“Dil to Bachcha hai Ji” is Madhur Bhandarkar’s first foray in commercial cinema. Madhur who before has handled only serious “real” subjects (best known for films like Fashion, Corporate, Page 3) tries his hand in something different and attempts a light comedy for the first time.
The movie has its soul ...in fact it has all the ingredients required to make a movie work be it comedy, emotions, love, sex, music, beautiful locations, good looking actors but somehow it still fails to grip the audience.
Its a story of 3 guys in different phases of life and their brush with love. Each story has an independent track and individually each one is good. Ajay is going through marriage turmoil and finds solace in the vivacious Shahzahn. Omi is the ideal Marathi mulga unlikely to impress any girl yet falls for modern Shraddha Das playing a Radio VJ. Emran, the ever flirt playboy (As he calls himself ATM – “Any Time Mohabbat”) has a different girl every night and then falls for Shruti, the social cause girl. While the first two have a decent storyline, Emran’s story has many loopholes but we can pardon the makers for that (for which Hindi movies doesn’t has gaps?)
In terms of acting, it’s once again Ajay Devgn who steals the show with his somewhat matured professional shy in love look. This actor is on a roll with so many hits last year. Omi Vaidya (last seen as the delicious Chatur Ramalingam and his hall of fame “balatkar” speech in 3 Idiots) also does his job struggling with his Hindi as well as his love. Well for Emran Hashmi (how many times have we seen him in something similar ...seems like he has got typecast as the evergreen playboy..at least he doesn’t get to smooch anyone in this movie).
The 4 girls (Shahzahn Padamsee, Shraddha Das, Shruti Hasan and Tisca Chopra) are very beautiful and natural in their roles especially Shahzahn playing a teenage girl just starting her internship. Its a pity the beautiful and talented Shruti gets the least screen space with just a song to her credit.
Talking of songs, the movie has a lovely soundtrack with the 2 top songs hummable especially “Abhi kuchh Dinon se” which also continues as the background score.
Seems like everything is good so far...where does the movie fails? Well you will be surprised if I say direction considering its Madhur Bhandarkar’s department and he is quite good in it. But may be this being a different domain, he struggles. The direction and editing doesn’t have that sharpness required to ensure the jokes keep coming at the right moments. There are times when the movie is dragging. The duration seems really long. The movie could have been shorter, may be better edited and some more wits puffed in.
So as I started, the movie is a light comedy and has many moments that will tickle you. Its far better than some of the boisterous and loud movies served to us as comedies these days (no prizes for guessing which ones I am referring to ... you had many in 2010 including the one released late last year).
Showing posts with label Ajay Devgn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ajay Devgn. Show all posts
Friday, January 28, 2011
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Once upon a time in Mumbai
Let me first appreciate the marketing efforts gone behind this movie. Absolutely spot – on ...Full marks to Balaji banner for that. The trailer, the hoardings, the continuous advertorials in BT penned by Shobha de. The best thing about the movie marketing was it not just created a buzz but a kind of curiosity that pulls the audience to theaters.
Having said that, once the hype is generated, its important the content of the movie is strong enough to live upto the expectation and create a ripple effect else it just becomes an opening weekend wonder (which in today’s times is quite common). And I believe this movie has been fairly successful in surpassing that.
The movie is definitely worth watching. While the pace of the movie is slow and could have been made slicker, what makes the movie click is the cinematography, style of the old eras, dialogues and most importantly Ajay Devgn’s acting. While all characters have performed well, this movie keeps going primarily because of Ajay. After a long gap where he built his expertise in comedy, Ajay is back with some intense performance. Its interesting to see him repeating his Company role with much more variety. Kangana looks the diva which she is supposed to play (Good to see her in a role where she is not a psycho or a suicidal maniac). She and Prachi Desai are beautiful and easily slip into their small roles. Emran and Randeep are average. As per the roles, Emraan and Ajay should have been equals but he is left totally overshadowed and just cant match his counterpart.
The dialogues are the soul of the movie which have been carefully written to the flavor of the era of mafias and smugglers (70-80s). Some of the one-liners are just too good. Ajay anyways has been expert in such “shayrana” dialogue delivery.
All the songs are hummable. I especially loved the song “Tum jo aaye Zindagi mein” on Kangana. Beautifully choreographed… (She resembles Mumtaz in the song). The background score is superp and apt in the context of the movie. Even when the movie ends, you are bound to come out with the background score on your mind… The item song (Remix of Monica… my Darling) on Gauhar will also be a Repeat Hit.
