India Film Review

Movie Gallery : Illena in Rakhi -2

2007-06-15T00:03:00.001-07:00

Movie Gallery : Illena in Rakhi

2007-06-14T23:59:00.001-07:00

Movie album : Illeana in Devadasu

2007-06-14T23:42:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Actress Suhashi

2007-06-14T23:29:00.000-07:00

Album: Amrita Rao

2007-06-14T23:27:00.001-07:00

Album: Actress Astha Singhal

2007-06-14T23:16:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Actress Poonam

2007-06-14T23:15:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Actress Meera Chopra

2007-06-14T23:08:00.001-07:00

Album : Actress Ekta Khosla

2007-06-14T23:05:00.001-07:00

Album: Actress Monica Nouva

2007-06-14T23:00:00.001-07:00

Monica Nouva is a UK based model who is acting in FM (100% fun and Masti) that is being made by the team of 'Hyderabad Nawabs'

Telugu film Photo Gallery : Actress Kamna Jetmalani -8

2007-06-14T03:16:00.001-07:00

Review : Omkara

2007-06-07T21:42:00.001-07:00

Rating : Excellent (4.35/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2006
Running time : 3 hrs
Director : Vishal Bhardwaj
Cast : Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kareena Kapoor, Deepak Dobriyal, Bipasha Basu, Vivek Oberoi

Omkara : An engrossing Othello !

The film show which I attended was sparsely sprinkled with desis, and everybody favored the seats at the rear of course. So here I am and there's this gaggle of girls sitting in the row behind me, which is all fine and good, except that they talk loudly. Which is also fine (they didn't talk during the movie), except that during their talk in the interval, they loudly reveal the ending !! And I'm well within earshot. God, dumb people ! I mean if you know what's going to happencan you not tell the whole world ? Aaghh !

Knowing the end lessened the impact but I still enjoyed the movie - so you can imagine how good it is. Like "Maqbool" which was based on "Macbeth", "Omkara" is based on another Shakespearan tragedy "Othello". Vishal Bhardwaj provides the music, co-writes the dialogues and screenplay and directs, which leads me to believe that the man must be a genius, because he does each task beautifully. The story is well adapted to rustic Uttar Pradesh, the dialogues, the dialect and the accents sound authentic, as does the acting. Omkara is quality cinema.

Omkara or Omi Shukla (Devgan) leads a gang with his two right hand men Langda Tyagi (Saif) and Kesu Firangi (Vivek) , and aids and abets the local canny politician (known only as Bhaisaheb (Naseeruddin Shah)) in the criminal neccesities of his political career. Omkara falls in love with Bhaisaheb's lawyer's daughter Dolly (Kareena) and she with him, and abducts her from her marriage mandap. After much bad blood between the lawyer and Omkara, matters are resolved when Dolly admits to loving Omkara in front of her father, and he in humiliation and anger issues a warning on woman's fickleness to Omkara. Nevertheless Omkara and Dolly plan to marry and Dolly is firmly ensconsed in his home. Meanwhile Bhaisaheb wins the elections and his parlimentary seat and elevates Omkara to a party post. So Omkara promotes Kesu as "Bahubali" to head the gang, which makes Langda jealous. Thus Langda, in cahoots with Dolly's spurned to-be husband Rajju (Dobriyal), hatches a plot to gain his revenge . . .

Ajay Devgun has another "Company" like role, only this time it's not a don in Dubai, but a small-time goonda in the rural towns of Uttar Pradesh. And he does just as well, giving an arrestiing performance. Saif crowns his acting career with a jewel of a role and shines as Langda Tyagi, which is quite a departure from his usual suave, urban-boy roles ( Dil Chahta Hai, Hum Tum etc. ). Vivek has a comparitively small role as Kesu but is competent. And Kareena, who'm I considered an average actress, is superb as Dolly, essaying innocence and naivete perfectly. Konkona Sen Sharma plays the role of Indu, Langda's wife, and is her usual competent self, doing a convincing job as a rural woman with cynical tendencies. Bipasha Basu has a pretty small role (billed as a guest appearance in the credits) as the local nautanki wali Billo Chamanbahar, and Kesu's love interest, but manages to make it work (yeah, wonders never cease), although the first time she opens her mouth to speak Hindi in the rural drawl, it sounded like she was speaking some exotic foreign language ! The find of the film is Dobriyal, who plays Rajju, Dolly's spurned would-be groom with panache. And ofcourse nothing need be said about Shah's depiction of the politician; he is as good as ever.

