Mukul Anand’s Agneepath, although somewhat inspired by Scarface, was a film way ahead of it’s time in the 90’s. Amitabh’s experiment with his voice was something which did not gel with the masses then, but the film becoming a cult classic later is proof that one can try to suppress a genuinely good product, but you can’t ignore it for too long! Agneepath was one film which did away with conforming to standards and showed the world, what a truly world class product was being offered by the 2 stalwarts of that era….

It was always going to be difficult for director Karan Malhotra, producer Karan Johar and Hrithik to fill up the shoes of the earlier version.

I was very sceptical about this film, since there was always the burden as to how Hrithik would fit into the Big shoes of the BIG B. So this is not the middle aged ganglord Vijay Dinanath Chauhan that we see, but a gangster Viju, rising up the ranks to reach his goal.

The cinematography by Kiran Deohans is brilliant. The entire Mandwa chapter is shot as poetry in motion.  Full marks for the same. Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the editing by Akiv Ali.  There are portions post interval, wherein you feel the narration taking a dip, and just want to get on with the story.  For example, when Rauf emerges from the hospital, there is no basis for him to consider Vijay a traitor yet. It is only post that does he realise that Vijay has left for Mandwa, so there was something amiss there.

Music by Ajay – Atul is in sync with the film’s narrative. The Shah ka Rutba and Deva Shree Ganesha being my personal favourites. Chikni has already become a rage, so one doesn’t have to comment on that!

Choreography by Ganesh is energetic and top notch. Whereas for all the rumours about a body double being used for Kat, we leave it to you to decide.

Sabu Cyril does an excellent job in the production design. Be it Rauf’s bidding ground, Viju’s locality or Kancha’s den, be it the currency notes of the 70s era, the vintage cars or the Mumbai of the 70s.

Om Puri does a competent job for a role which immortalised Vikram Gokhale. But his characterisation is too weak, and hence he comes across as a weaker Gaitonde! Why does he have a soft corner for Vijay, is something which is again left unexplained. He himself states to the Home Ministry officials that the only photograph of  Vijay in the police records is of Vijay as a 15 year old! But Vijay is shown walking in and out of his office / home regularly!

Zarina Wahab according to me was a miscast! To compare her with Rohini Hattangadi, would be an insult to Rohini’s stellar performance. Again, it is the lack of characterisation to be blamed, coupled with ‘the wrong person for the wrong job’ scene. Again, when Rauf kidnaps Shiksha and she does arrive at the scene, she  is least bothered about Shikhsha, since she doesn’t seem to be searching for her at all! It is only when Shiksha approaches her, does she acknowledge her missing daughter. Something amiss again.

Sachin Khedekar does an okay job! Priyanka Chopra is irritating in the first half. You just wish the editor could have chopped her scenes outright since she only breaks the flow of the otherwise tight narrative! Her pre-wedding scene is the only one which makes you feel for her character and rightfully so! 

So it boils down to the BIG 3…..

The first 40 minutes of the film rightfully belongs to Kancha! Sanjay Dutt couldn’t have asked for a better role post Munnabhai. His Voldemort / Marlon Brando inspired look only adds more eerie enigma to his character. From the minute you see his silhouette enter on screen, till the climax, you are enthralled by his performance. Be it his reciting the Bhagwad Gita or killing people. His only interaction with Rauf is also brilliant!  I have never seen Sanjay enjoy himself so much ever since his Kaante..and that is a decade ago! This man loves to be bad, (we aint talking Munnabhai series here) and no one does it as bad as him.

Hrithik, Hrithik….Hrithik….the more you speak about this person, the more you risk belittling him. He not only takes Vijay D. C.  and  adapts it to his own, HE OWNS THIS VIJAY! His eyes speak a million words throughout the film! In his interactions with the characters, you can see his genius…his ‘brotherly love’ for Mazhar, admiration for Rauf, contempt for Kancha, respect for Gationde, love for Kaali, angst towards Suhasini or protectiveness for Shiksha! The interval shot, the handshake with Kancha, the first punch at Rauf….terrific. I was one of the few of the opinion that an Ajay Devgn could have played a better middle aged Vijay, but  Hrtihik proves that this Viju, belongs to him!

Rishi Kapoor is the piece de resistance in this film. The menace in his eyes, whilst killing his assassin, whilst standing in the lineup, while announcing Vijay’s fate to Mazhar! The way he ridicules Kancha, the manner in which he dances, just makes today’s generation realise that these were and ARE true stars!  He steals the show from the entire crowd here. Forget awards, he is the true star of the film! So if there is no other reason for you to watch the film, see it for Rishi Kapoorl

A film is always a director’s medium. It is always the director’s vision or the lack of it, which makes a film what it is. And Karan Malhotra must take a bow! The film as projected in its promos, is dark, gritty and hard hitting!  Making stalwarts like Rishi Kapoor, Sanjay Dutt portray the roles in the manner that they have done, does require a certain amount of genuine talent and it is at display here. Kudos to Karan Jo, for producing this remake!

