Wake up Sid - Review

Aimless, jobless & without any ambition, Wake up Sid is the story of one guys tryst with reality & his eventual realization of his responsibilities.

Let me start of by saying that there is nothing new in the story of this film. Its simple, straight & everyone can relate to it.
Siddharth (Ranbir Kapoor) is a rich spoilt brat, who doesn't care about where life takes him. Parties, cars, video games & fun is all that matters to him. He runs from studies & work and has no value of his father's (Anupam Kher) money. The initial feel of the film has a stark resemblance with Hritihik Roshan's character in Lakshya. By chance, Sid meets Aisha (Konkana Sen Sharma), a career oriented girl who has come to Mumbai to earn a living.
He befriends her & helps her settle in the city & on encountering a difficult phase at home, moves in with her. Wake up Sid is about how his life changes after this.
Leaving home & understanding the value of his luxuries, Sid learns to be on his on feet.His realization of his passion drives him to achieve something in life.

Wake up Sid is a movie that will definitely take everyone back to their college days & reminisce about how their life is/was the same.
The movie has its shares of positives & negatives. It is straight from the heart & strikes a chord. It is a simple story told in a very realistic & believable fashion. The first goes past in a breeze, with one really delving into Sid's life, but the second half tends to drag a bit. One feels that towards the end atleast 15 minutes could be trimmed to make it a crisp narrative.

From the performances, Ranbir Kapoor delivers a knockout. He suits the role perfectly & brings truth to his performance. His initial scenes with his friends are fantastic. This one is surely a feather in his cap.
Konkana Sen Sharma too is very good & makes her character believable. While individually, both Ranbir & Konkana shine in their performances, one fails to see chemistry between the two.
Of the supporting cast, Anupam Kher & Supriya Pathak as the parents are top notch. Rahul Khanna is fine.

Debutant director Ayan Mukerji has a good first outing. He tells a simple story in a sweet manner. While the movie has a feel-good factor to it one sees sparks of inspiration from the Farhan Akhtar style of storytelling. I shall definitely wait to his future work.

All in all, the film is a good watch. While it does not blow your mind, it does not disappoint either. Just a tad bit long, this film shall be worth your while.
At the box office, another long weekend ensures good business for this film; especially at the multiplexes.

Critical: 3/5
Commercial: 3.5/5

Wanted - Review

Warning: Please watch this movie only if you are a fan of Bollywood style masala cinema & want to revisit the world of Paisa vasool films; where the hero reigned supreme, good triumphed over evil & one man could beat up 50. Vintage Salman is back !


Welcome to the world of Wanted. The movie deals with the life of a bhai, Radhe (Salman Khan) & his buddies. He works for money & kills like a well oiled machine. He works for Gani Bhai
(Prakash Raj) & disposes off the enemies without breaking a sweat.

Along the way he encounters various characters, such as the corrupt Inspector Talpade (Mahesh Manjrekar) who is always looking at women lustfully, or his love interest Jahnvi (Ayesha Takia
), who works at a call center.
The main backdrop of the film is the gang war between the Golden Gang & Datta Pawle Gang; & how eventually they both get destroyed. When you decide to watch this film, be rest assured that the story is not the best, but you still get entertained in every frame.

The film is filled with some cheesy whistle worthy one-liners (Radhe's classic line "Ek baar maine commitment kar di, phir mein apne aap ki bhi nahin sunta), some over-the-top action sequences that take you back to the 70's style escapist cinema, some last minute twists in the plot & some random song sequences out of nowhere.

The heart, soul & backbone of this film is Salman Khan. He is truly back with a bang. He scorches the silver screen in every frame & has a towering presence in a role tailor made for him. He acts (yes for a change), dances & plays the role effortlessly. The one-liners & action sequences send the audiences in raptures.
Mahesh Manjerkar is also brilliant in his portrayal of the corrupt cop, while Vinod Khanna is almost wasted in his small role. Ayesha Takia struggles to act & appears to be a misfit in this role. Manoj Pahwa as the fat neighbour is top notch.

The music of the film is catchy & one can say that Prabhudeva has truly made Salman dance. A special mention must be made for the action director Vijayan . The only place where this film looses out is the length. If the film can be trimmed by 15-20 minutes, it would do wonders.

