Gairrrrrrrrrrr! My View!

I am actually under cover these days. Hiding away in some secret place...Absconding from where I belong..A few people are searching for me to take my case left and right...

Well well don't be afraid it just that my buddies are searching for me. After all I have sinned.....after listening to a emotion laded dilse speech of mine about watching marathi cinema and feeling proud of it...we had all settled down to watch Gair at City Pride Satara on a lazy afternoon a few days back. Little did I know that we were going to be exposed to continuous torture for 2 hours 30 minutes.

If you have too much of a black money and want convert it to white. I have got a hit formula. Try getting the best of stars from regional industry, take a roughly matured plot, put in lots of money on sets, clothes, songs etc and then make and distribute a film as dumb as Gair!

Trust me, If I am to re-write Chetan Bhagat's Three Mistakes of my life- GAIR would definitely qualify to be one of the mistakes. I truly regret myself and coaxing 5 other people along with me to pay for this mindless endeavour!

The film opens at two homicides and then shifts on to an award ceremony where our hero Sandip Kulkarni of Dombivli Fast Fame tries to copy Saif ALi Khan in his mannerisms, looks & styles and fails miserabaly.

Ila Bhate & Amruta Khanwilkar present a fairly good performance!! Others are all new-bies! The songs seem to jabardasti added in the film!! And it is better to see for yourself all the faltoo choreography that has gone in it! Infact me and my groupies got up and clapped when a song and dance sequence shot on Sandip and Amruta got over! It was our sarcastic way of registering criticism!! Come on Amruta you can do better than this! And where is the feisty Sandip that we saw in Dombivli Fast???

The story does not evolve and by the end of the film You are either looking at your watch for it to end or are cursing your stars for choosing such a " Below Average" film to splurge your hard earned money on!!

Can some one tell me why is the promotional hoarding still put on a hill in Katraj ??? The film is long gone!! It reminds me of my folly everytime I pass that area!!

My Verdict- One Star for this half-baked, full bakwas film!! This one is for you Amruta!

New York! My View!

Owing to the sheer scarcity of films due to the distributors strike over the last 2 months and due to a pressing urge to relieve our stressed sensory nerves (Translate: fu@#$d up brains) by indulging into some mindless melodrama, we forced ourselves to make a not so difficult choice (Read : Obvious) of choosing New York over Paying Guest. So on a relaxed lazy Sunday afternoon we (Me and my groupies) took our seats at E-square, Pune. Some what groggy eyed(due to the heavy lunch) and somewhat due to the dim lighting conditions along with the comfort(Aahhhh read AC, completely non-existent in my hostel). We were just stepping in the Cinema hall when we all got the same message from our dear friend Shreyans. Let me quote him in his very own sms vocab,”John is d terrorist n he dies along with Katrina.neil mukesh beign fbi undr cover agent. Neil tks care of john n katrina’s child in d end…NJOY D MUVIE NEWYORK” Yeah Shreyans thanks for being so pro-active to disclose the story to us already. What fools were we to spend our hard earned 150 bucks on Tickets we would have might as well heard the whole story for free from you. (Warning: Please stay put wherever you are coz we are going to tug you by your lapels and are going to take back every ounce of our hard-earned money. And yeah thanks once again for killing the suspense)
After a lot of cursing and swearing. We finally settled down to watch the movie. So the credits started rolling and we saw the most beautiful views of the sky scrappers in New York. As the film advanced you spot the gullible Omar targeted by the FBI under the pretext of a hoax terrorism charge. FBI’s game is to make Omar work as a under cover agent to breach the fool-proof plan of John Abraham who allegedly runs a terrorist sleeper cell in New-York. Then there is a 45 mins flash back of “ sweet as candy” good ol’ days. Where one spots the regular ingredients of Yash Raj banner – there is a lot of dosti And pyar, ishq aur mohabbat on the campus of the New York State University. Omar, Maya and Sameer played perfectly well by Niel, Katrina and John are college mates and are enjoying the crisp & beautiful years of University life. Then there is a love triangle thrown in. No prizes for guessing who's the object of admiration.NO! its not John we are past his Dostana days already. And boy we prefer it that way ; )

Ok. SO Omar successfully plants himself in the family with an underlying agenda only to prove the FBI otherwise. We are soon made to believe that Sameer is leading a very straight-laced life until a sudden and well executed twist reveals he is actually undertaking terrorist activities(Thanks to the forsaken SMS we were not surprised atall). So Omar plays accomplice even though has to shoot one of the traitors to prove his loyalty. FBI Agent Roshan played to the hilt by Irfan Khan has some interesting sequences in the film.

