Latest Movie Reviews from BollywoodHungama.com http://www.bollywoodhungama.com Hungama Feed Creator http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/templates/default/images/bollywoodhungamalogo.gif http://www.bollywoodhungama.com http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/14110/index.html When Himesh Reshammiya stars in a film, it's got to be a musical. Musical it is, but RADIO also attempts to explore the man-woman relationship in a metropolis. RADIO rests on a thin storyline. Superficially, it's about a couple that goes separate ways, then man meets another woman, later ex-wife develops a soft corner, much later man is torn between the two women. Haven't we witnessed similar themes in the past? Oh yes, aplenty! Only thing, director Ishan Trivedi places the story in a radio station and that gives the film a different texture. Also, the film is divided in various chapters - some interesting, some mundane, some yawn-inducing and boring. The USP of RADIO is, without doubt, Himesh's musical score. The film has some melodious tracks, but how one wishes the super music was complimented by an equally superior script. Vivan [Himesh Reshammiya] is a successful RJ with a popular radio channel. His wife Pooja [Sonal Sehgal] seeks divorce and the reason cited is lack of compatibility between the two. Enter Shanaya [Shenaz Treasurywala], who is like a ray of sunshine in Vivan's insipid life. He discusses Shanaya with Pooja, but being a woman, she can see his love for Shanaya. In the end, however, Vivan realises that he may have a soft spot for Pooja, but he wants to spend his life with Shanaya. RADIO rests on a fragile plot, with the writing holding your interest at places, but blowing away the hard work in its immediate chapter. That's how erratic RADIO is. Confusion kya hain? The ex-wife can't decide if she wants her man back or not. It was she who wanted a divorce, not the man, but she can't let go off her man for some inexplicable reason. Even the other woman, all of a sudden, wants the man she loves so dearly to go back to his ex-wife. That just doesn't work! Besides, the narrative is laced with too many songs. Whether or not the situation warrants them, you have one track ready to unspool every 10 odd minutes. On the brighter side, RADIO has some tender moments too. Note the sequence towards the end, when Himesh pours his heart out to Shenaz. It's a beautiful sequence and the writer in particular needs to be complimented for taking a mature look at relationships. Directorially, Ishan Trivedi cannot do much given the fact that he's handicapped by a sketchy screenplay, which, ironically, is also penned by him. Resultantly, the film grips in bits and spurts. Himesh's music is top notch. 'Mann Ka Radio' is already a craze and its picturisation needs to be lauded. The other tracks - 'Teri Meri Dosti', 'Zindagi Jaise Ek Radio' and 'Rafa Dafa' - are lilting compositions as well. Attar Singh Saini's cinematography is perfect. Himesh has grown as an actor and that reflects in certain difficult moments of the film. Shenaz is natural. In fact, she gets it right this time. Sonal acts well, but her character is not well defined. Paresh Rawal's track looks forced. Zakir Hussain is strictly okay. Rajesh Khattar is good. On the whole, RADIO just doesn't work... It's complicated! ]]> Taran Adarsh Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:11:51 EDT http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/14149/index.html Can you ever imagine watching an Amitabh Bachchan film and not watching Amitabh Bachchan in it? Seems impossible, isn't it? The towering persona and the rich baritone just cannot be overlooked. But R. Balki transforms the legendary actor into Auro, replaces the rich baritone with the voice of an adolescent [who's neither grown up, nor a kid] and taps the hitherto untapped talent of the icon. Trust me, 10 minutes into the film and you forget you're watching Amitabh Bachchan. For, Auro takes over the moment he is introduced to the viewer. PAA is a simple film told in the most simplistic manner and that's one of the prime reasons why this film works big time. The emotions would've fallen flat had the writing been sub-standard or the execution of the material been humdrum or the actors been inferior. But, thankfully, PAA scores in all three departments, although it must be said that the entire slum redevelopment episode is a complete put-off. Yet, all said and done, PAA is an outstanding film. A film for every paa, every maa... for everyone with a heart. Take a bow, Auro! Auro [Amitabh Bachchan] is an intelligent, witty 13-year-old boy with an extremely rare genetic defect that causes accelerated ageing. He suffers from progeria. Mentally, he is 13, very normal, but physically he looks