Tag Archives: Comedy

Dec 13 2009

Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year

 

Yash Raj Ke Pocket Mein Rocket Hai!

Pic: Yash Raj Films

 

Remember the wonderful films of the 70s about the hopes and struggles of the middle class man, often played by Amol Palekar? Basu Chatterjee’s ‘Chhoti Si Baat’, ‘Baaton Baaton Mein’ or Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s ‘Golmaal’? The beauty of these films lies in their simplicity and the relatable situations, away from the glitz and glamour that Bollywood often piles on to its films. Yash Raj Films’ latest offering may not be in the league of the classics I just mentioned above but it does have its heart in place. ‘Rocket Singh: Salesman of the Year’ is an entertainer which shows that simple can be special and it pays to be good. Congratulations to the team of Shimit Amin (director) and Jaideep Sahni (screenplay, dialogues, lyrics) for welcoming the simple salesman into our imagination.

The film is about Harpreet Singh (Ranbir Kapoor), an aspiring salesman who is aware of his abilities as well as his limits; he is confident of his persuasion skills and does not let his not so good mark-sheets affect his dream of earning Rs 40,000 a month. He joins as a sales trainee in a computer firm called AYS (At Your Service) and hopes to reach the top through dedication and hard work. He soon realizes that life is not that simple and is mocked, ridiculed, insulted and threatened for being honest. After a point, he decides to get even in his own unique, ‘good’ way.

With Rocket Singh, Ranbir once again proves how watchable he is on-screen and puts a lot of sincerity in Harpreet’s character. The other key characters are also very well defined and the actors do full justice to them; Mukesh Bhatt as the peon and Naveen Kaushik as the go-getter salesman are both good. D Santosh as the download obsessed, IT support guy is brilliant and Gauhar Khan shines in a stellar performance as a firebrand receptionist. Debutante, Shahzahn Padamsee, sadly has nothing much to do except to cook Maggi for an unknown salesman (see, good people are still out there). Prem Chopra makes a rare on-screen appearance and adds authenticity to the Sikh/Punjabi household setting. Overall, it is a character driven film and full marks for Jaideep for writing it, except the climax which is a little disappointing.

It is an offbeat film that attempts to showcase a slice of life – life of a salesman and other regular employees in a regular office. It is not a laugh riot as I expected it to be but is not a let down either; the humour is subtle, the performances sincere and the situations close to real. It is definitely worth a watch.

Question for the makers: Why is the ‘Pocket Mein Rocket Hai’ song NOT in the film?

My Rating: * * * ½ Three and a half stars (on five)

– Shrey Khetarpal

  

Sep 27 2009

What’s Your Raashee?

 

Interesting Concept, Poor Execution

Pic source: planetbollywood.com; courtesy: UTV, AGPPL
Pic source: planetbollywood.com; courtesy: UTV, AGPPL 

The other day I was complaining about people getting too cynical and therefore not being able to enjoy any movies. Whether it is Vishal Bhardwaj’s ‘Kaminey’ or Yash Raj Films’ ‘Dil Bole Hadippa’; fault-finders can never be satisfied. I will talk about that in another post but the point here is that even my eternal optimism for Bollywood did not allow me to enjoy Ashutosh Gowarikar’s ‘What’s Your Raashee?’

What’s Your Raashee? (WYR) is about a Gujarati, NRI boy Yogesh Patel (Harman Baweja) who must marry in the next ten days in order to inherit his grandfather’s property and help his debt-stricken brother. He decides to meet a girl from each of the twelve zodiac signs in order to find his perfect life-partner. Over the next few days he meets girls (all characters played by Priyanka Chopra) ranging from a conscientious doctor to a dominating business woman; a wannabe model to a sexy micro-biologist; so on and so forth.

The plot is quite interesting but suffers from the classic case of poor execution. The screenplay is extremely repetitive, slow-paced and just not funny enough. As if the stories of twelve girls were not enough, the director decides to throw in silly sub-plots and characters which were not required at all. WYR ends up being a three and a half hour long film, which is not entertaining enough and has an even more disappointing climax.

