Dus Kahaniyaan: Sirf Kuch Khaas..Baki Sab Bakwaas!

I finally got a chance to watch “Dus Kahaniyaan” yesterday. I was really waiting to see how this venture had turned out, especially after disastrous ensembles like “Darna Zaroori Hain” and “Salaam-E-Ishq”. I must say that this one was not as bad. It was quite entertaining. Out of the dus, I loved a couple, liked a few, and simply hated the rest.

Here’s my 2 cents worth about each of the kahanis.

Kahani 1: Matrimony Rating: 3/5

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Actors: Mandira Bedi, Arbaaz Khan, Sudhanshu Pandey

The story idea was pretty good, but extremely “ghisi peeti “and predictable. However, the acting was up to the mark, and overall it was not as bad as some of the rest.

Kahani 2: High on the Highway Rating: 0/5

Director: Hansal Mehta

Actors: Jimmy Shergill, Masumi Makhija

This was definitely the worst of the lot. I wonder why it was even there! It was sheer torture. As it was just the second story out of the 10, it made the viewer wonder if there were worse nightmares to come!

Kahani 3: Pooranmashi Rating: 4/5

Director: Meghana Gulzar

Actors: Amrita Singh, Parmeet Sethi, Minissha Lamba

The plot was interesting, and very well executed. Acting was spot on. For a change, I actually liked Amrita Singh. This was definitely one of the top 3 stories.

Kahani 4: Stranger in the Night Rating: 3/5

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Actors: Neha Dhupia, Mahesh Manjrekar

When the story began, it seemed like a typical case of adultery. The twist was quite unexpected, and kinda weird! But this story was one of the ok ones.

Kahani 5: Zahir Rating: 3/5

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Actors: Manoj Bajpai, Dia Mirza

The storyline is average, but the climax is unexpected. Good job done by both the actors.

Kahani 6: Lovedale Rating: 2.5/5

Director: Jasmeet Dhodhi

Actors: Aftaab Shivdasani, Neha Uberoi, Anupam Kher, Anuradha Patel

This is a clear case of being totally predictable. You can pretty much guess every single thing that is going to happen, right after the first 2-3 minutes. Acting-wise, it was alright, but nothing new as such.

Kahani 7: Sex on the Beach Rating: 0/5

Director: Apurva Lakhia

Actors: Dino Morea, Tarina Patel

This one competes with the “High on the Highway” story for the “Worst story” award. Don’t go on the title…apni akal lagao. Total bakwaas story.

Kahani 8: Rice Plate Rating: 5/5

Director: Rohit Roy

Actors: Shabana Azmi, Naseeruddin Shah

For me, this one definitely takes the cake. I simply loved it. It is a simple story, very well narrated. Brilliant acting, and direction.

Kahani 9: Gubbare Rating: 4/5

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Actors: Nana Patekar, Natassha, Rohit Roy

Quite a predictable story, but really nicely portrayed. I guess it’s the “Nana factor” that makes it special.

Kahani 10: Rise and Fall Rating: 2/5

Director: Sanjay Gupta

Actors: Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty

In my opinion, this was a waste of time for an actor like Sanjay Dutt. Strictly ok story, nothing likeable about it.

All in all, Rohit Roy bags the first prize, Meghana Gulzar and Sanjay Gupta share the second, and the others pretty much stink!

"Click" Clicks!

I love watching Adam Sandler movies; although they are similar in their comic content, they always leave you feeling happy in the end. However, “Click” is a complete non-Sandler. If you are looking for a comedy movie with a goofy Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider thrown in, you will be disappointed and won’t like this movie at all. However, this is in my opinion one of the best Adam Sandler films, some of the others being “Billy Madison”, “Happy Gilmore”, “Big Daddy”, “50 First Dates”.

It starts off as a comedy, and after a while the plot takes a swerve and gives you lessons in living life to the fullest. What would happen if you had a universal remote control, and you could control everything around you with the click of a button? Wouldn’t you feel empowered, having the ability to pause, rewind, and fast forward various aspects of your life? That’s precisely what a workaholic architect Michael Newman (Sandler) obtains from the “Beyond” section of a Bed Bath and Beyond store. The film depicts his journey with the magical remote control, and how things get out of hand when the remote takes over his life!

The film teaches a valuable lesson that family, friends, and other aspects of your life are as important or at times more important than your work. It teaches you the true meaning of the adage “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. Overall, a wonderful film.

