Movies

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Ajab Prem ki Gazab Kahani

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Katrina Kaif

Direction: Raj Kumar Santoshi

Type: Comedy

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

A starry cast, a tickling script, some old Namaste London moments, colorful backdrops, hindi masti songs and an old formulated love story, a livewire romance and a sizzling chemistry between the hero-heroine jodi. What more can one want?? Ajab Prem Ki Gajab Kahaani has it all!Raj Kumar Santoshi, a man of gritty, serious and grim movies manages to not go haywire and presents a rather sweet love-story which has funny bone-tickling comedy, tense and painful moments, and an electrifying cinematography.
Ranbir has improved considerably from his Saawariya days and infact has, like his grandfather Raj Kapoor, shown true versatility. The Wake Up Sid star has actually a fantastic comic timing. Not for once, does our eye waver to somebody or something apart from him (except the Katrina sizzlers of course) Santoshi caught his aura, his enigma and his charisma as perfectly as he could. Infact, the “President of Happy Club” manages to hook us completely!
The story-line is quite simple. Boy loves girl, girl loves someone else. The boy is heartbroken but lets her live her life and then like Jazz of Namaste London, Jenny of APKGK runs to Prem’s comforting arms leaving behind Rahul a.k.a Upen Patel! There is, like every Bolly masala movie, foolish mafia and concepts of elopement leading to hilarious results involved. But who cares. We do have fun throughout the movie.
The first half is slower than the second one and a bit sluggish as well. But no complaints. We do have the rocking Prem Ki Naiyyaa and Aa Jao Meri Tamanna as compensations. Pritam’s peppy music keeps us thumping our legs with every beat. Neeraj Shridhar, Atif Aslam, Hard Kaur, Sunidhi Chauhan and Mika were fantastic in the movie.
The script ensured hilarious moments. For instance, the one where Prem tries to woo Jenny at the dance party.. Reminds one of Raj Kapoor His waltz and the short conversation with Jesus (A Chetan Bhagat reminder) were good additions.
OR the bubble scene with the Dons or the scene where Prem, in order to rescue Jenny has to wear one of her tops..
The film does have its clumsy moments like the stammers don’t sound natural and certain emotional moments could be visualized in a better way. But its ok. When you have popcorn, Ranbir and Katrina, you can comfortably show a thumbs up to any movie

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Jail

Director

Madhur Bhandarkar

Cast

Neil Nitin Mukesh, Mugdha Godse, Manoj Bajpai, Arya Babbar, Chetan Pandit

Maverick Madhur Bhandarkar has had, as we all know, a penchant for serious, realistic and grim subjects. Almost every film of his deals with the reality behind closed doors or gloomy lives or apparent glitz. The award-winning director’s latest Jail starring Johnny Gaddar Neil Nitin Mukesh and “Fashionesta” Mugdha Godse has once agian stirred the complacent minds of young India. Like every other movie of his, Jail too, gives us a social message, that those behind bars too have a life. And the jail somehow bonds with one and all. If Page 3, Corporate and Fashion gave us the inside probing into the high-society dirt galore, then Traffic Signal bids upon the lives of a majority of India population, those living on signals and feeding on horns and dirt skidded tyres and left-overs, the people on roads. Chandni Bar then takes us to the world of the Brothels and stinking dingy bars and the people living their lives there.
Jail, on the other hand, has a slightly different storyline. Although like Bhandarkar’s other protagonists, here to, we see the lives of many from the eyes of one. Jail has Parag Manohar Dixit, regional manager of a reputed bank, falsely implicated in one of the most serious charges, narcotics, suffering and surviving various ordeals, looking through the sundead perceptions of fellow criminals. He falls and gets up and falls again, loses zeal in living but again rises above his decaying ashes.
Jail is not a funny, jolly and happy movie. Its dark, gruesome and sinister. It makes you delve into the psyche of the criminal minds. It tells us with cruel frankness, how a minute’s anger can push you towards a holocaust of undying souls, men without spirits, living a death everyday.
Through the trials and tribulations of Parag, we come face to face, unwantedly, with those of Gani, Ghalib, Kabir etc who narrate broken parts of their own lives, their hopes of seeing the sun again and living a free life. We are made painstakingly familiar with their families, and mistresses and children and mothers. Even when we plead for relief, Madhur remains unshaken and continues his nitty-witty narration.
Every part of the movie, starting from the opening of the jail door and the beginning of the narration to the ending of the narration of Salim bhai who acts as the omnipresent narrator, somewhat attached emotionally to the Dixits, has been done aesthetically. There’s no melodrama but there is no release either. When asked about the nude scene where Parag is asked to strip in the jail, Neil told candidly, “Yes, I shot for the nude scene but it has been done aesthetically. Everyone knows Madhur’s style of working. His film are realistic and he makes a lot of effort to get all the nuances right. In this sequence, I am in the jail and I am asked to strip. I was a little apprehensive but Madhur handled it perfectly. My character in the film goes to the prison and what happens to him is extremely humiliating. I think this sequence is one of the most beautifully shot sequences in the film and it will shock people.”
Special mention to the actors who have delivered their best so far. Neil did goof up at parts. For instance, we easily expected a lot more unnerving drama when he was about to cut his nerves or perhaps when he was reminded by Kabir of his mother and her embraces. Manoj Bajpayee reverberated after Stone Cold Murders and we saw a memorable performance from the actor. His pain was well expressed with his silent eyes. The sadness of the situation was further deepened by the actor’s pensive conveyance. Atul Kulkarni’s two scenes at the climax are praiseworthy.  Overall, everyone deserves an accolade.The helplessness and gravity of the hero’s situation could not be better visualized had the other actors not played their roles well. Madhur certainly hopes that “Crime rate will go down after watching this film.”

