Latest Gossips From The Cinema World
Latest Gossips From The Cinema World

NRIs are a frequent fixture in Bollywood flicks. They may be out of India, but they are an active part of Indian films-right from Subash Ghai’s Pardes to Rakyesh Om Prkash Mehra’s latest Delhi 6, and the upcoming New York starring John Abharam and Katrina Kaif. Bur much used as these characters  who belong to a unique social milleu are, how right does Bollywood get their portrayal?

VJ-turned actress Sophie Choudary who was born and brought up in UK, feels the characterisation of NRIs in most films is cliched. “NRIs are often shown as rich spoilt brats who know nothing about their culture. Many movies like Pardes and Namastey London, depict NRIs as having a negtive image of our culture and tradition,” she says, “but despite being born adn brought up outside the counrty, we have a deep rooted connection with Indian values, which we imbibe from our parents. It’s ok to show a clash of culture the NRIs face when they return to India, but it’s wrong to show them disrespecting Indian ways.”

Kabir Khan, director of New York, feels any kind of generalisation is wrong. “There are two extreme stereotypes of NRIs in  Bollywood -one is of NRIs who don’t like their life abroad and long to return to India, and the other is of those who get carried away by the western ways.” He beleives Bollywood today has become more sensible. “There’s less exeggarationand more practicality. In New York, I’ve sketched the NRIs characters as people with as normal a life  style as anyone else,” he adds. But he feels that heavily accented NRIs accents won’t be right for the mainstream audiences and whether they’ll be able to understand the heavy accent.

” The role Kal Penn played in The Namesake was that of a perfect NRI with the right acent and mannerisms, but that’s a cross over film for the multiplex audience.  We can’t use the same formula in commercial films,” he says. Trade analyst and film critic Komal Nahata feesl this balance is needed for mainstream Bollwyood films. “If the story and charcter fall in place, it sfine. The audience must be convinced about the character, only then it serves its purpose,” he says.  Sandal wood actor Chetan, who is also an NRI, feels that casting is everything. ” Once the director is able to choose the right actor forthe role, half the battle is won. Actors like Kal Penn and Nagesh Kukunoor were able to play NRIs to perfection in THe Namesake and Hyderabad Blues. So, it depends on the actor, the story and if the role fits well within it. It’s also imortant for the actor to be convincing enough for the audience to empathise with the character. Mastering an accent won’t do,” feels Chetan.

Had an impossible dream that almost came true? One that was 5 steps shy of becoming reality? And then poof! Gone! Just like that. And you shut the door so hard on it that you refuse to even acknowledge it?

That’s what happened to Aditya, Rob, KD and Joe.

Aditya Shroff(Farhan Akthar) is an investment banker. And a workaholic. He lives, breathes and sleeps his job and makes piles and piles of money, lives in a perfectly decorated apartment and drives a BMW.

He’s married to Sakshi(Prachi Desai) a super rich housewife who had never had to lift a finger to even get old boxes from the attic and has dresses of her choice delivered home.

Rob(Luke Kenny) is a musician who creates jingles and provides some score for other musicians like Anu Malik

KD(Purab Kohli) aka Kedar Zaveri is a bored heir to his father’s jewellery business whiling away his time.

Joe(Arjum Pampal) is a failed musician who sits around doing nothing while his once stylist wife, Debbie(Sahana Goswami) runs his family fish business and struggles to pay the bills.

But 10 years ago these guys were Magik. A rock band that went on to battle and win the title for the most popular rock band, an album and music video all courtesy of Channel V.

But then compromise, producers who cant recognize true talent and egos get in the way and Magik breaks up and the band members move on to do more mundane things in their life.

But an emptiness continues to haunt them as they whoosh along pretending all is well.

Sakshi who senses a restlessness in her husband discovers some old photographs of the band and starts to slowly unravel the past, bringing the foursome back together after 10 long years.

Can they put the past behind them and rediscover the friendship forged years ago?

Will they work their Magik again?

Rock On has it’s heart in the right place and thats what makes it work. And of course stellar performances by the cast.

