Kidnap - Bollywood Movie Review

Cast: Sanjay Dutt, Imran Khan, Minissha Lamba, Vidya Malvade
Director: Sanjay Gadhvi
Rating: **

“Kidnap” is a thriller gone so wrong, you wonder if criminals in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh would believe the clumsy way Imran Khan handles the whole abduction.

But then, you can’t blame Imran. If the kidnap victim, a tycoon’s daughter with an allergy to wearing clothes, behaves like a hot temptress while being in captivity, then the hardest of criminals is bound to get confused.

Imran plays Kabeer, a guy who grows up in a rough remand home, living out the nightmare of torture and violence through sketches in the credit titles. This portion where Kabeer’s tortuous background is put forward in rapid fire movements is the most inventive part of this flat thriller.

“Kidnap” is an abduction story with no ransom. And that’s the least of its problems. Gadhvi’s screenplay goes wrong from the word go. The characters seem to function on auto-pilot. No rhyme or ransom seems to govern Kabeer’s progress from disgruntled kidnapper to a revengeful criminal to a reformed software engineer who at the end says goodbye and all the best to his kidnap victim whom he runs into in a restaurant.

If you ever wondered why crime pays, “Kidnap” tells you why. It tells potential kidnappers what not to do…Like ogle at your victim when she insists on bathing in the great big outdoors. It also tells the kidnapper not to visit his hostage’s home to find out why they aren’t picking up his threatening calls.

Yes, that’s the level of dim-witted kidnapping connivance that our kidnapper-hero is reduced to. Of course such a clumsy manoeuvre that puts to risk his entire endeavour as criminal on the run is a pretext for Gadhvi to stage the film’s classiest chase sequence between Sanjay and Imran, done in French Parkour style of outdoor action.

The songs, chase, drama and the lighter moments all get in the way of the storytelling. Kidnap is one big celebration of hurdles and obstacles created by a writer-director who had the best possible cat-and-mouse game in mind.

But somewhere along the way Gadhvi loses his way.

It’s hard to believe Gadhvi created the two ultra-chic “Dhoom” films since “Kidnap” lacks both style and substance. The characters are incredibly inept. So don’t blame the mawkish performances on the actors.

Sanjay, playing a suave billionaire, is made to break into a rival industrialist’s (Raj Zutsi) mansion to steal money. Just when you start scratching your head at the criminal’s wisdom at putting the tycoon through these perverse paces, he’s put into a fireman’s outfit squirting water into a burning prison campus.

Where did the smoke come from? Could it be the audiences fuming at being led up the garden path only to find a road block at the end of the reign-blow?

Baffling on many levels, the biggest piece in this jumbled jigsaw is the casting of Vidya as Sanjay’s wife and Reema Lagoo as her mom. Maybe they wanted to keep the family young.

Imran is just about the only bearable factor in the whole mess. He stays in character, expresses pain with more than just a grimace and scowl. His eyes search far beyond the set stage for answers to the question of human pain.

We join him in this search, wondering why “Kidnap” turns out be such an agonising journey into the doomed.

Ramchand Pakistani - Bollywood Movie Review

‘Ramchand Pakistani’ - a poignant tale set in two nations

Cast: Nandita Das, Rashid Farooqui, Noman Ijaz, Syed Fazal Hussain, Navaid Jabbar Maria Wasti
Director: Mehreen Jabbar
Rating: ***

Cross border problems is the basic theme of first time Pakistani director Mehreen Jabbar’s “Ramchand Pakistani”.

Since partition in 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three wars, excluding the Kargil conflict. Six decades after partition, the common man continues to pay a heavy price for the tension between the two countries.

There are several cases of innocent people from India and Pakistan who are caught and sent to jail on mere suspicion.

Mehreen’s film focuses on the human sufferings on both sides of the border and she has succeeded in giving it unbiased treatment.

The stellar performances by the entire cast make “Ramchand Pakistani” an emotionally engrossing watch.

Set in 2002, the film, inspired by a true story, is about the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-India border by a boy and his father.

“The film is based on actual events. My father (former Pakistani politician and filmmaker Javed Jabbar) works a lot in the areas close to the desert. One day he came across a father-son duo who narrated their story to him. That is where we got the inspiration to make this film. I am sure it will reach out to audiences,” said Mehreen.