The film has good songs and background music, and Bharadwaj squeezes in 2 catchy item numbers (something we didn't see in Maqbool) filmed on Bipasha. Pretty fast-paced in the first half Omkara slows down post-intermission, with less of the action and more of the subtle mind machinations. The film has humor and poignant moments interlaced with the action, and the director takes pains with details and in building up the characters (little touches like showing Langda painting his finger nail). The story is believable and well adapted but there are some logical gaps (unlike Maqbool) - stuff like Omi not recognising Langda's overt mind poisoning, or Dolly not recognising the importance of a family heirloom and treating it with the carelessness of an inexpensive toy (how naive can you get ?).

So although it's not as fantastic as Maqbool, Omkara is a close second. A must watch.

Review : Ta ra rum pum

2007-06-06T00:40:00.001-07:00

Review : Ta ra rum pum

Rating : Below average (2.8/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2007
Running time : 3 hours
Director : Siddharth Anand
Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Javed Jaffrey, Angelina Idnani, Ali Haji

TA RA RUM PUM : SLICK PACKAGE CAN'T SAVE THIS ONE

Another film from the director who made "Salaam Namaste . And as I leave the theatre, I'm wondering how old the guy is. He's actually 27 or more, I'm amazed to find. You'd think at 27 you'd make less juvenile movies. But no, TRRP proves me wrong.

I'd seen the trailer, so had a pretty good idea what the movie was about. If you've heard about it even in passing, you know it's about car-racing – Rajveer Singh or RV (Saif) being the car-racer, who's starts out as pit-crew but ends up behind the wheel when he accidentally impresses a racing team's manger (Jafri). He also meets pretty young pianist Radhika (Rani), they fall in love and wedding pheras (sans Radhika's Dad's blessings) follow. A lovely modern house, and two precocious, annoying kids (Champ and Princess) help complete the suburban, desi, richie-rich package in Manhattan.

And all is well until (surprise, surprise) RV speeds into disaster at the race-track . . .

The film is set in New York, so nice, polished locales are a given. Plus if you've seen SN, you know the director pays attention to detail – clothes, sets the works. The film even features a cartoon character filled song. The story is the usual – happy-happy romancing, marriage and kids etc. and then problems strike. The film ran along it's predicted path pretty tamely, and if I had to relate to you the entire story verbally, it would be a saga of un-ending sentences starting with boring "And then ……"s.

By the time the interval came, it seemed like eons had passed, and not a single emotion in that first-half had moved me – I had trouble believing, and sympathizing with the flaky characters. One does not feel for morons. Major flaws in Rani's characterization – pre-marriage, she's thrifty even being super-rich, and post-marriage the woman can't open her mouth to tell her extravagant, "let's pay for everything in installments" husband to straighten up. Plus being a parent, I was pretty ticked off with the whole "let's not tell the kid's we are poor" philosophy. Kids are smarter than that – they'll cotton on. Yes, people make mistakes, and do dumb stuff, and my problem is not with the fact that Radhika and RV do all of that – what leaves me unmoved is that they have very few redeeming qualities.

Rani appears as a rich, college-girl majoring in music, in the first half of the film. Thus, I assume the choice of mini-skirts – which Rani can't carry off at all (unless she majorly loses weight). She ends up looking dumpy. And that terrible, fusili-inspired hair-do didn't help at all. What exactly was that supposed to be ? Delicate tendrils of hair framing her face? It widened her face, and she looked vacuous. Along with the mini-skirted bottom, she looked like a walking-talking cylinder – which is amazing because she's a gorgeous woman and I'd imagine you'd have to try hard to make her look bad. Saif could stand to lose some weight too.