Farhan Akthar makes a rocking debut . He does have an unusual voice and to get up and record a whole album takes courage. And he pulls it off with panache!!! He may not be the greatest of singers but he doesn’t sing through his nose either!! But where he truly rocks is when it comes to acting. His tormented Aditya pulls at your heart strings and he is pure charm as the rocker. And it only helps he looks totally yummy

Arjun Rampal does well as the super talented guitarist who can never market himself to get recognition.

Not too much of a talker his eyes and body language reflect the failures that haunt him.

And there is finally an explanation for the abysmal hairdo he was seen sporting for months. I was beginning to wonder what happened to my favourite man

Both Purab Kohli and Luke Kenny pitch in wonderfully understated performances.

Sahana Goswami works wonders with her supportive girlfriend turned bitter slaving wife. Hats off!

Prachi Desai has got to be the most sober character of the lot. But she pulls off her uber rich wife with a quiet strength that makes you look deeper and beyond the flash.

The music is what could be termed Indian commercial rock

All true blue rock fans will admit that no matter how good the guitar play is when the lyrics are belted out in Hindi it seems less of rock song

But the music works. It sure is different from the regular fare and work much better as part of the movie than just listening to the sound track. Dont think of it as “rock” music and you’ll enjoy it. Remember Metallica’s Black Album?  It was their most commercial album and rather “unrock” but also their most popular one

Rock On is a movie made by rock fans. Guys who grew up on Floyd and Mettalica and other gods of rock. The show at the climax is all Floyd Rock On is also a movie made by Abhishek Kapoor. I still find it hard to believe that someone who can make Aryan can make Rock On….but then Ashutosh Gowariker made Baazi before Laagan

Take a bow Abhishek. And rock on!

Watch this!!

RGV’s back to scare you and this time the theme’s black magic.

Rajeev(Sudeep) is a successful builder. He’s a nice guy who values his friends, loves his wife Aarti(Amruta Khanvilkar), adores his kids Raksha(Ahsaas Channa) and Rohan(Shrey Bawa) and patiently puts up with his mother’s (Jyothi Subhash) religious TV programmes and superstitious beliefs.

All is going nice and dandy when Rajeev discovers his freinds and business associates Anshuman(Kenny Desai) and the very weird Madhu(Ashwini Kalsekar) have been cheating him. In a fit of rage he disassociates himself from them invoking the rage of Madhu who decides to get even with Rajeev through his much adored daughter, Raksha.

And then strange stuff begins to happen leading to Raksha getting good and possessed.

Is there a rational explanation for the all strange happenings or does black magic truly exist?

The first half of the movie holds your interest, establishing the characters and setting the stage for things to come. The second half of the movie goes well and truly down the drain with a climax straight out of a bad(did they have any good ones??) Ramsey brothers movie.

Phoonk doesn’t quite scare you though there are a couple of  jumpy moments. But it does feel creepy that something so unnatural can happen to a guy as regular as Rajeev

Sarkar Raj had me believing that Ramu is getting his touch back. Nope. No such luck. He does suffer from a Sarkar Raj hangover though coz he happily borrows the clanging cymbals backgroung score for Phoonk too. And the “Govinda Govinda” chant is replaced by “Rama Rama Rama”

Sudeep puts in a wonderfully natural performance….even when battling over the top tantrik’s. His persona is immensely likable and he does wonderfully in his first hindi movie.

Amruta doesn’t have too much to do and sorta gets on your nerves as the hapless hysterical female.

Ashwini Kalsekar is at her creepiest best. Although over the top, the vibes she generates are enough to make you want to stay outta the lady’s way

Ahsaas Channa finally gets be herself and play a girl after numerous “boy” roles.

Horror is not new to her and while she did well in Vaastu Shashtra she excels in Phoonk. Her “possessed” performance outdoes Urmila’s in Bhoot.

Lillette Dubey is wasted.

All in all a time pass flick. And certainly not scary.

