ChakDe India di kahani, Sandy nal zubani

Another movie and dil kahe, logo ko yeh movie dekhni chahiye… and I sit down to write the review to give you that extra push to go and watch it.. The movie is "ChakDe India". "Is it Good?" you may ask.. And the answer is NO.. Its not just Good, Its great. Its fantastic…There was not a well-made patriotic film for a long time now.. And "Chakde" is like that breath of fresh air...

The casting is just right.. Shah Rukh assume centre-stage yet again and this time does not cry and bore us.. He gives a good performance.. He has lots of girls for company.. 16 of them.. and I believe not all are actresses, but the way the director has extracted performance from them is really awesome.. That’s the greatest of this director.. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the bollywood like Ram Gopal Varma….. He had given us "Ab Tak chappan" and now Shimit Amin, gives us "ChakDe India"……

The film is patriotic but not in the sense that it is based on any war .. But actually the storyline's main element is a game. Our National game. Hockey..

The film is fast.. Story is to the point.. Editing is crisp and like any other RGV film, RGV's student has not inserted any songs. The songs run in the background..but is essential.. And it brings out the patriotic spirit in the viewer....The film tries to bring out the reality..No glamour here.. Even the girls do not wear any makeup.. Rightly so, they are players, not beauty pageant contestants…

The movies brings out the bitter truth as to how Cricket is glamorized and our national game, Hockey lies uncared for.. It goes deeper to show how a sport having a women's team is considered not so important by the sports officials, to invest time and money.. The film takes potshots at the sports officials who care less for the sport and more about themselves..The film also takes potshots at cricket too.

The 16 ladies of the Indian National Hockey team have lots of things going against them.. Trust of sports officials, help from sponsors, internal team clashes, support from family and close ones..These 16 ladies have to beat all odds and bring home the Hockey World Cup… and there is one man who takes up the challenge to help them do this.. Kabir Khan.. India's once-most-famous centre forward and captain of Indian National Hockey team. A person who is passionate about his sport and willing to give his everything to it…ShahRukh does well..

The film is sprinkled with humour and you will enjoy it. Watch out for the pocket-sized Haryanvi gal.. You will enjoy watching her..

The film brings out the reality that how media, sometimes just for the sake of creating news, distorts truth and corrupts mind of the people. How the media, in one instance lifts a person to the cloud 9 and in another instance dumps the person into the depths of hell…how much can we trust and believe today's media.. Something to ponder about…

The film shows the living condition of an Indian sportsman.. He/she could be associated with any sport, apart from cricket.. Kabir Khan is India's famous centre-forward.. He is the captain of the Indian National Hockey Team, but he still lives in a simple house in normal lower-middle class colony… The captain of the national team does not own any car.. He drives a scooter..the facilities which the women's hockey team gets is not great either.. Their refreshment rooms resemble ill maintained government sulabhs…and their rooms - prison cells.. With all these hardships when our team enters any competitions and loses, then are the players the only people responsible for the loss.. Maybe we will care of think of it, next time…

Learnings: Well there would be lots.. I found a few.. The more observant will find more..
The main thing which the film puts across is that, anything done with passion, interest, dedication and sincerity, reaps rewards.. And when we do any job with these feelings there is nothing that is impossible..

During the match the junior girls refer to the seniors as "Didi", when they call for a pass..The cries of "Didi.. Didi" fill the ground and this leads the confused opposition coach to exclaim "Who exactly is this Didi!!!!".. Is there any other country in this world where team mates refer to each other as brothers or sisters?? I doubt it.. Here we can proudly say.. This happens only in India.. Now that’s the culture we can be proud of.. The Indian culture which was brought to the world by the great Vivekanand in the Chicago Conference.. And we still have it in us…

Another scene which would make you sit up and smile is when the Indian team is invited to the Tournament Dinner.. The ladies enter one by one, with folded hands, greeting namaste, dressed in the tricolour sari, and a smile on their face.. Hey Bharatiya Nari.. Now you rock!!!!

One other scene has the team unite against the eve-teasers.. The girls bash up the boys.. This just goes to show, unity is strength.. And if the "RIGHT" is on your side you have "EVERYTHING" on your side..

On the whole "ChakDe India" is a wonderful film.. Go ahead, make your day more pleasant…

Rush Hour 3 kahani, Sandy ki zubani

Hello!!

Its a holiday and one of the best ways to enjoy for me, is to go for a movie with friends. Right now from the current set movies which have hit the theater it was easy choice. Jackie Chan is in town, so whats better than giving him a visit? and the answer is "Nothing better" :) Jackie Chan teams up with the fast talking Chris Tucker for the 3rd time to give us Rush Hour 3.

So the important question: So how is Rush Hour 3?
"Well it is a Jackie Chan film". This sentence, 90% of the times means, a 'paisa vasool movie'.
The movie is fast. Very fast. It has great action sequences, great stunts by "Shan-e-Hong Kong" Jackie Chan and lots of great comic moments from "Barbade-E-Saayuk-Rastr" Chris Tucker. :) There is loads and loads of fun. Great comedy .. you will wonder if you have come to see and action film or a comedy film. But trust me you would not be in your seat to complain.. You would be off it.... laughing..
Thoda zyada ho gaya kya?? anyways.. my point is you will enjoy.. Trust me...
Chris Tucker's comic timing is amazing.. Jackie never had a better partner than him...