What should you do….go watch Agneepath!

Rating: 4/5

YusuF Poonawala is an independent writer who authors The Y Factor , a blog where he reviews movies, English and Hindi. Explore his passion for cinema with reviews and everything around them.

This film is director duo Abbas Mustan’s official Indian remake of  2003’s ‘The Italian Job’, which itself is a remake of the 1969 British original.

Charlie (Abhishek Bachchan) is a chartered accountant who is advised of the idea of stealing gold bullions being sent from Russia to Romania. He seeks the help of his mentor Victor Dada (Vinod Khanna), who helps him assemble the best ‘players’ in the world. So we have an illusionist Ronnie (Bobby Deol), a prosthetics expert, Sunny (Omi Vaidya), an auto expert Riya (Bipasha Basu) and Bilal (Sikander Kher) an explosives expert. Along with the help of Dada’s daughter Naina (Sonam Kapoor), they manage to track down Spider (Neil Nitin Mukesh) a computer hacker, required for the job. Did I tell you that Naina is a hacker too, an ‘ethical’ one at that!

The robbery ends with a betrayal and that leads to Dada’s death. The team seeks revenge on the traitor with another robbery but this time with the help of Naina, who wants revenge.

Abbas - Mustan have mastered the art of adapting Hollywood films, Indianizing them and presenting the same with much style. Be it ‘Baazigar’ – A Kiss Before Dying, ‘Daraar’ – Sleeping with the Enemy, ‘Baadshah’ – A Nick of Time, ‘Ajnabee’ – Consenting Adults.

Style is something which comes naturally to them. ‘Race’ being the best example till date. It had style, an intelligent story, unbelievable twists and to top it all, excellent performances. I guess that is where ‘Players’ goes wrong. It tries too hard.

Abhishek should stop playing these stereotypical cool dude type roles. The failure of ‘Game’ being the most recent example. And this is the biggest problem in the film! Mark Wahlberg’s Charlie Croker was a sincere thief working without any smugness. Our desi Charlie is all about the suits, the shades and the ‘know it all’ attitude. This is where the creative team seriously goofed up. While in ‘The Italian Job’, Charlie’s earnesty impressed you with his Venice heist, feel his pain at the loss of his mentor and made you want to see him succeed in regaining the gold. ‘Players’ does not connect the audience with its characters.

Bipasha too has to try something different than the regular amount of skin show that people have got used to. Same style of short outfits, similar hair styles and the same expressions too.

Bobby Deol is wasted in this film! Why did they have to mess with his character at all? He was the ideal choice for reprieving Jason Statham’s get away driver. Making him ‘India ka sabse bada magician’ that screws up is a joke. A complete waste of opportunity.

Sikander Kher too is wasted here. There is no characterisation. Inspite of being deaf, he barely has any hearing issues? Being a explosives expert, the kind of stuff that he is shown using, would make wannabe gangsters of ‘Shor in the City’ seem like pros!

Omi Vaidya’s character doesn’t have depth, nor does he deliver a performance worth mentioning. Basically it’s an extension of Chatur from ‘3 Idiots’.

Neil has the best role, but in an attempt to overdress, he underacts.

Sonam Kapoor, the less said the better. Neither can she act, dance, emote, nor can she look glamorous in the outfits that she wears.

The only saving grace is the action by Allan Amin. But then again, the stunts alone can’t compensate for a souless product.

Besides a poor script and dialogue by Rohit Jugraj and Sudip Sharma, their screenplay is the deal breaker. Everything happens for the sake of convenience and too easily. Long drawn explanations and stupid dialogues like ‘planning ka waqt khatam’ ‘teri expiry date khatam’ and my favourite by Sonam ‘maine computer hack kar diya hai’!

Abbas Mustan let you down big time here. In a remake, since the characters have already been established and accepted, the people playing them have to be stars with persona and acting skills too. In Players’ besides Omi, all are just star kids!

What they missed to encash upon was exploring and exploiting the fact that you had 2 star sons, whose fathers Amitabh Bachchan and Dharmendra were one of the best on screen buddies of their times with an array of hit films to their credit. Instead of capitolizing on that nostalgic ‘Jodi’, they stuck to style over substance. Pritam’s music seems prophetic in the film… ‘Buddhi de bhagwan’!

Does ‘Players’ manage to break the January jinx in bollywood? No way! On the contrary, it might jinx your entire year!

Rating: 4/ 10

YusuF Poonawala is an independent writer who authors The Y Factor , a blog where he reviews movies, English and Hindi. Explore his passion for cinema with reviews and everything around them.