Why was this movie even made????? The last time Mallika Sherawat teamed up with “multiplex” actor Rahul Bose we got the very likable rom com Pyaar Ke Side Effects. This time she has the super talented Ranvir Shorey keeping her company and what we have is a stupid movie with no point to it.

Kabir(Ranvir Shorey) is an engineering student in his final year for the fourth time, whiling away his life. One evening he rescues a drunk Kuhu(Mallika Sherawat) at the train station and thus begins their relationship. She constantly gets drunk and passes out on him, treats him worse than dirt and slaps him ALL the time(99 slaps 1 kiss goes the tagline…. 99 is way too low a count).

She writes moronic scripts based in the future where women rule the world and he’s the bad guy getting his backside kicked. Yet he loves her and does everything she asks for!!! Insane!!!!!

And then one fine day she leaves him…no explanations offered.

You’d think he’d be happy but no, our man is miserable.

Will he get Kuhu back? Does she even love him?

Ranvir Shorey does very well as the harassed Kabir.

Mallika has to be rude, act bitchy and slap Ranvir silly. And this she does with ease.

If you are a die ahrd Sherawat fan then just watch the songs on TV.

Oh and yes the 1 kiss in the tagline is added just to justify the tagline.

Getting slapped would be more pleasant than watching this.

This is truly Singh overload…everyone is pretty much called Singh

Gone are the days where you would have a Sardar fly overseas to become a cab driver. Now they go Down Under and become dons! . Lucky Singh(Sonu Sood) left home to become the undisputed “King” of the Australian underworld. This means he’s constantly dodging enemies and making headlines causing much embrassement and shame to people in his village. The villagers are also tired of Happy Singh(Akshay Kumar) who has a heart of gold but his helping anyone often results in property destruction all around

So they decide to send Happy and his best pal, Rangeela(Om Puri) to Sydney to make a honest man of Lucky and bring him back home. But Happy being Happy lands up in Egypt instead and runs into Sonia(Katrina Kaif) whom he instantly falls for. But alas Happy must goto Sydney first before he can pursue the woman of his dreams…but not before a quick song n dance routine

Happy and Rangeela finally land in Sydney and try to convince Lucky to return home. All they get for their trouble is to get thrown out on the streets. A homeless Happy runs into a desi Rose Lady(Kiron Kher) whom he treats like his mother. But mummy dearest is depressed ‘coz her daughter is coming back home after finishing her studies with the boyfriend in tow. The downside is the daughter thinks they are well off but mamma is just managing to scrape ends together. So in true Happy style the man comes up with a hare brained scheme to help Rose Lady out. Only to discover that the daughter is none other than Sonia!! And her boyfriend is a snooty rich kid, Puneet(Ranvir Shorey)

Singh is King is very very Punjabi and rather over the top. Director Anees Bezme does manage to steer away from blatant slap stick though sparing us yet another Welcome.

Akshay Kumar truly proves he is the brightest star in Bollywood today. The movie survives simply because of him. Sure there are times he gets on your nerves but he grows on you. His charm is undeniable.

Om Puri excels as Rangeela plays the perfect foil to Happy. Certainly not his career best but it’s wonderful to see him in form again after moronic roles like Mere Baap Pehle Aap.

Sonu Sood does well as Lucky though he doesn’t have too much to do.

Katrina Kaif…well she’s pretty as a picture and her smile will make u melt. The flat dialog delivery and the accented Hindi continue though. For someone being touted as Bollywood’s reining queen she sure can’t act.

Neha Dhupia palying Lucky’s sidekick does well in the brief role.

Ranvir Shorey is fabulous in his super short role. Truly there is no role this man can’t do.

All in all this is Kumar’s show all the way.

And it’s wonderful to see all the Sardar’s dressed so wonderfully after Daler Mehendi’s flashy outfits.

Go ahead and grab some popcorn

As the movie opens to the trendy remixed version of Bachna Ae Haseeno and you watch Ranbeer Kapoor match steps with ease with 3 lovely ladies you know you are watching a star. The youngest Kapoor on the block would have made a more popular debut had this his first flick rather than Saawariya.

