This weekend opened to two Hollywood Big Budget movies 'Life of Pi' by Ang Lee and the last installment of the 'Twilight Series'. Having read Yann Martel's 'Life of Pi' I was looking forward to the cinematic version of the same by the great Ang Lee who has made some of the best movies in the past like 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Sleeping Tiger and Hidden Dragon.' As expected the movie was a cinematic journey and at no point of time did I ever feel bored or felt that Ang has not done enough justice to Yann's book. The story is about a 16-year-old Indian boy named Pi who survives a shipwreck and crosses the Pacific in a lifeboat with a Tiger 'Richard Parker' for company. The movie shows how survival in such tough conditions can bring man closer to God. The performances by young Suraj Sharma, Irfan Khan, Tabu etc. are first rate. The movie looks wonderful, the animals look beautiful, the storms look dangerous, the setting is extremely praiseworthy. Ang has done full justice to the subject and in turn gives us a memorable movie. At box office the movie will do super business and it will also open more doors to Indian topics and actors a new doorway to Hollywood. The Hollywood-Bollywood gap is soon bridging and we can hope more such wonderful movies are made with our actors by Hollywood bigwigs. So here to hope and survival.
Dabangg was a turn around movie for Salman Khan not only the box office figurewise but also the music was something that was Chartbuster and the music director duo Sajid - Wajid bagged some of the best music director awards for 2010.
Dabangg-2 is one of the much awaited movies of 2012 and the audience was looking forward to another chartbuster from the same team but I would like to say it is just a 'HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT.'
The songs have a sense of dejavu as if they are poor cousins of the bigger hits churned out in Dabangg. The first song in the album 'Dagabaaz Re' reminds you of 'Tere Mast Mast Nain' while 'Saason Ne' is a very bad match to the beautiful 'Chori Kiya Re Jiya'.
If Dabangg had a chartbuster 'Munni' here you have a very average 'Fevicol Se'. For a 'Humka Peene Hai' you have a 'Pandeji Maare Seeti' which I must say is the only saving grace of this otherwise damp album.
The 'Dabangg Unloaded' is another bad song that will not grow the way 'Hudd Hudd Dabangg' did in the previous movie.
On the whole the album is just average, hope the movie is not as bad as the album. All the Best to Arbaaz Khan and his team... waiting for 21st Dec 2012 when Dabangg 2 releases.
Yash Chopra movies have inspired many a generations as it speaks about love and has some of the best songs ever created and shot on screens. So the last movie directed by Yash Chopra had a lot of expectations from the audience and yes I too had some wonderful expectations. However I felt that the movie went wrong in the scripting and the music was uninspiring.
Moreover like his character Samar Anand played by SRK who wakes up one day to forget his last 10 years memories after he meets with an accident the same way SRK has woken up after the huge debacle RA.One last Diwali to forget the last 12 years and imagine that he is still playing the conventional Raj and Rahul characters played for Dharma and YRF.
The movie tells the story of Mira played by Katrina who likes to make promises with God in return to get her prayers answered. Samar is a happy go lucky guy who happens to fall in love with Mira after he sees her in church when she comes to ask God to break her engagement and in return she will stop wearing fur. Soon Mira seems to see Samar everywhere singing on different locations in London. She strikes a deal with Samar that if he teaches her to learn a song in Punjabi she will teach him English.
Soon they fall in love with eachother in between music sessions and English classes. The day Mira goes to tell her father about her relationship with Samar, he meets with an accident and to save his life she tells God she will never meet him. Samar is saved and as promised to God she stops meeting him which in turn breaks his heart and he joins Army as a bomb diffusing specialist.
Ten years later he meets Akira played by Anushka who is a documentary maker for Discovery Channel. She falls in love with Samar and before anything could go further between them, Samar meets with another accident and he soon realises that he has lost his memory for the last 10 years. Then what happens is the entire crux of the story.
The screenplay by Devika Bhagat and Aditya Chopra lacks the punch. The predictability of the plot and the silly promises that Katrina's character likes to make to God for silly reasons makes the story quite kiddish and boring.
The music apart from 'Saans' is quite uninspiring, the cinematography is wonderful. Dialogues are okay, it makes you remember the movies made by Karan Johar and Yash Chopra in the 90's.
SRK has not done anything outstanding considering the fact that he was going back to what he does best. Katrina is a revelation maybe she was waiting for Yash Chopra to tap out the best performance from her. Anushka Sharma as usual is good. Anupam Kher has a 'blink and you miss' kind of a role. The cameo by Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Kapoor was okay.
On the whole due to the hype and controversy surrounding the movie will help it to get a Super Hit tag. However the movie on the whole is a complete let down if you compare it to the masterpieces churned out by Yash Chopra in the past. So my verdict an average movie for a one time watch.
Vikram Bhatt is synonymous with horror genre the way Karan Johar is to candy floss romance and Bhatt brothers with erotic thrillers and therefore 1920 - Evil Returns was always a much awaited movie as soon as the promos hit the tube.
However like RAAZ - 3, 1920-Evil Returns also disappoints highly. There is no novelty in the story and the movie is another heavily inspired version of THE EXORCIST.
Now coming to the story; Smruti [Tia Bajpai] is on her way to meet Jaidev [Aftab Shivdasani] who is her pen friend turned lover whom she has never met. On the way she meets with an accident caused by an evil spirit and in turn she loses her memory. Jaidev, a well-known poet, who lives with his sister Karuna [Vidya Malvade] finds Tia one morning, lying unconscious near the lake and gets her home. Karuna is against Jaidev's decision of bringing a stranger home. A few episodes later, Jaidev realizes that Smruti has lost her memory and doesn't remember anything except his poems.
Jaidev decides to get Smruti treated in Shimla. En route, while resting in the guest house, strange developments start taking place. Jaidev realizes that Smruti is possessed by a spirit. To save her it is necessary to unveil her past and how he goes in search of her past and what comes in front of him is the crux of the story.
Although the story is by Vikram Bhatt and Amin Hajee, Bhushan Patel has directed the movie who was the erstwhile assistant of Vikram. The music by Chirantan Bhatt was average and it hampers the narrative of the movie.
Performances by every actors including the main leads are strictly okay, however Tia Bajpai enacts her part well in all the possessed scenes. Aftab looks and acts quite average.
At the ticket window the movie might turn out to be a winner as it is made at a very low cost and has the advantage of Vikram Bhatt's name attached to it.