The film revolves around Ramchand, an eight-year-old Dalit Hindu boy. He lives with his parents - mother Champa (Nandita Das) and father Shankar (Rashid Farooqui) in a village in the border area of Pakistan.

One day, after a fight with his mother, Ramchand runs away from home. While walking aimlessly, he accidentally crosses the border not knowing this will cost him his freedom.

His father spots him crossing the line of control and tries to stop him. In doing so, he too crosses the border. As expected, the boy and his father are caught and put in a jail in India. After that starts their long battle to prove their innocence and secure freedom.

While at the mercy of jail authorities, Shankar tries to cope with the trauma of forced separation from his mother. His mother is shattered by their sudden disappearance.

Nandita is the only non-Pakistani actor in “Ramchand Pakistani”. Well-known Pakistani TV and stage actors like Rashid Farooqi, Maria Wasti and Farooq Pario’s performances are specially noteworthy.

Fazal Hussain, who plays the eight-year-old protagonist Ramchand, has been particularly appreciated for his outstanding performance.

“The younger Ramchand has been played by Fazal Hussain. A friend of mine who is a director himself suggested him after a lot of search. The older one, however, is 14 years old. He is the son of a mechanic in Pakistan and has acted for the first time ever in any film,” said Mehreen.

The no-frills film is made at a nominal budget. Technically, the film is not of high quality, but Mehreen’s narrative manages to hold the viewers’ attention till the credits roll out.

Drona - Bollywood Movie Review

Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Priyanka Chopra, Kay Kay Menon, Jaya Bachchan
Director: Goldie Behl
Rating: ***

Goldie Behl dares to dream. He’s back after a seven-year hiatus to let us know that “Bas Itna Sa Khwaab Hai” was not where his ‘khwab’ (dream) ended. As a matter of fact, the dream begins now.

“Drona” is a feeling not quite overpowering but purposely underplayed and designed to bring the till-now-barred-in-Bollywood “Lord Of The Rings” genre to our table.

On the storyboard “Drona” must have sounded outrageously ambitious. It’s a film that starts in the US, moves to the deserts of Rajasthan and makes an exit run into a never-never land where blue petals shower down on the screen creating an area of enchantment and incandescence without letting the spectacle dominate the characters.

As far as super-heroes go, the one that Abhishek plays in “Drona” is somewhat unique.

Seething, scowling, wounded and wanting, Abhishek plays a knight in a shining armour, a romantic at heart and a warrior only by force. He glides across the screen doing some of the most gently persuasive old-world stunts conceived on this side “Lord Of The Rings”.

The action often involves the leading lady Priyanka, who is quite good.

Behl with persuasive support from cinematographer Samir Arya builds a visual mindscape manifested in moving pictures that suggest a deep bond between the imagination and our traditional cultural representations of abstract art, from desert-based monuments to esoteric weapons that swirl across the breeze and kill only the evil.

First 10 minutes into this voyage to the realm of our Chandmama-Chandrakanta genre of fantasy literature, and we’re hooked. From the point when Priyanka, styled like our first full-blown Lara Croft and dressed and made up to kill (in more ways than ‘won’) enters the frame, the film takes off with an emphatic élan that just stops short of self-congratulation.

Equally arresting is the sequence where our desi dude, superhero Drona, meets the arch-villain Riz, played by Kay Kay Menon, for the first time. The chaos that breaks out and the ensuing chase across the narrow cobbled streets of an unknown foreign country (Prague?) are handled with a delightful eye for comic book bravura.

All through the telling of this tall and stately tale, Behl displays a restrain that goes a long way in giving the product the feel of a fantasy well-conceived, but never over-drawn.

The technique carries the characters fearlessly and fluently. Besides Samir Arya’s cinematography, which lends the colours of the imagination a hue of the home-grown, the art direction and the sound design suggest paces of a grace long-forgotten in our cinema where now, rapid fire storytelling is almost always equated with an entertaining cinema.

The dramatic conflict converges on Abhishek and Kay Kay Menon. The one silent, calm from outside and torn and troubled from within. The other ultra-flamboyant and theatrical, doing what can be called a reincarnation of Mogambo from “Mr India” and an indigenous version of Jack Nicholson’s Joker from “Batman”.