Rush Hour 3 has Jackie and Chris Tucker going to Paris to uncover some sinister and secret international underworld. The plot could get a bit confusing.... But it does not matter a bit. Not to worry even if you could not understand the plot fully... Its a "Visual See plus plus" film(program).. Just "see" the "visuals" and enjoy... Seeing Jackie doing such great stunts at his age you will agree that this man is truely an amazing fellow... He was asked at one of the interviews that how does he manage to do it.."Its the love of the people which motivates me to do it", Jackie replies in his Chinese accent.. and No one can do it better than you, Jackie..I have been watching Jackie Chan movies from the time I was in primary school .. Film such as "Snake in the Eagle's shadow" and "Drunken Master".. which were Chinese films dubbed in English.. but those movies had the same flavor as you can see in Rush Hour 3. Action is beautifully interlaced with humor..This is what makes Jackie's films stand out.. This is what is Jackie's trademark which reflects his personality so perfectly..and when films like these come.. people flock to see the master in action...

One of the thing which struck me when the movie ended was NOT one person got up to leave.... Every one waited for the goof-up sequences during the making of the Rush Hour 3. This is one more of Jackie's trademark. This has continued from his early films like Armour of God, Police story or maybe earlier..

Learnings: Frankly, I was laughing so hard that I could not take home much, apart from memories of me laughing uncontrollably and lots of cool stunts.. But maybe you would notice more.. however one thing struck me and it struck me hard..
Jackie has someone close who has ended up on the wrong side of the law. The outlaw is filled with hate and repeatedly tries to kill Jackie with cunningness and deceit. But still Jackie always tries not to hurt him and always tries to save his life ... even if it means putting his own life in danger.. Such feelings for someone who tries to take your life!!!! This should be love in its purest form.... unconditional love.. how many people do we have such kind of feeling for?? Do we even have such feelings of members of our family?? Such questions are trivial but worth asking ourselves...
Funny eh? how an action-comedy film can lead to think in this direction...
But hey, its not any film... It is a Jackie Chan film...

Bottom-Line:
So if you are in mood for some entertainment.. remember "Hong Kong-da-puttar" and "Amrika-da-6-footer" are in town.. and its worth paying them a visit...

Have a nice day
Sandeep
(Keep Smiling)

Die Hard 4.0 ki kahani, Sandy ki zubani...

Another Weekend and another movie.. and what better a movie than "Die Hard 4.0". The 4th part of the cult action series Die Hard. John McLain, I believe is now one the most famous action character.. More famous than even Indiana Jones... Hmm So how is the movie? Die Hard 4.0 is SPECTACULAR... BREATHTAKING...FAST PACED EDGE OF THE SEAT ENTERTAINER.. I could go on .. Short cut main boleto.. Do not miss it.

First when I heard the title, "Die Hard 4.0", I was curious about it. This is the second movie recently released which has the numbering convention a bit "hatke". Spiderman was OK. Spiderman 3. very simple.. very clear.. The third part of Shrek is "Shrek the third" and now the 4th part of Die Hard is "Die Hard 4.0". So what is the mystery behind "4.0". The movie is shot in present time US. Everything is digital.. everything is connected.. Information about anything is available in the computers and is yours for the asking. So as the movie is related to computers and software security, why not name the new "version" of the movie, as if you are naming a new software upgrade. Die Hard 4.0 - makes absolute sense to me.

John McLain, played by Bruce Willis (Can't think of anyone who can play John better.. Not not even Mel Gibson).. is a NYPD cop assigned the task of bringing in a software hacker. John goes to get him but some "supariwallas" are assigned the hacker's supari... Gun fight.. action.. you say "wow".. you hold your breath .. and you are happy you came to see Die Hard 4.0. Somebody is hacking into the US National Security network.. actually hacking into just about anything that can be hacked into..

Oh Man!!! The US security sure does not know about the Symantec products.. We should be doing better marketing... Hmm anyways...

The movie is about a person who is trying to bring down the country's system. This system includes everything.. from transportation to power.. He is stealing information and he is doing all this using a few computers.. quite something eh?? Hmm.. The thing which struck me hard was, how connected every system is in US .. Everything is well connected.. technology is used to such a great extent.. To bring down the transport system, one of the things the bad guy does is manipulates the traffic signals.. The green lights suddenly go red.. red goes green.. All lights go green.. There is havoc... accidents .. vehicles crashing.. .. chaos.... Now can this happen in India??? Maybe not... For 2 reasons.. because its difficult to manipulate the traffic signals here on such a large scale.. secondly, when the lights go green, we still see all three sides before moving on.. ;-) :-) Phase 2 of the plan, the villain goes on to shut down the power supply of the entire country....You should look at the expression of Bruce Willis's face when he sees power going off, of the entire city before him......This is a reflection of the surprise and shock of an average American who has not seen power cut on a large scale.. Its something unheard of.. unseen in the US. Come to India we will show you how to get used to it..

The movie is fast and has its comic moments.. Well I would not say 'comic relief", because you are already enjoying...Do not worry if you do not understand the Hi-fundu stuff like hacking etc.. Hacking is breaking into secure systems, networks.. accessing anything protected and something you are not authorized to access. If you know this then you are OK... This is "Die Hard".. They do not make it complicated for the audience.... John as always is put through a lot of pain and physical stress and he still goes on.. Do not think too much about this or dismiss it saying.."what bullshit.. How can someone take all that strain and still go on".... Relax... Its ok.. He is John McLain.. If he goes down the audience would be the biggest loser.. and here "Biggest Loser NAHI jeetega".. :) So sit back (because this movie will move you to the edge of the seat quite a few times) and enjoy watching what John McLain does best...... Thrill you..