The amount of publicity that the makers have done for this film, might be a couple of notches lower than SRK’s last release ‘Ra.One’. I think it was a good move and they certainly learned from experience.

Let’s cut to the chase, the film starts with a narrative by Don, about life from where he left us last in 2006. With a Bond like initial fight sequence the rugged look, SRK has us eating out of his hands in the first 5 minutes of the film itself.

Don now surrenders to the Interpol officers, a retiring Mr. Malik (Om Puri) and a serious looking, well dressed Roma (Priyanka Chopra, 7 Khoon Maaf). Asking for immunity for all his crimes in lieu of the information that he possess about the drug empire that he now rules, lead s to him getting a death sentence in the prison of Kuala Lumpur. Where he meets his old foe, Vardhan (Boman Irani). After a few squabbles, Don befriends Vardhan to make him understand that him coming to prison was solely with the intention of getting Vardhan out of there. Prison Break anyone?

After an elaborately planned and well executed prison break, they leave for Zurich to meet Don’s new aide and lover, Ayesha (Lara Dutta, in a special appearance). After Don explains his plan to Vardhan, he recruits the youngest member in his team, Sameer Ali (Kunal Kapoor) as the computer hacker (without whom no heist can be complete in the new millennium)!

Now there is no scope for music in this film, besides a title track and good background score, since it is a bank heist. So Shankar Ehsaan Loy have come up with some good background scores, but no soul in their music. If there are no good songs, then choreographer Vaibhavi Merhcant doesn’t have much to do either, and she does exactly that. Dushman Mera is a pity in the name of a song choreography besides accentuating Priyanka’s figure for SRK and the crowds to lech at!

The fights of the film by Action Concept are elaborate and unduly long. Thats what kills the punch in the fights.

The editing is something Anand Subaya should have focussed on! Since he is the editor! The biggest drawback in the film is the poor editing. The scenes at times go on and on without any impact! Thats what an action thriller requires. An impact! Poor job at editing too.

In the technical department it is basically only Jason West, the cinematographer, who scores! Thailand, Malaysia, Zurich and Berlin, never looked so beautiful!

In terms of performances, Lara Dutta is wasted in her cameo. They should have used this opportunity to get her and Priyanka on screen face to face, (rather than back to back, as in the case here) which would have added to their characters, some character, for the lack of a better word.

Saahil Shroff is purely okay in his role, which has nothing to offer to him, besides ogle at Priyanka! Om Puri is wasted here. Nawab Shah will be the only one who might benefit from this film as an actor since he is the only one who moves the story ahead besides Don!

Aly Khan proves yet again, what a wonderful actor he is, still yet to get his due in Bollywood.

For more appeal, they could have used Irrfan also for any of the new characters in this film, would have added so much more talent and depth to this otherwise shallow film.  

Kunal Kapoor in a poorly etched out role has no scope to act, so he is just a part of a big, confused jigsaw puzzle, wherein you know exactly where he will fit in!

Boman Irani has nothing to do in the first half, but in the second half he shines. That leaves us with Priyanka Chopra. After her much hyped debacle in February this year, she must be desperately looking forward to this film, but yet again due to a poor script, she has nothing much to do besides look nice in tight fitting pants and loose buttoned shirts. There is an element of raw sexual energy between her and Don, but the script does nothing to derive any benefit from that.

That leaves us to the deadly duo, Farhan and SRK. SRK is in full form, living up his  anti hero charade, the whole nine yards!  SRK is classy, deadly and infuses so much charm in his Don that you forget that this guy is a cold blooded killer. SRK has never looked so good, since his last outing in 2006, as Don.

Leaving us to the culprit in this case. The man who made the difference in Don, by giving it his own twist, leaves us highly disappointed in the second outing. Known for details right from his first film, he misses out in those finer points, SRK’s changing stubble in the beginning for example. Also, while making an action thriller he should have been more updated in his action sequences. The entire Priyanka – SRK car chase reminds one of the Ra.One sequence with Kareena more than any Bourne films. Also, there is a lack of thrill in the action sequences. SRK’s jump from the high rise in Berlin does not have any impact, nor does the vault sequence which could have been so much more nerve gripping.  Here the director misses out on scoring those points, especially in a time, when people, especially the urban and nri audiences, the major target audience of the film, are subject to MI4 . Like Rohit Shetty, who copied action sequences from last year’s Red and used in Singham, unfortunately Farhan’s action sequences look dated. This was a discussion I had with quite a few people after watching MI4, that after seeing Tom Cruise jump from the Burj, would they be enthralled by SRK jumping down a building? Something which Ethan Hunt did ions ago!

The best parts of the film have already been highlighted in the promos, so no new attraction here. And the so called ‘Donisms’ which have been coming the papers, are hardly there!

