Movie Reviews - Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Its been a while since I wrote a review for a Bollywood movie. But inspite of the thunder and lightning here in Glasgow today, I went out for Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and guess the name and message of the movie itself deserved a review.

In a simple sense, the movie had traces of Dil Chahta Hai but definitely filled with loads of fresh ideas and tomatoes. It sure is a desi version of the Hangover but totally unlike it, so I guess its safe to say that the movie has found a sweet spot between DCH and Hangover. But when you think of it, its actually hard to imagine such a combination.

The movie is all about 3 friends and a 3 week long bachelors' party in Spain. Its filled with the usual fun and games with expected fights and "hug and make up" between friends. I personally felt that Farhan Akhtar's acting was the best of the lot and Kat looks her glamorous best in the movie. But a special mention has to go out to the mind boggling camera work and the selection of locations. These are the two things that add a whole new dimension to the movie.

I wonder why nobody had thought of Spain earlier. Its always Amsterdam or London or handful of other European destinations usually. Ever since my dissertation on product placements, I watch movies from a different perspective. Its usually quite easy to spot those blatant placements in Hollywood movies but ZNMD scores well here also. Hrithik has done justice endorsing John Players. If JP hasn't already started a special ZNMD range, then they are surely missing out on a trick.

Along with John Players, Mountain Dew has been forced into a couple of scenes. But I guess its a safe pardon when you consider the freebies or financial support a brand provides a movie. Abhay Deol's character could have probably been played by any actor, so nothing special there but he actually holds the other characters together. 

The 3 adventure sports chosen for the movie are perfect and the final one places the icing on the cake even though the last scene is the only scene that has been made very "filmy".  Bhag D.K. Bose would have been a tailor made song for this scene. The movie gets a negative mark for using a stunt woman who doesn't resemble Kat at all. For some reason I feel that Farhan actually performed his own stunts with sky diving. 

The soundtracks are brilliant so some new ear worms for me. I would totally recommend this movie to anyone who wants to enjoy a feel good bollywood movie without much of unwanted masala.

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Movie Reviews - Hangover 2

The last one week has been very weird in terms of my choice of watching movies. While a side of me was screaming "ನಾನು ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ " , the other was just exploring the unsung heroes of Sandalwood.  No doubt some of the movies were utter "shite" , but there were a couple of them which though were shot in a full on serious tone, made me LOL. If at all you want a taste of this, I would recommend watching Sai Kumar's Police Story I and II and Thriller Manju's Jackie Chan. I'm sure this post would prop up in Google searches after a few days, if someone typed "Jackie Chan's Police Story", and would get a kick on the backside for relevance. 

While most of us would actually find Sai Kumar's acting funny and entertaining, he is unmatched when it comes to dialogues. For a person to maintain the same level of intensity and passion on screen throughout the movie is actually commendable. Amidst all these movies and many more which were utter crap, I happened to watch Hangover-2.

Its one of those sequels that actually complement the original. The story line is very similar to the first part and for all entertaining reasons, the plot gets even more twisted. I'm not going to act like a spoilsport and reveal the story here but just going to graze through some of the highlights.

Bradley Cooper has done justice to his role along with Ed Helms playing the usual guy who has a secret affinity towards hookers and in this case, gets a bigger package than expected. If you love Zach Galifianakis, then you'll love him even more but then again I feel his role was a bit overshadowed by others in this part. Ken Jeong who plays Mr.Chow surprisingly has a lion's share of on-screen time considering his "tiny package" as its shown in the beginning of the movie.

No baby with shades this time and instead gets better with a pot smoking monkey. If at all you have little kids then please do take them to the movie as the'll get a whole new lesson on human anatomy , courtesy ladyboys of Thailand. This way, they can ask numerous doubts to their teachers. If at all the lady teachers are anything like we had in Sadvidya who even feel shy to talk about 9th std human reproduction system chapter, then the'll probably have a pretty tough time. If you are trying to hook up with a girl, then she'll probably see the movie as your attempt to take things a few steps higher on a single day and might not be the best option. Even though its a movie to be enjoyed with a bunch of guys, I'm sure you can enjoy it with your girlfriend as well.

On the whole I give it a 4/5 . Like always, the segment in the end showing all the pics is probably the icing on the cake. If they maintain the standards, the Hangover can well go upto parts 4 or 5 and still be grossly funny. In fact I hope it happens, just like the American Pie series.

P.S - I still feel that Zach Galifianakis was funnier in the movie Due Date.

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Movie Reviews - Endhiran

"Dude its Rajni, its A.R Rahman and its Shankar and it can't get better than this" was probably the buzz ever since the project of Endhiran aka Robot was announced long back. With tickets  for the movie being priced in thousands of rupees, true fanatics would even sell their kidneys to watch the movie on the first day. No doubt the graphics and animation were of great standard but what about the story and what about the Rajni factor?

With people generating a fetish for producing insanely high budget movies, once a producer decides to succumb to thins kind of BDSM, it's hard for him to pull out midway. Frankly speaking, the majority of the expenditure went into special effects which literally dragged the movie close to 3 hours. The attitude of the producer looked like, "Dude I've paid you a lot of money for these special effects and I'm gona have my penny's worth by filling the movie with all possible special effects to the last scene". Mr.Producer will probably have the widest grin on his face as he got back all 150 crores he spent within the first 2 weeks. 

For all those who are thinking of watching the movie, please wait for few more days when you can watch it on the small screen. For all those who have already watched it, I'm sure you wouldn't have been totally happy for the money you spent. For all those who have booked your tickets and are waiting to watch the movie, these are some of the things you have to be prepared for:

1> The metamorphosis of Ash from Miss World to Miss. Flabby Aunty.

2> Eye catching male breasts of Rajni.

3> Blatant product placement of numerous well known brands which scream out loud " I am the best, please buy me ".

4> Mosquitoes conversing in Tamil/Hindi/whichever language it is dubbed into.

5> Below par music and songs in which the great man tries too hard to dance.

6> Ash trying to ape Fergie with her skin tight leather pants which is a total failure, thanks to her married woman structure(also refer to 1>).

7> Amazing shots of Machu Picchu. Probably the 1st time this location is shown in Indian cinema and Mr.Producer has made sure that the whole song revolves around the same background to get the best out of the crew's travel expenses.

8> No typical Rajni style and dialogues. A newbie probably starts to wonder if all those Doom-Mongering yet highly possible statements about Rajni are actually true.

I'm sure many of the Rajni fans would probably disagree with all the above statements but then again, being a true fan isn't it your responsibility to expect the best and critique the rest? I personally felt that this was Shankar and Rajni's worst movie in terms of quality but probably the best in terms of commercial appeal. Hope someday in the future, before I take my last breath, I get to relive the aura of Rajni with a meager budget movie and a thought provoking story by Shankar.

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