wake up sid

hindi movie

cast: ranbir kapoor, konkana sen

Wake up to a refreshing cinema. Amidst the innumerous remakes, adaptations, inspirations, and bland copies, comes a fresh and original experience.

Wake up Sid, essentially has no story to tell. It’s just an evolution of a character. A happy go lucky boy who takes everything for granted, sooner than later realizes the values. Wake Up Sid, the title itself is a giveaway. It’s not a noble concept. It’s the execution that defines the soul of the film and how.

Sid, Siddharth Mehra, is a spoilt, never serious boy in early twenties. As he puts it himself, for living, he spends his father’s money and plans to do the same after the graduation. He drives and costliest car in the college, dons cool cartoon T-Shirts, draws caricatures when he’s studying accounting, clicks everything in his Nikon… life seems fun in his room.

But he’s more real than many such characters we might have seen on screen. No matter how carefree he is, failing the graduation exams is still a matter of disgust and shame. And unlike in Lakshya, a film based on similar lines, the lad in question here doesn’t transforms from an unsure college graduate to a national war hero. Here Sid is still confused, he has still not passed his college exams, he has still not carved a space for himself, and he is still not independent. He has just started to realize values… values of parents, friends, and responsibility. He has just earned his first pay cheque and position of assistant photographer in lifestyle magazine.

You are bound to have seen a ‘Sid’ in your college days for sure. Well if you were not one yourself that is. Sid is a believable, true to life, real, relatable character. Many, if not most, of us were, are or will be, fully or party, Sid at some point in our life.

Have you noticed how I’ve not mentioned Ranbir Kapoor even once? How I am only talking about Sid? That’s the impact of this new kid on the block. He’s into the character so effortlessly, so honestly that you don’t ever realize he is Ranbeer Kapoor… what you see on screen is Sid.

And then there is ever reliable Konakana Sen, who yet again portrays her character with effortless ease. She’s bold, still scared. She’s willing to share her apartment with a young guy, still can manage to keep the relationship pure platonic. She doesn’t care what anybody thinks, but still makes it a point to clarify to Sid’s mother that they are “just friends”. She is Konkana Sen at her best for you.

It’s hard to imagine anyone else, other than Ranbir and Konkana, in the lead characters. And it’s not only Sid that strikes a chord. He’s surrounded by equally charming and identifiable friends. And you don’t expect anything less than class act from veterans like Anupam Kher and Supriya Pathak. And they deliver just that. And look out for Konkana’s boss. He’s not in any of the trailers, posters or promotions. Makers have kept him secret, so would I.He’s good in whatever screen presence he gets. But he should be careful before he gets type casted.

In all praise for the actors, many usually forget the contribution of music trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. The songs add character and soul to the narration.

Director has shown a lot of maturity in such a young age in his debut. This one shows a lot of promise and his next would be keenly waited for.

O and forget that Mumbai/Bombay controversy. The film may call the city by any name, but retains the spirit of the metropolis. In fact when Sid describes Mumbai monsoons, you may actually feel bad that you don’t belong to Bombay (that’s what he calls it).

Some call it coming of age cinema, some epilogue of Dil Chahta Hai and Lakshya. But if Dil Chahta Hai was staters, this certainly is menu for main course. Bon appetite…!

Rating: * * * 1/2 (3.5 out of 5)

Kaminey

hindi movie
cast: shahid kapoor, priyanka chopra
When was the last time that after the show was over, you came out wishing the movie had been a lengthier… so that you could experience that exhilaration a bit longer…. When was the last time you could not make out if you just saw a movie or took a rollercoaster ride… when was the last time you saw a movie and wished why was it not made earlier, why you had to wait sooo long.

This, my friends, is one such experience you would not want to miss. Vishal Bhardwaj takes you with him on a journey you’ll not forget for a long time to come. All these days you might have seen films that ask you to keep your brains at home. But not this one. This doesn’t treat the audience as meek. Its relies on their intelligence instead. It doesn’t allow you to sit idle for a single minute. Keeps you engaged, involved, thrilled, glued, amazed and most important, entertained.