The theatrics that underscore the narrative’s calm surface don’t always work. Kay Kay’s character goes way over-the-top into an atmosphere of irredeemable grotesquerie.

Fine actor that he is, Kay Kay gives the flamboyant villainy his best shot.

Abhishek displays a wounded pride and a lacerated soul through his eyes. He is also immensely adept at handling the action scenes and goes many steps ahead from his earlier films to under-perform the scenes with heart-warming sincerity.

Priyanka’s styling and body language suggest a smouldering restless sensuality.

By the time we approach the climax, “Drona” has established its claim at taking a confident stab at a genre never done before. What it fails to do is to take that genre into the highest realm of creativity where the characters would have instinctively become children rather than casualties of the mythology and fantasy that Behl embraces with ample affection, but not enough of that quality of connectivity with the audience that superheroes have always achieved with the audience.

At the end you feel an empathy for the sword-wielding Drona who can’t fly through the air.

And that’s what makes this superhero so vulnerable and human.

Watch “Drona” for Abhishek’s reined-in performance as a reluctant hero, and his crackling hissing, but ambivalent chemistry with Priyanka. And for the use of special-effects not to overpower but nourish the plot that strides across two continents and cultures with confident steps.

Click here to see over 90 movie stills from Drona

Hari Puttar - Bollywood Movie Review

Cast: Zain Khan, Swini Khara, Sarika, Lillette Dubey, Jackie Shroff, Vijay Raaz, Saurabh Shukla
Director: Lucky Kohli and Rajesh Bajaj
Rating: **

A child accidentally left behind alone at home tries to protect his house against two funny criminals - does this ring a bell? You guessed it right, “Harri Puttar”, which Hollywood studio Warner Bros alleged was a copyright violation of their “Harry Potter” franchise, is a copy of popular Hollywood movie “Home Alone”.

While Macaulay Culkin deals with two ordinary burglars trying to break into his house, Zain Khan, who plays the title role in “Hari Puttar”, tries to stop the two criminals from entering his house.

The difference between the original and “Hari Puttar” is that in the Hindi version the two prowlers are not eyeing valuables in the house - they are after a chip that has valuable information saved on it.

Also, Hari is not alone in the house. He has his cousin Tuk Tuk (Swini Khara), who has asthma, for company - again the idea is stolen from the Jodie Foster starrer “Panic Room” in which Jodie was cooped in a room with her daughter, who suffers from Type 1 diabetes.

Just like Macaulay, Hari too sets up the same traps using household items and befriends a scary old man who comes to his rescue in the climax.

Sarika, who plays Hari’s mother, seems to be a perfect replacement for Catherine O’Hara, who played Macaulay’s mom in the original. However, the actress fails to play the role as convincingly as Catherine did.

Despite being a copy, the film is entertaining, especially the second half - when Hari thwarts the two criminals’ attempts to enter his house.

Vijay Raaz and Saurabh Shukla as the comic criminals are funny, but it is talented Zain who shines as the protagonist. He is as good as Macaulay.

Lillette Dubey and Jackie Shroff look like extras in the film.

Children, who have not seen “Home Alone”, will have fun watching the movie.

Set in London, the film revolves around 10-year-old Hari Prasad Dhoonda (Zain Khan) or Hari Puttar, as he is fondly called.

Hari’s father (Zakir Khan) is a professor and has been assigned to work on a secret project at a remote location in Britain. So Hari moves to that country with his father and mother (Sarika).

Hari’s father has access to confidential information stored on a chip and safely kept at his house.

Within days of their arrival in London, Hari’s aunt (Lilette Dubey) and uncle DK (Jackie Shroff) visit them with their children. The kids of DK’s boss also accompany them.

Now, accommodating so many children in the house becomes a problem. At one point everything goes for a spin for Hari - not only is he thrown out of his room, he is also ragged and ridiculed by the other kids.

He in fact wishes that all his family would simply disappear, a wish that comes true.

The film has flaws, but directors - Lucky Kohli and Rajesh Bajaj have been successful in their endeavour to elicit laughter and entertain kids with the film.