Though the movie is based on the days of smuggling and dons, somehow it focuses more on emotions hence loses out on the pace and jazziness especially in the first half. Overall… Milan Luthria has come up with a nice movie.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Atithi...tum kab Jaoge?... Its different
This time, I got a chance to read other reviews before I wrote this blog… Interestingly, not many critics have liked the movie…
I believe in today’s times, its difficult to digest a movie which doesn’t have any crude language, no abusive words, no remix nos, no foreign locales or jazzy colorful sets, where the script doesn’t demand any item numbers or kissing scenes, where the actress doesn’t walk in exposing clothes or a bikini line just for the heck of it, where the humor is not forced into the dialogues by including some bad PJs or sick jokes or getting some third party "so-called" comedians into the movie.
Yes, "Atithi tum kab jaoge" is a movie which doesn’t have any of these. The movie is therefore, a bit dull, a bit boring, and also feels a bit lengthy. But still, in my opinion, the makers deserve credit for creating a cinema which was last attempted in 80s (or was it even earlier) when the likes of Farooq Sheikh, Amol Palekar, Deepti Naval, Utpal Dutt and so on existed.
Ok, to once again correct myself, the movie is no where compared to those masterpieces, be it the subtleties, the acting or the humor but still this movie is a worthy attempt that should not go unnoticed.
The movie is as simple as it can be… A couple (Ajay Devgn and Konkona) is living a fast difficult life in the ever congested (and I am not just talking of roads and traffic) Mumbai. An unsolicited guest (Paresh Rawal) arrives and disrupts their normal routine. He leaves behind a tale of chaos, confusion, and disruption, but also a bit of love, emotions, long-forgotten family values and traditions.
This simple story has somehow been extended into a 2+ hrs drama (with no twists and turns unless of course you consider the end which is definitely worth staying till then) and thats where the film fails to capture the attention of today's multiplex audiences.
The acting is good with 3 established actors. There is never a doubt on any of them. One special point to mention here is Ajay Devgn who has started keeping himself underexposed. He has learnt the art of restraining his act by giving more space to other characters in the movie. I noticed this first in his home production “All the best” where he allows Sanjay Dutt to steal the show. In this movie, he lets Paresh Rawal run the movie and aptly so.
There is not much to write about the music as there are hardly any songs.
Overall, the movie can be watched with your extended family for one of the lazy Sunday outings.
I believe in today’s times, its difficult to digest a movie which doesn’t have any crude language, no abusive words, no remix nos, no foreign locales or jazzy colorful sets, where the script doesn’t demand any item numbers or kissing scenes, where the actress doesn’t walk in exposing clothes or a bikini line just for the heck of it, where the humor is not forced into the dialogues by including some bad PJs or sick jokes or getting some third party "so-called" comedians into the movie.
Yes, "Atithi tum kab jaoge" is a movie which doesn’t have any of these. The movie is therefore, a bit dull, a bit boring, and also feels a bit lengthy. But still, in my opinion, the makers deserve credit for creating a cinema which was last attempted in 80s (or was it even earlier) when the likes of Farooq Sheikh, Amol Palekar, Deepti Naval, Utpal Dutt and so on existed.
Ok, to once again correct myself, the movie is no where compared to those masterpieces, be it the subtleties, the acting or the humor but still this movie is a worthy attempt that should not go unnoticed.
The movie is as simple as it can be… A couple (Ajay Devgn and Konkona) is living a fast difficult life in the ever congested (and I am not just talking of roads and traffic) Mumbai. An unsolicited guest (Paresh Rawal) arrives and disrupts their normal routine. He leaves behind a tale of chaos, confusion, and disruption, but also a bit of love, emotions, long-forgotten family values and traditions.
This simple story has somehow been extended into a 2+ hrs drama (with no twists and turns unless of course you consider the end which is definitely worth staying till then) and thats where the film fails to capture the attention of today's multiplex audiences.
The acting is good with 3 established actors. There is never a doubt on any of them. One special point to mention here is Ajay Devgn who has started keeping himself underexposed. He has learnt the art of restraining his act by giving more space to other characters in the movie. I noticed this first in his home production “All the best” where he allows Sanjay Dutt to steal the show. In this movie, he lets Paresh Rawal run the movie and aptly so.