It’s like a crossword puzzle. Initial few clues are a bit complex and some may start to feel that it’s going to be tedious and uninteresting venture. Trick is don’t waste time and energy on solving the initial complex clues… move on. Later the clues, the words and whole puzzle grips you with its content, execution and some real talent. Once you the fill in the words, you’ll realize how simply the initial complex clues have also fallen into place and the whole thing, which actually looked like a puzzle to begin with, is in fact a masterpiece.

Though the plot is nothing path-breaking, still it would not be wise to divulge anything. You would not want that fun to be diluted even a single bit. It’s the amazing screenplay, crisp editing, smart writing, intelligent direction that make this rather run of a mill twin brother story into a land mark cinema. Those un-choreographed dance and action sequences, those haphazard looking sequences synchronized in a perfect harmony, those sprinkles of soulful music collating the skillfully crafted lyrics… everything has a silken touch. Looks like Vishal Bhardwaj has composed another masterstroke.

And he is able supported by ALL the actors. Amol Gupte makes and interesting debut. Priyanka Chopra is as sweet and lovable as ever, but the real hero (literally) is Shahid Kapoor. His act as stammering Guddu and speaking a ‘F’ for an ‘S’ act as Charlie are, point blank, his best performances till date. The college kid of Ishq Vishq has finally arrived. The stammering Guddu, though lovable is not as mesmerizing as Charlie. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself finding all the words with an ‘S’ in it and trying to pronounce them as ‘F’. So after the show every time someone says or does something nice to you, yoy might endup saying “How Fweet…!”. And your friend “Sonu” would become “Fonu.” And believe me, he’s not going to be “Sonu” again anytime soon. That’s the magic this film weaves. Don’t left untouched by the magic.

My ratings: * * * * 1/2 (4 ½ out of 5)

Kambakkhat Ishq

hindi movie
cast: akshay kumar, kareena kapoor

Come on Mr. Director… we don t laugh at this. And what happened to you Mr. Akshay Kumar. In Hera Pheri you’ve given us one of the finest comedies of all time. A comedy which everyone can see with anyone and laugh anytime. But this is certainly not anywhere close to that.

Kambakkhat Ishq is a more of disgust than comedy. Though a comedy film may be pardoned for lack of logic or lack of storyline, still a little decent narrative never hurts. Still there are some good no-brainer comedies. Kambakkhat Ishq is just a no-brainer. It’s a story of a Hollywood stuntman, who enjoys a lifestyle which even mainstream superstars would envy (don’t use your brains). This man mistreats, insults and uses (you know what I mean by ‘uses’) ladies and still is surrounded by beauties (don’t use your brains). This man falls for a model who for some unconvincing reasons hates all the men. What follows is an utter gender bashing.

Shooting the whole film in Hollywood seems had impact on the whole movie. The same movie, had it been made by Hollywood, for Hollywood might have made people laugh there. The problem with the film is, it’s not meant for India sensibilities. I mean, in India we don’t laugh at a man slapping a girl, we don’t laugh at man making fun of a girl’s virginity, we don’t laugh at girl calling the man “dog” and “ba****d” and man replying saying her… uhh.. well female dog, and we certainly don’t laugh our hero of the film passing air on a girls face… (what was that). Sorry Mr. Actor, Director, Script Writer and the whole team… you got it all totally wrong. We loved it when Akshay called Tabu “chashme wali behen jee” in Hera Pheri, but we just don’t find it amusing when he calls Kareena a .. well…umm .. a female dog. The music also nothing to hum about. Sparing RDB’s Mangalam Mangalam, other songs give you time to go out and get a pop-corn.