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Dil Bole Hadippa

Anurag Singh’s Dil Bole Hadippa is a a poor remake of the mistaken identities and a loose take on Cricketmania that Indians are famously infected with. The opening scene where “Myself Veera Kaur, right and left handed batsman” Rani Mukherjee enters in a somewhat sexy patiala, reminding us of the bubbling Bubli of the Bunti and

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Bubli fame and hits six runs on every ball for consecutively six times fails to grip theaudience’s attention considerably. Right from the beginning the narration is loose, unimaginative and clumsy.

Expectations soar high again When we see Anupem Kher and in the next scene, but sadly, none of the vaterans manage to add anything substantial to the plot of the movie. Any Indo-Pak cricket match combines passion, and adrenaline rush but the match scenes are cold and frail and totally lame. If Lagaan could manage to sustain interest of the viewers for three and a hour hours over a match of cricket, then its painful to see the Hadippa team disorient the whole plot.

Cheers and Hoots follow Shahid’s entry, as we move on to the next important entry in the movie but dies down faster than one can expect. The interaction between Rani and Shahid fails to make a mark. Their comic timings do not synchronize at all although as the film proceeds, it manages to generate some curiosity. The addition of Sherlyn Chopra,Sonali Nagrani and Rakhi Sawant to the script could be made more sensible but its nevertheless good to see Sherlyn in a sexy saree

Song sequences could be better as sudden unwantedness is felt that makes the loose script all the more clogged. After Kaminey’s success, Shahid manages to only sizzle a bit. His cold chemistry with Rani is further dampened by the careless plot. Once again, its sad to see the game so badly treated with wickets falling at the drop of a hat of the nine-times winner Pakistani team. The supposedly intense scene of confrontation between Shahid and Rani fails to cause palpitation. As for Rani, she’s really yet to make a good comeback.

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Wake Up Sid

Karan Johar perhaps got exhilarating response for his movie but surely, it could be tad better had he concentrated on making the feelings more intense than obvious. The protagonists were either hollow or could not manage to portray reality on screen. Yes, munching a popcorn or day-dreaming during exams is a reality, but  sleeping throughout two and a half hours (count in days, perhaps months for the movie hero) is definitely not a good check-up.

Ranvir a.k.a Sid is pursued to join his dad’s business which he, predictably, leaves midway. What does dad do? Nothing. He fails in his final year college examinationss and see his dad’s reaction?  Throw Sid straight out of the house?!

Who’s sleeping then?

What was Sid’s dad doing all these years? Pampering the kid?

Ok, the kid suddenly feels ashamed and guilty and topping all, anger. So what to do next? Leave home and end up where?

No, not at any of his college friend’s place but someone he had known for only a couple of days. Enter Konkana a.k.a. Aisha Bannerjee, the “New Girl in the city” in the review. And does she allow him at her new flat?? Ofcourse! I mean, that is not Kolkata right. Its Mumbai where if someone does you a favour, you must return it. So what if it means living together, without love?

Wake Up!

We understand that Sid has been sleeping but Aisha? A mature girl, who gets confused whenever she sees Sid in the company of  pretty girls, and who realizes her love for him when she is dating her Editor boss over Jazz sessions?!

And how does Sid’s mother and father take up the whole issue? Oh, don;t you remember?? She brought SId his favourite mangoes as a gift to the newly not wed “couple”

The sleeping Sid realizes his love for Aisha only after she writes an article?? You remember the words right?? Which phrase or which extract makes it so convincible that Sid tells Chotu to keep the glass of warm milk to himself and runs to the Juhu beach to meet Aisha, in a weather where no sane Mumbaikar is likely to come out.

Talking about the side characters, Sid’s mother Supriya Pathak’s English speaking skills are supposed to be suoer-sensitive. For some reasons, it reminds us of Namaste London whre Katrina’s mother too plays a similar comic character. But neither is Sid’s mother able to well portray the plight of such women who are dragged into an upper society and try, ultimately failing, to mingle with the customs nor is she able to suggest through her gestures or emotions the grieving mother’s heart at having to leave away from her beloved son.

The Ektara song was soulful and the photography was perhaps the best thing about the movie that ultimately brought the estranged father-son duo together.

Having said all, the movie could be better and we certainly hope that K Jo will make sure the next youngster mania that hits us is not sleeping. The movie did generate a sizzle but could not manage to produce lasting imprints on the mind.

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