Whats more, he finished shooting his next film That Girl In Yellow Boots in just 13 days. Aur bolo ?

PS : The same Anurag Kashyap wrote the dialogues for Kurbaan ! Strange bedfellows remained strange.

4. Nobody, we repeat nobody, can save Harman/Hurrman/Harmann/Harrman/Whatever it is Baweja.

5. Wooden Film of the Year – New York. Three good looking woods with zero expression.

6. Ranbir Kapoor – Dude of the year! He is not only working with best directors of bollywood but delivering his best too. Cool & confused, fool & romantic, middle class & lost – he did it all.

7.Imran Luck Khan – The poster boy of 2008 is light years behind Ranbir. He only talks cool and acts still uncool.  Competition, whats that ?

8. Imtiaz Ali has only one story to tell. The journey of cool and confused lovers on the verge of marriage. First time, they were about to mary. Second time, they were close to marriage. This time, they finally married and then solved their problem. More here and here.

9. Samir Karnik got money to make one more movie. Who ? Where ? Why ? How ?

10. Rani Mukherjee’s career is over. Hadippa!

11. Multiplex cinema & hits are not everything. Its a big myth. Ask the makers of Wanted. Or is it only Salman Khan ?

12. And if its Salman Khan, why Main Aur Mrs Khanna packed up in just two days ? As they say, nobody knows anything. And what was UTV smoking ? 

13. Overrated Gimmicky shit of the year – Paa. More ramblings here.

14. R Balki should stick to making tv commercials. One idea and thats it. He also told the same story again. Smart & dying child bring lovers back together. Age gap somewhere. Check.

15. Akshay Kumar’s bubble busted and how!. He failed everywhere. Chandni Chowk, China, Hollywood, under water, inside or outside Tasveer.

16. The Invisible Director – Who is Anurag Singh ? Does anyone knows him ? The man who put the last nail in the coffin of Rani’s acting career. Hadippa!

17. Sanjay Gupta and gang (read Suparn) are still copying. Even the promos! Now the Unknown ones! More here.

18. Suresh Nair – the only writer to have two big films releases on the same friday. Aladin & London Dreams and both flopped.

19. Underrated Film – Sooni Tarporevala’s delightful Little Zizou, where all the possible parsis united to turn bollywood into pollywood! ( Missed Barah Aana, Mohandas)

20. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not – Sunil Shetty got an award for acting in Anant Mahadevan’s Red Alert – the War Within. Believe it, nobody has seen the film yet.

21. Most Subtle Expression of the year – In Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Delhi 6, a man lands up with a mirror to show your andar ka kala bandar! Beat this!

22. Nagesh Kuknoor – Dont give him big budgests and big stars. He will go cuckoo-noor!

23. Vishal Bhardwaj delivered again. Five films in a row. And showed us Amole Gupte – the actor. More here.

24. Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani tried too hard to be Andaz Apna Apna. Insanity happens! You cant plan and design it.

25. ENG Filmmaker -Madhur Bhandarkar continued his expose and it finally flopped.

26. Smirk & Smug of the Year – Vivek Oberoi in Kurbaan. It was the ROFLOL film of the year where terrorism was wrapped in chiffon saree.

27. RajKumar Hirani lied to all of us and made the same film again. As a friend said, its Munnabhai B Tech. More here.

28. Couple Of The Year – Jaideep Sahni & Shimit Amin who delivered Rocket Singh – Sales Man of the Year! More here.

29. The only U-25 who proved us wrong – Ayan Mukherjee. Wake up Sid. Confident debut. More here.

30. Only 12 scenes, not 12 roles – Ask Priyanka Chopra. Easily the best performance of the year. Length doesnt matter, performanace counts. Vishal did it. Gowariker failed.

Bravery Awards  – Aftab Shivdasani turned writer and producer with Aao Wish Karein.

Someone directed a film titled Jai-Veeru!

Abhijeet Sawant turned actor.

LOL Titles Of The Year  – They said it all. No explanations required.

Kal Kisne Dekha

Do Knot Disturb

Fruit & Nuts

London Nightmares

Blue-s

Aa Dekhein Zara

Dhoondte Rah Jaoge

Ek Se Bure Do

(Tough) Luck

Shorkut – The Con Is On

PS. ENG – Electronic New Gathering.

Coming up next –  what to expect in 2010!