The kids, who were specially selected to play these roles, did well, considering the terrible, and sometimes very mature lines they were given – I'm thinking which kid actually talks like this ? Kids are mostly smart and interesting to talk to – why are they always so annoyingly ESP-ish on desi films ? Whatever credit is due in this film, goes to Javed Jafri as strongly accented Harry, and Rani who's managed to imbue this improbable role with some sincerity. I didn't feel Saif in this film at all, no spark, no sizzle, and his sweat-encrusted face (in his helmet) was a total turn-off – he looked like he had cold sores all over his face. Plus the name RV – when I hear RV, all I can think of is recreational vehicle (the kind SRK drove in Swades).

The second half is just about tolerable, and that's a relative measure because the first half left me indifferent. Tepid, very tepid, and in retrospect something I wished I hadn't watched.

Review : Just Married

2007-06-06T00:29:00.001-07:00

Review : Just Married

Rating : Average (3.0/5)
Genre : All-in-one
Year : 2007
Running time : 3 hours 17 minutes
Director Meghna Gulzar
Cast : Fardeen Khan, Esha Deol, Satish Shah, Kiron Kher, Mukul Dev, Sadiya Siddiqui, Tarina Patel, Raj Zutshi, Perizad Zorabiyan, Bikram Saluja

JUST MARRIED (JM) : Sweet, simple and very average

Buy.com
Another movie with a bunch of people on a bus. And again all honey-mooners. Or almost. This did remind me of Honeymoon Travels, but HMTPL was so much more interesting. HMTPL had many stories running in parallel, each of them being equally important. JM, on the other hand, is focussed on one particular couple Abhay (Fardeen) and Ritika (Esha) and the others are just there to support them or make a point for the script.

Meghna Gulzar in her second directorial venture after "Filhaal", in which she also tried to portray the sensitive side of an unusual story, tries to show us the bonding of two strangers after they're married. So, Fardeen is the affable, ex-NRI Abhay, and Esha is the pretty Ritika Khanna. Both harbor doubts about the arranged marriage system, but have not the gumption to question their parents outright. Thus, the duo find themselves at the wedding Mandap, and off honey-mooning to Ooty soon after.

Since they are veritable strangers, there is awkwardness and reticence, mostly on Ritika's part. In the film, she is supposed to be an educated (MA) girl holding down her first job. However, Ritika appeared to be what can only be described as painfully shy, something which I'd thought a job could cure you of (how do you work with people if you can't even look them in the eye ?). The director seems to substitute shyness for awkwardness. And while I can understand the awkwardness, I wasn't sure why Ritika was SUCH a shrinking violet.

Abhay's character is a nice guy and all, and he's making a real effort to allay Ritika's fears, whatever they may be. But I'm thinking - what about the guy ? It's his wedding too. Doesn't he have qualms ? What about his feelings ? Ritika and Abhay should have an equal awkwardness so to speak. And they don't. Once they get back from the honeymoon to the joint family home, I could think of Ritika's burden as heavier (the whole "the woman must adjust" idea), but at the honeymoon, just the two of them - no kith and kin to cause trouble - it should have been a level playing field.

The film thus moves along, very, very slowly. In the middle it got boring and I almost gave up hope. My husband didn't like it at all; he found Ritika and Abhay boring - as in boring characters. They weren't really smart, or snappy, or even energetic. They had no bright ideas, they didn't say much striking stuff. My take on that was that at that minute level, in the nitty-gritty of everyday lives, we are all boring people. But then, must you take the film down to that level, and should you be making a film that depicts that "boring-ness" ?

You can, theoretically. Will it work ? That's sorta up in the air. But to do it so that it sticks in your audience's head, and nobody can just wave it away as a simple little bit of fluff (which it is in JM) takes talent and/or vision. Which I'm not sure that Meghna, and Gulzar's daughter she might well be, has at this point of time. Most people I know have actually either liked this film, or are indifferent to it. No-one thought it bad. It's considered a simple story told simply. Not outstanding, not fantastic, not "oh my God what a movie it was". Just simply that it was nice and that was all it was.