Action sequences are absolutely spectacular.. The plot is good.. the cast is good.. Humour thrown in the right places.. Bruce Willis keeps you entertained with his one-liners when he is not entertaining you with the action stuff.....Not too much violence, as such, here...., but lots of action.. Entertaining action.. great presentation..

There are some key things I took home.. There would be more and maybe you can find them when you watch the movie.. John's daughter is held hostage by the villain.. The person with him.. the software hacker.. asks him.. Does he have a plan.. Bruce answers "Yes, Find them, free my daughter , kill the rest".. Well that does not seem like a plan.. More like a goal.. So what did he mean.. My interpretation - Focus on the goal.. and take action.. Things tend to fall in its place.. So Focus on the Goal.. Take action...Be persistent.. Die Hard.. :) One other thing was, the villain of the movie has his own intention of doing what he is doing.. According to him he is doing the country a favor...... Perception.. To each his/her own.. People do something because they think that is right.. So when someone does anything bad or wrong to us, instead of holding a grudge or being angry, its worth the effort to see things from the other person's perspective.. Maybe it would help in understand some things in better light.. Help in reaching a compromise, better ourselves or help us in any other way...

So with all that said, if you have a couple of hours free, go and see Die Hard 4.0.. John McLain would be pleased to see you... :)

Metro ki kahani, Sandy ki zubani

Weekend is here once again. Picture ka mood bana and off we went for a movie. and what better a film for me than a film about my city. Metro. Actually the full name of the film is "Life in a Metro.". In this, film Metro is Bombay. The film deals with lives of people living in the Metro.

Metro the film, will shock you, It will bring out a smile, It will make you sad and also bring out a burst of laughter. Moreover it will force you to think. This film does not have Govinda..
So, please remember to take your brains with you when you go to watch this film..

Lets start with the star cast. This is more of an Actor's film rather than a Star's film. Lots of good actors in this. We have stalwarts like Kay Kay Menon, Irfan Khan, Konkana Sen, Shiny Ahuja.. Then we have Sharman Joshi, Kangana and last but not the least, our girl Shilpa Shetty. ( :-) :-)... OK stop smiling ... back to the review, please.. )
In fact the film start with Shilpa in the first frame...Everything should have a good start, eh?? ;)
The casting is good. Each one fits the role they play and they all have played it well. The film also has Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali. The film needed a beautiful 'older' woman and we do not have anyone who can fit the role apart from Nafisa and opposite her they wanted a recognized face.. a man who has an onscreen appearance of a person who can speak his mind,... can add a bit of star value and Dharmendra get the passing mark for it and fit in.. The crew is ready.. Pull up the anchor..Ahoy!! Welcome aboard.. Lets sail......


A brief introduction of the characters. Lets start with the person who will make you sit up and smile (if not laugh), each time he would appear on screen.. Irfan Khan.
Irfan (Monty) is desperately seeking bridegroom. Actively looking.. Very actively looking.. A person who speaks a nanosecond after he thinks. You would think why does he have to say all that he thinks.. He can keep some things to himself..:)).. People like him we meet often.. and its people like him that are like the little slices of raw mangoes (kairi) in the bhelpuri of our life. :-)..
If Irfan is actively looking Konkana Sen, is not far behind.. All of 28yrs and desperate to settle down. Konkana has the services of Shaadi.Com going for her.. Shaadi.com by the way is one of the sponsors for this film. Konkana undoubtedly one of the most brilliant actress of our times, shows what a brilliant actress she is by getting into the characters and giving such a natural performance. She could be called today's Smita Patil.. but she is better.. she can do comedy too...
Sharman is a call centre executive determined to move ahead in life.. Win the rat race of life and
Kangana is the girl he is in love with,.. Kangana is his colleague.. Kangana too is good in her part...
Shiny Ahuja is a budding theatre actor who tries to find love in a married woman. A lone man without a actual counterpart in this movie..:-) Shiny as usual is good..

Kay Kay is a top manager in a call centre... Married, has a cute kid and a beautiful devoted woman for a wife.. Life is perfect... But Kay Kay is still searching for happiness... and he finds that happiness in the company of a 20-something girl. In whose company he "Feels young again".. From 10000 feet bird's eye view, A wonderful, devoted wife, A great job, Cute kid - Life seems to be perfect.. So what is he searching more for??? What he had already was perfect..Perfection ko improve karna muskil hota hai.. But why the hell is he trying to improve perfection!!!!!!!!!!!! Earthlings Earthlings.. they want more and more and more and more.. Thank God I am from Mars.

Shilpa Shetty(Shikha) plays Kay Kay's wife.. A devoted wife and mother... ...and still she is kept wanting for the respect and love she deserves and seeks from her partner for life..
Shikha too at some point of time, derails, and goes to seek love elsewhere.. but comes back on track at the right time... Shikha is what we can call the modern day Indian woman, with all the values intact... boleto like having all the qualities inherited from base class CBlackAndWhiteDays_Indian_Woman and having new elements of modernity too. In real life..people like her are difficult to find these days.. Maybe that's what makes them special...:-)
Shilpa Shetty's best performance till date.. She as usual looks stunning..She look wonderfully slim in the sari... This is one more mangalorian who seems to have given up on "kori-rutti" long long back.. Kuch pane ke liye kuch khona padta hai.. And what greater sacrifice for a mangalorian, than staying away from 'Kori Rutti' ;-)
By the way all girls look splendid in sarees.. and when they have long hair.... but when you ask .. why don't they wear sarees more often.. "Oh!! Its so cumbersome to wear.. to difficult to carry on".. Why don't they keep long hair.. "Oh! its so difficult to maintain".... Excuses..Excuses…oh!! Come on girl!!!. (Can you please get back to the review please!!!!! Distracted fellow!!!!!)..
Ok back to the review...