Film Reviews : Tum Mile & Aao Wish Karein

Posted: November 14, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, cinema, film review, News, reviews
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Lil late on reviews this week. Only because we were not interested in any of the two hindi releases of the week. Tum Mile is from Bhaat Factory, directed by Kunal Deshmukh and stars Emraan Hashmi and Soha Ali Khan. And here is the report card.

Taran Adarsh (Indiafm) – On the whole, TUM MILE caters to the youth mainly. At the box-office, the Vishesh Films – Emraan Hashmi combo has cultivated a strong fan-base over the years and coupled with good music, which is also very popular, the film should find itself in the comfortable zone – 3/5

Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – You may survive the floods, but Emraan and Soha’s bak-bak will most certainly kill you! – 1.5/5

Gaurav Malani (ET) – Tum Mile might be dilute on the deluge but concentrates on having its heart in the right place. Watch it as a disaster flick and you will find it disastrous. Watch it as a love story and you will love it – 3/5

Khalid Mohamed (PFC) – To the immense credit of director Kunal Deshmukh, he shoots it with such sensitivity and grace, that you’re convinced that he’s an underrated director. Both Deshmukh and Mohit Suri (Woh Lamhe) from the Mahesh-Mukesh Bhatt factory are excellent technicians, and deserve to be in the A-list of mainstream directors – 3/5

Rediff (Sukanya Varma ) – Ultimately, though, Tum Mile’s true strength lies in the combined appeal and compelling performances of Emraan and Soha. Awe-inspiring it is not but engaging? By all means – 3/5

Mayank Shekhar (HT) – Alongside posters and promos of 2012, this reel or two was meant to be cinema about a shaking catastrophe. You realise, while the romance and its conflicts are short-lived, this is not a disaster film at all. I mean this as much for its genre as hopefully its fate among the public – 2/5

Anupama Chopra(NDTV) – The film strains for poignancy as the lovers realise that life is too short but their epiphany is more tedious than moving – 2/5

Nikhat Kazmi (TOI) – What really stands out in the film is the acting. Emraan and Soha create a chemistry that is brimming over with warmth and remains quite unpredictable till the very end. Their conversations — and concerns — are straight out of real life – 3.5 / 5

Minty Tejpal(Mumbai Mirror) – Emraan is fairly intense in his performance, while Soha is quite spunky, but together they are a bit flat. The music is fairly melodious, though there are no tracks that really jump out. However, the film is worth watching on a rainy day. Just don’t expect to be swept away – 2/5

Shubhra Gupta (Indian Express) – Hashmi and Khan have a good fit, though, and their lovers’ tiffs feel real: Deshmukh has an ear for dialogue and gets his leads to spar in believable ways, especially when Hashmi behaves like a spoilt brat artist, and she an unrelenting career girl. Pity about the lax climax – 2/5

Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) – All the drama is in the breaking up and making up between Emraan and Soha and though both have put in likeable performances-Soha even foregoing make-up for it-it is too much water, too late and too limp – 2.5/5

Anand Vaishanv ( Buzz18) – While the disaster angle is clearly a gimmick. And the lovers could very well have sorted out their differences on a station or an airport lounge, the film is engagingly shot. Tum Mile is eventually just another love story punctuated with some 26/7 sequences. Watch it only if you are a die hard Emraan Hashmi fan – 2/5

The other release of the week is Aao Wish Karein stars Aftab Shivdasani and Aamna Shariff. Its directed by Glenn Baretto and is Aftab’s home production. And did we tell its written also by Aftab! Aur bolo!

Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – Week after week, critics lament the lack of original work in Bollywood. But after watching Aao Wish Karein, an agonizingly boring rework of Tom Hanks’ Big, I wished that the makers had been less original and copied more diligently – 0.5/5

Taran Adarsh (Indiafm) – On the whole, AAO WISH KAREIN is engaging in parts, but how one wishes the film would grab your attention in entirety. The wish of striking a chord and hence, succeeding at the box-office won’t come true for this reason – 1.5/5

Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – Far from achieving the fairytale feel it was going for, Aao Wish Karein is a colossally boring film that packs clunky dialogue, a predictable narrative and a muddled message in the end. Barring a few superb songs, this film is a miscalculation on all counts – 1/5

Minty Tejpal (Mumbai Mirror) – Yup, the same Big story, only Aftab is no Tom Hanks, and the less said about the direction the better. However, in good old Bollywood style, it’s the ending that’s the real double whammy. Go watch it if you wish – 1.5/5

Shubhra Gupta (Indian Express) – Good proposition for kids, and adults, to buy in. But `Aao Wish Karein’ falls in between two stools, and becomes a film which appeals strongly to neither – 1/5

Nikhat Kazmi (TOI) – Obviously inspired by Tom Hanks 1988 classic (Big) that was nominated for two Oscars, the film lacks all the masala that made Penny Marshal’s film such a winsome experience. Also, the romance between Aftab and Aamna is quite thanda. Thoda aur wish karein? – 2/5

 

Aftab Shivdasani turns producer & kills one of our favourite songs!