For SRK fans it will be still worth a watch, but otherwise, a purely okay affair.

Rating: 5/10

YusuF Poonawala is an independent writer who authors The Y Factor , a blog where he reviews movies, English and Hindi. Explore his passion for cinema with reviews and everything around them.

Let’s get one thing clear, Don 2’s promos are very misleading.  The movie appears to be creative and new, however it’s only a blend of Hollywood films such as Ocean’s Eleven and Mission Impossible, to name a few.  And so the originality factor of this movie is quite low. 

The first half of the movie drags and one finds him/herself hoping for something exciting to happen.  The characters were given lame dialogues and the “Junglee Billi” referral to Priyanka Chopra’s character was used one too many times, and the novelty wore off after hearing it in the first instance.  Akhtar and company could have come with some witty dialogues to draw in the audience and divert their attention from the lack of emotion between the characters.  When emotion was finally shown it almost made you laugh out loud because it seemed unreal even for a typical Bollywood movie where we believe in love at first sight. 

As for Shah Rukh Khan, the attempt to look like the bad boy appeared to be nothing but over acting.  When one watches the likes of Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, Cruise’s character is “cool” because he makes it look effortless and believable, as if he just is that way.  Shah Rukh’s character on the other hand was over exaggerated and made him seem anything but believable.  The few times that he did come across as being the bad boy, it was ruined by the lackluster of the other characters and their lame dialogues.  It’s unfortunate because Shah Rukh in other well directed movies has played the bad boy with so much ease.

Sorry folks but this movie was a disappointment for me.  Even the likes of Shah Rukh and Priyanka’s so called off screen chemistry couldn’t hold ones attention.  Also for all Priyanka fans, sorry but Lara Dutta was much easier on the eyes.  Piggy chops just didn’t cut it.

So if you are expecting something out of the ordinary that takes the franchise further, I wouldn’t hold my breath.  The movie was a letdown, and Akhtar’s talent as a director didn’t live up to his name.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Reviewed by Sonia Nagpal

As mentioned in the opening sequence of the 1996 Mission: Impossible, should any of the agents get caught or killed, the US government will deny any links and leave them stranded. Well guess what? The inevitable has happened in the fourth installment!

Ghost Protocol has been ordered by the US President, wherein the IMF has been disbanded and its members, disavowed. Left with no team, no resources and no plan, Ethan and his assorted team of Benji Dunn, (Simon Pegg - Ice Age 3, The Adventures of Tintin, Hot Fuzz, Run Fatboy Run), Jane Carter (Paula Patton - Precious, Deja Vu, Mirrors) and William Brandt (Jeremy Renner - The Town, The Hurt Locker) go about saving the world from the hands of a mad Russian scientist Kurt Hendricks (Michael Nyqvist - Mikael from the Millennium series).

Ghost Protocol suffers from the same flaw as its predecessor, MI3 and that is the lack of story and content. Unlike the first 2 films, directed by Brain DePalma and John Woo respectively, the JJ Abrams directed 3rd instalment and this one too, have no concrete story and hence lack the fluidity in the screenplay. So it jumps from one set action piece to another. Each one bigger than the other.

Having said that, I must add that there is much more of an emotional tug in this film than any of its predecessors. Enough of the negatives now!

Let’s face it, nobody expects a heart breaking drama in the MI series anyway. What we do want to see is how far can Agent Hunt push the envelope this time? To those millions of fans, this movie is one hell of a ride!

If the Kremlin explosion sequence gets your pulse racing, then the Burj Khalifa piece will definitely make you jump outta your seat a la Hunt! One word, FANTASTIC. In that entire episode alone, the usage of the background score accentuates the energy and passes it on from Hunt to you.

Brad Bird, known for animated classics like The Incredibles and my favourite, Ratatouille, debuts in his first live action feature film, with Ghost Protocol. Not only does he manage to keep his cartoonish humour alive through Benji (Buck the Weasel in Ice Age 3) but also adds the oomph factor via Patton. But in terms of performances, it is the twice Academy nominated Renner, who steals the show. His rendition of an agent turned analyst, living in remorse and the subsequent confession in Dubai is a treat.

Bird does complete justice to the franchises and well deserves to be the only director in this series to direct 2 movies. Yes, MI:5…will be coming soon. Just hope they manage to bring Ving Rhames back again as an addition to this team.

Josh Holloway, ‘Sawyer’ from the Lost series adds spunk in his cameo as the slain IMF agent. But here in India, the maximum cat calls and whistles can be heard when the multi millionaire Brij Nath (Anil Kapoor) appears on screen. In his cameo, he manages to not only display his comic side, but also exudes class. For all the people that were complaining about him not given his due in the film’s publicity, will now understand why! Kudos to Cruise and Paramount for not going overboard in publicising Anil as the main protagonist in the posters plastered across Mumbai. Anil does a role just like all the other Hollywood actors do and is brilliant in his character.

