Year 2010 : Fall of the Titans!!!

2010 will always be remembered in Bollywood history as the year where most of the big directors failed to hit gold with their movies. Lets take a look at these high profile directors and their turkey's.

VEER: The year started with VEER, an ambitious project for both Salman Khan and Anil Sharma. Anil Sharma is one director who gave the biggest blockbuster of Indian Movie History 'GADAR- Ek Prem Katha' and he also gave other successful movies in the past like 'HERO- A lovestory of a Spy', 'Apne' etc. The movie was mounted on a huge budget however the costumer drama fell flat on the face incurring huge losses for the producers and distributors.

KITES: Rakesh Roshan, Rajesh Roshan and Hrithik Roshan always spell box office magic. So when 'Kites' was announced it was one of the most anticipated movie of the year. The movie had created a lot of noise because it was a movie that also boasted of starring Mexican Superstar Barbara Mori and also because of the rumours of Hrithik - Barbara love story. For the first time Hrithik was directed by Anurag Basu instead of Rakesh Roshan in their home production financed by Reliance. There was nothing interesting in the movie or in the treatment, this 125 crore extravaganza burnt a huge hole in the pockets of Reliance BIG Cinemas making it one of the biggest disasters in the history of Indian Movies.

RAAVAN: Master-Blaster director Mani Rathnam who always commanded respect and critical acclaim for all his past movies had to take a lot of flak for his latest offering 'RAAVAN' starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. AR Rahman who always gave chartbursting music in every Mani movie gave a mediocre score for RAAVAN which added to the losses. The movie was made on a lavish scale at the cost of 100 crore plus however it was another money loser for Reliance BIG Cinemas and Mani Rathnam.

ACTION REPLAY: Vipul Shah has always had an enviable box office track record with three blockbusters 'Aankhen', 'Waqt' & 'Namaste London' as director and 'Singh Is King' as a producer. So when Action Replay was announced there was huge curiosity in the trade circle and even the industry tried to forget Vipul's last movie 'London Dreams' which had made below average box office collections. After Raavan this was another flop for Aishwarya and it also hit Akshay's already staggering career badly.

RAKTCHARITRA 1 & 2: Ram Gopal Varma was one of the most respected names in the trade circles and he also spelt box office success however in the last few years apart from the SARKAR series he didn't strike gold at the box office. RGV tried resurrecting his career with Raktacharitra however instead of resurrecting the careers of both RGV and Vivek Oberoi it added onto their basket of flops. Another disaster from the RGV 'Factory'.

ANJAANA ANJAANI: There is still a debate on the box office status of Sajid Nadiadwala's Anjaana Anjaani starring current heart throb Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. Sajid Nadiadwala and Siddharth Anand always spelt box office success before they teamed up for Anjaana Anjaani. However their combined luck factor didn't help the movie to recover its costs. If box office returns are to be calculated the movie is a flop however if the satellite and music rights collections are counted then its a profit making venture for Sajid Nadiadwala.

GUZAARISH: After the debacle of SAWAARIYA, Sanjay Leela Bhansali returned with a sensitive story about a Paraplegic patient seeking 'Mercy Killing.' Considering the story and the setup the movie shouldn't have costed SLB anything more than 10-15 crores and if he had made it at that budget the movie would have been one of the superhits of 2010. However SLB made the movie at a huge budget of 90 crores out of which his remuneration was 27 crores plus Hrithik's fees which was around 15 crores and Aishwarya's fees which was 3 crores. The movie was a huge disaster although it is one of the masterpieces made by SLB. UTV had to incurr huge losses and Aishwarya got her third flop in a row and Hrithik his second flop after Kites.

We still have not counted few movies like We R Family that came from the prestigious banner of Karan Johar's Dharma Productions or Break Ke Baad by Kunal Kohli Productions or even Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar who have given us big blockbusters like 'Lagaan' & 'Jodha Akbar'.

The year is yet to end and we have the Father of all Big Budget Movies in the form of 'Tees Maar Khan' by Farah Khan starring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif hope it is not another turkey in the waiting....