Posted: October 22, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, first look, News, songs & videos, Thoughts
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Aao Wish KarienWhat do you do when you have no films in hand ? Turn Producer. And thats the mantra of lot of out-of-work actors. Ask Dino Morea, Sushmita Sen, Sohail Khan among others. And the  new kid to join the club is  Aftab Shivdasani.

Aftab has started his own production house called Rising Sun Entertainment (Hmm..ambitious!) and their first film Aao Wish Karein is ready for release. Obviously it stars Aftab Shivdasani and his girlfreind Aamna Shariff and is directed by Glen Barreto (Jaane Hoga Kya ? Dont get us wrong. Thats the film he co-directed earlier, rite ? ). The story is about a kid who wants to grow up and suddenly one day his wish comes true.

The first promo of the film is out. All is well except the way they have decided to kill one of our favourite songs…sabse picche hum khade! Check out the video. It doesnt get any more boring than this! The song was earlier used in the film Lets Enjoy.

Film Reviews : Acid Factory

Posted: October 9, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast news, film review, News, reviews, Thoughts
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acid-factory-cut2Just a few days back, we wrote this post on Suparn Verma’s Acid Factory and how its original is not Unknown any more. Acid Factory is the only hindi release this friday. The film is produced by Sanjay Gupta and stars Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpai, Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Dino Morea, Diya Mirza, and Danny Denzongpa.

Lets see if we jumped the gun or the critics feel the same.

Khalid Mohamed (Khalidsspot) – At some point, someone asks, “What are we doing here?” If you make the mistake of visiting the factory, so will you. For sure – 1.5/5

Anupama Chopra (NDTV) – You could forgive the sheer silliness of the enterprise if the film delivered enough bang for the buck but Acid Factory can’t even manage that. See it if you must – 2/5

Rajeev Masand (CNN IBN) – Acid Factory, directed by Suparn Verma, looks like it’s been assembled from the footage that was edited out of Sanjay Gupta’s Kaante. Shot in the same grainy moss-green colour tone; its characters speak in a similar hyper-active overlapping style; and two big action set-pieces notwithstanding, it’s a suffocating psychological thriller at its core. You’ll come out wishing you had inhaled some of that amnesia-inducing gas too – 2/5

Taran Adarsh (Indiafm) – On the whole, ACID FACTORY is a slick thriller that has an interesting premise and also super stunts and chase sequences as its trump cards. The film is targeted at the urban youth, especially those who relish thrillers – 3/5

Chandrima Pal (Rediff) – If you’ve never heard of a Columbian film called Unknown, you haven’t really missed much. If you give this 95-minute copy of the poorly-received film a miss, you’ll do yourself a favour – 2/5

Gaurav Malani (ET) – Sanjay Gupta enters familiar territory with remaking Unknown (another Hollywood action-thriller) and caustically credits half a dozen writers for assembling this Acid Factory.  Its a masala movie in the fast-food mode but could leave you with acidity pangs – 2/5 

Anand Vaishnav (Buzz18) – For its action and some of Irrfan’s well-improvised scenes, Acid Factory makes it to the watchable category. It’s a wannabe action packed Hollywood B-movie. It gets the stupidity right, but falls short in attitude – 2/5

Kaveree Bamzai (India Today) – Suparn Verma is one of those directors who confuses style with substance. Just because you have a budget, I believe it was Rs 21 crore, it doesn’t mean it has to be spent blowing up every available car in South Africa – 1/5

Shubhra Gupta (Indian Express) – Equally expectedly, everyone whips out their weapons, and lots of gunfire is exchanged, but overall, you don’t get too much bang for your buck – 2/5

What else can you expect from Sanjay Gupta’s factory ? 

Acid Factory – whose story is it anyway ?