Metro the film, will force you to think about a lot of things.. everyday issues.. It depicts the real life problem we face….like.. What do we need out of a marriage?? what do we need from life? Are we compromising our values to get what we want?? Are these needs really and truly what we need??
Serious topic but surprisingly made very light by interlacing with lots of fun... Difficult to believe? I agree.. but the truth nevertheless..One more thing which strikes when watching the film and I heard Sunil Shetty say it once.. "Previously, people were loved and things were used.. Nowadays things are loved and people are used".. So aptly describes the situation today...Well said Anna.

Bottomline: Metro is quite entertaining.. Go for it..... he is certainly in a rush... He would do all it takes to win.. and reach his dreams..Sharman would make you laugh as usual, he will shock you too.. you will pity him and also appreciate his dream.. all this when you have 7 other characters to watch.. Sharman does a great job.

Guru ki kahani, Sandy ki zubani

Guru : A term used to refer a teacher. Indeed this film does teach us a couple of things. Guru comes from the renowned Madras Talkies. A production house which has given us great films like Roja, Bombay, Yuva and now GURU. A couple of decades ago a man thought of making a film with some 20 odd children as the main cast. Handling children is always difficult and making a film with them was a challenge in itself.. The film released and went on to become a classic. Baby Shalini became a household name. The film was ‘Anjali’ and the maker, Mani Ratnam. If this person can make a classic with more than a dozen children, what would he do of he makes a film with seasoned and professional actors such as Abhishek, Mithun and Aishwarya? He would create a masterpiece and name it GURU.

I believe (with my limited understanding of films) that one of the most important things in any good film is the casting. Mani Ratnam is a veteran in making good films and get this right straightaway. Guru needed a person who is street-smart (someone like Bunty), who had a fire inside him burning, much like a rebel.. (like Lallan in yuva). A person who can appear to be in control and have a screen presence. Now with all these things who could possible fit the bill… Abhishek, I believe fits it quite right. When you see him on screen it appears that someone has taken a backup of Amitabh a couple of decades ago and now has restored him back now…. J Unrealisitic backup and restore eh.. You are right.. For such magical things we have Mani Ratnam and for other realistic backup and restore we have Symantec BackupExec. ;-) I think this has to be Abhishek’s best performance till date. Even better than ‘Lallan’ in Yuva. Mithun comes back in a big banner film after a long time. You think of it, its rather funny eh. The person who was called ‘Garibon ka Amitabh’ now share the same screen space with asli Amitabh’s son.. ….. Mithun does not need to give yet another National award winning performance (he has already given two national award winning performances). Actually he does not have much scope. But whatever he has got, he has delivered with conviction.

Madhavan and Vidya Balan are there too.. They have relatively smaller parts, but these natural actors do full justice to their roles.

Then there is our girl, Ashie. I would not write much about her or it may come out as baised… ;-)But again no one could have fit the role better than her. The film starts with Guru in an empty stadium saying something. This scene is revisited at the end. So at this moment do not pay attention to Abhishiek, instead pay attention to A R Rehman’s voice in the background. What he has to say forms the crux of the film. Guru is a story of a boy who fails academically and opts to go abroad to work; much to the dislike of his father who is a headmaster of the school and wants his son to complete and do well in his studies. Guru gets the permission from his dad and goes to Turkey. Here Life teaches the lad many things in its real time classroom. No theory.. all hand-on practicals.. and the lad learns well. Guru comes back to India and marries Sujata. Ashie is ‘Sujata’ in this film. Guru has big dreams and comes to Bombay to fulfill them. He struggles to gain foothold in this city of dreams and goes on to become one of the topmost businessmen of the country. This is the story from say… a 10000 feet high bird’s eye view. I would hate to tell you more and take the thunder away.. So go watch the movie… Thumbs Up .. taste the thunder… Rather than telling the story, I would like to write about some other things which would help you to appreciate the film more. Let me try and bring it out for you.

The film’s 1st song is in Instanbul, Turkey. We have Mallika shaking all she has to the tunes of “Maiyya Maiyya”. I do not think anyone could have suited better for this song than her.. As I told casting is perfect. ;-) The tune is close to Arabic and apt for the locale. A.R.rehman scores..

The next song has our girl singing in the rain in a village in some part of Gujarat.. Mani has converted our local village to a visual spectacle and to add to that he has put Ashie in that.. Visual SEE PLUS PLUS.. Ashie looks just as innocent as the role requires.. Singing and playing in the rains…You will love this song.. Its been shot beautifully. Songs are placed at the right places.. there should be 4 songs in all. 3 are good.. You can take your break during the 4th song (‘Ek pe ek free’). The rest of the while you are going to be glued to your seat..

