Empty Plot
A super thief (Hrithik) along with an irritating character (Aishwarya Rai), outfoxes the world using different disguises and carries out heists right under the noses of a zombie cop (Abhishek), a dumb head assistant (Uday Chopra), and two bimbettes (Bipasha). More than Hrithik’s guile it is the stupidity of the cops that let him steal successfully. The movie that started with a bang suddenly plummets the minute Aishwarya comes on the screen. From there on everything goes downhill.
Worthless Cast
A badly tanned Ash neither has the killer look nor the sultriness demanded by the role. She is completely miscast and looks aged & anorexic rather than sexy. Her makeover could not hide her acting flaws. She is so annoying whenever she opens her mouth to speak “funny guy” and “Like” in every sentence a million times.
Abhishek has been completely sidelined. His character is badly sketched and does not have much to do except helplessly watch Hrithik steal the show.
Hrithik looks gorgeous, dances like a dream and makes the most ridiculous stunts look somewhat convincing. He adds style and glitz to his role involving various disguises. But his character gets laboured with a love story and that is his downfall in the movie.
Though Bipasha is wasted, she looks drop gorgeous and sexy and completely overshadows Aishwarya in spite of lesser screen time.
Uday manages to make you laugh in a few scenes. That’s it.
Hollow Stunts
Action scenes are breathtaking and well executed but look so unreal that you just laugh seeing the implausibility and stupidity inherent in these scenes. Examples: Not a single person in the security realizes the presence of Hrithik when he carries out those heists without any obstructions whatsoever. In a scene when Hrithik disappears down a manhole and comes out of another one he is in completely different attire and the water coming out the manhole is as crystal clear as Bisleri water. The armed guards don’t even have a common sense to pull the chain while a train robbery was in progress in the middle of a desert. The movie is full of such senseless scenes.
Poor Direction
After an engaging first hour Sanjay Gadhvi ruined the movie completely by putting in a love angle. Hence the movie is neither a convincing love story nor or an action thriller. The director simply got overboard with glamour and stunts.
Jarring Songs
Except for Dhoom again all the songs are pure trash. Krazy kiya re grates on your nerves. During the song, someone from the audience shouted, “Abey dancing bandh kar re, acting chaloo kar”
There is no character development and there is no chemistry between Hrithik and Ash. Watch this movie only if you are a huge Hrithik fan. And if you are an action fan, then watch the latest Bond flick instead. Dhoom 2 is more of a style statement rather than substance. The movie might earn crores at BO considering the hype and large number of prints. But how long can Yashraj films go on considering the Indian movie audience to be such a mindless group that can see such senseless movie and waste 250 bucks on them.
AMJAD K. MARUF
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Says he:
They are still working on the idea and haven’t decided on the cast of the film. “It is too early to talk about the cast as we are in the developing stage.” Pappu Paas Ho Gaya will be the story of a lawyer who fails for six years in Law School and ends up getting a murder case to deal with.
On in other words, we are re-making… oops .. copying My Cousin Vinny starring Joe Pesci, who fails law school 6 times to then handle a murder. For christ sakes, you could have at least said 4 instead of 6!
And please! Leave this masterpiece (My Cousin Vinny) alone!
]]>Rock on Munnabhai, or whoever you are.
]]>What excites me about Rahman as a musician is that his music is multi-layered, both in the physical and abstract senses. He appeals to emotion or intellect and sometimes – both. As a musician and as a public figure, he is mysterious and is more fun to unravel than simply sit back and enjoy.
]]>Personally, I feel that Rahman’s real forte is his background scores. Right from Roja to Rang De Basanti, some of the marvellous background scores have come from under his mantle. His precise understanding of the mood of the scene and his irreverent and yet highly appropriate use of instruments is a delight to watch and hear.