Movie Review: Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey

Movies today has become a costly affair not only for the makers but also for the viewers. An average middle class person has to spend a minimum of Rs.1500/- if he has to take his family for a movie these days which includes the multiplex ticket fares as well as the popcorn-cola expenses and commuting fares. If someone has to spend such huge amount for a day of entertainment for him and his family then better the movie be worth the money being spent by him. Few days back I had heard Abhishek Bachchan professing the same sentiments that I have put forth on a leading TV channel while promoting his latest movie 'Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey'. Alas these were mere words for him and the adage 'Practice what you preach' seems to be suggested to him and the director Ashutosh Gowarikar.

'Jeelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey' is the latest offering from Ashutosh Gowarikar who tries to take us back in history and narrate a story less heard off and read about even in our school history books. JHJJS is based on a book 'Do and Die' by Manini Chatterjee inspired from the Chittagong Uprising that took place in 1930. The movie narrates the story of Surjya Sen (Abhishek Bachchan) a school teacher, spearheading a revolt with the help of his five comrades (Sikander Kher, Samrat Mukherjee, Feroz Wahid Khan, Shreyas Pandit, Maninder Singh), two feisty women (Deepika Padukone and Vishakha Singh), and 56 teenagers on the night of April 18, 1930 in Chottogram (Chittagong).

But their plan to take on the cantonment, destroy the telegraph office, cut off the rail link, confiscate the armoury and take the firangis hostage goes haywire for several reasons. Coming under retaliatory attack, the band of 62 flees into the jungles of Jalalabad where many of them are massacred by the British. One by one all the revolutionaries on the run are either gunned down or arrested and thereby ‘transported for life’ or sent to the gallows. The story is short but the director stretches the same into a 3 hour affair and so the movie seems to move ahead slowly and at times it becomes boring.

Coming to the performances, Abhishek Bachchan has done a fantastic job and so does Deepika who has donned the role of Kalpana Dutta and she even gets a chance to showcase her badminton skills in a small sequence in the movie. Rest of the cast like Sikander Kher, Vishakha Singh, Maninder Singh, Shreyas Pandit and Feroz Wahid Khan leave an impression on the minds of the viewers.

The production design [Nitin Chandrakant Desai] transports you to that era. It's that authentic. The stunts [Ravi Dewan] are true to life. Kiran Deohans and Seetha Sandhiri's cinematography captures the era to perfection. Music by Sohel Sen is just average and there are no songs that leaves any long last impression. The screenplay by Raoul V Randolf and Ashutosh Gowarikar is wonderful however the editing should have been more crisper in the second half that would have made a huge difference.

All said and done the movie is a one-time watch and the box office returns seems to be bleak as today's audience doesnt seem to favour such subjects and would rather wait for the movie to be screened on the Television rather than catch it onscreen paying huge ticket fares. Moreover the movie was not publicized well nor the posters give a feel that will generate an interest in the minds of the average movie goers to go and watch the movie. Another disaster in the making as far as box office returns is considered.

Movie Review: Break Ke Baad

Indians howsoever modern they grow their roots are still Indian and still Hindi movies with western sensibilities never work in India case in point Aisha. With Break Ke Baad Kunal Kohli gets into full time production handling the directorial baton to Danish Aslam who debuts with this movie starring Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone. Danish has tried to target the urban audience with this romantic comedy that talks about giving space in a relationship.

 The story is of Abhay [Imran Khan] and Aaliya [Deepika Padukone] who have known each other since their childhood and soon their friendship turns into love at the tender age of 15, when Abhay realizes that Aaliya is the girl for him.

Aaliya's life is defined by her burning desire to become an actress and she is unmindful of what or who comes in her way. Abhay, who is still unsure about what he wants to do, finds himself competing with Aaliya's incessant plans and projects to fulfill her dreams. Things come to a head when Aaliya decides to go to Australia to study and Abhay has to deal with the prospect of a long-distance relationship, secretly fearing that he will lose Aaliya forever.

 

They decide to give their relationship a break, so that Aaliya can pursue her dreams. As time passes by, Abhay realises his skills, while Aaliya realises that there is no joy in achieving one's dreams if one has no one to share it with. 