five times older. Inspite of his condition, Auro is a happy boy. He lives with his mother Vidya [Vidya Balan], a gynaecologist, but is completely clueless of his father's identity. Till he meets him, Amol [Abhishek Bachchan], who is a full of ideals politician. Okay, let's not disrespect Balki by calling PAA a rip-off of THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON or JACK. It's not! PAA looks at the varied relationships so minutely. It may've been publicized as a father-son film, but the women - mother and granny - play equally pivotal parts. The first hour of PAA grips you in patches. The introduction of Auro is brilliant, but the moment the story focuses on the politician and his arch rival's sub-plot, it goes off-track. Sure, there are some interesting sequences, but the impact isn't mesmeric. But the post-interval portions take the film to dizzy heights and camouflages the defects. The father-son bonding and the penultimate 25 minutes raise the bar. The emotional quotient is tremendous. Get ready to overhear a lot of sniffs and see a lot of moist eyes once the lights are switched on. Note the two sequences in the climax, when Auro reveals what his father's first mistake was and the pheras towards the end. Also recall the scene when the girl Auro detests for a certain reason shows up with a sketch of Auro. It moves you completely. But let's not mistaken PAA to be a rona-dhona movie. It's a positive film with funny/light moments in plenty. The conversation between Auro and his best friend, on various occasions, are superb. Also, not once does PAA show Auro as 'different'. He's one among the kids and there's no discrimination whatsoever, which is remarkable. Director R. Balki deserves a salute for thinking out of the box and also presenting Amitabh Bachchan like never before. The writing may be erratic, but his handling of the emotional moments is exemplary. Note this, he would be a force to reckon with after PAA. Ilaiyaraaja's music is soothing. P.C. Sreeram's cinematography is incredible. It would be a blunder if one missed out the contribution of the makeup artists. Transforming the veteran actor into a kid must've been an arduous task and Christien Tinsley and Domini Till deserve to be complimented for making Auro look so real. Now to the performances! No amount of praise, no amount of adjectives and personifications would do justice to Amitabh Bachchan's performance as Auro. Sure, the icon has enthralled us with superlative performances in his four-decade career, but PAA is something else. The icon keeps surprising you at regular intervals and PAA is one of those beautiful surprises, which will remain etched in your memory forever. That doesn't mean that the remaining performances get dwarfed by Auro. Sure, PAA belongs to Auro, but not once does Abhishek Bachchan dither from his position or seems inferior. This is the hallmark of a tremendous actor, which Abhishek is. Vidya is another surprise of PAA. She takes giant strides as an actor and proves yet again that given the right roles, she can match up to the best in the business. Paresh Rawal is effective. Arundhati Naag is amazing. So is the kid, Pratik, enacting the role of Auro's best buddy. His telephonic conversation with Auro is superb. Jaya Bachchan's presence is lovely. On the whole, PAA is an amazing experience. It makes you realize two things. One, the Hindi film industry is also capable of narrating fresh stories. Two, Amitabh Bachchan is truly the most accomplished actor this side of the Atlantic. Talking from the business point of view, PAA has been made in a sensible and reasonable budget [approx. Rs. 17 crores, including P & A expenses], which should easily be recovered from multiplexes alone. In the final tally, here's a film that should win awards [for Auro] and also box-office rewards, given its low costs. A film that should strike a chord with every paa, maa... just about everyone with a heart!]]> Taran Adarsh Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:04:14 EDT http://www.bollywoodhungama.com/movies/review/13977/index.html Be forewarned. DE DANA DAN is the most bizarre film from the maharaja of laughathons, Priyadarshan. Not even in your wildest dream you'd think that Priyadarshan would place almost an entire film in a hotel and have its entire cast, comprising of 26 [or is it 27?] characters, most of them weirdos, interacting with each other. Brings back memories of BLAME IT ON THE BELLBOY? May be! But Priyadarshan needs to be credited for pulling it off. There are times when you laugh hysterically at the most outlandish jokes and situations. There are times when a raised eyebrow or a wide-open jaw makes you break into a guffaw. Be cautioned. DE DANA DAN is a loud film, with each and every character screaming on top