Wonder Years exactly conveys the feelings I had about this movie when I went into the theatre:
3 hours down the line, and I could hear myself say, couldn’t they have left the original alone? Why disgrace it with a tail that is not befitting the original classic? Despite all this, I knew I couldn’t resist wanting to be there on the first day of the movie. Like I did 3 years ago. The only difference being the meteoric change of expectations.
So most of you reading this would be now anxiously thinking, whats the verdict? Did Munnabhai 2 live up to its original?
No.
It does better.
Vivek echoes general sentiments - this is a total paisa vasool movie:
To me the “paisa vasool” scene of the movie was when Jhanvi during the course of the quiz contest asks Munna, “ Mahtama Gandhi ka kitne bache the aur unke naam kya the?” (or something to that effect). And one of Munna’s hangers on takes a guess. “ Indira Gandhi aur Rajiv Gandhi”. Funny? Of course. And at the same time a brilliant comment on our times where in people have forgotten the Mahatama and associate him with the Nehru – Gandhi family.
– Absolutely bang on Vivek. I felt the same.
Navin Gupta calls Lage Raho a masterpiece and especially notes Gandhism in the movie. I have to agree - the way Gandhi was used was simply laudable.
It’s an inspirational movie without heavy lectures. The character of Gandhi Ji has been used in a brilliant manner in here. The movie teaches some genuine lessons. The story makes us feel proud of ourselves on being a good human being. I am not sure whether movie is successful in teaching us to follow Gadhian Principles but for sure attracts the much needed attention on the principle professed by Mahatma Gandhi and that too in such a lucrative, warm and witty manner.
Overall the movie is a winner. More reviews will be added as day goes by!
]]>A more detailed review will follow soon - all I can say right now is I wouldnt be surprised if DON happens to be the biggest musical hit this year.
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of repercussions before taking a decision to ban “adult movies” on TV. By completely banning adult
movies on TV what they have effectively suggested is that TV is meant only for children and not for adults.
Besides, by depriving the adults of their share of entertainment the message is conveyed that if the
adults want to watch adult movies then they have to watch these movies in theatres or on DVDs. But it
should be noted that in India not everyone can afford watching movies in theatres every week and not many
households can afford DVD players nor they can afford to waste so much money on DVDs as they have to bear
the already steep Cable expenses every month. And those who can afford will watch movies on pirated CDs
thereby worsening the Piracy problem. There should be no objection if the adult movies are aired late in the
night. If children still watch them late in the night then it is the fault of the parents who should have
control over their children. Therefore why have a complete ban on adult movies and deprive the adults of
their entertainment late in the night. The adults need their share of entertainment. They work hard day after
day to feed their kids without minding themselves so what is the harm if we they ask for some luxury to
watch TV. Yes, somehow in India TV is sill a luxury.
It seems we only resort to the easiest but ineffective solutions to our problems - Banning. But this ban will
never help curb children viewing such stuff but it will only derive the Indian audience of some very
wonderful movies which had A rating because of its darker theme. This ban will also discourage the
filmmakers who want to make different kind of movies with mature themes, as they won’t be having any
audience watching these movies after this ban because in India majority of people prefer watching movies on
TV and not in theatres due to financial constraints. If movies with mature and different themes don’t get
made then all the audience will get to see are those dumb mushy melodramas and those pathetic boy-meet-girl
love stories thereby worsening the quality of Indian movies further? On one hand we aspire to make
Bollywood a force to reckon with internationally and on other hand we ban such movies. The filmmakers stand
to lose heavily as they won’t be able to sell satellite rights if the ban is implemented. It should
also be noted that the censor board (CBFC) hands out certificates according to its whims and fancies and
many times under the influence of big and successful makers. So a popular commercial film made by a reputed
filmmaker with large amount of skin show gets a U certificate while classic movies like Hazaaron
Khwahishein Aisi and Sarfarosh made by a small filmmaker with no sexual content gets an A
certificate. So is it acceptable to the people concerned and the High court if a movie with sexual scenes are screened on TV just because it has a U certificate? Moreover, A and U/A certificates are
handed not only due to sexual content or violence but also due to some mature themes of politics, human
relationships and other such topics. In such cases the contention that children will be affected by adult
movies is misplaced because children don’t watch such adult movies with political themes, etc. So what’s the
harm in airing such movies?