I do think that the supporting cast were all very competent, and that's added considerable sparkle to a film that could have turned to be as dull as ditchwater. There was Sadiya Siddiqui and Mukul Dev as a newly-wed, urban, Muslim couple, Satish Shah and Kirron Kher as an older couple with many years of married life, Raj Zutshi and Tarina Patel as the American-born/NRI couple, and Perizad Zorabiyan and Bikram Saluja as the very-much-in-love couple. Kher and Shah were, as reputation suggests, very good. And Esha, in mannerisms and acting, is very much her mother's daughter.

I do appreciate that we have now in Bollywood directors with varying sensibilities; our good fortune thus being that we now have a burgeoning "multiplex" genre - films that stray from the filmi-masala factory and tell different stories in ways yet unexplored in traditional Hindi cinema. Still not everyone that tries succeeds, and while Meghna Gulzar seems to be taking steps in the right direction, she isn't yet there.

When she is, hopefully some time (soon) from now, we will surely have a much finer product than "Just Married".

Review : Bengali Night

2007-06-06T00:27:00.001-07:00

Review : Bengali Night

Rating : Below average (2.7/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 1988
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Nicolas Klotz
Cast : High Grant, Supriya Pathak, Shabana Azmi, Soumitra Chatterjee, John Hurt

THE BENGALI NIGHT : A CHORE TO WATCH

The distinctions between good cinema and bad cinema have never been very clear to me. It's all very subjective, right ? My cinematic trash might be your Dhoom2, and vice versa. So of course, when I chance upon little know titles, I presume them little known gems and proceed to spend three-ish hours watching a film which is neither engaging nor moving at a fast enough clip.

On further crunching of the filmi grey cells, one decides that there should ideally be 3 categories : good, bad and no-need-to-watch . This film "the Bengali Night" definitely comes in the third category. It's not a good film - I heartily de-recommend it. If there was a higher message (Amazon reviewers thought so), it slipped by me totally. The only thing this film has going for it (besides of course the amazing Shabana Azmi) , is Hugh Grant or so I thought until I saw the film. Grant in this film is so very young - remember this came out in 1988 - he's about 20 years older now, and I must say he looks much better now.

Circa 1988, Supriya Pathak was a thin waif. Well, OK you still can't call her a waif – I mean if I inhaled really deep and blew out with full force she isn't getting blown away, now or any time previously. Thin, yes, waif, no. And with a booming laugh that must be heard in the nether worlds, waif somehow just doesn't fit. These days, you can watch Pathak, who's tripled in size, as Gujrati housewife Hansa Parekh in comedy serials like "Instant Kichdi". I wonder how that must feel - going from a Bazaar to a Khichdi ? But who's to say ? Paapi pet ka sawaal and all that. Shabana Azmi then still looked young. Azmi has now almost retired from films (save the occasional "Honeymoon travels")

The film is based on the book "La nuit Bengali" by sociologist Mircea Eliade, and is apparently based upon a true story. Allan (Grant) is an engineer, working under Mr. Sen (Soumitra Chatterjee). When Allan falls sick, Sen graciously invites him into his home to recuperate, and asks him to stay on even after, if he so wishes. Allan, who does, keeps to himself, until the elder daughter of the household Gayatri (Pathak) draws him out. They fall in love, but when this is known by the elder Sens, the repercussions are not pleasant for the lovers . . .

Now the story seemed a little off to me; thus did not feel Allan's angst. Why would the Sens encourage Allan, a young man, to stay unless they had other motives ? It was made clear in the film that they had no such designs; thought him a son, a brother for Gayatri etc. and the whole premise seems a little shaky. As far as acting goes, Azmi, as Gayatri's mom Indira Sen, is her usual magnificent self. Pathak appears naive enough, and worried enough, as an unmarried, young, "good" Bengali girl would be. Grant is not as polished as he is now, although one can see he's trying. Soumitra Chatterjee as Mr.Sen is very new "English" with his "Allan, my boy". Utpal Dutt had a fleeting role as the postman at the Sen's residence.