Akshay Kumar and Kareena do look good and give Hollywood actors a run for their money in that department. Boman Irani and Javed Jaffery are wasted. Aftab is doing what he does best, playing second fiddle. And Amrita Arora… I guess she deserved those tight slaps from Akshay for that lousy acting effort, if not for anything else.

Oh and how can we forget Hollywood biggies (really…??), who were disturbed for few days for appearing in a few frames of the film. I still wonder how Denies Richards agreed to do that part. But Rambo still pulls it off. Best moments of the entire film is when Sylvester Stallone does a take on Sunny Deol action and pulls up his hood cap saying in his very own accent “kambakkhat ishq”. This man has a charisma. How do we wish he had something more to do in the film.

Film has it moments, but very few and far between. Not enough to keep you engaged or interested. Utter waste of HUGE budget and HUGE star cast. AVOID.

Rating: * 1/2

New York

hindi movie
cast: john abrahm, katrina kaif, neil nitin mukesh

New York comes with a promising premise, a dependable cast, a trusted banner and a tested director.
The expectations were bound to be high. And the film, though not bad, doesn’t match to the high expectations it sets.

The story deals with how the world has changed forever after 9/11, especially for the three protagonists of the film. You cannot believe your best friends, the world looks at the south Asians with a different perspective… someone got to change all this. Different characters of the film have their different ways to change. If one (Katrina) prefers wait for the day when things are better, one (Irrfan) is on a mission to put things right, one (John) has gone offensive and one (Neil) is confused till the end.

They had a strong storyline in hand, but somehow couldn’t execute what liked a gem of a film on the outset. In the first 10 minutes of the film they reveal what could have been the well kept secret and could have been used to astonish the audience. You tend to loose interest as you know who’s who from the beginning. There’s nothing new that you expect to know in the end. And the sluggish pace in the first half makes life even more difficult. If you manage to sit thought he interval and see the second half, you’ll be awarded with some good cinema. The story starts to grip you. The loose ends start to meet. But just when you start getting interested it ends with a little illogical climax.

Kabir Khan, who showed immense potential and talent in his directorial debut Kabul Express is looking out of sorts here. He tries to be more stylish than intelligent unlike his earlier venture. Music also nothing to take home about.

Actors have done a fine job. It’s a relief to know that Katrina can act. John Abraham is fine mix of all emotions. Watch him in the song when Katrina stops to say something and he just moves on, lost in his past. Neil Nitin Mukesh has a boyish charm that works for his character. How far this charm would take him in his career, remains to be seen. Irrfan Khan is form like he is most of the time.

A better complied storytelling, a little more intelligent direction and we had a great cinema in hand. A missed opportunity I would say.

My Rating: * * (2 out fo 5)

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

english movie
cast: Hugh Jackman

If you are X-Men fan and have seen other 3 consignments of the series… you would remember how Logan used to wake-up in midnight seeing some nightmare, where some machines are drilling in his body and he is underwater…

Nobody, including him, knows what had happened, why he gets this dream, why is he sometimes referred as Weapon-X, what’s the ‘origin’ of all this…? Now you would know.

X-Men Origins, the story of Logan… how and why he became Wolverine, how he got those metal blades in his arms, how the concept of X-Men came into picture… quite literally this is the Origin. Carrying the legacy, the film has impeccable action sequences, amazing special effects, and a real good story to tell. A story that’s inspiring, entertaining, emotional and thrilling.

Star cast is spot on. You cannot imagine anyone else portraying the role of Wolverine but Hugh. He’s in his full form. He looks as good as he acts.
Dialogs, like all other X-Men films are mix of solid hard hitters assorted with funny one-liners.

Apart from a tad slow pace of the first half, you could possibly not find any flaw in the film.

Go for it.