And why ban adult movies and vulgar content on TV only. Why not ban such movies and porn on the Internet
and in theatres also. The children have easy access to these movies and vulgar content at cyber cafes and the
theatre owners permit young children to watch adult movies. What is being done about this? Ms.Pratibha
Naitthani is completely biased. She says that music videos, adult films, violence in films, etc will have
negative effect on young children. Agreed, but what about the negative effects of the TV serials,
particularly by Ekta Kapoor that have characters, particularly women, bitching, fighting, backbiting and
even murdering their husbands, sons & daughter-in-laws. Promiscuity, extra marital affairs and unwed motherhood are a must in these serials. The institution of marriage is being completely abused with women characters having multiple marriages. Also, these serials have created the image of a modern woman as one who is economically well off and morally lax,
and young girls are trying to emulate that image. Doesn’t all this affect the minds of young girls? After watching these serials many girls might actually go on to emulate the negative characters in real life.
Isn’t she worried about this? May be she enjoys watching these serials. So if such negative serials
can entertain her then why should she object to people getting entertainment from adult movies? What about
the cartoon shows like Tom & Jerry where we have Jerry shooting, hitting, bashing, butchering Tom - all in
the name of cartoon. The same acts in a movie are termed as violence in movies that is enough for A
certification. Then we have News Channels airing mutilated bodies, crime shows, vulgar dance shows,
fashion shows, etc. on prime time. Why not censor the news channels and these cartoon shows too? Therefore,
I & B Ministry, the High Court and Pratibha Naiithani should stop practicing double standards and should
also object to the TV serials, cartoons, news channels that are morally vulgar, demeaning to women and more
harmful for children.
It’s time for the caretakers and upholders of moral values and the court to take serious view of the
situation and make it imperative that films and TV serials with adult subjects are shown after 11 p.m.
instead of banning them. A ban on adult movies is totally unnecessary. By taking into consideration sex
scenes, violence and adult themes like politics, human relationships etc, the CBFC board should really come
up with standard guidelines to rate programmes shown on TV by using International standards - PG – parental
guidance; G= general; 15+; above the age of 15 and M-mature audiences. This will help the parents to decide
what is right for their kids to watch or else switch channels there is no shortage of channels.
The Information & Broadcasting Minister and the High court should review the situation pragmatically and
consider all the aspects related to this issue and there should be drastic amendments in the Cable TV
act. And the parents should know that kids are not supposed to be watching TV as a major pass time. It
should be just one of their activities and it cannot revolve around them.
And Parents, please use your remote control. You have paid for it.
AMJAD K. MARUF
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I am too obsessed with anything related to KANK nowadays hence a second post on the same movie in two days. KJ fan, please bear with me
Various News Channels aired the first day first day reactions of Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna by the cinegoers that ranged from “Pathetic”, “boring”, “flop” to “horrible”. The headlines on the news channels even screamed, “Kank is going to tank”, “Kank did not live up to people’s expectations”, “the audience has not liked KANK”, etc. On all the movie sites and other websites you will find scathing comments and reviews of KANK by majority of netizens. The general public were mouthing expletives in trains, buses, etc while criticizing KANK. The tickets were easily available at multiplexes & single screen theatres even for the week-end shows in the first week. I have seen the movie seven times in multiplexes in the first week just to see whether the shows are really going housefull and I saw half empty theatres in spite of housefull board outside. After all this happenings and in spite of widespread criticism of KANK, how can the media, filmmakers and trade analysts proclaim that KANK as a super hit movie after just three days.