Katrina looks like the quintessential baby doll. Whats worth noticing apart from her beauty is the level of improvement that her language and expression shows. There are many close-ups in the films and very emotionally charged scenes but Ms. Kaif performs fairly good than her other films( See Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya to understand the progression in her acting skills by leaps and bounds : )It was also very cute to see her play mommy dearest. Omar continuously undergoes a battle for his purpose behind deceiving his friends. Especially after Sameer tells him about how he was imprisoned post the 9/11 on no strong proof for his involvement in the terrorist activity. The atrocities hat are rendered on these suspects are extremely grotesque and are completely heart-wrenching. This forms a background and gives the raison d’tre for Sameer’s inclination towards such hard arm tactics. At that moment the audience starts sympathizing with Sameer. Then there is an alternate track of Zilgae who Maya is trying to help legally and emotionally as a human rights activist. We also see him killing an NYPD officer because he practically molests Maya in an attempt to search her. Omar together with Maya try to get a commitment from the FBI for Sameer's imprisonment instead of killing him as he is planning to give up his mission. But as the end unfolds we find Sameer is going to Blow up the FBI building. Only after a long emotional diatribe we see the FBI killing both Sameer and Maya. And Omar looking after their son and forgiving Agent Roshan.

Flop Side:-

Niel and Katrina have different looks when they are in University and 7 years after. But our John seems to be looking the same.

Why does John put the Bombs outside the building? Doesn’t he know the windows are see through and people are watching him planting the bombs!! huh..

There is no indication that this is a suicide mission, then why is John on the top of the building with the remote that he actually intends to blow up?? Duh…

The musical score doesn't have much to add except for the latest radio chart buster”Junoon” ans "Mere Sang"



Flip side:

New-york is shot extremely well. And the landscape blooms beautifully in the cinematography.

The screenplay is good and fringes on the border of acceptable and believable.

The plot is tight and too the point and does not get over verbose and saggy

The best part is the film ends in 2 hours

I will definitely recommend it to be watched at least once. It's a good Masala Movie trying to highlight issues of grave importance like terrorism and human rights on the backdrop of the 9/11 tragedy and its aftermath!!

My View: Mi Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy

One word..Magnetic electricity..yeah Magnetic electricity is what I experienced last Month at E-square where our gang caught up with the latest chart buster Marathi flick- Mi Shivaji Raje Bhosale Boltoy. After first few minutes of riotous laughs and sympathizing with the debauchery of the very naive and timid Bhosale the film starts getting down to serious business. Mr. Bhosale who thinks it is pre-destined for him to be mocked at by the world- his boss, his co-passengers in the bus, the shop-keeper, fisher woman and even his wife whos is tired of his penny pinching middle class ways.

We see him punk-drunk and slam dunked by the Hotel officials questioning all the great Marathi martyrs about how and why they have made the hum-drum Marathi manoos such a simpleton that his silence and straight laced attitude is considered as his weakness rather than his strength.

His words stir the soul of Shivaji Maharaj on Pratap Gharh and he decides to show Mr. Bhosale the true purpose of his living. And that his lax attitude and not his language is responsible for his non-vertebral living. From the entry of the Mahesh Manjrekar who played Shivaji to the Hilt(He has a unique Baritone voice, I didn’t feel justified to see his voice dubbed. However I didn't understand why the young Shivaji looked like a 50 year old too) begins a series of Combat activities which drive the audience crazy- even we indulged in loud chants of the slogans of Shivaji Maharaj ki Jai and Jai Maharashtra (Along with Banoo whose strong shrill whistle can give any guy a run for his money) and a lot of claps on all the power packed monologues of Bhosale. Bhosale’s overnight transformation from un under-dog to a Strong-warrior is justified in a series of events where he posses challenges to the corrupt politicians, government officials and nefarious builders. I am still not able to fit the item song picturised on Priya Bapat and Ankhush Chaudhari in the film. It is a complete un-called for number. The OST background number is quiet catchy and sets your heart and foot thumping.

The slapstick humor of how only surnames like Kapoor's and Chopra's make it to the tinsel town inducing Priya to Change her surname is a stark reality wrapped in humor. The acting of all lead characters is balanced and does not go overboard to create artificial humor( Even hackneyed actor like Makrand Anaspure fares well). There are some witty moments- The dialogue of the builder telling the Bhosale’s about the plush greenery of Badlapur had me in splits (Being from Mumbai I am aware that Badlapur is the worst polluted suburb of all).The animation some how didn't gel with the film. The scenes of Shivaji Maharaj on Horse with video in the background seem like they were shot in the 50's with the horse standing still and the film moving behind. . The cinematogrpahy is shot well. Also the fight scenes shot on the hi-rise (hi-risk) building are very artistically and creatively shot.