On the outer premise the story looks interesting however the screenplay by Renuka and Danish falls flat. Moreover Deepika's character seems to be a confused person and keeps on breaking the relationship then makes up and then breaks up and finally gets married to Imran's character. The songs are average apart from 'Adhoore', 'Meri Padosan' and 'Dooriyan'. Danish handles few scenes well while Imran and Deepika have acted well. Sharmila Tagore and Shahana Goswami are totally wasted and Lillette Dubey does a good job.

On the whole Break Ke Baad disappoints majorly. I am sure audience will never return after the interval or 'Break Ke Baad' to the theatres. 

A Magician Named : Sanjay Leela Bhansali

When I was in my teens a magician cast his spell on me through his movie 'Khamoshi - The Musical' since then till today I was not able to break away from the spell, although I was jolted very hard to come out of his magical spell with his last outing named 'Saawariya'.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali movies have always been a celebration for most us, howsoever anyone would like to hate him or love him, and one can never ignore him. Khamoshi was very special to me as it was for the first time I could see my favourite stars together and also see my favourite Salman Khan act for a change and so did Manisha who gave her career best. Although she won a Filmfare award for her performance she missed out on her National Award due to uncertain circumstances. The movie did not do well at the box office but it is termed as a classic today. The songs are still hummed and they are one of the best albums from music composers Jatin-Lalit.

Then Sanjay took a ‘U’ turn and directed two full on masala entertainers with popular music and lavish sets and costumes. Both Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam and Devdas were the biggest hits of those years and also bagged all the major awards at every awards function. Aishwarya Rai looked her best and also acted her best in both movies. Who can forget Paro and Nandini portrayed by Aishwarya and who can forget Madhuri's mesmerizing portrayal of the courtesan Chandramukhi in Devdas? Sanjay not only gave a fresh lease to the careers of Aishwarya Rai and Ajay Devgan but also gave us a talented music director in the form of Ismail Darbar.

After proving his mettle with HDDCS and Devdas he once again turned towards a genre he loves to make - BLACK. Black is considered to be a career milestone for him as well as Amitabh Bachchan who got his third National Award for the movie and also for Rani Mukherjee who won both the critics and popular Filmfare award alongwith all the other hordes of awards. Who can forget the brilliant performances of AB, Rani, Shernaaz Patel and Ayesha Kapoor who played the younger version of Rani in the movie? The movie was a critical and commercial success. There were no songs in the movie but the content was so strong it struck a chord in every viewer’s heart. Black again took all the major awards alongwith the best actor and actress for the year 2005 and established brand SLB.

When someone is on a higher trail and in a respectable position like SLB, then he is closely watched by the industrywallahs to make one mistake so that they can pull him down and that's what happened with Saawariya. Saawariya was the most sought after project when it was announced. It starred Rishi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor's children, a big launch pad for them as well as for the music director Monty and singer Shail Hada. Sony pictures backed the project all positives but when the movie released it was torn apart by the critics and it was a huge box office failure. SLB was made the butt of every joke and soon he was written off by the same people who hailed him and worshiped him as GOD.

 To regain everything he lost, he spun his magic again in the form of Guzaarish, one of the best movies to hit the silver screen in a long time and also the best by SLB. It is a masterpiece made by SLB and for the first time in the last 10 years Aishwarya Rai was not Aishwarya Rai but Sophia the nurse who takes care of Ethan played by Hrithik, the magician suffering from paraplegia for the past 14 years. The performances are praiseworthy and also award worthy. The cinematography, the background music, the songs, the dialogues everything related to Guzaarish is just out of the world. The magician in SLB who had taken a sabbatical resurfaced to cast his spell once again. 

A grand salute to you Sanjay and once again I am under your spell and waiting to see more objects popping out of your magician's hat (his brain).

Reality Television in India - A Mockery

A teenager starts breaking his dressing table mirror then he rushes into his bathroom and breaks everything that comes in his way. A girl getting beaten up by her boyfriend and someone hurling the choicest of abuses on another person and trying to physically assault the other person. These are few common things we would have noticed in the last few weeks on television in the name of Reality Television.