So you have a dedicated bachelor who designs video games for a living, Raj(Ranbeer Kapoor) trace his love life from 1996 to 2007. His first encounter is with young Mahi(Minisha Lamba) who is searching for her “Raj” al la DDLJ style in Switzerland where Raj and his pals are also vacationing. While Raj loves the whole DDLJ idea for a coupla days he has no intentions of marrying the dreamy Mahi who is on the brink of getting engaged with a family friend. So he bids adieu leaving behind a heart broken Mahi.

Cut to 2002 and Raj is living it up or rather living in with Radhika(Bipasha Basu) in amchi Mumbai. She’s a small town gal from Ranchi who wants to make it big in the movies. They have the perfect life together, no complications no strings attached….till Raj gets a job offer to move to Sydney n Radhika starts making wedding plans. With the babes and the beach beckoning Raj decides to chicken out of the impending wedding.

Sydney lives up to his expectations and so do the women . Till one night he runs into Gayathri(Deepika Padukone), a taxi driver cum supermarket checkout girl. She’s smart, sassy, independent and will work as many jobs as it takes to get her through her MBA degree. She’s nothing like anyone Raj has met and he is smitten. And finally lover boy decides it’s time to tie the knot. One problem though…Gayathri doesn’t believe in marriage!

A heart broken Raj thinks back to the times and women he’s jilted and decides to track them down and ask for their forgiveness. But even with the passage of time the agony of heart break is tough to forget and Raj has an uphill task cut out for him.

Will Mahi and Radhika find it in themselves to forgive Raj?

Is he ironically gonna end up alone?

After the dismal Ta Ra Rum Pum director Siddharth Anand somewhat finds his element in Bachna Ae Haseeno.

The movie belongs to Ranbeer Kapoor who looks dishy throughout and is immensely comfortable in front of the camera. So charming is the dude that he’ll elicit a smile from you even while behaving like a total heel

Minisha Lamba does well as the young dreamy Mahi and the tough as nails unromantic woman she changes into.

Bipasha Basu rocks! She holds her own against the young wanna shines and has amazing chemistry with Ranbeer even if she does look older than him.

While Deepika Padukone is not as luminous as she was in Om Shanti Om she doesn’t have much scope to perform. The dialog delivery definitely needs work.

Fresh, breezy and young Bachna doesn’t have the magic of Salaam Namaste but it’s still a fun watch.

Ranbeer Talwar(Saif Ali Khan) has pretty much lost everyone he’s loved since he was child. So now he doesn’t have much use for love and relationships in his life. A self made man, his roaring business is his life.

Till his cool BMW rams into a car one evening and kills the Walias leaving their 4 kids orphans.

And then gets saddled with playing guardian to the Walia kids till they are adults….and be good with them or he gets thrown into jail for 20 years.

Which is exactly what the kids want. Bent upon revenge, they make way to Ranbeer’s house to make life hell for him.

A few days in and both Ranbeer and his bimbo girlfriend. Malaika(Ameesha Patel) have had enough and are desperately looking for a nanny for the kids.

Lo behold! God(Rishi Kapoor) decides the perfect way to make life rosy for Ranbeer and the kids is to send Geeta(Rani Mukheerji), an angel who follows no rules and wants to know why humans cry, down to earth to play nanny.

So Geeta rides down a rainbow on a bicycle, changes into a tacky outfit which pretty much works as her nanny uniform n uses plenty of magic(though she isn’t supposed to) to get the kids and Ranbeer together. And make Malaika baby disappear.

Soon all is good but that means that it’s time for Geeta to go back to the heaven and she doesn’t want to. Neither does Ranbeer who’s in love with Geeta. So does God answer Geeta’s prayers and let her stay back?

Not sure if it was intended that way but Thoda Pyaar is strictly for kids and they too might not be too happy with the tacky special effects given they get regular doses of Cartoon Network and Animax.

Kunal Kohli does have a flair for casting kids though. After the adorable Rehaan in Fanna he comes up with a likable bunch who manage to endear without ever getting on your nerves.