What didn’t gel was that given the amount of detailing that Bird is known for, he somehow missed some bits & peices here and there. For example, showing the mall in Bangalore as one in Mumbai isn’t a crime, but not removing the Kannada text on the fire exit signs on the door and parking garage IS! Even Also, how come the always alert US government did nothing to ‘protect its skies’ from an incoming nuclear warhead and just let it ‘pop’ into its shores!

Towards the second half, Ghost Protocol does seem a bit too long. And the musical car park sequence could have easily been trimmed by a few minutes.

The film belongs to Tom Cruise, yet again. He lives Hunt every minute and manages to pull off the deadly stunts (many supposedly done by him) brilliantly. His grim reaction to Renner’s countdown while on the Burj or even his charismatic smile at the Pier are prime examples of the star that he is.  No one could have delivered the line with such charisma as him ‘ No one will leave this hotel alive’. The film and its larger than life sequences are definitely worth your time and money!

Rating: 8/10 purely for the action thrills

YusuF Poonawala is an independent writer who authors The Y Factor , a blog where he reviews movies, English and Hindi. Explore his passion for cinema with reviews and everything around them.

The story has been very clearly shown in the promos. Ricky Bahl (Ranveer Singh) cons naive women off their money and disappears. So a Saira from Lucknow (Aditi Sharma), Raina from Mumbai (Dipannita Sharma) and a Dimple from Delhi (Parineeti Chopra) ultimately realise the game after being few of the 27 odd women conned by RB. Conveniently their paths cross and they decide to seek revenge. John Tucker Must Die anyone? Hence they decide to use Ishika Desai (Anushka Sharma) to con the conman, in the ultimate con game. Pop Con anyone?

Loosely, I repeat, loosely inspired by the 2006 hit flick starring Jesse Metcalfe, this desi version has its own charm. It is not a bad film, mind you, but it does not live upto the hype and expectations that people have from it. Sometimes it does become difficult for the same team to recreate the magic.

Maneesh Sharma’s direction is passable. It is his script which lets him down in the post interval portions. While BBB had its unexpected twists, LVRB has none to speak of. Whatever little the title of the film does not give away, the promos did! So you know very well how it will all pan out. That is where the screenplay by Devika Bhagat fails. Mind you, she is the only change from the BBB team. In BBB, the screenplay along with the dialogues were by Habib Faisal. And just by changing that one clog, the entire product is a letdown compared to BBB.

The music of the film is also purely okay, besides the Aadat song. The rest of the songs in the film break the flow of the narrative.

Ranveer Singh does a good follow through to BBB and he does a good job at it, proving that BBB wasn’t a one off case. His ‘conman with values’ act is first rate. Anushka on the other hand is rather wasted in a half baked role. In an attempt to achieve size 0, she has lost too much of weight and it does not look good on her. But in terms of acting, she does complete justice to her character.  The chemistry that the duo share does try to fill up the gaps in the storyline.

Dipannita Sharma and Aditi Sharma are very good in their respective roles. But the scene stealer of the film is debutante Parineeti Chopra! As the hardcore Dilliwali Punjaban she actually makes you wish she had a larger role in the film. The film actually belongs to the trio of conned women.

Go without expectations (rather difficult) and you will not come back disheartened.

Rating: 5/10

YusuF Poonawala is an independent writer who authors The Y Factor , a blog where he reviews movies, English and Hindi. Explore his passion for cinema with reviews and everything around them.

Based on the life of an item girl, rising slowly up the ranks to become a top female actress and then her fall, with the backdrop of the cinemas of the ‘80s, the film is about Reshma (Vidya Balan) a small time girl wanting to make it big, in the big bad world of Bollywood.

Without revealing much, the story is as simple as it gets - the rise of the underdog and the stardom which follows success and then the ungracious fall.

It is in the performances, the dialogues and the taut screenplay where the heart of this film lies. The manner in which Reshma, uses and gets used by the fraternity is the crux of the film. 

The star of the show has to be definitely Rajat Arora (OUATIM). It is his near perfect screenplay and crafty dialogues, which appeal in the film. Since it is for the adult audiences, the writer has taken the liberty to use the subject of sex and sleaze in a classy manner, rather than tripping over the fine line and making a vulgar product. There are quite a few clap worthy and whistle blowing dialogues which will be enjoyed by one and all, as seen in reference to the film. Naseer mouthing ‘ jawani to taste karne ke liye hoti hai, waste karne ke liye nahi’ will definitely set the mood for the film. There are quite a few situations in the film where the dialogues take the momentum of the film to a new high, such as Silk’s interaction with Surya’s wife (Shivani Tanskale), Silk’s award winning speech, the car driving episode between Ramakant (Tushar Kapoor) and Silk and all of the dialogues between Silk and Abraham (Emraan Hashmi).