Mani is a expert in keeping the viewers glued to their seat when they are watching his movies... for everything else.. we have Fevicol… The level of detailing that has gone in making this movie is remarkable. I could not find a single item in the film that could have been available, in India, only after 1980. All the things, places, sets used; depict the time when the movie is set, appropriately. Madhavan wears bell-bottoms. His shirt pocket has flaps – a popular trend seen during late 70’s- early 80’s. Vidya balan is usually in salwar kameez. Abhishiek Bachchan wears safari when he is not in suit. The phone instruments used have the rotary dial. The local number written on top of the phone has 4 digits. Understandably as at that time phone was not a household things.. Far few people (rich) had the luxury of having a telephone at their home. The trading accounts which were used to be kept were all in hindi. The number on the telephone is in Hindi numerals.. Detailing at its best. Bombay is shown at its best times.. Of course we were not born at that time…..so it’s a delight to see Bombay as it once was.. ‘BEST” trams running along the roads, Less traffic, wide roads.. Maaaaaaaast… Other notable things is the onscreen chemistry between Abhishiek and Ashie.. Its great.. She plays a typical India Wife (of the 80s). Sorry but the mention of time was important to make the statement correct.. Achcha lagta hai usko dekhke… Lagta hai…… Agar koi ho, to aisi hi ho… utni khubsoorat nahi ho, to bhi tension nahi…Uska bat karne ka daang.. kitna samjhdaari se.. aaste.. aur woh friendly smile.. Kitna respect ata hai usko dekhke… aur aajkal ke kuch logon ko dekha to.. akkha memory ka waat lag jata hai…. Anyways… Guru’s story on the whole is pretty much close to Dhirubhai Ambani’s. But Mani denies that, it actually is the same. Maybe we can take it as “Patro ke naam unke bhavnao ke kadar karte hui badal diye gaye hai”.. ;) Guru's company is called Shakti corporation.. and guess what, Logo of Shakti corporation bears close resemblance to logo to Symantec Corporation.. J Why would Guru choose such a logo for his company.. Unche Log Unchi Pasand!!!...;) hmm Maybe.. Khair.. aage badhte hai..

The dialogues are great .. Pay close attention to the dialogues and the context in which they are spoken. It would help you to appreciate it better. I would hate to tell you a dialogue up front.. but here is an example.. background is, Madhavan is a reporter who is out to get evidence against Guru for the alleged malpractices being carried out in his hugely successful business. Guru says to him.. “Yeh suit.. yeh wazan.. sab bohat mehnat se aya hai… Guru se ladna hai..to mehnaat se ladna.. guru banke ladna..……………par guru sirf ek hai..aur woh main hoon.. “ Humour is sprinkled throughtout the film. The humour is not in the funny lines but how they are delivered and the timing.. Abhishiek and Ashie do a splendid job.. This movie does try to bring out some positive messages also…I could identify a couple.. Maybe you could do better.. Guru is a person who does not understand the word ‘NO’. He believes nothing is impossible,.. If something cannot be done straight.. find a work around.. Nike.. Just Do it.. He also did not know how to get disheartened…

When he returns back from turkey, he informs his father that he would start his own business.. His father is shocked that his son has left behind a high paying secure job and is thinking of starting a business of which he has no experience.. risky… His father tries to dissuade him and says painfully discouraging things. All this does not distract or disappoint him.. He goes ahead to fulfill his dreams.. In Bombay, when he is to start his business.. he gets abuses from traders and has to struggle to gain a foothold in the market…Everytime.. when strong hands try to push him down… Guru puts the spring of his tremendous positive attitude under him .. and forces the resistance to be removed ……so that he can rise.. and soar well beyond everyone’s dreams…The film teaches us criticism can be good or bad; depending on how we take it.. how we handle it.. I do not think it is necessary to suggest a film like this. It is just too obvious. If you have free time, and want to see a good film, you may most likely would want to choose GURU… diplomacy eh? Sidha bolna GURU accha hai, jaake dekho… I hope you enjoy the movie…

Dhoom2 ki kahani, Sandy ki Zubaani

I am back!!! the response of my last couple of reviews were encouraging. Well encouraging enough to motivate me to try hand at writing one more review. A review for Dhoom-2. Well le me make one thing clear. This is not the greatest film you would see and nor that I liked the film very much and hence thought of writing a review...Then why did I write the review?? Hmm well this film is sort of "Maggie".. I mean. Its different. This is the sort of an 'action-adventure-govinda' type of film. Govinda types meaning; what do you do when you go to watch a govinda film. you set aside your brain for some time, and just get ready to laugh. You do not worry about, what is happening, why and how.. Well you would have to do something similar with Dhoom 2. Just that you get ready to 'be thrilled'.