The film is sort of choppy, editing a bit sparse. The film doesn't flow. And the DVD's sound quality wasn't very good – background sounds at times louder than the dialogues. Parts of the film, such as those of Allan with his friends in their little apartment, seemed surreal. This film left me unmoved. I can't actually call it ghastly, because I really don't feel enough about it to decide. But you get my drift.

Review : Mistress of Spices

2007-06-06T00:26:00.001-07:00

Review : Mistress of Spices

Rating : Poor (2.5/5)
Genre : Drama / Romance
Year : 2006
Running time : 1.5 hours
Director : Paul Mayeda Berges
Cast : Aishwarya Rai, Bylan McDermott, Zohra Sehgal, Ayesha Dharker, Nitin Ganatra, Anumpam Kher, Padma Lakshmi

MISTRESS Of SPICES (MOS) : THE MISTRESS HATH NO MAGIC

This film has a high cringe factor.

"Why won't you talk to me spices?" Uh..er.. who won't talk to you ? And once realization dawns, cringe big time. "Don't punish me chillies". "Why are you warning me chillies ?" . Cringe, cringe, cringe. Almost dissappear into sofa. Chillies glower menacingly (apparently). Threatening music in background. To me the chillies looked much the same whether they were angry or whether they were not. What do angry chillies look like anyway ? Lest it look like I am going off my rocker and having conversations with the spices in my kitchen, I'll clarify that the above philosophical ramblings are from Ms. Rai's profound mutterings in MOS. Her character plays Tilo, a Mistress of Spices, indoctrinated by First Mother and sent out into the world to help people.

People apparently need help in San Francisco too, so Tilo is dispatched here, and situated in a charming, Spice Bazaar, where she doles out advice, sympathy, and little packets of cumin, pepper and asafoetida, as required.

Her magical spice powers can only be used to help others, not herself. And devotion to the Mistress-hood, requires that she never touch another's skin, or step out of the store. Besides the practical problems of living this presents (and let's not even go there) it seemed kind of incongruous in a world where Tilo's Prince Charming appears on a motorbike, and crashes conveniently right at her very door-step.

Tilo is ofcourse drawn to him, but the chillies won't listen, and keep warning her to not give in to her desires. Like any other normal human being Tilo wants both, her spices and her man. And rightly so. Who would want to give up Dylan McDermott? And how can one give up achaar ? Quite impossible. Anyway, you get the drift. Does Tilo manage to quell the chillies, and their whispering, or must she listen to First Mother and return to where she came from ?

Now, although the book MOS is the least favorite of the Divakaruni books I've read, I must say that the film is quite a class apart. And below. One does not easily forget the awfulness of it. I also hated "Like water, for chocolate". This whole food mixed with mysticism thing I do not get. And add Ms. Rai to the mix, and you can forget believability altogether. The reason I believe is in the medium. One can read about "threatening" spices in a book, and shrug it off, but to actually see a living, breathing Ms. Rai "talk" to the chillies, does things to your brain.

Plus Ms. Rai's other natural (dis)abilities - she simpers, she acts coy, she puts on an accent, and the whopper - she can't act, don't enhance the film any. Dermott, although he fits the part visually, seems bored and tired and wanting to get out of there. The couple lack chemistry. Zohra Sehgal appears as the First Mother. A bigger misfit for the role I couldn't have imagined. A "First Mother" I'd thought would have looked calm, composed and angelic. Sehgal is naturally crabby looking, and seems more like a backside-whupping grand-mother than the Grand Dame of Spices. Nitin Ganatra is the cabbie Haroun, and is quite accomplished. So is Ayesha Dharker, who's Haroun's neighbor Hameeda. Anupam Kher has a small role as Dadaji, whose visiting the store to get advice on how to keep his grand-daughter (Padma Lakshmi) from straying.

The story unfolds excruciatingly slowly. It's hard to feel for the characters. The dialogues sound awkward and contrived. The film doesn't flow, the action never jells, and the romance never sparkles. A truly terrible film.