Reality shows in India has grown by leaps and bounds. After the deluge of Saas-bahu serials every other channel started showcasing reality shows after KBC, Indian Idol, Saregamapa on Zee TV and MTV Roadies caught on. However the reality shows are mocking the real essence of reality television. You can see that every show is clearly scripted and the characters are just acting it out whether it is Dolly Bindra fighting with her fellow contestants in the Bigg Boss House or  boyfriends cheating on their girlfriends or vice versa on Emotional Atyachar. You can clearly see the participants are acting out in front of the camera.

 

In today’s world where TRP plays a huge role, every television channel is going out of its way by introducing such cheap tactics in the name of Reality shows in order to garner more advertisers for the shows and for them.  So you can see mock fights between judges and contestants of the talent shows, contestants hurling choicest of bad words at their fellow contestants, insulting eachother and opening showing sleaze courtesy Emotional Atyachar.

Today's audience is intelligent enough to understand that the fights are staged however they watch it for sheer fun. However to upsurge one another every channel is resorting to cheaper tactics e.g. Dolly Bindra creating havoc at the Bigg Boss house and swearing badly at fellow contestants at the drop of a hat. Rakhi Sawant insulting her guests in front of her audience which also gave way to one of the guests committing suicide. Sach Ka Saamna, where the darker and dirtier secrets were revealed by the contestants to the host of the show. Bindass Dadagiri where contestants were asked to insult eachother and one of the contestants slapped the host in retaliation etc

In today’s age where violence is a common factor in our everyday life these channels are encouraging youngsters to resort to it so that they can get their few seconds of stardom. These shows not only are bad content wise but also make a very bad impression on the young minds who think that to become famous the best way is to resort to violence, disregard relationships and become a reality TV star. Television has a responsibility towards the society and with such irresponsible behaviour they are setting wrong examples to our today’s youth. The I & B Ministries resolve on telecasting such shows between 11:00 pm – 5:00a.m. is a welcome change however is this the only way we can discourage such shows? Maybe sensible viewers like us need to take a call.

Review: Guzaarish

 Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a name that is associated with quality cinema and his stories always strike a chord with its viewers except Saawariya which didn't make any sense nor did it justify to the tremendous potential of SLB. The latest offering from SLB's creative studio is 'Guzaarish' a soul stirring story about a Paraplegia stricken patient. Paraplegia is a complete paralysis of the lower half of the body, including both legs, usually caused by damage/injury to the spinal cord. You can draw many parallels from films like Whose Life is it Anyways or even The Sea Inside but SLB gives a master touch of his own and churns out a beautiful tale that celebrates life. I also would like to inform you that it is no where inspired or copied from Christopher Nolan's The Prestige as reported by many newspapers in the past.

The story is set in Goa and it tells the story of Ethan Mascarehas (Hrithik) who is an accomplished magician and during one of his stage performances he becomes a victim of his own magic and suffers serious injuries turning him into a Paraplegic patient. His world is surrounded by few people, Sophia - his nurse (Aishwarya), Devyani - his lawyer (Shernaz Patel) and Dr. Nitin Naik his physician (Suhel Seth). Ethan  who is confined to a wheel chair, becomes a Radio Jockey at an FM Station called Radio Zindagi. His show talks of hope, laughter and sunshine and it's difficult to imagine that the man behind it has been immobilized with a spinal injury for the last fourteen years of his life. Ethan files a petition in court for mercy killing. This decision of Ethan leaves Sofia stunned as she shares a silent love with Ethan. 

Ethan takes the help of friend-lawyer Devyani [Shernaz Patel] to support his appeal. Even Ethan's mother Isabel [Nafisa Ali] supports him in his petition, although Ethan is persuaded by his physician Dr. Nayak [Suhel Seth] to retract his case. Alongside all this, Omar [Aditya Roy Kapur] enters Ethan's life with the aim of learning magic from him. Impressed by Omar's love for magic, Ethan agrees to pass on his legacy to him.

There are few prominent scenes that will leave you emotional and teary eyed, especially the court room scenes, Aishwarya's outburst in the court, the hearing of the petition, the climax etc... 