Saif Ali Khan barely gets to be alive. Poor guy’s made to whisper in a bid to appear aloof but comes into his element when he gets to bond with the children.

God bless for making Rani Mukherjee an angel who can’t cry. It is certainly pleasant to see her all clear eyed for once! She has a good time bonding with the children and their chemistry shows through.

Did she get Vidya Balan to design her wardrobe though????

Ameesha Patel in a quick cameo excels as a social ladder climbing airhead.

So does Rishi Kapoor…though for God he hardly gets to say a thing

Ok movie but certainly not for adult viewing

Aamir Ali(Rajeev Khandewal) is a doctor. Who’s been in London for years and is finally returning back home to his family.

Only he never gets to see them. As he leaves the airport he is given a cell phone and told to follow the instructions given by the voice on the other end. Or he wont see his family alive again.

Aamir’s journey takes him through the poorest sections of Muslim dominated areas of Mumbai as he battles against time to save his family.

The end of that journey will change him forever and rock the lives of several innocents.

Rajeev Khandelwala makes a fine debut. He may have stuck to repetitive expressions as the popular Sujal in Kahin To Hoga, the tele soap that made him a household name but in Aamir he delivers a polished performance that keeps you with him every inch of the way. Bravo!

Hats off to director Rajkumar Gupta. He keeps Aamir compelling exposing the worst of communal problems without ever getting preachy.

We need more movies like this one.

What if your side profile looked like Hrithik Roshan? And you had Priyanka Chopra as your alleged girlfriend? And you had a producer father making a sci-fi movie with never seen before effects for your debut? Life should be pretty good huh? But for poor Harman Baweja it goes all awry.

So the movie opens with Karan’s(Harman Baweja) entry(we have to see bits of him from his fingers to his glasses to finally see him in full view ) desperate to get his dad’s attention. You see Karan is stinking rich but has no one love him…his dad is too busy and his mom is dead.
So our poor little rich boy does loads of dare devil stuff as no one’s gonna miss him if he’s a goner.
Till he runs into a giggly Sana(Priyanka Chopra) who loves painting n poetry(at least what she calls poetry) and writes in her diary daily n actually says stuff like Dear Diary(such characters do not appear even in Mills n Boons these days) and soon he has someone to miss him

All is going good for the lovey dovey pair till Sana gets killed off in an accident just before she can give Karan a kiss with her cold cold lips after a strawberry ice cream.

Poor Karan is down in the dumps. But he does have a wacky scientist uncle, Uncle Ya who quit NASA to work on his time machine. After 15 years he does get it to work just in time for Karan to get to Mumbai 2050 where he’s sure he’ll find Sana again(the things men will do for a kiss ).

So Karan, Uncle Ya(Boman Irani) and Sana’s siblings land in futuristic Mumbai where they do discover Sana, only now she is Zaiyesha, a pop star who hates poetry and loves death defying games but still writes Dear Diary stuff!!!.
They also help fix a robot who insists on calling Karan sexy (someone should shoot that Balaki..the Cheeni Kum director) and agrees to help them get Karan woo Zaiyesha back.
Oh and he has to do this in 30 days or the time machine will return without him and he’ll age 50 years overnight

So Karan sets about getting Zaiyesha to flip for him and he also battles an evil dude(who looks like Darth Vader n his entire setup comes from Star Trek..did you get the props at a discount Mr Baweja????) and makes it back to 2008 in the nick of time with the love of his life(shouldn’t Zaiyesha now grow younger by 50 years?? N the robots not function???)

You wanna make a movie called Love Story you first write a good love story…not inane stuff that’ll make you wanna smother the lovers.
And if you want make a sci-fi movie with never seen before effects then come up with something that people didn’t see years ago in Back to the Future
And anything that borrows from Star Trek sucks….law of sci-fi.

Kareena Kapoor had brains walking out of this one(though she did do Tashan after tat ).
Priyanka Chopra disappoints in this one..can’t blame her much though, both Sana and Zaiyesha are dicey characters.

And Boman Irani!!!!! Wats up with you? How can you do an inane role like this one?????