All in all, Wanted is one for the masses. If you are one of the multiplex audience-types, skip this fare. At the box office, one sees this laughing all the way to the bank, owing to the Eid weekend & Salman power.
So damn the intellectuals & the cynics, walk in, whistle, vasool your ticket + popcorn money & come out completely entertained, go for it.

Critical: 4/5
Commercial: 4/5

Quick Gun Murugun - Review

One tumbler whiskey, One plate masala dosa !!!!
Colourful clothes, tacky sets, Rajni style fights & a cowboy to put Clint Eastwood to shame.....is Quick Gun Murugun worth the effort ???

Quick Gun Murugun (Dr. Rajendra Prasad) is the story of a cowboy, who believes in protecting cows. He encounters a local goon Gun Powder (Shanmughja Rajan), who works for non-vegetarian don Rice Plate Reddy (Naseer). In a brief encounter, Rice plate sends QGM packing, but understanding his needs Mr. C. Gupta (Vinay Pathak) allows QGM to come back to earth to complete his unfinished deeds.
Cut to Mumbai-2007, QGM finds himself confused with the surroundings & with one aim, to find Rice Plate Reddy & destroy the McDosa business enterprise.
The story then unfolds as he finds his nemesis & encounters along the way, some interesting characters such as a cigarette smoking, Rowdy MBA (with the background music MBA MBA),
a sultry club dancer Mango Dolly (Return of Rambha) & a firangi chef Dr Django (Ashwin Mushran.

The film plays on the cliches of south Indian cinema, making for many hilarious scenes. The spoofs scenes from The Matrix, Crouching tiger hidden dragon as wells as numerous Rajni action sequences. The characters are outlandish & remain etched in your mind way after the film is over. Most of the films dialogues are either English or in Tamil, hence not much for the hindi speaking audience.
The problem with the film is the length, which if shortened by 30 min, would do wonders for the film. The story itself is funny in parts & redundant in others. The dialogues are great and the look & feel of the film is brilliant & brings out all that the director has aimed at.

This is a movie of individual performances. Of the actors, Raju Sundaram as Rowdy MBA, Shanmughja Rajan as Gun Powder & Rambha as the cleavage showing Mango Dolly deliver hilarious performances. Their characters are definitely well written & have scope for future endeavours as well. Even main man Rajendra Prasad as QGM is top notch.

The director Shashanka Ghosh has made a good attempt at taking this popular character & weaving a story around him, but alas, the script doesn't hold strong. It runs out of steam a little after the interval. A little more English & a little less Tamil would have strongly helped the film.

All in all, Quick Gun Murugan is an entertaining fair, which makes a good Sunday evening watch. If you are one who likes melodrama, filmi cliches & some over the top performances, go spend some time with Quick Gun Murugan........Agar tu lightening hai, to mai 250 volt current I say.......so MIND IT.

Critical: 3/5
Commercial: 2/5

Kaminey - Review

The most awaited movie of recent times finally hits the screens today, but does it live up to the hype; well almost....

Kaminey is the story of twin brothers Charlie & Guddu (Shahid Kapoor), who are absolutely different from each other. One stammers, the other lisps, one is a crook, the other a simpleton.
Charlie wants to become a successful bookie, fixing horse races & needs money to do so;
Guddu is in love with Sweety (Priyanka Chopra) & they plan to tie the knot, when one rainy day, their lives change.

Their lives get entangled with that off drug smuggling gangsters, corrupt policemen & a local political aspirant Bhope Bhau (Amole Gupte).
The backdrop of this film is greed & how it drives everyone to forget old relationships and forge new ones.
All the characters are after a "guitar", one which contains something of great value to all. I would not give away much of the story, but add that the film takes some twists & the web becomes more complex.

The film is dark, gritty & something unlike most Bollywood films. The filmmaker definitely wants the viewer to think & concentrate.
The first half of the film moves past swiftly & leaves the viewers wanting to see what happens next. The second half is a bit laborious & makes the narrative a little complex. Towards the end of the film, the average viewer might find the number of characters in play a bit too much to handle.