Posted: October 6, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, gossipmongers, Hollywood, News, plagiarism, songs & videos, Story / Plot / Synopsis, Thoughts
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UNKNOWN ??

acid-factory-cut2Acid Factory is the new film by journalist turned filmmaker Suparn Verma (Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena). In an interview to Hindustan Times, when asked about the story of Acid Factory, Suparn had to say this…

Sanjay Gupta is known to look towards foreign films for inspiration. So which one was the muse for Acid Factory?

Sanjay (Gupta) had this amazing story given to him by a writer about seven people trapped inside an acid factory. They’ve lost their memories and in the terrifying present have just realised that there’s a killer amongst them and two others are his intended victims. We wove the screenplay around it. The challenge was in shooting the film in sequence and extracting performances from the group as a whole and not simply from individual actors. Before shooting, I made my cast read out their parts in front of each other and that created a bond between them.

You can read the full interview here. For us, the most interesting part of the interview was the first line – Sanjay had this amazing story given to him by a writer. We would like to know who is the writer ? And why is the poor writer not given credit in the interview ? Strangely, even in the IMDB full credit list of Acid Factory, there is no mention of the writer, though it tells you who is the stunt double and even has 2nd AD’s name.

Coming from Sanjay Gupta’s factory, most probably the writer doesnt exist! Or its all UNKNOWN! Read Dvd, copy, plagiarism! Unknown ? Yes, thats the name of the film. We havent seen it but to quote from IMDB, here is the plot of Unknown.

UnknownFive men wake up in a locked-down warehouse with no memory of who they are. They are forced to figure out who is good and who is bad to stay alive.

OR

How would you feel if: You were tied to a chair, In a locked-down warehouse, In the middle-of-nowhere, With no recollection what-so-ever of what happened, or what didn’t. To add to it, you’re not alone. There’s 4 others in the exact same state of mind. Some responsible for putting the others there BUT no one knows who’s who. Thats how this movie starts, getting grittier with every passing minute.

Now, scroll up and read the plot in Suparn’s answer. It sounds suspiciouly similar to Unknown. And coming from sanjay Gupta, dil hai ki manta nahi!

The film stars Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajapi, Fardeen Khan, Aftab Shivdasani, Dino Morea, Diya Mirza, and Danny Denzongpa.

If you still have some doubts, check out the trailer of Unknown..

Gawd, even the trailer looks the same! And here is the Acid Factory trailer..

Are we jumping the gun again ? With Sanjay Gupta, who loves guns and bikes and babes, its justified! What say ? Or lets wait till this friday.

First Look : Suparn Verma’s Acid Factory (teaser)

Posted: July 30, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast & crew, first look, News, songs & videos
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Acid Factory is produced by Sanjay Gupta, directed by Suparn Verma and stars Irfan Khan, Fardeen Khan, Manoj Bajpayee, Dia Mirza, Dino Morea, Aftab Shivdasani and Danny Denzongpa.

But what is this teaser ? Only Dhoom-dhaam-dhadaap!

Vodpod videos no longer available.  

more about “Video : Teaser 1 (Acid Factory)“, posted with vodpod

How uncool is Daddy Cool : Indra Kumar paid Rs 2cr for plagiarism!

Posted: May 29, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, cast news, etc, gossipmongers, Hollywood, News, shit, writing, WTF
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How is that  ? Cool or Daddy Cool ? Actually the news made us happy, damn happy. Well, check out this trailer of the film Daddy Cool. Its produced by Indra Kumar and his partner Ashok Thakeria.

Those have seen the film ‘Death at a funeral’, can easily guess that its a straight lift. And those of you havent seen the film, here is the synopsis of Daddy Cool.

daddy koolSo, what can happen at a funeral? Even, if it’s the funeral of Daddy Cool Douglas Lazarus? It’s in Goa, tears, sad speeches, melancholia… right? Wrong! When… The coffin makers deliver the wrong body.

Good Son Steven Lazarus (Suniel Shetty), an aspiring writer tries to give his father a decent funeral by delivering a eulogy…that includes a description of the rivers of Goa. Having flown in first class younger brother Brian (Ashish Chowdhry), suave, successful and much admired writer from Mumbai, not ready to share responsibility for his mother, saying “He barely has money to support himself and his dogs.” A rather “comfortable” estate agent Pinto (Vijay Patkar) tries to close a house deal for Nancy (Aarti Chabria) Steven’s wife who is trying to get away from her mother-in-law Mrs. Lazarus (Suhasini Mulay) , who though just bereaved, lives up to her title admirably.