Rating: * * * * (4/5)

angels & demons

english movie
cast: tom hanks

Antimatter, catholic mysteries, science vs faith, Dan Brown, Tom Hanks, the team of Da Vinci Code, release of a “big” film after a long hiatus… so many things surrounding the film, reasons were aplenty for expectations to be high. But man…! does the film shatters most of those…

The film falls flat on most accounts. The screenplay is lousy. They try to create the “edge of the seat” excitement, but by the end you just might end up sleeping in cozy couch rather than being on the edge of the seat. The editors and director were so concerned to make the narrative fast paced that they forgot that audience might actually be interested in knowing some logic of what’s going on the screen. You do try to keep up for some time, but eventually give up.

The movie is amalgamation of a promising plotline, a time-proven cast, a best-seller novel’s pre-release hype and loosely bound clues, week narration, shabby direction, tacky editing and lots of confusion. And what’s more, the film is not honest to the book it’s based on, as well. There are significant tweaks in the story, which only make it weaker.

If you are looking for interesting confrontations of generations of faith and modern day thinking, better go and watch Da Vinci Code again. And if you are looking for some thriller, some clue deciphers, go and watch National Treasure again.

This one is a disappointment, or a good opportunity missed I would say.

Rating: * ½

Silence! The Court is in Session.

english play
troupe: version one dot oh. bangalore

Based on Vijay Tendulkar's Marathi play, Silence! The Court is in Session is a social satire. Aimed at self appointed moral police of the society and extremist view on women’s freedom. The play starts on a lighter note with some laughable characters and slowly intensifies with those characters taking shape of real life social elements.

The lead character of the play, Benare, is a sexually abused lady. She is cast as the lead in a community play. The character she plays in the community play has striking similarities with her own life. She breaks down during the rehearsals, revealing her past life and plight. Then the play deals with some real life big issues prevailing in the society, and how more often than not, the woman is held guilty. The play holds you to your seats, and goes into serious issues slowly, making sure you are not overloaded with intense social drama.

The play has a strong plot and the way the real life of the Benare unfolds is gripping, taking you in and out of reality and play rehearsals. The performances by all the actors are solid with the leading lady being stand out. Only the plight of the lady is not as strong as it could have been. You somehow don’t strongly feel that she’s been cheated, though you do agree that she is mistreated. The lighting was also tacky at places.

But overall, the play entertains and invokes thought effortlessly. You do come out of the theater thinking, but you all feel entertained. If you have nothing better to do in the evening or weekends, and this play is in you town, give it a shot.

Rating: * * * ½ (3 ½ / 5)

99

hindi movie
cast: kunal khemu. soha ali khan. cyrus brocha. boman irani. vinod khanna
release date: 15 may 09
date watched: 16 may 09

The film looks interesting from the outset, when the makers claim that they believe the incidents in film are real. And an interesting way of opening credits only adds to curiosity.

Film starts with a funny chase and kunal khemu starts to narrate the story. A story of 2 small time crooks and how they get into big time troubles. The film traverses a unique genre of comedy thriller. It keeps you at the edge of the seats, but at the same time makes sure that the edge never hurts, with enough humor spread all over.

The storyline is spread over 2 cities of Bombay and Delhi in the year 1999. The film uses a real life scandalous case as the backdrop. (Though it no suspense, still its best left untold what scandal they’ve used). Director has taken care of minute details to make the story set in year 1999, like mobile incoming was charged, Clinton’s India visit, 20-20 cricket still being a wild idea and even the dollar exchange rates. Also the essence of 2 cities is intact. Watch out the scene when Cyrus and Kunal describe why they don’t want to go to Delhi. It’s simply hilarious.

Kunal Khemu is slowly coming to its own. Cyrus could have had a few more lines to say, though he is great in whatever he is doing. Soha Ali is under utilized. Vinod Khanna is neat and Boman Irani is in form as ever.

It’s a refreshing break, both from some unimaginative comedies we’ve seen in recent past and the hiatus caused in release of hindi films in cinemas.

Its sweet little comedy, thriller, romantic, fun film. Go refresh yourselves. Have some good time.

Rating: * * * * (4/5)