There is not much to write about the music as there are hardly any songs.
Overall, the movie can be watched with your extended family for one of the lazy Sunday outings.
Friday, October 16, 2009
All the Best ... Paisa Vasool
3 movies releasing on Diwali long weekend. How do you decide which one to go after? Well after so much of marketing hype with each one claiming to be the best, you just make a pick. BLUE was simply not chosen because it was over-marketed. Also I had already burnt my fingers, sorry wallet, on a similar Akshay Kumar movie (Kambakht Ishq). Mr & Mrs Khanna was left for DVD viewing.
So we end up watching All The Best. Interestingly, the 9pm show on the first day was half empty. So we started the movie by wondering whether it was a wrong decision.
The movie is Ajay Devgn’s production (please note there is no spelling mistake. Mr. Ajay has dropped an “a” for good luck). And he sure has got it this time because this movie was certainly a sparkler.
Don’t bother about the plot, storyline, sense, logic because Rohit Shetty’s movies defy all of it. Rohit Shetty who shot to fame with the Golmal sequels (which by the way also propelled Ajay to comic league) has advanced this time. The movie is much better than his previous two. The movie revolves around the usual confusion, chaos, madness and too many characters intertwined for a common cause.
But that one thing that makes the movie clicks is its one-liners which in most cases are first-class. And they keep coming again and again and again making the movie a series of PJs, jokes and in some cases double entendres (though very subtle and unless heard properly might have gone unnoticed). Their timings are really good so the credit should be given to the editing team. The conversation between Sanjay Dutt and RGV (sorry don’t know his real name) on “Geeta ka Saar” is just one of the many examples.
Among the main star cast, Sanjay Dutt is the best with his low voiced perfect witty andaz. In fact the movie picks up only after his entry. He seems to have found his genre as he himself says in one of the dialogues… “comedy to abhi start ki hai … 30 saal se to action kar raha tha..”. Ajay Devgn does a classic Arshad Warsi while Fardeen Khan is his usual self. His role is ditto replica to some of his other multi-starrer comedies for instance No Entry. Bipasha is OK and Mugdha doesn’t have much screen presence. The real show stealers of the movie are the satellite actors, many of who are from Rohit Shetty’s earlier movies. Each one of them are perfectly cast for their roles and they all give their best.
The movie is shot in Goa and any paint company could have used it for in-branding promotions because the movie is full of vibrant colors.
Over all the movie is as people say “paisa vasool”. Just leave your brains at home and have fun!
So we end up watching All The Best. Interestingly, the 9pm show on the first day was half empty. So we started the movie by wondering whether it was a wrong decision.
The movie is Ajay Devgn’s production (please note there is no spelling mistake. Mr. Ajay has dropped an “a” for good luck). And he sure has got it this time because this movie was certainly a sparkler.
Don’t bother about the plot, storyline, sense, logic because Rohit Shetty’s movies defy all of it. Rohit Shetty who shot to fame with the Golmal sequels (which by the way also propelled Ajay to comic league) has advanced this time. The movie is much better than his previous two. The movie revolves around the usual confusion, chaos, madness and too many characters intertwined for a common cause.
But that one thing that makes the movie clicks is its one-liners which in most cases are first-class. And they keep coming again and again and again making the movie a series of PJs, jokes and in some cases double entendres (though very subtle and unless heard properly might have gone unnoticed). Their timings are really good so the credit should be given to the editing team. The conversation between Sanjay Dutt and RGV (sorry don’t know his real name) on “Geeta ka Saar” is just one of the many examples.
Among the main star cast, Sanjay Dutt is the best with his low voiced perfect witty andaz. In fact the movie picks up only after his entry. He seems to have found his genre as he himself says in one of the dialogues… “comedy to abhi start ki hai … 30 saal se to action kar raha tha..”. Ajay Devgn does a classic Arshad Warsi while Fardeen Khan is his usual self. His role is ditto replica to some of his other multi-starrer comedies for instance No Entry. Bipasha is OK and Mugdha doesn’t have much screen presence. The real show stealers of the movie are the satellite actors, many of who are from Rohit Shetty’s earlier movies. Each one of them are perfectly cast for their roles and they all give their best.
The movie is shot in Goa and any paint company could have used it for in-branding promotions because the movie is full of vibrant colors.
Over all the movie is as people say “paisa vasool”. Just leave your brains at home and have fun!
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