Garam Masala

2007-06-05T05:22:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Actress Sada in Veerabhadra

2007-06-05T04:59:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Actress Madhu Shalini -2

2007-06-05T04:07:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Actress Madhu Shalini

2007-06-05T04:06:00.001-07:00

Aham Premasmi

2007-06-01T03:55:00.001-07:00

IndiaGlitz [Sunday, July 24, 2005]

Ravichandran, a big star in the Kannada film industry has bettered his performance as a film director also. His brand of films, which are made with a huge visual back up, is presented with good marketing strategies like good publicity. His films - produced and directed by him- are always looked with good expectations by his fans.

What separates Ravichandran's films from other brand of Kannada films is that all his films are made with gloss and there is a higher level of sincerity in making the products. He does not look at the restrictive marketing capabilities of the film, but spends million on presenting an extravagant product. He has the knack of creating a huge interest among the audience about any of his presentations before the film's release. "Aham Premasmi' was also hugely expected because it was the first digitally graded film in the Kannada film industry.

"Aham Premasmi" has launched Ravichandran's brother Balaji as the hero and Bollywood actress Arati Chabria is being introduced in Kannada. In this film Ravichandran uses the state of the art technology in cinematography, editing and postproduction departments to enhance the technical capabilities of the film.

"Aham Premasmi" has everything for the audience. In a way, it could be said that Ravichandran has presented a great feast for the audience through this film. Though all his films had excelled in the camera work and song presentation, "Aham Premasmi' has proved that Ravichandran has gone several steps ahead in rendering music and dialogues for the film. "Aham Premasi' takes the audience to a different world of fantasy, dream and visuals.

The film does not boast of a great story, but what makes the film a great viewing experience is the presentation of the story. Balaji plays the role of a poor boy who always looks in gorgeous cloths falling in the grip of love with another rich girl from his own college. But the girl's father does not approve of this alliance and creates bottlenecks. Finally, the boy gets approval of the parents of the girl and marries his ladylove.

But another angle is provided in the film in the form of "love of god". The hero gets unusual dreams where he challenges the "love of god" that he will fall into a love trap. But the "love of god" says that love is eternal, beautiful and humane. "Love of god" decides that this poor boy has to love a rich girl and helps out his own way in creating situations for the poor boy. It is still doubtful whether this astonishing angle for the story will be accepted by the audience, but never the less the audience would be delighted to see the film for other strong reasons like visual presentation and a great music.

Another plus point is that the film's heroine Arati Chabria. She looks gorgeous and provides oomph for the film. Her exposure, which does not look vulgar on the screen, may attract young audience. Despite acting in many Hindi and Telugu films, Arati may find "Aham Premasmi' as her best film so far.

Balaji excels in his role and proves that he can take up new challenges in the film industry. His unusual stunts are also likeable. But he has not been tested in emotional sequences, as the sentimental part it totally absent in the film. All the other artists have performed their roles adequately, but it is Sharan and Ganesh as the comedians who have stood out and get full marks for the comedy.

Ravichandran's music is also one strong point of the film, as well as his trustee lieutenant Seetharam's Camera work. The same thing could be said about other technical details of the film. In the final analysis, it is a Ravichandran film from A to Z and it is his craft that lingers in the mind of the viewers.

"Aham Premasmi' stands out as the best film that has come out from the Ravichandran stable and his fans should not miss the film.

Photo Gallery - Tennis Star Sania Mirza (from Vishnu's film launch)

2007-06-01T03:46:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Actress Tanu Sri Dutta from Ambika Cinema banner

2007-06-01T03:45:00.001-07:00

Photo Gallery - Tanu Sri Dutta

2007-06-01T03:43:00.001-07:00

Toss - Upendra, Raja, Priyamani & Kamna Jetmalani

2007-06-01T03:41:00.001-07:00

Movie Review: Nishabd

2007-05-30T23:58:00.001-07:00

I was going to do a different experiment this time, like reviewing two movies in a single post. I saw two movies last night, Nishabd and Black Snake Moan and it was amazing how similar in theme the two movies were. Each had a young girl and an older guy as the lead characters, each struggling with their own problems and how they come in contact with each other and eventually end up changing their lives forever. However this is where the similarities end, you'll read more about that movie in a different post. Let's talk about Nishabd....