Harman Baweja is quite likeable in the film despite some weird scenes he is made to do. In one scene he actually screams, “I am Yogesh Patel, 100% mard (man), no protein supplements”. I feel a bit sorry for the guy as with this film he has had a hat-trick of duds starting from ‘Love Story 2050’ (Oh lord! I shudder at the thought of that one) and ‘Victory’ (I didn’t watch that one). Priyanka Chopra tries hard and delivers a good performance for most of the characters but is not convincing enough with a few. I do not even remember which character belongs to which zodiac except a few, which is not her fault but the writer’s.  Most of the characters are under-written and do not even get the scope due to a forced song for each.

Technically also, the film has nothing much to offer; editing tops the department that should have been more efficient (Ballu Saluja) but guess it is the director who likes his films long (remember ‘Lagaan’ and ‘Jodhaa Akbar’). Music by Sohail Sen (who is he?) is one of the weakest points in the film, as in a Bollywood rom-com you expect at least the music to be good. Nitin Chandrakant Desai, the art director manages to give the film a very Gujarati feel but at the end, it looks more like a TV serial (that too an Ekta Kapoor production).

WYR is a major disappointment, especially since it comes from the director of ‘Lagaan’, ‘Swades’ and ‘Jodhaa Akbar’; but everyone is allowed to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them. I will still go back and watch the next Gowarikar film as I believe in his talent. However, I sincerely hope he would be a little less arrogant at the next year’s award ceremonies 😉

My Rating: * * Two stars (on five)

– Shrey Khetarpal

Aug 14 2009

Kaminey: Movie Review

 

Awefome Kameenapan! 

Pic source: in.movies.yahoo.com

Pic source: in.movies.yahoo.com

Dear Mr. Vishal Bharadwaj,

What have you done with Kaminey? You have created a big problem for rest of the Hindi film industry and the organizers of different movie award nights. How will they not nominate your film for Best Picture (Filmfare and IIFA did not nominate Omkara in the category while Krrish and Dhoom II found mention) and if they do, how will they nominate a 150-crore grossing, mindless-sexist-racist comedy in the same category? This is not fair.

Yours sincerely,
Bollywood well-wisher

Coming back to Kaminey, it is pure cinematic brilliance. Take a bow Vishal Bharadwaj; you have made a classic that will be talked about in the decades to come. From start to finish it is a roller coaster ride and one does not get time to catch a breath. There is not one thing that does not work for this film… story, dialogues, acting, music, lyrics, cinematography, editing, everything is first rate and it all comes together in an absolutely Kameeni film.

Kaminey is about identical twins, Charlie and Guddu (played by Shahid Kapur); the former lisps (says ‘f’ in place of ‘s’) and the latter stutters. Both of them have chosen different paths in life; Charlie is involved in a gang and can do anything to achieve his dream of becoming a bookie at the race course, Guddu on the other hand works with an NGO and loves spending time with his fiery Marathi girlfriend, Sweety (Priyanka Chopra). For Guddu, Charlie is as good as dead and Charlie prefers a Kaali Billi (black cat) to his manhoof(s) (inauspicious) brother. One fateful night their lives get intertwined and they have to save their dreams along with their lives.

In his career best performance, Shahid has done a fantabulous job of bringing alive, two distinct and difficult characters – Charlie and Guddu. He lives up to the super high expectations and is the new superstar (one who can act) on Bollywood’s horizon. Priyanka Chopra is simply delightful as Sweety; she is feisty, romantic, strong and vulnerable, all in one. Once again the best I have seen of her till date. There are many more characters including corrupt police officers, a trio of Bengali gangster brothers, a flamboyant drug-lord and African smugglers, amongst others. But there are two supporting characters that stand out… Amol Gupte as Bhope Bhau, a Maharashtra loving gangster cum aspiring politician who dislikes immigrants in his city especially those from Uttar Pradesh; and Chandan Roy Sanyal as Mikhail, Charlie’s coke-addict, whimsical best friend.

Vishal has done a great job in the writing department. The script based on an idea by Cajetan Boy, a writer from Nairobi, is taut and keeps the viewers hooked with plenty of twists and turns. One cannot afford to go out for popcorn or even answer a text message as the screenplay is arranged like a jigsaw puzzle and you are supposed to fit in all the pieces, no spoon feeding by the director here. There are so many characters and no time to develop them, Vishal does not bother with that and lets you discover them through their actions. There is tremendous attention to detail that builds these characters. For example, Bhope Bhau is shown checking his blood sugar level while barking orders to his gang members, establishing the fact that he is diabetic.

