Vaastushastra (Bomb sweet bomb)

Cinema: Metro (South Mumbai)
Ticket: Rs 60 + 15 (samosa)
Artistic Value (AV): *
Entertainment Value (EV): **

If “Bhoot” scared you, this will kill you …………. screamed the posters.
If u believe this,then chances are that I am a dead man talking or a fortunate mortal who lived to tell this tale, after witnessing the mayhem on screen.
Some questions that bothered me:

1. Who are these ghosts? Why were they killed when they were humans
   (ofcourse!)?
2. What was the significance of the spooky tree in the movie? Is there any
   protocol which says that “life” of the dead ( what the hell? ) is
   dependant upon a leafless Banyan tree?
3. Why are the occupants of the new house tormented? Is there any iota of reasoning?
4. How come ghosts who are usually invisible but in a flash can appear in full flesh (no blood) and grab your #$@&* neck?
5. Does overdoing the same old screechy sound effects in “Bhoot” make the proceedings scarier?
6. Why is Ramgopal Verma’s “Factory” churning out more trash than Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation?

Sense and sensibility is lost somewhere, not a trace of originality, no story or can we say “Bhoot” recycled with more number of characters who have no backgrounds. Clearly this movie loses in all aspects. Well if the intention was to just scare the daylights out of you, then I must say that “Vaastushastra” has its moments of glory, but that’s it. However, the proceedings are so predictable that the fear factor is considerably reduced at times and (yawn!) I could get a sound sleep at night!

Of the performances, Sushmita Sen brings out the right expressions, the kid is a treat to watch and Rajpal Yadav as the madman is superb. Chakravarty aka Satya sleepwalks thoughout the movie and VJs Pia and Purab are best during their make out scene.
That brings me to the golden question- Is this movie better/scarier than “Bhoot”? NO.
Wish I had spent those 60 bucks on a mug of draught beer!

Arun “newagemovieguru” Ganesh.

Spiderman, Spiderman…………

Cinema: Thakur Cinema
AV- ***
EV- ****1/2
Spiderman as a pizza delivery boy…………………………… sounds exciting, isnt it?
Thats exactly how the movie takes a start. Peter Parker aka Spiderman, desparately tries to live the life of a regular collge going guy working as part time pizza delivery boy and photographer and still finding time to put on his mask and save the city. His ideals in life are strong, that s why he sacrifices his love for a bigger cause but Mary jane (Krist Dunst) still haunts him.

Mary jane (MJ) is a broadway star now and had many suiters after her tryst with Peter, but finally chose a celebrity hunk to settle down in holy matrimony. Bad news for Parker, who just cant express his love, even for a last hopeless attempt to win her. His grades are falling and he is generally tired after all that superhero stuff and what s worse, he has lost his job. Add to all these miseries, he is losing his superpowers. He cant spin the web now and he is getting weaker day by day; a classic case of a weak mind, leading to a weak body. Enough is enough, no more spiderman, decides Peter and abandons the mask and costume for a normal life – the city suffers, Paker enjoys his newfound life, proposes MJ and waits.

Meanwhile, a scientist, on an experiment for successful demonstration of controlled fusion in a lab, gets demonic after the experiment fails and he loses everything including his wife. Gifted with 2 pairs of metallic “limbs” he strikes havoc on the city for funds to restart his deadly research work.
Spiderman needs to strike back and come out of his “out of form” state and yes he does build on that confidence. MJ falls for him again, aha, but trouble again; he is no more a carefree lad but he is SPIDERMAN.
What follows then is pure techo wizardy. The action sequences takes ur breath away. Boom bang crash and lots more. Noteworthy is the train fight sequence and whenever he flies spinning his web; popcorn in its purest form.

Acting dept is adequate, with Toby Maguire getting into the skin of the character with ease. The new Villain is great and so are the rest of the cast. This installment of Spidey is more about relationships and human emotions and it tells us how ordinary ppl can achieve exatraordinary feats with just the will power and ofcourse as the classic line goes ” with great power comes great responsibility”. Finally, the lesson that good prevails over evil.
The down to earth boy/girl/aunty next door characters gives the movie and the series a feel good and real image, unlike the wildly imaginative Batman series.
Go for the ultimate spin, dude.