The USP of this film is the awakening of the Marathi Manoos after years of dormantly bearing the flak. I don’t know why am I biased towards this film, may be because I am a Maharashtrain. May be because I could subscribe to the feeling of begin looked down upon. I still remember a train cat fight I had a few years back because someone has said "yeh ghati log". Yeah I didn’t appreciate that one bit. But as Shivaji Maharaj(aka Mahesh Manjrekar) says it’s a word that should be taken with the respect. I liked the approach of being in the system to change the system with Bhosale trying his luck at politics and giving a LOOOONG explanation about it


The main reason behind this film getting rave reviews and catching public fantasy is downright simple. Lakhs of Maharashtrains could relate to Bhosale’s situations- we all wished we could vent our anger like Bhosale - go out on sporadic aggressive sprees, try and bring about a positive change and emerge victorious. We wished our Language, our State and our rich Cultural Heritage be treated with the due respect that it commands. This film clearly woke up the Bhosales in us- it appealed us to stand tall for our self-respect and voice our opinions instead of bearing the spineless atrocities rendered by others. This is one film that I can recommend others without being in two minds about it. If you have watched it already you made a wise choice if you haven’t caught it yet its high time to start spending on quality entertainment. This one is definitely worth a dekho.........

Ghajini- My View!

Pardon my discretion but what the f#$k was “the perfectionist” Aamir Khan thinking when he signed on the dotted lines for Ghajini. Between catching winks and the giggles and the ohhhhhhh- aaaaahhhhs(Girls still go all ga ga over Aamir) of my hostel mates I was forced to watch this movie yesterday! If I have to frame my Ghajini experience in one word, It has to spell DISASTER.
The Director Murugadoss has copied the 2006 Ghajini Tamil frame to frame. I think he didn’t even bother to change the look and feel of his movie for the Hindi movie-goers.

I have a few points against Ghajini, don’t worry I have a handful of good ones too.
First of all, for all these months I was under the impression (Like thousands of others) that Ghajini is the title role that Aamir Khan plays. But Lo and behold, Ghajini seems to be the name of a South Indian Villain who talks in a Hariyanvi accent (wow we have started getting cosmopolitan villains. Isn’t this display of national integrity at the wrong place?) and who seems to be getting a high out of playing iron-rod head-banging (literally) rather than smoking weed. Now we get a movie named after a Villain who is vaguely the central character of the movie. Was this supposed to be funny, coz it’s absolutely not!! Why Ghajini, it could have been Sanjay Sanghvi ki Amar Dastaan or whatever!!! We still wouldn’t have cared less. But my persistent question continues- Why Ghajini of all?

The new Hindi debutante Asin looks exceptionally beautiful in plain dresses while playing a simple happy-go-lucky girl. But in a private confession, I accept that her acting (overacting) was way too overboard for Bollywood standards. Sorry dear Asin, no favourism here! Gotta be honest! She still has a lot to learn. Her expressions were way too loud, however I did like her act in her death scene. She just needs to understand that acting in movies demands a certain depth or as they say thehrav which is very different and demanding than selling hair oils and soaps on commercials.

Jiah Khan(Do you remember her, the one that got luck with Amitabh Bacchan in the notorious Nishabdha) AAAH the same Jiah Khan is absolutely wasted in the Movie. I don’t understand why she was so furious when she was excluded from the films publicity, she should be happy bout it! She ends up doing a next to nothing kind of a role of a medical student and wraps up as a negligible character who we hardly take a notice of. I mean I noticed the bloody iron-rod more than I noticed her, for Christ Sake. You can certainly do better than playing a side-kick Jiah!

The action sequences are gory enough to make you puke(Suggestion: carry a brown paper bag). The blood oozing from the tap in stomach sequence churned my tummy and the death scene of Asin(though mellowed down after the intervention by our censor board) got me goose bumps. There are many such sequences, especially when Aamir becomes a patient of short term memory loss. At a point you start thinking is such kind of mental inability inversely related to the physical horse power of your body? Coz he seems to be unstoppable after his memory loss!

Though the hype surrounding the movie, I am brushing off the idea that the movie is worth spending 150 hard earned bucks in a Multiplex.
The acting, dialogue delivery looks like it’s for Tolly-wood and not Bollywood. I was tormented with a continuous feeling that I was watching a cheap dubbed movie- which was South-Indian at heart and Hindi at words. The only saving grace of the movie is perhaps the good storyline though the premise has not been excellently exploited. We are taken in and out of flash back sequences with the help of diaries. Another and perhaps the most important reason that will bail this movie out is the mature and seasoned acting by Aamir Khan otherwise the movie has gone for complete doldrums. The musical score of this movie is hitting high on the chart busters and seems to have caught the audience fancy. Also, the songs are shot in lush foreign locales and in deserts (reminds you of Suraj hua madham from KKKG) which help to bring in the masala quotient.

Mr. Murugadoss, please understand no level of strange hair-cuts, heroine and story line controversies, steroid pumped eight pack abs of heroes or outlandish publicity stunts are going to compensate for an almost average film!!! You will get all the publicity but will you get the audience? I have my own doubts. Over all I give 2 stars out of 5 for Ghajini! Only for a creative story-line and of-course “Our Man” Aamir Khan!!