Let me start with the casting. The casting looks good. 5 main characters and they are the ones you would see all movie through.. Not much of supporting cast her.. Well if you have such a strong main cast, why would you need a supporting cast.. this is not a movie which has half a dozen bahus and half a dozen saas having 2 dozen sahalis each...Anyway lets get back to Dhoom2.. The cast includes Hritik, Ashie, Abhishek, Bipasha and then there is the yashraj local variable.. I mean local boy to Yashraj production - Uday Chopra. Casting really looks good. Action which is the scoring point of the film looks safe in hands of Allan Amin. The man who gave us cool stunts in DUS. editing has been good and thus the film is pretty fast paced. Dialogues are not so great, but you have some good one-liners. Well with such beautiful people in the film, one cares a damn about they are saying.. ;) Lot of money has gone into making this movie. You can see that. But one point which seem to be not up to the mark was the attention to detail. Well, the director should have more appreciative of the fact that getting such a cast is tough. So when he has got such a cast, more attention should have been paid to detailing of the film. The film at places look raw and lacks polish. Lets take a look at the performances. let start with the local boy. Uday Chopra. Well Uday has improved a lot is you compare him to his first film - Mohabatain. The "be-funny" department is with him. A tough job to handle..and guess what he does manage to make you laugh sometimes.. Thats a huge improvement to audience felling "get this guy out of our sight" in his first film to "he IS funny sometimes" in Dhoom2. I certainly think by the time Dhoom10 gets released we would be laughing at all his jokes.. Hmmm would there be so many sequels.. Well if Yashraj productions want to see Uday on screen they have to keep spinning the dhoom wheel...Poor fellow .. no one takes him in their movies.he is one more case of 'Body not matching the voice' syndrome. Well if you see that is true even for Amitabh.. but Amitabh's case is just the opposite as Uday's case... Amitabh's case looks acceptable. well not quite acceptable. but it seems great.. just like Sukudu pehlwaan lifting 500 KG snatch looks goods while Dara singh tested positive for performance improving drugs fails to lift 50kg, cuts a sorry figure.. Hmm was the example too far-fetched.. anyway, I think you got the point...We do know one more case of this dangerous 'Body not matching voice' syndrome. Remember Deepak Malhotra .. from Lamhe.. The first words he uttered were "Pallo" and i think those were his last words in recorded bollywood history..till date..

Ok moving forward we have Bips. No oscar winning performance, this. Her part did not require any high intensity acting. Anyway I do not think people who went to see the movie, even cared to listen what she said.. They were attentive but they cared a damn about the audio... ;) Bips plays a cop who has a sister (who looks amazingly like her... so guess who is her sister...Bips again... sahi jawaab..) in Brazil.. Bips, Beach and Brazil.. Now what more can one ask for!!! ultra hotio, enjoymento, ronaldo, romario.. superbo!!!! Now something about my gaonwali.. Ashie is good.. "ya right".. Well no one could have fit the role as good as her.. The role required to have someone with a great body, can share the screen with equal poise with Hritik and also look graceful.. Now do we have anyone with all these characteristics today??? Shilpa!!! yes but Ashie adds that extra bit to glamour...And she has reduced a LOT (yes, a 'lot' in bold, Italics and underlined) I wonder how long is it since she last touched 'Kori-rutti'. No Mangalorian can stay away from Kori-rutti for long. trust me. ;) Ashie is a chorni herself., who teams up with our hero (Opps I forgot Hritik is the Bad guy).. sorry Ashie teams up with the bad guy in the film. sings, dances gracefully and looks great (naturally.. as usual).. Hmm about her dance. In some dances she does look a bit stiff.. and the answer is right at her feet.. She wears Ultra high, 8 inch hype extended 045 point tip heels. Well now if her dance steps look a bit stiff wearing those you do rate that as bad. would you?? Come on man, the girl has not touched 'Kori Rutti' from the time the eygyptians started building the pyramids and you have problem with her couple of dance steps being stiff.. Talk of showing some consideration!!! Anyways, lets talk something about others. the 2 gentlemen in the film. Abhishek and Hritik. Abhishek has his 'Frustu', angry, 'I don't care a damn about no one', 'When will my barber return from Allahabad" kind of look. carry forwarded from Dhoom. He is OK. Has a couple of one-liners.. delivered with the same frustu look on his face... But someone who steals the show is Hritik. Hritik is one of those people who grabs everyone's attention, looks real cool .. and all this without even putting any effort in the process. Quite unlike Babi Ab, baby baba, baba black sheep.. whatever.. O ya.. Ab baby. Abhishek bachchan, tries too hard to look cool.. but fails too short.. and ends up looking more frustu....Hritik on the other hand looks great, dances great and provides lots of inspiration to lots of people to hit the Gym.

Hritik is at his natural best when it comes to acting here in Dhoom2 as well.Showing that he gives the same amount of focus, dedication and puts in the same amount of effort as in his Dad's film. The songs are not great.. but choreography and dances make up for it.. Well you have 2 of the best dancers in Bollywood here. Some other two things which stand out in the movie is the action sequences and the makeup. the viewer would be quite happy with the effort f detailing which went into the makeup of various disguises that Hritik wears.. Quite good.. The action sequences are cooler than what we saw in DUS. Now are you excited??? par shart hai ki, you should not think "How is that happening? How is that possible?".. Just sit back . enjoy and then say ... "WoW!!!!!".

The film as I already said is quite fast paced. The songs in between give you breathing time. yes breathing time.. If the stunts do not take your breath away... the beautiful people will.. ;-) Now let me talk a bit on the story line.. well like always I would not dwell too much on th estory as the aim is not to tell you the story but to present Dhoom2 in another light.. I mean in a light no one has seen .. ;-) The film starts as in the previous version... with a robbery.. but now it gets more cooler and slicker...Hritik handles the job alone..because he works alone... Defying all laws of Physics, as if Newton never gave us 'Gravity'.. Anyways remember, do not think too much .. just enjoy.. Seeing Hritik perform those stunts.. defying laws of gravity, you would wish that apple never caused Newton's brain damage and make him invent gravity... Anyways.. the robbery could have made more classy.. if some more attention would have been paid to science such as Physics or the director had some respect for Newton and his associates.. The robbery takes place in a train somewhere in desert in Namibia. Now if you see teh train it is better than our Rajdhani.. Looks more closer to Japanese Shinkazen (bullet train). Once this robbery is done... hritik celebrates.. We have a song.. and the director takes this opportunity to show the names of the stakeholders of the film while Hritik dances.. Now who would care to look at the names when Hritik is dancing.... Anyways... Song ends. and we are ready for another robbery.