The music by Vishal – Shekhar is keeping in mind with the times, wherein the stars used to dance amongst rolling oranges and atop huge drums with an army of dancers in the colourful backgrounds. Lets not forget the huge ‘kalsa’s which used to keep increasing in a pyramid form on the beats of the songs (Ta thaiya anyone?). Ooh la la is already a rage amongst all audiences, need we say more.

The cinematography by Bobby Singh is magnificent. Choreography by Pony Prakash Raj excellent.

Anju Mahendru as the well known journalist of the ‘80s gives an excellent performance. Rajesh Sharma as the supportive producer who gives Silk her first ‘break’ is very good.

Tushaar Kapoor donning the heavy moustache, somehow does not come across as strong as the character that he is supposed to be playing and hence feels a let down at times.

Naseeruddin Shah proves yet again why he is the ‘Shah’ of acting. Those colourful glasses, painted moustache, simply brilliant. He shows his wizardry over the craft in the photo shoot, when told by the photographers ‘thoda pet andar lijiye’. His character is the life of the film, providing all the ‘seeti’ moments.

Emraan Hashmi (Dil To Baccha Hai Ji, Once Upon A Time In Mumbai) again takes on a challenging role in a woman oriented film and lives the character with elan. His frustration and subsequent love for Silk are poignant.

Vidya is on a roll. She is proving that she is the other end of the spectrum, where heroines are known for their flat tummy and skimpy shorts. Not only does she carry off the excess weight put on for the film with style, she looks sensuous rather than sleazy. After PAA and Ishqiya, don’t be surprised if she delivers a hat trick during awards season next year.  If Naseer is the life of the film, Vidya is the soul. By taking on this role and performing it with such ease, she once again pushes the envelope further. Vidya deserves every praise that she gets for doing this role and doing it the best in today’s times!

Milan Luthria really lives up to the expectations raised after OUATIM. Although dealing with a subject of sex and sleaze, he handles it so well that it will appeal to one and all. That shows his maturity as a director. Taking on a film with a completely ‘hatke’ subject and showcasing it so well to the ever hungry audiences. Kudos to him and Ekta Kapoor for making this film. Undoubtedly one of the best films of the year, once again starring Vidya Balan.

Rating: 8/10

YusuF Poonawala is an independent writer who authors The Y Factor, a blog where he reviews movies in English and Hindi. Explore his passion for cinema and everything around it.

A concept inspired beautifully by ‘The Full Monty’, the 2008 financial meltdown results in unemployed friends, Nick (John Abraham) & Jerry (Akshay Kumar) to resort to the oldest profession in the world.  So we have our well chiselled ‘boys’ dancing their hearts away with a plethora of women and in some cases, men to be politically correct. But these are Desi Boyz, so sex is not part of the equation. We have values, U C!

A very good and different premise is let down by Rohit Dhawan the writer. On one hand, he has made fantastic use of the telepathic conversations between Jerry and Nick (simply brilliant). On the other hand, his reasoning for them to resort to being male escorts does seem over the top. And this is just in the first half. Post intermission, ’Desi Boyz’ seems like a completely different film altogether, where the implausible takes over.

Jerry’s entire  Back to School routine which was brilliantly benchmarked in ‘Main Hoon Na’, actually falls flat here. Chitrangada Singh’s (Yeh Saali Zindagi) episode seems wasted. Deepika on the other hand has been given no justification to her character. Her supposedly gold digger attitude is what drives Nick to become an escort in the first place, all for her Valentino gown! Her acceptance of Nick also seems unjustified in the end. After ‘Aarakshan’, it is another dud for this beautiful lady who looks stunning once again.

Dialogues by Milap Zaveri are good in patches. Natarajan S.’s cinematography is decent. The music by Pritam is already a rage in the clubs, but at times the songs seem forced.

Mohnish Bahl is okay in the film. Omi Vaidya and Anupam Kher are wasted. One wonders why they left Omi out of all the publicity? Sanjay Dutt’s cameo is just like his performance in Rascals.

Akshay has been disappointing fans for the past couple of years, ‘Patiala House’ being the only exception. He does give a refreshing performance here, but his jingoistic dialogue involving Sabir Bhatia, Aryabhatta etc. seems forced. Again, his logic for turning to this business so not to lose the custody of his nephew, does seem odd.

John Abraham is at ease playing the buddy with a golden heart. His onscreen chemistry with Akshay is brilliant and the only reason to see the film.

Rohit does an excellent job as a debutante director, but fails in the writing department. All in all, go to see the film without any expectations and you will come out satisfied. Some moments do make you laugh out loud.

