Flashback January 2004: Gen X Enters! 

By Taran Adarsh, February 5, 2004 - 00:32 IST

January witnessed a new number of new talents emerging on the screen. Mainly directors. Let's have a look at the potential the Gen X possesses. Their strengths. Their weaknesses…

Hriday Shetty
PLAN
The one thing that Shetty seemed to have learnt from his mentor [Sanjay Gupta] is how to make a stylish film. But how about a cohesive script? PLAN did manage to keep the viewer's attention arrested in the first half, partly due to some well penned dialogues [Milap Zaveri] and partly due to able performances [Sanjay Suri, Dino Morea], but it went awry in the next part. Clearly, the director's plans of making a wholesome entertainer went kaput, courtesy the writers!

Srinivas Bhashyam
PAISA VASOOL
Mel Smith's HIGH HEELS AND LOW LIFES could've been Indianised delightfully, but Bhashyam and co-writer Anurag Kashyap ruined the plot with inept writing. Even otherwise, PAISA VASOOL just didn't look like it was directed by Mani Ratnam's erstwhile assistant.

Sriram Raghavan
EK HASINA THI
A product of Ramgopal Varma's 'factory', Raghavan proved that he knows his job well. A good storyteller, a sound technician, but… The flick [a mix of DOUBLE JEOPARDY, BANGKOK HILTON, RETURN TO EDEN] should've been well structured in the post-interval portions. Raghavan should've judiciously trimmed at least 20 minutes of the film. Yet, by far, the most impressive debut of the first month!

Pooja Bhatt
PAAP
If ever an actor turns director, you can be well assured of one thing at least: The film is bound to have proficient performances by the actors. That was more than evident in Pooja's directorial debut PAAP [inspired by WITNESS]. Despite soulful music, superb cinematography and natural-to-the-core dialogues, PAAP missed the bull's eye. What went wrong, did you ask? Well, the promotions gave an impression that the film was JISM Part II [skin show, lots of flesh, erotic sequences et al], but in actuality the plot revolved around the conflict between three principal characters – the father, daughter and her boyfriend. Apt case of misleading promotion!

Manisha Koirala speaks about Paisa Vasool