Dialogues in the film are simply mind-blowing, sample these… Charlie says, “Yeh life badi kutti cheez hai” (life is a bitch) and “Paifa kamaane ke do raafte hain, ek fhort cut aur doofra chhota fhort cut” (there are two ways to earn money, short cut and a shorter short cut). Sweety says, “Kya maine rape kiya tha tumhara” (did I rape you?). There are many more moments in the film that will make you laugh out loud and at the same time shock you.

Vishal once again strikes gold in the music and the background score department. Starting with ‘Dhan te nan’ (Sukhwinder Singh and Vishal Dadlani create magic here), the signature tune in the film to the slow numbers (the title track, ‘Mere raaste kaminey’ and the ballad, ‘Pehli baar mohabbat ki hai’), the music is outstanding. What I really loved is the usage of two male and two female voices for the same song, ‘Raat Ke Dhai Baje’ (Rekha Bharadwaj, Sunidhi Chauhan, Kunal Ganjawala and Suresh Wadkar) and ‘Fatak’ (Sukhwinder Singh and Kailash Kher). Gulzar as usual has penned some out-of-the-box and brilliant lyrics. All these songs are weaved beautifully in the narrative and with the crisp editing you are almost left asking for more. The background score uses the ‘Dhan te nan’ theme extremely well and some catchy numbers from the 70s like ‘Duniya mein logo ko dhoka koi ho jaata hai’.

Tassaduq Hussain’s cinematography is amazing and you are not treated to perfect still frames which add to the entire experience. He has mostly used a hand-held camera to capture the rain-drenched city of Mumbai. Meghna Manchanda Sen and A. Sreekar Prasad deliver on the editing, which can make or break a caper like this. Dolly Ahluwalia’s styling and Sham Kaushal’s action are also brilliant.

What elfe fhall I fay about thif film… it if the beft film I have feen fince Aamir Khan’s ‘Taare Zameen Par’. Kaminey if a film with an attitude… I ftrongly recommend thif awefome flick, don’t miff it and watch it in a theatre.

My Rating: * * * * ½ Four and a half stars (on five)

– Shrey Khetarpal

Pic source: in.movies.yahoo

Pic source: in.movies.yahoo.com

 

Jul 5 2009

Kambakkht Ishq

 

What were they thinking?

Pic: Eros Entertainment; Source: planetbollywood.com

Pic: Eros Entertainment; Source: planetbollywood.com

Montage of Hollywood stars on the red-carpet (courtesy the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards), second grade stunts, Brandon Routh as ‘Mr. Brandon’, Akshay Kumar as a star stuntman, Vindu Dara Singh as a sidekick, dumb chicks dying to sleep with Akshay, Aftab Shivdasani and Amrita Arora at the altar, Kareena Kapoor in a micro-mini, forced kiss, wedding reception, Viagra joke, bad song (actually a very bad song), silly fight (actually it was beyond silly), cake on the bride’s face, fart on the bride’s face… OK! These were not random words but the exact screenplay replication of Kambakkht Ishq’s first fifteen minutes.

Let me tell you the rest of the story in fast forward (those who still want to watch the film please do not read beyond this point). Stuntman, Viraj (Akshay) hates the supermodel-surgeon, Bebo aka Sim (Kareena) (yes! I am not lying about the profession); supermodel-surgeon hates the stuntman; negligent supermodel-surgeon operates the stuntman and leaves her silly watch inside his intestines; silly watch alarm makes noise inside the stuntman’s tummy, please note the alarm tune here, ‘Mangalam, Mangalam’ (wedding mantras); supermodel-surgeon seduces the stuntman; supermodel-surgeon operates the stuntman to recover the watch; supermodel-surgeon dumps the stuntman; stuntman decides to marry Hollywood starlet, Denise Richards; supermodel-surgeon sings a sad song, reaches the wedding to profess her love; stuntman dumps the Hollywood starlet; supermodel-surgeon and the stuntman get together.