Rating: 6/10

YusuF Poonawala is an independent writer who authors The Y Factor, a blog where he reviews movies in English and Hindi. Explore his passion for cinema and everything around it.

After the mega successful ‘Raajneeti’ and the dissappointing ‘Anjaana Anjaani’ in 2010, Ranbir Kapoor returns as Janardhan a.k.a. Jordan, a middle class Haryanvi from Delhi with a dream of becoming the next Jim Morrison. In that pursuit, he befriends a St. Stephens’ hottie, Heer Kaul (Nargis Fakhri), who lives her alter ego with Janardhan, before her impeding marriage in Kashmir. Janardhan leaves Kashmir, with a promise to meet her in Prague someday.

The film starts off in flashback, with Jordan the Rockstar, being mobbed by a group (of what seemed like Italians to me) before escaping to his concert performance. Just as he is about to perform, the movie moves back to Delhi. With an excellent opening shot such as this, one feels the beginning of a real treat, which this movie promises to be. One expects a roller coaster ride of emotions, the emotional catharsis of a musician, the performance of a life time by Ranbir, soul stirring music by Rahman and a brilliant film by Imtiaz.

The music by Rahman is different, with Sadda Haq already becoming a youth anthem. Katiya Karoon, Nadaan Parindey, Kunfaaya, Tum Ho are sure to grow on the audience, if they sit through the film.

The cinematography by Anil Mehta is brilliant. The manner in which he has captured Kashmir and Prague is sheer magic. Some of the scenes are literally poetry on celluloid.

Nargis Fakhri looks stunning. As a debutante, she does do a good job, but in the emotional scenes, she has a long way to go. Especially her break down scene in Prague.

Aditi Rao Hydari (Yeh Saali Zindagi) has a half baked role. Yet she does as much justice to it as she could. Shernaaz Patel as Nargis’ mom seems as if she just walked out of Guzaarish. The scene stealers are Kumud Mishra, Jordan’s mentor, manager and only friend. And the effervescent Piyush Mishra as the music tycoon. Shammi Kapoor in his last screen appearance, makes us realize yet again, what a great talent we’ve lost. He is so charming in the film as the shehnai maestro, we wish there was more interaction between him and Jordan.

Ranbir Kapoor proves yet again, that he is the future. He gives an earnest performance to an otherwise ill scripted role. Be it in his naivette as the tight fitting denim wearing green horn, his angst ridden, ill tempered, tantrum throwing star or the emotionally bankrupt lover. He is the only reason why one would tolerate this film.

Imtiaz Ali, lets us down big time. Although his heart is in the right place, the film isn’t. The intention of showing the rise and fall of a musician doesn’t get translated well on film. The poor writing is further brought down with a bad screenplay. The last straw is the jarring editing! The film has no connect with the viewer. Even the characters don’t seem to connect with each other. The placement of the songs also is forced at times.

Other soar points include the lack of premise for Heer to fall in love with Janardhan. Why does she suddenly transform to go see ‘Junglee Jawaani’ with a loser from college? Why does Jordan get introduced to the husband in Prague as if it was the first time when he attended the entire wedding earlier in Kashmir? Why does Jordan suddenly start lusting for Heer?  Why does Heer find her loving family life in Prague so boring? Many more questions like these boggle the mind. The first half of the film is so stretched that you cant believe your eyes when you look down at your watch. At a running time of 2 ½ hours, it is extremely long and drown out. They should have kept it at 1 ½ hours max to create more of an impact.

All in all, Ranbir the actor, is let down by Imtiaz the writer. The audience is let down by Imtiaz the director.

Rating: 3/10 (Purely for RK).

YusuF Poonawala, Vice President of a leading Multinational Company, is an independent writer, who authors The Y Factor , a blog where he reviews movies, English and Hindi.

The film is about a father and son. One a video game creator, the other an avid gaming buff. Shekhar (Shahrukh Khan) is trying to convince his gizmo freak, villain loving son, Prateek (Armaan Verma) the values of good, evil and life. Completing their circle of love is  Sonia (Kareena Kapoor) the out of control Punjabi kudi, busy completing her thesis on the usage of foul language and its impact if used on the male gender (tere tau ka poda, for starters).

Dalip Tahil plays the owner of Barron Industries, which employees Shekhar and assigns his team to create a new video game. Shekhar’s colleagues Jenny (Shahana Goswami) and Okashi (Tom Wu) successfully design and launch a game titled RA.One (Random Access ONE). On the launch night, RA.ONE successfully manages to step out of his virtual world and enters the real world to complete his unfinished game with Lucifer. What happens next? You’ll have to watch the film.