The same news channels that gave headlines of KANK’s failure on the first two days are now talking about the stupendous success of KANK. What would have happened in those two days is easy to guess. Sensing the falling BO figures from the fourth day, NDTV channel aired their weekly show “We, the people” on Friday instead of Sunday when it is always aired. The “special show” dealt with the subject of failed marriages with Karan Johar and SRK as two of the panelists. All the panelists including the host of the show, Barkha Dutt, talked only about the movie and praised the movie. Nothing else. Not a single panelist criticized the movie. This clearly proved that the show was produced and aired just to publicise the movie and was a desperate move to lift the sagging BO figures of KANK. Other channels like Aaj Tak, CNNIBN etc, were not too far. They also aired interviews of Abhishek and Amitabh who were talking about the success of the movie.
After the film critics were done with their job of praising KANK to the skies in their reviews, it was now the turn of trade analysts to indulge in exaggerated BO reports. After all, a big filmmaker like Karan Johar and a big distributor like Yashraj films were not going to allow anyone to call their movie as a flop. Not only was their reputation at stake but their ego would have also get hurt if the movie were declared a flop. The first week collections of KANK were always going to be huge considering the hype, the banner and 1000 prints. But to call it a super success is just exaggeration. The audience, especially SRK fans, were bound to watch the movie no matter how bad or good it was. But the fact is that the movie was disliked by majority of people. Just because KANK collected huge figures at BO in the first week does not mean that people have appreciated the movie. Even in places like Indore and other small towns the multiplexes were half empty on the second day itself with people giving negative feedback. And it should be remembered that KANK has made money only in cities and one should know that majority of Indians live in villages and small towns where the movie has proved to be a failure. Therefore no matter what the trade experts and Karan Johar say about BO figures of KANK in second week, we the majority of people know that the movie has flopped miserably. There is no repeat value for the movie and thus the movie cannot be deemed as popular. It’s just a technical hit due to its hype, increased ticket prices and large number of prints and not to forget exaggerated BO figures. And yes, Mr. Karan, Mr. Amitabh and Mr. SRK, there is no healthy debate going on but only criticism of KANK by majority of people.
The All India attendance was reported to be almost 100 percent on the first day and the collections for the first week were declared at around 6 crores. There are seven territories in India. And even if we assume that the attendance was 100 percent in the first week in all the seven territories then by simple arithmetic the figures comes to 42 crores and if we add 13 crores from oversead territory then the total adds upto 55 crores. So where does the 72 crore figure come from? But the fact is that not all territories have reported 100 percent attendance nor can any territory other than Mumbai have grossed 6 crores. And it should also be noted that compared to Mumbai and Delhi UP territory the other territories are small and cannot generate figures of 6 crores in first week. Even if we assume for a moment that the figures given are authentic then how can they claim that they have recovered their investment of 50 crores and made profit considering that out of the gross collection, 40 percent goes to government as way of entertain tax and the remaining amount is divided among producers and exhibitors.
The exaggerated BO figures in the media is also due to the rivalry going on between big filmmakers and big distribution companies. Since Rakesh Roshan is touting the Hrithik starrer Krissh as biggest hit this year, KJ & Yashraj films are leaving no stone unturned to call KANK as the biggest hit of 2006 by giving exaggerated figures. In recent past we had Yashraj films touting Fanaah to be a super duper hit with gross figures of 100 crores just to subside UTV as its competitor that has Rang De Basanti to its credit. This will not stop. The next fight will be between UTV’s Don and Yashraj’s Dhoom. Since many of these production and distribution companies are listed on stock exchange the need for exaggerating BO figures has become more imperative for them. Therefore the I&B minister and the Tax authorities have to step in to see that the BO figures quoted in media are authentic and audited because the money of common man is invested in these companies.
Finally, I would like to tell the big producers and distributors that no matter what figures they give in newspapers and other medium, we the audience is not going to believe any of those figures. Don’t underestimate our intelligence.
AMJAD K. MARUF