-Arun Ganesh

Yuva

What happens when too many talents come under one roof ? Utter chaos ? Fortunately not so , when they are guided by a person who is a master of his task. Manirathnam one such master , clearly knows the strengths and weaknesses of his team.
Yuva, a cinematically near perfect show piece unfolds in front of you , describing the life of three youngsters. One ,a lower middle class “tapori” being exploited by the big-shots in politics. Whence , he realizes his being exploited , he decides to take a hold on it. And to achieve that , he can go to any limit.
Other , higher middle class person , having ambitions to pursue higher studies abroad. A typical rich,party going, flirt, vulnerable teenager. Clearly knows what he wants ( though that gets changed ). And last but not least , middle class college going person , does not like what ever is going on and takes a plunge into setting it right. He sure knows the difficulties , but then , is also sure of his success.
What comes striking is the fact that these youngsters are not the puppets of the situations , instead dare enough to control it for themselves. Clearly acknowledging the mindset of today’s generation.
The three plots are tightly woven and brilliantly crafted. The characters are well defined. The performances are just flawless. The cinematography, dialogues ( though it requires good concentration and knowledge of mavalli hindi in some parts), music are all good in their own standards. Particularly, song picturization of Anjaana is good.
Around the voilence , the hard core of the story , are woven plots to expose the subtelities/nuances of relationships. Be it the voilent love or i-didnt-know-you yesterday but i-will-miss-you tomorrow kinda feelings or be it its-all-nonsense-but-i-love-u kinda unbothered attitude, they succeed in striking a chord.
The sudden emotional bursts, the pace of events and turn of events will surely remind an avid bollywood watcher Satya (or Company). The brilliant use of flashbacks , like in Alay payuthe, is very effective. Confused Mani of Dil Se is replaced by very focussed Mani of Yuva.
Coming to performances, Rani Mukhorjee, displaying good variety of emotions , is good. Kareena is ok. Esha is cute. Om puri with Bongal accent is good.
AD like wine ,is getting better and better in every movie. His confident looks , those expressive eyes add to his natural ability of impressive perfomance. And choclate boy, VO is cute and good enough. He also succeeds with good timing for comic shades. Hats off to AB , who had remained an unpolished gem. His sorrowful looks , voilent eyes and the gangster voice vouches him the perfect role. The dialogue delivery is simply brilliant. I think even BigB will be proud of his son’s ability in dialogue delivery and facial expressions.

Fortunately , there is atleast one Mani , who polishes gems like Madhavan(who incidentally has enacted AB’s role in Tamil version) and AB.
Watch the movie, if you dont look for only entertainment.

-Ravikiran R

The Village – Night shines again.

Place- Thakur Cinema
Rating:
Aritstic Value (AV) – ****
Entertainment Value (EV) – ***1/2

“Never wear bad colour, they don’t like it”

“Never go into the woods” – screamed the newspaper promos. You ask urself, who are “they”?

Chances are after finding out who “they” really are, u will be a bit disappointed, but there is no denying that the Shyamalan has cooked up enough curry to safisfy your cinematic hunger. Though I will always stand by the point that this movie does not have the ’shock element’ ( a la Sixth sense) but definitely the ’surprise element’. There is a thin line which seperates these two aspects.

Firstly the thing I usually hate to do – Comparison, but here when all the movies I ‘m comparing falls into the same genre and from the same man, I won’t hesitate. Firstly, this movie isn’t scary or does not create that eerie atmosphere throughout (6th sense, Signs), however, there are moments of tension and that sudden surge of adrenalin ( sound effects!). The narration is pretty fast ( unlike the previous 3 movies) and easy to comprehend and there seems to be a deliberate attempt by the guy himself to make the proceedings a bit easygoing ( movie for the masses???). And thankfully the ending does not disappoint, like Signs.

Cut to this 19th century village surrounded by woods, where the folks fear the spooky people of the woods. There are certain rules rules laid down by the council of seniors to live in harmony which are as simple as “Dont intrude each others’ territory”. Lucious ( Jaquin Phoenix) wants to go to the nearby town for reasons such as medicine stocks etc which are not available in their village, but gets stiff oppositions from the elders as he has to pass through the woods in order to reach the town. That is not such a bright idea as the long clawed “people of the woods” will skin him alive, and attack them and their livestock, according to legends. So, Lucious is in a sticky situation and the village is cut off from the rest of the world.

Disaster strikes as he is fatally injured in an accident (well I wont reveal that) and his blind ladylove offers to leave for town in search of medicines. Elders assume that she’ll be spared as she has a handicap ( are the creatures kind hearted enough???). What next follows is her treacherous & scary journey and the unfolding of the mystery and the really out of the world (surprise, surprise) penultimate moments. Only Shyamalan can pull of such a mindbender with class touch.

Performances are good, especially the blind girl’s and the mentally challenged guy’s. Phoenix is superbly restraint. Critics in US have slammed this movie, but I believe that there is almost only one guy (yeah, spielberg is alive) who can pull off an out and out imaginative , brooding, suspence cum horror cum artistic picture like this.