A prospective groom Michael (Aftab Shivdasani) to a cousin, Maria (Tulip Joshi), nervous about meeting father-in-law to be (Naseer Abdullah ) comes in completely spaced out because of a hallucinogenic drug given to him out of Maria’s junkie brother Harry’s (Chunky Pandey) bottle of “Relaxo.” A knife-wielding suspicious Jenny (Kim Sharma) finds her husband Carlos (Javed Jaffrey) pleading forgiveness from the red- hot model Ayesha (Sophie Chodhry). While the model, told to bestow her favours on a man in a black suit, in order to feature in an ad film, finds herself in a room full of potential employers.

A repulsive spit on hands and flick back hair, Roadside Romeo kind of aspiring boyfriend, Jim (Vrajesh Hirjee) thinks that even a funeral is an opportunity to impress Maria. A doddering old Uncle Murphy (Prem Chopra) in a wheelchair believes in practicing “rapchick” to get the girls…And then enters a “Blackmailer” Andrew (Rajpal Yadav) who has a scandalous secret about the deceased Douglas “Daddy Cool” Lazarus (Sharat Saxena).

So what does happen is complete melange of madness, chaos, and a laugh a minute! So is it a ‘fun’eral? Or should we say the fun is real?

death at a funeralDeath At A funeral’s story is exactly the same. Whats more, it has midget and copying the same idea they have casted Rajpal Yadav for the same. Great guts, we must say.

According to Mid-day, Indra Kumar had to pay two crore to the producers of Death At A funeral, in an out-of-court settlement. About two months back, the makers sent a legal notice to the Indra and his business partner Ashok Thakeria stating that if the need arose they’d take this matter to court or he should simply offer to buy the rights of the film. The two parties had a meeting last week and Indra and Ashok handed two crore check to them.

We love it! Now they should understand why writers need to be paid more, much more than just peanuts!

Plagiarism dope : Here is the new trick of bollywood directors/producers. They would copy the film first and then write a letter to the producer of the original film stating that they have made a film and have just discovered that the “idea” of their film sounds similar to the original one. Since there is no copyright on “idea”, the original producer gives a green signal to our chor filmmakers. UTV and Ravi Chopra did the same for Aamir and Banda Yeh Bindaas hai. The original ones are Cavite and My Cousin Vinny.  

We wonder if Karan Johar has bought the rights or just taken “idea” permission for remaking Stepmom ? As always, we will kep you posted.

Acid Factory – plot details

Posted: April 25, 2009 by moifightclub in bollywood, News
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Glamsham.com has released the plot details of Suparn Verma’s new film Acid Factory. Initial reports suggests that like all Sanjay Gupta films, this one too promises all style and no substance. And like in the past, Guptaji has got a new bakra. Mumbai Mantra ( Mahindra’s film divison) has acquired the film and will be releasing it soon. 

The film stars Fardeen Khan,  Aftab Shivdasani, Danny Denzongpa, Manoj Bajpai, Dino Morea, Irfan Khan and Dia Mirza. 

Here is the story…

What if a killer would wake up one day with his memory erased? Would his crimes cease to exist?

What if an innocent wakes up one day with his memory erased and perceives himself to be a criminal?

Would that change his perception of reality? 

ACID FACTORY is about a group of characters whose sense of past has vanished in a haze of coma like sleep they have woken up from only to discover that reality could be a figment of their imagination. Their sense of right or wrong is heightened by this state of complete distrust and self righteousness. Five men wake up inside the confines of a factory to find themselves locked in this claustrophobic nowhere land.

As the plot unfolds we gradually learn that two of the people who are trapped have been kidnapped and held hostage by the rest of the three for a heist. But the irony is they themselves do not know who the hostages are and who the kidnappers are.

Their fears are heightened by a phone call from the leader of the gang of goons who informs them that he is on his way with the heist and plans to knock off the two hostages as soon as he arrives. Every one fears for their lives as they are unaware about the fact which tow of them are the hostages. They plan escape, fail and end lunging at each other in despair as the clock ticks away. Individual foibles and shortcomings surface in this final hour of despair. The Big Boss eventually arrives and what follows is a riveting climax leading to an action packed finale. 

The description sounds great on paper and the way its written, makes it look more interesting. But only if the film can achieve half of whats written here! Or may be it will turn out to be one more wannabe cool film. We will be happy to be proved wrong.  Here is the link to the Glamsham feature.