Ready - watch at your own risk

There are comedies, there are loud comedies and then there are “Anees” comedies. With every passing movie, Anees Bazmee tries to outdo himself (or should I say lower himself). “Ready” belongs to this genre. It takes Indian cinemas to the days when double entendres were considered cool. When theatres were not fitted with good quality dolby digital sound systems; hence every actor used to shout at the pitch of his voice so that he could be heard over others. Where comedies meant you keep your brains and minds and intelligence and so on along with the Rs 500 bucks that you just paid at the ticket counter. The brain might get refunded back but with a deduction of a 3hrs interest. Where the following things were considered comical: actors farting, actors peeing in the open to water the dry plants, kids peeing in their pants, kids peeing on the villains (on second thought I think there was a lot of peeing in the film, no wonder the interval says pee break), actors using “choo”, “maa ki”, “kamini” and so on in almost every alternate sentence, dances being choreographed where actors and even little kids are using actions that you might think twice before showing them to your own kids...or actors speaking garbled dialogues. Sample this: Salman speaking to Asin’s aunty and introducing himself "mein kutta hun or yeh meri kuttiya hai..."

Ready is a brainless, illogical, non-sensical comedy.. in short an Anees Bazmee movie. Needless to say it doesn’t have a story.

Having said that, I don’t want to be over critical (you must be wondering what my first para was all about in that case). The movie does have some witty moments. I could hear lots of laughter around me so I assume there are people who liked the movie as well. Salman Khan is “Salman”. Asin looks a bit better in this movie. Other talented actors like Paresh Rawal and Mahesh Manjrekar were totally wasted. The songs are ok. While most of the songs have become popular, I think the best is still “Character Dheela” though howsoever hard she tries, Zareen still looks fat.

The backdrop locations are fabulous especially in song sequences. Overall, watch the movie at your own risk.

Dil to Bachcha Hai Ji... Remains a bit ‘kachcha’ in the making

“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).

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.