And finally Harman Baweja. He doesn’t look too much like Hrithik or sound like him. And he definitely doesn’t have his talent. Maybe if he stopped trying so hard to be Hrithik(he even tries to deliver his lines in a similar fashion!!) he might find a place of his own(rem AB Baby? He did so much better once he stopped trying to be Pa)

Love Story 2050 manages to disappoint all on it’s own and wow it needed absolutely no help from Aamir Khan’s alleged “lets ruin Harman” campaign.

Stay away. Even if you are 5 and like pink teddy bears.

To watch Jaane Tu, an Aamir Khan production with a chocolate boy hero, Imran Khan(and Aamir Khan’s nephew to boot!) or the future in Love Story 2050 and the much touted Harman Baweja????
Well Jaane Tu wins hands down and how!!!

The story ain’t anything new…Jai Singh Rathode(Imran Khan)…yes there is a reason behind the heavy name and Aditi(Geneila D’Souza) are inseparable. Together for 5 years, there is hardly a thing they do without each other and they definitely know each other best.
So fantastic is their camaraderie that Aditi’s parents are all set to get the two married post college.
Jai and Aditi are shocked!!!! They are not in love!!! They are just the best of friends …which leaves everyone else shocked

Determined to prove they have no romantic feelings for each other they decide to find the ideal partner for the other one….after all who knows them better??

But when Jai does find love in Meghana(Manjari Fadnis,back after the debacle of Rok Sako To Rok Lo) Aditi feels left out and oh no…..starts to maybe discover that she just may have feelings of the non platonic type for the peace-loving Jai.
Enter Sushant Modi(Ayaz Khan) whom Aditi decides to get hitched to and poor Jai discovers he’s in love too!

To help Jai and Aditi along to finally get things right are a madcap gang of friends, lishka Varde aka Bombs, the slow one; Karan Makhija as the pessimistic Rotlu; Nirav Mehta is excellent as Jignesh, the one persistent yet affectionately etched caricature in the film; and then there’s Sugandha Garg as the spunky and spirited Shaleen.

Oh yes and along the way poor Jai being a Rathode and all has to complete the journey of boyhood and become an “alsi” mard
Not that he has any clue of course but he has his mom,(Ratna Pathak Shah), dad(Naseeruddin Shah albeit in a portrait), Inspector Waghmare(Paresh Rawal) and good old Bhalu and Baheegre Bhaiyya(Arbaaz and Sohail Khan) to convert him into a true blue Rajput

Nothing new or untold about Jaane Tu.
The magic though lies in the perfect casting(hats off Pakhi) and story telling. And Abbas Tyrewalla gets that down beautifully.
Parts of Aditi missing Jai do tend to drag a bit.
And 21 year olds so do not think of getting hitched

Imran Khan makes a fantastic debut. Though a bit wooden in a few scenes this is one actor who makes the whole process of acting look easy. He grows on you and before you know it he’s under your skin and has you rooting for him.
Genelia seen after a long time in Hindi cinema(no I wont even consider the awful Mere Baap Pehle Aap) rocks!!!! The movie belongs to her and she has you in splits and tugs at your heart strings effortlessly.

Also making their debut are Iishka Varde, Karan Makhija, Nirav Mehta and Sugandha Garg who totally totally ROCK!!!!!(Rotlu and his “One coke on the rocks” will always be a favorite )

Manjari Fadnis does well as the dreamy Meghana who lives in a make believe world to escape reality.

Prateik Babbar as Aditi’s rebel painter bro is fantastic.

Ayaz Khan makes his debut after a zillion commercials. And he’s as likable as he is in all those ads. And then shows his grey shades just as naturally.

Nasseruddin Shah….take a bow…..only he can make a corny aspect of “asli mard” endearing.

Arbaaz and Sohail Khan put in a fantastic cameo as the Rajput cowboys.

All in all everyone does a commendable job in Jaane Tu.
The music is thoroughly enjoyable and used wonderfully.

Go watch this one. And come back with a smile on your face.