If you want the short review, RGV is crazy, BigB is dumb to sign a movie like that, save your $10 or Rs 150 or whatever and watch another movie or give that money to charity. If you are still intersted in the long(er) review, here it is....

The movie is a complete disaster, it fails in numerous aspects, but most importantly in its theme. The title is some love stories are never meant to be understood, however the way movie unfolds it seems more like a "lust story" than a love story. Stay with me for a second, its a story of a 60 year old guy (Amitabh) who stays with his wife (Revathy) in a tea estate in an unknown place in India (possibly Kerela). Now this guy has been married for 27 years and like most married guys, hasn't gotten laid for bulk of those years. Moreover he's more of an introvert, loner type of person who is passionate about photography and is going through the motions of his life. In comes Jia ( Jiah Khan) this spoilt brat, with every possible piece of jewelry hanging from her body, sucking on a lollypop, who is their daughter's friend from Australia.

Now there is something really messed up about this girl, who has a dysfunctional family and a pretty troubled childhood. She believes in the "take light" philosophy of life (wonder what that means) and thinks that she can get away with anything. For some reason she takes a liking to Amitabh and thus begins the skin show. Bathing with the hose pipe in broad daylight, walking around the house exposing her beautiful legs (this was actually the good part of the movie), laying down infront of the old guy while doing Sharon Stone impressions at the same time. You get the picture. Now if I am a 60 year old guy who is experiencing that after years....heck yeah I'll go for that. On the other hand she sees this as another accomplishment in her 18 years of messed up life.

To cut the long story short, after a number of long scenes of inane dialogues she tells Amitabh that she loves her and forces him to say yes by squeezing his hands and kissing him (again I am old man blah blah blah). He says yes, then the family finds out and all hell breaks loose. She leaves and then no one talks to the poor old guy and he decides to live his life longing for his 18 year old love.

Now I am not an expert when it comes to love like Karan Johar or some other guys I've had the pleasure to watch/know. But this is not love, you can say whatever you want, but Nah this is not love. This relationship was based purely on lust. Therefore this movie is not meant to be understood the way RGV intended it to be.

Who's fault this is? Ofcourse this is one of those movies where you can lay the blame squarely on the maker's shoulders. RGV fails to write a love story which is even half convincing. I have a feeling after watching this movie Karan Johar called him and said, "how do you like me now, B***h". This is a great show of acting, cinematography and background score in search of a decent story. The lines in the movie are so childish that at some moments you look at the person sitting next to you and say " did they just do that". That whole elephant joke when Big B is showing Jiah the estate was a display of mediocrity at its best.

The movie does well in terms of capturing the mood, there are some forced scenes that will make you laugh, performances are good and Jiah Khan is WHITE HOT. For those good things I'll give the movie one and a half stars. But overall the movie insults the intelligence of the audience which was supposed to understand this movie, by dishing out a completely pedestrian effort. To all those who've watched this movie and felt similarly go watch Black Snake Moan and you'll see one of the things this movie could have been but alas it wasn't.

Arti Chabria and Gowri Mumjal from Gopi film -4

2007-05-30T23:41:00.001-07:00

Arti Chabria and Gowri Mumjal from Gopi film -3

2007-05-30T23:40:00.001-07:00

Arti Chabria and Gowri Mumjal from Gopi film -2

2007-05-30T23:39:00.001-07:00

Arti Chabria and Gowri Mumjal from Gopi film -1

2007-05-30T23:38:00.001-07:00

Athidi Film - Mahesh Babu & Amrita Rao

2007-05-30T23:35:00.001-07:00

Lakshyam - Gopichand & Anushka

2007-05-29T23:40:00.001-07:00

Murder 2 - Mona Chopra

2007-05-29T23:39:00.001-07:00

Pokari Still 8

2007-05-29T03:52:00.003-07:00

pokari still 7

2007-05-29T03:52:00.001-07:00