Its of a diamond.. Science at play again to make this robbery a success. The gadget used for the robbery looks as some 1st prize winner at the annual robotics fair held at Mushashi Shinjo in Japan.. Quite some gadget... very innovative....

The 3rd robbery is of a rare bejeweled sword kept in a fort in johpur. this is wher our girl arrives.. Ekdum Dhasu Entry...Mountaineering equipment used here in this robbery...Mountaineering equipments coupled with BATMAN/Power ranger's utility kit in operation.. Shera tenzing would have given anything to get his hands on such equipment.. anything... he could have even parted with his favorite 'Bahadur' chhap gutka... hritik and Ashie meet.. romance.. and they team up for another robbery together..
This time in Brazil.. and look who is here.. Bips... Bips, Beach and Brazil.. ultra hotio, enjoymento, ronaldo, romario.. superbo!!! and Hritik and Ashie rob again.. right under that 'frustu's' nose. Well 4 spectacular robberies and songs in between.. Thats Dhoom2.

Well what do you expect when you put 4 beautiful people (Ok 5 if you care of count Uday in ) in on movie.. VISUAL TREAT.. or in my language... VISUAL SEE PLUS PLUS... Thats right...Thats what Dhoom2 is... Worth a see... You would not get bored.. Again as I said, do not try to analyze the film... and ask questions such as "how" and "why"... just sit back and enjoy... Don't try to find faults.. there are too many and I won't even bother to mention it here. Analyzing the defects would take the fun of the film... This is different kind of film.. the director could have done better.. but I guess having such a great cast was too much of an excitement factor that other detailing part of the movie was left uncared for.... Anyways.. I hope you enjoyed this review reading it as I enjoyed it writing..
Have a great day Sandeep

Munna Bhai ki kahani Sandy ki zubaani

Another special weekend and another great movie.. and once again Sandy sits down to pen a review. The movie: Lage raho Munnabhai, What I think about the movie: Its great. Its been 3 years since Munabhai made his first appearance.. and now he is back and truly "he is not alone".
This review will in no way tell you the full story and spoil your fun. But its an attempt to point out the finer points in the movie.

As all great movies this movie too has an excellent cast. When I say excellent cast I do not mean the movie has great stars.... but that, the movie has good actors who fit the characters they play and play their part to perfection.

Like, I cannot imagine any other actor to play Munna other than Sanjay Dutt or any other actor playing Ciruit other than Arshad Warsi. This is because of the simple reason no other actor can speak such good Bambaiya Hindi as these two. This along with their great comic timing make them THE people for the part. I think only Jackie to some extent can speak bombaiya and maybe Aamir (as demonstrated in Rangeela). I cannot name ShahRukh, as he made us laugh when he tried to speak bombaiya in the start of his career.. remember "Ram Jaane".. if you do not remember, then good.. That much space of your memory is saved...

Coming back to the rest of the cast. Vidya Balan replaces Gracy singh. She is beautiful, lively, has a great smile and looks great in simple clothes.. Round and round boleto bhi centre main wohich baat hai ki.. she is perfect....
Most of the actors from the previous Munna bhai film are carried forward. Only actors not the characters.. Say, actors like Mishra, Nariyal pani wala, Kallan, Maqsood (the sweeper), the college student, Jimmy Shergill and Boman Irani.. Boman is back and now he is Lucky Singh. Boman has picked up the punjabi acsent very well. You can see the way he speaks, way he walks the mannerism is very different from that of "J.Asthana". He is very much into the part and He is Lucky Singh... pata hi nahi hondha ki yeh banda sardar nahi, parsi hoyasi..... Boman pape tusi to cha gaye ho . oji yeh main kya ji.. pura hindustan keh raha si ...balle balle.. shava shava... halva nahi to rubdi khava....

The movie starts off in an equally novel way as did in the first part. Circuit is brilliant in the film. One more thing to point out about Circuit is that ki, akha movie main ekich kapada pehnela hai... to bhi ekdum khush hai bhai.. yehi circuit hai.. par ek change hai.. ek change hai bhai..abhi boleto, is part main circuit ne lal chashma pehnela hai bhai.. ekdum jhagmag Windows XP mafiq...Circuit's love for gold is known and he is in his usual attire of black kurta and jeans with half a dozen gold chains around his neck and quite some gold bracelets. Even his mobile phone has a golden cover.. :) boleto jhakas...
Kapda ke mamle main apunka Munna bhai ke pass bohat range hai.. yeh alag alag colour ke fundu fundu shirt pehnela hai bhai... full shirt hai par sleeve ka popat kiyela hai...boleto.. sleeve cuff ka button hai par bhai akha picture main cuff khula chhoda hai.. poppppppaaaaatt :) :)
par yeh janbuchke kiyela hai.. boleto estyle .. kya, naya estyle.. boleto trend.. trend nikala hi bhai ne....

The movie also promotes its sponsors like, Jhanvi works in a radio station - WorldSpace Radio boleto sponsor. and then Munna and co. go to Goa in GO Air (boleto to doosra sponsor)...sab ko khush kiya hai bhai.....