Poignant and Powerful!

“A Mighty Heart” is probably one of the most powerful films of 2007. The director Michael Winterbottom has successfully painted the true picture about the brutal beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Pakistan in the year 2002. The film is based on the book “A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl”, written by Mariane Pearl.

The story opens with the life of Daniel and Mariane Pearl, both journalists, posted in Pakistan. One day, Danny leaves the house to meet a religious leader, never to return back! And what follows is intense drama, with emotions running high. An extensive search for Danny begins, with clues and links scattered all over Pakistan. Friends, colleagues, and the police try their best to find out about Dan’s whereabouts. Unfortunately, there is bad news in the end.

The most striking part of the movie is the sincerity of all the actors. They get into their characters so well that they recreate the tragic incident effectively on screen. This is one of Angelina Jolie’s best performances in my opinion. I am not much of a fan of her work, except for ‘Girl Interrupted’ and now this one. She portrays the character with utmost genuineness, including the look, and the accent. She captures the love, sadness, frustration, tension, and all other facets of Mariane’s emotions perfectly. She does not falter even once! The other cast, that includes Dan Futterman as Daniel Pearl, Irfan Khan as the police captain, Archie Panjabi as Asra, Denis O’Hare as John Bussey, Will Patton as Randall Bennett, has done a great job.

All in all, a very moving film, with heartfelt performances!

Heart is Where the Home is!!

The title of this post seems weird..doesn’t it? Well, that is pretty much the gist of the movie “Sweet Home Alabama”(2002). It is the story of a girl, Melanie Smooter (Reese Witherspoon), from a small town in Alabama, who leaves her small world to become a hoity-toity New York City socialite. She tries her best to erase every memory of her past, and even changes her name to start a new life. She finds love, fame, and success in the city, but circumstances force her to take a trip down south, and life comes to a full circle.

Then begins a journey of redefining who she is, and what her roots are. Whatever you do, home is always home. How much ever you change, you can never estrange yourself from your home. Melanie changes a lot for the better, but still has strong ties with her home, and can blend into her own crowd easily even after a gap of 7 years! There are ups and downs, but she finally realizes her priorities, and her most heartfelt desires.

I thought it was a very warm movie, and I can bet that lot of people will be able to identify with Mel’s character to some extent. Reese Witherspoon is adorable as Melanie. Josh Lucas is sincere as Jake and so is Patrick Dempsey as Andrew. The supporting cast is also appropriate. I liked the way the director has successfully captured the southern culture, and even the accents are perfect.

In conclusion, the movie teaches a valuable lesson, (quote)“You can have both roots and wings”. You can fulfill your dreams while still being attached firmly to your roots. All in all, a very nice and enjoyable film.

"Offbeat", But Unbeatable!!

‘Manorama Six Feet Under’ gives you the same amount of thrill and excitement as a good suspense novel. It keeps you gripped till the very end. There are numerous twists and turns, plots and subplots, that ultimately lead to a brilliant movie. The tag line of the film “In the desert, nothing is what it seems” perfectly summarizes the plot. The story is not at all predictable; it keeps you guessing throughout. You may start developing your own theories to solve the mystery, but there is a remote possibility of you accurately predicting the end of the movie! The last 45 minutes are the best part of this film, where the entire mystery unfolds and leaves you completely stunned! This is where it differs from the usual suspense movies, which often fizzle out during the climax.

The story is based in a small village in Rajasthan, and the slow motion of the plot quite justifies the sleepiness of the locale. Abhay Deol has played the character of Satyaveer (SV) to perfection. He effortlessly portrays the “failed” detective novel writer turned sleuth. In my opinion, Abhay Deol’s strongest virtue is that he naturally looks and behaves like a “common man” and doesn’t seem to be “acting”! Gul Panag is good as the nagging wife Nimmi, but her “Hinglish” dialogues show traces of an upper-class and polished English accent, which does not go well with her character’s background. Moreover, an exact contrast to her is her brother Brij (Vinay Pathak), who has a heavy Rajasthani accent! Wonder how 2 people in the same household grew up with such huge linguistic dissimilarity! Anyways, this is a minor glitch, and does not affect the brilliance of the film at all. Raima Sen is perfect for her character of Sheetal. Kulbhushan Kharbanda is dependable as the minister P.P. Rathore. Sarika has a small, yet well-defined role, and she makes her presence felt. The other supporting cast is adequate. The background score throughout the movie is very good, and the title song is quite haunting! The cinematography is excellent. The director has been very meticulous, making sure that nothing looks out of place or fake. Right from the backdrop to the props, costumes, and make up, everything is just right.