of his/her voice, with the characters shouting, running, even floating and swimming in the end. But what do you expect in a Priyadarshan film that has a title like DE DANA DAN? The promos never promised path-breaking or thought-provoking cinema that would give birth to debates and discussions. So why look for logic in this one? DE DANA DAN makes no qualms of narrating a story you haven't heard before. Here, the story is non-existent and it's left on Priyadarshan to mix-n-match those two dozen characters and keep the momentum alive for the next 2.45 hours. DE DANA DAN promises laughter and entertainment and sticks to its promise. This one's not for the hard-nosed types, but for those who worship escapist cinema. Who want to chuckle, giggle and chortle at those mindless jokes. In short, DE DANA DAN is a pure dhamaal entertainer! Nitin [Akshay Kumar] is a butler, cook, driver, watchman, gardener to a wealthy female industrialist [Archana Puran Singh] in Singapore. Like any young man, Nitin too dreams of a better life. He desperately wants to become rich and marry the love of his life, Anjali [Katrina Kaif], who supports him financially. Ram [Suniel Shetty], Nitin's best friend, also came to Singapore with the dream of striking it rich, but ended up a courier delivery man. He falls for Manpreet [Sameera Reddy], but her high society parents will never approve of marriage, not unless Ram has lots and lots of money. In the midst of all this is Harbans [Paresh Rawal], a shrewd businessman, who's looking for ways to multiply his income and avoid his debtors. He decides the best way would be to marry his son [Chunky Pandey] off to a girl whose parents can give him a large dowry. He is introduced to Manpreet's parents at a function and is impressed by their social status. He introduces himself as a well-established businessman, impresses them and they decide to get Manpreet and Harbans' son married. With several factors working against them, Nitin and Ram soon reach a dead end in their relationships. When both receive ultimatums from their girlfriends, they realize that only a life of vice can help them out of their misery. They come up with an audacious plan to kidnap someone important and demand a ransom. The kidnapping goes awry and both hide at a local hotel while waiting for the ransom money. But misfortune is never far and the kidnapping spirals out of control. Meanwhile, Manpreet's wedding reception is being held at the same hotel that Nitin and Ram are hiding in. Soon, they are joined by a motley set of characters including a Chinese Don [Asrani], a hired assassin [Johny Lever], a ACB police inspector [Sharat Saxena], a club dancer [Neha Dhupia], an ambassador [Vikram Gokhale], a young frustrated double crossing wife [Aditi Govitrikar], a letch [Shakti Kapoor], a drunken waiter [Rajpal Yadav] and a dead body nobody wants to check into the hotel. DE DANA DAN is atypical Priyadarshan film that has the unmistakable stamp all over it. But, at the same time, DE DANA DAN is erratic and uneven - energetic at times, lethargic at places. Also, the culmination to the film is very similar to the director's earlier works, with the entire cast running helter-skelter. On the flip side, you miss Akshay's presence in the second hour. He disappears [gets locked in a cupboard] for at least 20 minutes and the focus, hence, shifts to the other characters. His fans will miss his presence, for sure. Besides, the film tends to get very lengthy towards the second half and overtly verbose too. Director Priyadarshan is synonymous with comedies and the ace storyteller promises laughter in abundance. Handling so many characters, plus making a film on mistaken identities could be very tough, but the director gets it right. Pritam's music is alright, while the RDB track, 'Paisa', is the pick of the lot. Salim-Sulaiman's background score is energetic. K. Ahambaram's cinematography is alright. The review would be incomplete if one ignored the dialogue writer's [Jay Master] contribution to the film. The lines are laced with wit and soaked in humour and bring the house down on several occasions. DE DANA DAN has so many characters that it gets difficult to pinpoint or single out any one actor. Akshay is at his best in a Priyadarshan film and DE DANA DAN proves it. Suniel is natural to the core. Paresh is incredible; he pitches in a superb act. Katrina and Sameera don't have much to do. Amongst the plethora of actors, Johny Lever, Neha Dhupia, Manoj Joshi, Asrani, Vikram Gokhale and Archana Puransingh deserve special mention. On the whole, DE DANA DAN is targeted at the masses and it delivers laughter in abundance. Leave your brains behind to enjoy this madcap entertainer!]]> Taran Adarsh Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:22:21 EDT