Now lets move on to the most interesting character of the film.. Mohandas karamchand Gandhi. Pura naam... hai.. haa..Boleto woh aadmi jo pura country ek dhoti main round mara aur angrezo ko bola. Get Out.. boleto bohat great aadmi tha... M.K.Gandhi is played by noted Marathi theatre actor Dilip Prabhawalkar. Dilip is a great actor and has adapted to the Mahatma's character superbly..

The movie is an attempt to remind us of this man and his teachings.. His ideology... His way of life.. We are slowly forgetting that. and the film reminds us that in such a humorous and funny way that it leaves us thinking.....

The film takes potshots at people changing the spellings of their names for numeralogical reasons... Also the concept of Manglik is taken up.. You get thinking, yeh Horoscope ka chakkar kitna sach hai and how true are predictions of the astrologers...
In one of the scenes Munna has wronged his friend and Gandhi wants him to say sorry to his friend... ...Munna asks Gandhi "yeh kya zaroori hai kya". The film highlights a general feeling which goes inside us in case we have wronged someone and think about saying sorry. We think of excuses to reason ourselves out of it.. How our ego stops us from doing the right thing... and stops us from accepting that we have erred. This scene also shows us what a treasure true friendship is and also how Munna, after saying sorry exclaims.. "Yeh Bapu.. mann ekdum halka ho gaya"... but saying Sorry is a mighty task in itself and halka mann is the reward. But do we always have the guts to say sorry.. Lets think about it.. :)

There are 4 songs in the film and I liked all 4.. boleto gana solid hai sab...
No flashy dance steps , understandably so as our heroes are tapori.. hey sorry tapori nahi bolne ka.. bhai bolene ka bhai... Checkout circuit in the dances.. He is gracefulness personfied.. Few know that before entering films he used to take part in the dance competitions on an national level, alongside javed jaffery...

The film has loads and loads of comedy but it has some touchy and serious moments also. But these lessons/teachings are delivered .. make you think about it and then off we go and continue our joyride..The film is very fast paced.. as fast as an Manmohan desai film.. if not faster.. boleto ekdum.. 8:17 ka VT fast, local ke mafik..

We also see Parikshit Sahani. He is has a small part but still he does manage to move us.. He shows he is a great actor... After all he is the son of the great balraj Sahani...

the film throws up lots of points to ponder, maslan (boleto):
Sanjay Dutt's 'varnan' of the situation of present day India. This is when he comes to Jhanvi's place to deliver a lecture on Gandhigiri.. Gandhigiri boleto apunka Bhai's version of Gandhivadi.. word kaisa laga.. hai ki nahi jhakas.. boleto Dahi wada mirchi marke.. Joshi wade wale ka wada aur amul ka dahi aur uparse Everest ka mirchi powder.. Boleto cool cool hot hot..

Doosra scene boleto; Jhanvi's closing qoutes when she signs off for the day. Apun agar thodasa bhi ye scene ke bare main bataya na.. to akha scene ka vat lag jayega. boleto scene ka durgati ho jayega...So its better you enjoy the scene when you watch the film itself..

Abhi shorcut main boleto kya maloom kya.. circle ke round and round kitna bhi boleto bhi centre main woich baat hai ki; Sar jo tera chakraye ya dil duba jaye.. mamu, tu jake Lage raho Munna bhai dekh.. aur tera khopdi nahi bhi chakraye aur tera heart nahi bhi dubrela haina.. to bhi tu taxi pakad aur Munna bhai dekhke aa. tension nahi leneka.. Smile karte rehneka..Boleto Smile ka sticker apne tobdepe permenantly chipkake rakhneka..
arre ek baat karneko to bhool hi gaya...Apunka Chembur ka naam Munnabhai ka is picture main bhi hai.. Remember the last time Chembur was mentioned in Munnabhai MBBS: "Anand bhai, feeling agar strong hona, to bina phone kare Chembur tak baat kar sakte hai..". Abhi Chembur ka naam boleto film ka good luck hai.. Abhi kya batao Chembur aur apun jaisa Chembur ke logo ke bare main... Kabhi ek din, fullto araamse batayega...

Aur ek common cheej boleto romantic dialogue. Remember MBBS had a outstanding romantic dialogue:
"Sumanji, tum smile karta haina.. to lagta hai, kya mast life hai... apunko akha life tum ko smile karte huwe dekhne ka hai"... :)
This film also has a great one.. "Jhanvi, tum jab radio main hello mumbai bolta hai na to sarkeshwar bolta hai ki apun ke tobde pe ek maaaaaast smile aa jata hai"... this is just the part of the dialogue.. For the full dialogue watch the film.. Boleto apune tumlogo ko Demo version dekhaya.. Full version theatre hai dekhne ka...

chal bohat estory sunliya.. abhi ek baat yaad rakhneka.. Gandhi ko yaad karte rehne ka aur tension nahi leneka....... aur yaad haina... eSmile ka sticker, Fevicol laga ke, apne tobde pe chipka ke rakhneka.. Fevicol laganeka.. chance nahi lene ka..

abhi apun jarele.. aisa aur ek dhasu film dekhega na.. to aur ek aisach rapchik review likhega..Boleto ek dum jhagmak Windows XP ....

Tabhi tak ke liye.. Bye bolta hai.. Bye...

Sandeep
(tension nahi leneka.. Smile karte rehneka)