In conclusion, ‘Manorama Six Feet Under’ is like reading a book on screen. Although some might get turned off by the pace of the movie, I would definitely recommend this film to everyone. It is one of the best mysteries of recent times. Kudos to the debutant director Navdeep Singh!

"Welcome"...No Thanks!!

When you have such a strong cast, you also have lot of expectations from the film. ‘Welcome’ does not live up to the expectations at all!

It is a “so-so” film, okay to watch on cable, but definitely not worth spending money in the theater. There is nothing new to it; it is another example of good actors coming together and not being able to create anything special! The story is very predictable, and is a kind of patchwork from various films. For example, Nana Patekar’s character Uday Shetty is a cross between Shankar from Major Saab (a don, who is a loving brother), and Aslam Bhai from Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega (LKLKBK)(a don with a strong passion for acting). He is a goofy goon, as portrayed by various actors in innumerable films; Sanjay Dutt in Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahi (2002), Johnny Lever in LKLKBK (2001), to name a few. Nana Patekar is his usual self, with nothing new to offer as such. Anil Kapoor is another don, named Majnu Bhai, a close associate of Uday Shetty. He has done a pretty good job with his role, and definitely adds on to the value of the film. One can easily notice that Majnu Bhai’s character takes a variety of traits from Circuit of the Munnabhai series, Crime Master Gogo of Andaz Apna Apna, and other similar "comic sidekicks". Paresh Rawal is decent as Dr. Ghungroo, but his acting is repetitive from so many of his other movies. Even though Akshay Kumar is the hero, he is often sidelined by the dons, and we don’t get to see much of his impeccable comic timing. Feroz Khan is ok as the “Godfather” of the dons. The heroines (Katrina Kaif and Mallika Sherawat) seem to exist merely to add oomph value.

The film drags all along until the climax, which is pretty much the only enjoyable part. The dialogues are not great..or rather, they are quite “ghise peete”. Songs are okay, but often seem forcefully inserted into the script in places where no song is needed! All in all, a forgettable movie.

It definitely did not seem like a “Welcome” change from the norm!

Melodious Romantic Comedy

Ask any girl what she thinks of Hugh Grant and the answer would most likely be on the lines of “He’s so cute!!” Pair him with Drew Barrymore and you have one of the cutest on-screen couples ever! This unique and one of its kind pairing prompted me to buy the DVD of this movie. With such a cast, I definitely had a basic level of expectations from the film. It sure did live up to my expectations, though I would have loved to see a bit more of “music” and “lyrics”.

‘Music and Lyrics’ is a feel-good film. It has a decent amount of music, and romance, with a touch of comedy. The movie begins with a recital of a 80’s band named “POP!”, and the opening credits show their journey, and subsequent break up. Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is the composer of that band, and life takes a drastic turn after the band members part ways. Alex is still living on his past success, but unable to come up with newer songs due to his abysmal skills in writing lyrics. Enter Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), a plant lady turned writer, who teams up with Alex to come up with a new song for a hot teenage sensation’s (Cora’s) new album. The character of Cora really makes you realize how superficial the music industry of today is! The rest of the movie is typical; boy meets girl, they fall in love, then comes some drama, and finally a happy ending. However, there is something about this movie that makes you fall in love with it.

Hugh Grant looks as cute as ever (except in few scenes where you can see his wrinkles!!...after all he is almost 50!), and has some really good one-liners. He is very convincing as the washed out icon of the 80’s…and it is hilarious to see him shaking his hips, imitating the pop stars of those days! Drew Barrymore is as natural as it could get. And I found it pretty impressive that they have done the vocals themselves! Among the other actors, I thought Kristen Johnston, who played Rhonda (Sophie’s sister) was really good, and so was Haley Bennett as Cora. The songs that stood out include “Pop! Goes My Heart”, “Way Back Into Love” and “Don’t Write Me Off”.

One quote from the film summarizes my opinion about it:

“A melody is like seeing someone for the first time. The physical attraction. But then, as you get to know the person, that's the lyrics. Their story. Who they are underneath. It's the combination of the two that makes it magical.”

Even though the initial attraction in this film for me was the cast, there are lot of other things that made the movie a wonderful experience.