Golmaal Returns mp3 songs [del.icio.us]

Golmaal Returns is a sequel to the 2006 movie, Golmaal with Ajay Devgan , Arshad warsi and Tusshar kapoor reprising their roles and Shreyas Talpade reprising the role orginally played by Sharman Joshi. Kareena Kapoor, Anjana Sukhani, Amrita Arora and Celina Jaitley are new additions to the cast. Directed by Rohit Shetty,the movie is expected to release on October 29,2008.Pritam has composed the music for this movie except for the song ' Tha Kar Ke ' which is composed by Ashish Pandit.The album also features Golmaal songs by Vishal-Shekar.

Golmaal Returns Songs

Golmaal Returns is a sequel to the 2006 movie, Golmaal with Ajay Devgan , Arshad warsi and Tusshar kapoor reprising their roles and Shreyas Talpade reprising the role orginally played by Sharman…

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Lakshya mp3 songs [del.icio.us]

Lakshya starring Amitabh Bachchan , Hrithik Roshan , Preity Zinta , Om Puri and Boman Irani was directed by Farhan Akhtar. Shankar Ehsaan Loy scored the music of the movie and Javed Akhtar wrote the story and the lyrics. The hit songs from this movie are ' Main Aisa Kyun Hoon ' , ' Agar Main Kahoon ' and the title song ' Lakshya ' . The movie tells the story of Karan Shergill (Hrithik Roshan) who plays the role of Lieutenant (later Acting Captain),who leads his team (initially 12, falling to 6 members) to victory over the Pakistani invaders. It is a fictional story based on the historical events of the 1999 Kargil Conflict.

Anand (1971) mp3 songs [del.icio.us]

Anand is a classic starring Amitabh Bachchan and Rajesh Khanna was written and directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. The movie was released in 1971 and the dialogues of this movie was written by Gulzar, who also happens to be the lyrics writer for the songs Maine tere liye, Na jiya jaye na and the poem Maut tu ek kavita hai , while Yogesh wrote for Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye and Zindagi kaisi hai paheli. Salil Chaudhary composed the music for this movie.The character of Anand was inspired by Raj Kapoor, who use to call Hrishikesh Mukherjee as "Babu Moshay". The film is dedicated to Raj Kapoor and the people of Bombay.

Kidnap (2008)

Also set for release on Eid this year is Kidnap, Imraan Khan’s second film. It’s directed by Sanjay Gadhvi, and also stars Sanjay Dutt, Minissha Lamba, Vidya Malvade, Malaika Arora, Amrita Arora and Rahul Dev. As the name suggests, it’s about a kidnapping case. Seems like there’s going to be an important competition between Abhishek’s Drona and Kidnap. Trying to live up to his great performance in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na could put a lot of pressure on Imraan. I think the trailer is already out, so look it up on Youtube or somewhere. Should be interesting.

Musi of Kidnap is composed by Prittam. I honestly don’t have any comments on the songs, as I haven’t listened to them yet. But Prittam has made some great music in the past, so I have a good feeling about this one too.

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1. Haan Ji / Adnan Sami
2. Hey Ya / Suzi Q
3. Hey Ya (House Mix) / Suzi Q
4. Mausam / Shreya Ghoshal
5. Meri Ek Ada Shola / Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Akruti Kakkar
6. Mit Jaaye / Sandeep Vyas
7. Mit Jaaye (Rock Version) / Sandeep Vyas

Drona (2008)

Drona is the upcoming film by Goldie Behl starring Priyanka Chopra, Abhishek Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan and Kay Kay Menon in leading roles. It’s set for release this Eid, which is I think October 2nd. It’s an adventure/fantasy movie about Drona (Abhishek) who is destined to save mankind. Fantasy movies aren’t ones made by Bollywood very often so I’m looking forward how what Goldie has created.

Music of Drona is composed by Dhruv Ghanekar, and there a couple of nice songs in this movie. The title song for one is quite a nice song. I hope you like them too.
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1. Bandagi / Roop Kumar Rathod, Sunidhi Chauhan, Dhruv
2. Drona / Sunidhi Chauhan, Dhruv
3. Drona - Redux / Sunidhi Chauhan, Dhruv
4. Khushi / Shaan, Suzanne D’Mello, Sunaina, Francois Castellino, Dean Devlin
5. Nanhe Nanhe / Sadhana Sargam, Nandini Shrikar
6. Oop Cha / Sunidhi Chauhan, Dhruv, Nandini Shrikar
7. Oop Cha (Fare Play Mix) / Sunidhi Chauhan, Dhruv, Bob, Nandini Shrikar