Of the actors, three need a mention, Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chpora & Amole Gupte.
Shahid Kapoor does a great job in both the roles. He makes the characters very believable & fun to watch. Priyanka Chopra does a fabulous job as the Maharashtrian mulgi Sweety. She adds in a different flavour to the character & does full justice to it.
But the true find here is Amole Gupte. He delivers a knockout performance as the politico-in-waiting Bhope Bhau. He plays the role effortlessly & delivers dialogues with panache. He is definitely one to watch out for & one can see another director-actor in the making.

The camera work in the film is very different from what one might have ever seen, with a lot of handheld shots, quick jerks & movements & innovative lighting. While it makes for a fresh look to a film, it can also get a bit irritating at times.

Director/Music Director/Dialogue writer Vishal Bhardwaj definitely deserves an applaud for trying a different style of filmmaking. Dark & Gritty, this film is unlike the Hindi cinema one is used to, though on some level, it attempts to do too much.
A special mention be made for the action sequence in the finale, not for the action, but for the execution. With a song playing in the background, it makes for some very unique viewing.
Dhan Te Na is truly the highlight song of the film & is the soul of Kaminey.
Even though the film has so much going for it, the story pulls it down a notch, not making it Vishal Bhardwaj's best outing to date.

All in all, this film has some great performances & a unique style, but not the best storyline. It's dark, complex & definitely worth a watch. At the box office the film will do great, owing to the hype the promos have genereated.
So forget the flu & hit the theatres....for this one might just work for those with a taste for something different.

Critical: 3/5
Commercial: 4/5

Kambakkht Ishq - Review

A mega-budget film, some popular Hollywood names & two of the biggest Bollywood stars....is it enough?
Well, not really.
Kambakkht Ishq give a new definition to funny. One that does not tickle any bones.

The film revolves around Hollywood stuntman Viraj Shergill (Akshay Kumar), who doesn't think too highly of women & doesn't believe in the word marriage. He happens to meet Simrita Rai (Kareena Kapoor) at his brother Lucky Shergill's (Aftab Shivdasani) wedding. Simrita hates men & believes that they want only one thing. This starts of a war between the two, to prove to each other that they are right.
The first half goes past without much of the narrative actually moving forward. The jokes are average and hard to come by.
The second half of the movie is when it actually plummets. The story (already non-existent) spirals out of control, leaving the viewer completely baffled . Viraj hears a hindu chant (Om Mangalam) wherever he goes & Simrita is the only one who can solve his problem. On that premise, the film stumbles towards it's agonizing climax, which towards the end of it, is stretched and frustrating.
The film also has its fair share of stereotypes; a goofy sidekick (Vindu Singh), a pestering aunt (Kirron Kher) or an over-the-top Sindhi (Javed Jaffery) wanting to make a quick buck.

Where the film falls flat is the script itself. The narrative is extremely weak & one does not find the story moving anywhere. Random sequences & songs appear and the jokes are far from funny.
Akshay Kumar falters yet again after Tasveer & CC2C. His performance is good in parts, but even he cannot salvage the brutality of the script. His wardrobe leaves one wondering why his designer would do that to him.
Kareena Kapoor looks fabulous & her role has glam written all over it. Her performance is ordinary and nothing to write home about. Sylvester Stallone & Denise Richards have blink and miss roles. Aftab Shivdasani & Amrita Arora are decent. Javed Jaffery overacts.
If there are two things that can be considered as positives for the movie, they are the beautiful locations & the high production values. The music from Anu Malik is decent & the title track from RDB works.
First time director Sabir Khan fails miserably. He provides no entertainment & creates a film that lacks soul. One wonders why Sajid Nadiadwala would put the onus of such a high budget film on such shoulders.

At the box office, one can see this movie laughing all the way to the bank. A houseful opening weekend, this movie will send the cash registers ringing. A marketing strategy that works again, Kambakkht Ishq is an ominous sign for Indian cinema, one that shows that even without any story whatsoever, a HIT Bollywood movie can be made. It tests the audiences intelligence & takes them for granted. I would strongly recommend Sabir Khan to let the art of making mindless comedies rest with David Dhawan.

Unless you are dared, have free tickets or just want to see a mockery of cinema, I would suggest you not to tread this path.