Go for it without any second thoughts.

-Arun Ganesh

Boys (Tamil)

Boys———— I wish hindi film makers had the guts to make a movie like this……………… an out and out youth oriented theme with 5 newcomers and that too on a 20 crore budget, now that sounds like a big risky proportion.
Obviously inspired from the American Pie movies, this film has a desi touch along with a very urbanisque look. The desi factor being the common problems and dilemmas faced by millions of adolescents in this country, their fantasies and outlook towards the opposite sex. At some point we start to identify with the characters, atleast once we have gone through these phases.
Unlike DCH, this movie is quite crude in terms of the content and presentation, but still a quality product in terms of execution and technical wizardry. note esp the camera movements & special effects ( sometimes terribly out of sync with the situation like the song ale ale and boom boom)
The twists in the plot are too many, which bolly wood cant imagine and dare to show. the movie is very much real life like, the behaviour of guys, no supermangiri etc. Shankar has done a superb job, alas this fare wont be appreciated by the family audiences.
The biggest highlight of this movie is the extraordinary music by the maestro himself. rahaman proves once again that he can give any pop superstar a long run for his money. The compostions are very popish and techno driven, but he has the soul at the right place. The groovy rhythm is too infectious ( Ale Ale), the voice of lucky ali in “secret of success” and the haunting tune makes it a pop favourite.” Break the rules” has got that raw energy which is the characteristic of rahman, “girlfriend” is extremely catchy, but the pick of the lot is “dating” – which is very funky and in true rahman style is a great fusion number – carnatic vocals with rap, now guys beat that.
The performances are very likeable, Genelia d’souza looks soooooooooo pretty. all in all, a cool movie with its ups and downs, though not of the DCH calibre, but still holds for the sheer energy and enthusiasm.

-Arun Ganesh

My new rating system for movies……….

From today onwards, I have decided to review and rate movies on 2 aspects.
1. Artistic Value (AV) – It describes the painstaking details with which a movie is made. Flaws are really difficult to pin point. the directors intention is sincere, at the same time he has not made the movie for himself ( like Shyam Benegal & Adoor Gopalakrishnan). No compromise is made in the research for the story/ subject and both technically and artistically the movie is sound. Caution – may not be entertaining.
Eg- Mohanlal starrer Sazaa- E – kalapani
AV- ****
EV- **
2. Entertainment Value (EV)- Unlike the AV, this aspect takes care how u feel after the movie is done. Whther it was disappointing experience or even after somewhat a low AV rating, the movie held ur interest & more importantly whether it was paisa vasool.
Eg – govinda starrer Coolie NO; 1
AV- *
EV- ***1/2
In this way u can judge what to expect from a movie; whether it will satisfy ur cinematic soul or just the senses or even better; both.

-Arun”newagemovieguru”Ganesh

AB TAK CHAPPAN

A gangster sitting in a local cafe ( it is our very own Guptaji’s!!!) discussing criminal plans, suddenly he is rounded up by cops who form the special squad. Sadhu Agashe ( Nana) along with his junior Francais ( Kunal Vijaykar). The criminal freezes. Sadhu sits beside him putting an arm around him like friends, the atmosphere becomes tense. Gangster tells sadhu “mujhe malum hai saab, aap mera game bajane ko aaya hai”. Sadhu nods negative and takes him to Nasik instead.
On the way they stop to have tea, the cop pulls out his gun and places on the gangster’s head and asks whether he has any girlfriends. He says two, they laugh, more laughter …………………..BANG!!! News flashes that a hardcore criminal is shot dead en-route nasik in an encounter. (shocking sequence as Bhiku Mhatre’s death in Satya)

This opening scene alone was worth my ticket price of 130/- (stall). Ramgopal Verma with his new found director walks the Satya lane, and with much confidence and style. If Satya was a true masterpiece, then this is nearly one – gritty, crude, bloody, violent, true to life, enough to make Karan Johar blush!!!

The 1st half of the movie cruises with rocket speed, the second half though a bit slow comparitively, has enough grip to hold u to the edge of the seat. The suspense element is also good enough.The only flaw being the open ended finale, which reminds me of “Hindustani”, in which Kamal hassan vows to fight the enemy from overseas.

Performances:
NANA PATEKAR is a genious. He has never been so controlled and perfect. Arguably , this is his best performance till date. Be it his laughter, brooding looks or extreme pain which is subdued and finally comes out in the end. He fits perfectly into the role; can somebody give him an oscar please!!! Revathy as his wife is extremely natural, though she’s got a small role. The junior astist as his son is excellent.
Kunal Vijaykar & the serial actor(forgot his name) is effective as Sadhu’s faithful sidekicks. Yashpal sharma (the rogue of the village in Lagaan) looks very different and fits the role of the jealous subordinate to a T. All the performances by smaller artists (esp the guy from South as the new joint commisioner) are worth applauding. The camerawork is amazing, the background score is HAUNTING ( Vishal bharadwaj). Do see this movie on big screen with an excellent Sound system. Thankfully no songs!