Performances are the highlight of this movie. Hrithik fits into the character of Ethan easily and you cannot imagine anyone other than him performing that role. Aishwarya is topnotch after a long time. Shernaz Patel, Aditya Roy Kapur, Nafisa Ali and Suhel Seth are very good. Newcomer Monikangana Dutta has very little to do in the movie. On a lighter note SLB even makes the fly act well in the movie.

Music by SLB is not a chart-busting fare, however the lyrics and the soulful songs transport you to a different world especially the title song and Tera Zikr. The costumers are good, the back ground score by Tubby and Parik are subtle and very effective as it goes with the mood of the movie, the cinematography by Sudeep Chaterjee is wonderful and the dialogues by Vibhu Puri and Bhavani Iyer is heart touching.

The hindarances to the wonderful movie is its pace and heavy dosage of English dialogues that will limit the movie's performance in the single screens and will only cater to the class audiences. Overall the movie is an emotional fare and might not do huge business at the box office but will reap all the major awards.

Music Review: Tees Maar Khan

This week I happened to pick up 'Tees Maar Khan' music CD as I always had at the back of the mind that the movie is made by Farah Khan and yes Farah has a great track record when it comes to her movies and her movie music. Who can forget those beautiful songs from 'Main Hoon Naa' and 'Om Shanti Om'? Gems like 'Tumse Milke Dil Ka Haal Kya Kahe', 'Main Hoon Naa-title song', 'Tumhe Jo Maine Dekha', Chale Jaise Hawayein' from Main Hoon Naa or songs like 'Dard-E-Disco', 'Ajab Si', 'Agar Main Kahoon', 'Chanse Jo Toote Koi Sapna' or 'Deewangi Deewangi'. All these songs had 'Blockbuster' written all over it however expecting the same from 'Tees Maar Khan' soundtrack is futile. The songs came as a total disappointment for me and I am sure most of her fans would also feel the same.

The first song from the movie is the title song, and the opening music piece sounds totally inspired from the 'Pink Panther' theme music. The ending piece with Dhol sounds is good but the entire song and even its remixed version leaves us quite disappointed. The music for the title song sung by Sonu Nigam is by Shirish Kunder who is accidently the producer of the movie and also Farah's husband (maybe after the debacle of Jaan-e-man which he directed, Shirish might be looking for an alternative career.)

Vishal-Shekhar takes the music from here on with the best song of the album 'Sheila Ki Jawani' picturized on Katrina Kaif and sung by Sunidhi Chauhan and Vishal. This is the same song for which Katrina had to work on her abs and figure to look like an item girl. The song is a foot tapper and might find its target audiences in discos.

The much hyped song which features Salman Khan in a guest appearance alongwith Akshay and Katrina is the next to be heard titled 'Wallah Re Wallah'. This song is a typical qawwalli however it doesnt match upto the level of 'Tumse Milke' from Main Hoon Naa. There are multiple singers like Shekhar Ravjiani, Kamal Khan, Raja Hasan and Shreya Ghoshal coming together to make 'Wallah Re Wallah' an energetic song but it falls flat on the face.

Next to come is a song title 'Badey Dilwala' sung by Sukhwinder and Shreya which sounds like a village based song and is not a good track to put on repeat mode. There are heavy doses of Hindi and English lyrics to make it sound better but its an average fare.

The last song is another disappointment titled 'Happy Ending' sung by Prajakta Shukre, Harshit Saxena, Abhijeet Sawant and Debojit Saha - some of the major constestants from various talent hunt shows on TV. It has been a tradition with Farah Khan movies to have a song when the end credits are rolled out and this one seems to be that song. The song is another average fare again.

There is a saying in Hindi which goes 'Khoda Pahad Nikla Chooha' that's what I felt after listening to 'Tees Maar Khan' not one song apart from Sheila Ki Jawani stays in your mind. Vishal-Shekhar who gave us soulful music in movies like 'Anjaana Anjaani' and 'I Hate Luv Storys' this year does a shoddy job. Hope the movie doesn't let us down the way its music has. The only thing I can tell Farah, Shekhar and Vishal is 'BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME GUYZ'.