If you think this is the worst written film review/article ever, you are right; I am supremely inspired by the film at the moment. My heart goes out to the producers of the film, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment, Sunil Lulla and the distributors, Eros Entertainment for the crores they will lose (but they claim to have got the biggest opening in the history of the Indian Box Office, so my sympathies with the audience only). Director, Sabbir Khan who also shares credit for the screenplay has done an extremely bad job by trouncing previous Akshay Kumar duds like Chandni Chowk To China and Tashan.

Performance wise both Akshay and Kareena did what they were asked to, mouth sexist dialogues and look glamorous. I understand that it was not a performance oriented film but it doesn’t even rise to the level of Singh is King (which by the way was quite enjoyable).  Good actors like Kirron Kher, Boman Irani and Javed Jaffrey were wasted with under-written characters. So called actors like Aftab Shivdasani and Amrita Arora hog too much screen space (I wonder why). Kehkashan Patel (I don’t blame you if you don’t remember her) and Vindu Dara Singh (Dara Singh’s son) were taken out from the deep freezer but were not allowed to thaw before being put in front of the camera (their frozen expressions said it all). Now for the much talked about Hollywood stars in the film, Sylvester ‘Rambo’ Stallone, Brandon ‘Superman’ Routh and Denise ‘Bond–girl’ Richards; they all had poor cameos and I sincerely hope they do not think that all Bollywood films are like this.

Technically too, I am not impressed with the film; the much talked about stunts are all stale, editing is patchy and the background music is mediocre (Salim Sulaiman). Anu Malik’s music is not memorable at all and the ‘Bebo’ song is simply unbelievable (what were they thinking?) Finally, about the much talked about styling in the film. Aki Narula does a good job of making Kareena look like a supermodel (cannot say the same about the surgeon part) in the shortest of dresses and the tallest of heels, all sourced from Italy apparently. Shabina Khan sourced the trendiest clothes and footwear for Akshay from the biggest brands worldwide but it all just doesn’t seem right. The actor seems a little too old for a skinny and printed pair of jeans with golden sneakers or just incorrect while sporting a white jacket shirt-less at a formal awards ceremony.

Overall, two thumbs down for Kambakkht Ishq!

My rating:  * One star (on five)

– Shrey Khetarpal

 

Jun 14 2009

Bride Wars

 

Chick-flick that didn’t click…

 

 

 

 

 

Bride Wars, poster courtesy: www.movieposter.com

Bride Wars, poster courtesy: http://www.movieposter.com

 

 

 

 

A perfect wedding… Hollywood loves the subject and there are a number of chick-lit and rom-com films dedicated to this theme. Some are genuinely enjoyable (think My Big Fat Greek Wedding), while some are just like stale popcorn (think Made of Honour). Bride Wars, starring Anne Hathaway (Emma) and Kate Hudson (Liv) clearly falls in the second category. A single episode of Sex and the City packs more punch that this ninety minute film.

Liv and Emma are best friends till they get to know that their weddings are scheduled for the same day by the almighty wedding planner, Marion St. Claire (played by Candice Bergen). None of them want to leave the much sought after venue, The Plaza and decide to stick to the date expecting the other to change. Friends-turned-rivals, both brides begin to plan their weddings and sabotage the other’s. The plot seems interesting till here, but the script is extremely flimsy after this point. There are a few funny moments but not enough to keep you away from checking emails or messages on your phone.

Performance wise, I enjoyed Candice Bergen’s (Miss Congeniality, Sex and the City) sugar coated, cold hearted wedding planner act and Kristen Johnston’s (3rd Rock from the Sun), self-obsessed, alcoholic bridesmaid show. Both Anne and Kate disappoint with extremely average performances. You do not connect with Emma the way you did with Andrea (played by Anne in the delightfully funny, The Devil Wears Prada) and Kate reminds you a lot of her mother, Goldie Hawn (not in terms of good acting but in age).

Overall, Bride Wars is a mediocre film by director Gary Winick, whose Charlotte’s Web and 13 Going on 30 were quite enjoyable.

My rating: * * Two stars

– Shrey Khetarpal