This film has been touted as the most expensive film in India, largely attributing its costs to the use of CGI to recreate the game scenes, the fights and chases. Money well spent, each and every rupee, dollar and pound. The special effects of the film are world class and for that alone SRK should take a bow! Be it the game scenes or the chase of RA.ONE across the streets of London. Kids should love this aspect of the film and judging from my son’s reaction, they do! Hamza could not sit in his seat during the car dump sequence.

Cinematography by Nicola Pecorini and V Manikanandan is top notch. Be it the aerial shots of London or the ‘in your face’ sequences at Shekhar’s home, they pull you into the movie.

The music of the film by Vishal Shekhar is mindblowing. Even their background score, especially the high pitched signature tune for RA.One is haunting. The Dildaara song really leaves an impact throughout the film, while Bhare Naina stirs the right emotional chords. Criminal really gets the crowd moving. And what can I say about Akon’s other song ’Chammak Challo’? Amatullah was dancing in the aisles as the crowd in this Mysore multiplex really shook the floor when Kareena took to the stage. Excellent choreography by Ganesh Hegde.

The story by Anubhav Sinha is simple and sweet. Coupled with the fast paced screenplay by Anubhav Sinha, Kanika Dhillon, Mushtaq Sheikh and David Benullo, the film doesn’t waste time with unnecessary long drawn out fight sequences or useless talk. It maintains a steady tempo throughout. At around 2 ½ hours, it doesn’t have a single dull moment. Unlike other films recently, the one doesn’t take itself too seriously. The intricacies and the reasoning of how and why the real and virtual worlds collide, is expressed beautifully in the opening shot. Another bow for the makers.

The acting is just right for every character. Be it the intrusive Iyer by Satish Shah or the larger than life Richard Bransonish Barron, pun intended by Dalip Tahil. The supporting role by Tom Wu is good. Shahana Goswami doesn’t have much to do hence looks so much more out of place whilst shaking her ‘booty’ due to her weight. Cant afford to do that if you are sharing the screen and dancing toe to toe with Bebo!

The direction of the film is good. Anubhav Sinha has his heart in the right place and it shows. If the rumours of good friend Karan Johar directing an emotional scene are true, then it has to be the Karva Chauth scene. Brilliant.

Armaan Verma’s debut as Prateek is brilliant. He is lovable as the disinterested brat, cute as the supporting son to the mother and charming as Lucifer. Kudos to the casting team!

Arjun Rampal, though he makes a late entry, lives and breathes his character. When he enters, evil really does take shape. I wish he was given more screen time. Still, he steals the show with his chilling performance. 

Kareena Kapoor looks like a trillion bucks! Be it the smart western outfits or the Chammak Challo saree, Manish Malhotra has done one helluva job styling Bebo. But more than that, it’s Kareena’s charming and contagious smile that makes you melt. She shares excellent chemistry with Shahrukh throughout the film. Be it the Jackie Chan’s ‘Armour of God’ inspired fight sequence at Mumbai airport, the dinner table conversation over noodles and curd or the handling of G.ONE at home. After Bodyguard, this is another winner for Kareena and a well deserved one at that.

Now for the man you can love, you can hate, but you simply cannot ignore! The Badshah of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan. Playing various roles here as producer, actor and chief marketing officer of the film. As a producer, one has to give him full marks for having the courage to make such a product in India. The fights, the chase sequences, etc. have presented us with things only seen in Hollywood films so far. He has taken inspiration from all sources including Shankar’s Robot. But I feel he’s taken it several notches higher. As a marketing person, over and above the tie ups with a food joint, a gaming company, notebook manufacturer, paint company and what not, SRK has managed to use his resources very well. Be it Priyanka Chopra and Sanjay Dutt for the opening sequence, Amitabh Bachchan’s voiceover in the introduction for the game or Superstar Rajnikant’s cameo as Chitti. He does it with class.

SRK’s star power can be seen right in his intro scene as Lucifer. One cant hear anything else besides the crowd’s whistles and hooting for their star. Later, when he makes an entry as G.ONE, again you see how much the crowds love him and deservingly so. But his true star power is witnessed when the crowd sees Chitti and for a split second, one is treated to both icons in the same frame. For the rest, he pays tribute to THE SUPERSTAR Rajni, who makes an amazing ‘entry’ in the film. I was worried the crowd would uproot the chair in the theater to honour their GOD.

All in all, please treat your self to a special Diwali gift. This is not an epic drama or love story. This is a simple, tender story of a father and son explained in a way today’s generation identifies with. For SRK, 2011 is going to be another 1993, wherein he gave Baazigar and Darr in a span of a couple of months and stole the hearts of the audiences worldwide. Likewise Diwali with RA.One and Christmas with DON2, after a long break of almost 2 years…SRK IS BACK!

Rating: 9/10

YusuF Poonawala, Vice President with a leading Multinational Travel Company, is an independent writer, who authors The Y Factor , a blog where he reviews movies, English and Hindi.