Critical: 1.5/5
Commercial: 4/5

New York - Review

A Yashraj release after long, a fresh starcast & an interesting subject, does it deliver?
Lets find out..

New York is the story of an Indian student Omar (Neil Nitin Mukesh), who goes to America for his further education. New to the country, he finds a friend in Maya (Katrina Kaif) & also gets to know the college favourite Sam (John Abraham). All goes along well, until one day an incident occurs that changes their lives forever.
In comes FBI agent Roshan (Irrfan Khan) who puts Omar in a situation he never expected & then sets off a series of events that lead to some shocking revelations.
The story takes the 9/11 WTC attacks as its base theme & deals with incidents that take place in the lives of these three friends. It also plays on the religious chord & brings to light the reasons why people are pushed to taking certain extreme decisions.

The first half of the film moves swiftly and keeps you fairly engrossed, but it is the second half which disappoints. The story seems flawed and the climax, which is built up very well, just falls flat.
The film has a very international feel to it & right from the opening credits, one can see the lustre of a Yashraj product, but unfortunately, it is not supported by the content.
Of the performances, Irrfan Khan takes the cake, playing the role of the FBI cop effortlessly.
Katrina Kaif looks great and fits the role. John Abraham delivers one of his better performances & shows that he can emote. Neil Nitin Mukesh disappoints, even after having the meatiest role. He struggles in many of the emotional scenes.
The music of the film is strictly ok. Director Kabir Khan's attempt to make a slick movie falls short as his story does not support him. The movie is very lengthy and the second half is unnecessarily dragged.
All in all, New York is a movie that could have been great, starting off on the right foot, but ending up in the dumps. Yashraj faulters yet again, in a movie that can definitely be relegated to a cable TV watch. For this week, do yourself a favour, give it a miss and watch The Hangover instead.

Critical - 2/5
Commercial - 2.5/5

99 - Review

After a long wait, a Hindi movie finally hit the multiplexes. Was it worth the wait ??
Lets find out.....

99 deals with the story of two small time crooks Sachin (Kunal Khemu) & Zaramud (Cyrus Broacha), who want to make it big in life. An unlucky tryst with a lunatic bookie AGM (Mahesh Manjrekar) causes them to change their career path & turn to a mad world of bookies, gamblers & cops.
In search of money collection for AGM, the story then takes them to Delhi where they encounter various characters such as a debt burdened gambler Rahul (Boman Irani), a local bookie Kuber (Amit Mistry), a high-roller businessman JC (Vinod Khanna), an over the top Bhojpuri actor & a hotel manager Pooja (Soha Ali Khan).
Before they know it, they get embroiled in a mess & hence hatch a genius plan to get out of it, which of course, doesn't go as planned. Then follows a mad ride which involves action, thrills, stupidity & a whole lot of humour.

While the movie starts off with a bang, the narrative falls a little weak in the first half. After the first 20 minutes, the movie slows down drastically, taking away from the first half experience. But the second half is where the movie really picks up. While the story might be very predictable, there is still a great amount of fun watching it unfold.

The characters are very well drawn out & some of them remain etched in your mind well after the movie.
While the cinematography is good, the dialogues are excellent, actually making for a good laugh almost through the whole film.

But the true soul of the film is clearly its performances;
While Kunal Khemu does a good job in the anchor role & goofy Cryus Broacha is definitely funny in his less-dialogues more expressions kind of a role, it is the knock-out performances by Mahesh Manjrekar & Amit Mistry that take the cake. Manjrekar plays his role with ease while Amit Mistry delivers a stellar & memorable performance for a new-comer.
Boman Irani is excellent as well, but gets over-shadowed as his charecter is quite subtle. Vinod Khanna fits the bill perfectly. He looks the part & plays his small role with style.

Director duo Krishna D.K & Raj Nidimoru make a great effort & almost deliver a complete experience.
The only issue with the film, being its timing. If the first half would be trimmed a bit & the film kept to 2 hours, you would have had a crisp story & a fine product. That being, the film still makes you laugh & love its comical characters.

So if you're in the mood to watch something fun, with an interesting story, hilarious dialogues & some knockout performances, 99 is the film for you. Don't go in with expectations & it will leave you entertained.
Definitely worth your buck.

Critical: 3,5/5
Commercial: 2.5/5