So finally here is a movie, made by RGV, stars Nana with a knockout performance and remeniscent of Satya with all the elements of a perfect cop v/s gansters drama with striking reality. What else do u want?
Bury ur head in sand of u missed this movie. Even Khakhee looks pale!!!

-Arun Ganesh

Lakshya – Bang on target

1st things 1st:-

1. Lakshya is the best Indian war movie/ movie with army as backdrop ever
   made.
2. Farhan Akhtar is the currently the best film maker in Bollywood.
3. War movie veterans like J.P Dutta may please take coaching classes from
   Farhan.
4. Shankar Ehsaan Loy is the only hope after A.R. Rahman.
5. Special effects have finally arrived in Bollywood.

What was I expecting while going for this movie? After the phenomenon called DCH, I was surely expecting a masterpiece, and that too on the same lines, for eg: quality comedy, cool dialogues and loads of urban feel good factor. But I was surprised, thought pleasantly only after the movie ended, after witnessing an entirely different movie with an entirely different theme and mood as compared to DCH. Though the warm moments and feel good
(great!) factor was always there.

It was brave on the director’s side to go for a different theme this time around, and that too when the audience is expecting something similar to the previous one, and that too on a gigantic budget like 30 crores.

• The story of a confused guy finally dicovering himself and his goals &
  his emotional scene on the phone with his father reminds you of Aamir
  khan’s character in DCH.
• The modern gal not taking the nonsense from her fiance and dumping him reminds you of zinta’s character in DCH
• and the good natured rich kids in designer clothes and funky hairdos living in palatial homes are the only common elements with Farhan’s previous venture.

Kashmir never looked so beautiul through the lens. The evocative background score(in the lines of Titanic and lord of the rings) lingers in ur mind even after the movie is over. The combat scenes are shot with elan, noteworthy are the grainy scenes during war that lends an authentic look (was that purposely done???). The whole package looks very slick, chic and very international.

Performances are top class- Hrithik has proved that he is one of the most versatile actors in the country. This range of emotions from plain confused to the focussed and responsible are done with panache. Priety is outstanding. Big B plays second fiddle, but his role as the commanding officer packs a lot of punch. Om puri is classic. Boman Irani once again shows that he has a great screen presence (in fact the there was audible excitement from the audience on his entry!!!). Music is 1st class esp the title song, choreography & special effects superb.

The authentic locations and true to life feel of the film minus jingoism makes it a class product. Farhan Akhtar succeeds where others failed – evoking true sense of patriotism without going overboard. u can easily make out that this is definitely a class product, done with a lot of sincerity.

Worth repeated viewing!!!

-Arun Ganesh

Lakshya

The biggest challenge that the movie faces is the audience’ expectations based on the fact that director’s previous movie was DCH. Icing on the cake is the subject/plot that is a risk for even an experienced movie maker.But, Farhan Akthar comes out unscathed in his valiant attempt.
The plot is about Karan, his joining and serving army. Is about Roomie, her level headed ness, her career. Their sweet love. Is about Indian Army, the challenges faced by the soldiers, the enemies and the sweet victory. The sweat, pain and bloodshed suffered before the victory. Is about landscapes , beauty and cruelty of nature in which the brave soldiers remain awake so that we sleep peacefully.

On the upside , the narration is smooth. Plot is simple. The dialogues are short and effective. The beautiful scenary is caught in camera very effectively. The shooting of war, steep rock climbing , amazing background score help to hold the grip on the audience.

On the other hand, few songs were avoidable. Some more stuff could have been put into character building. What happened to lyricist in Javed Akthar ?

Comparisions to DCH are inevitable. Heroine is engaged, engaged again to a dictator. Engagements are easily broken. Hero is undecided / unwilling to decide about future(aka Akash). Hrithik’s hangover from KoiMilGaya in the initial phase.

AB and other supporting actors do their bit of justice.

The various thoughts and emotions of Karan has been enacted with delicate brilliance and maturity by Hrithik. Ditto by Preity. The dialogue between Karan and his father on phone, and that silence between Karan and Roomie before he sets out on final mission and that emotional un-controll-ability on two particular occasions were very touchy.(One , when Karan sees Roomie on TV and the other when he shows the peak as his Lakshya to her).

And there are few other such frames when you can get involved in the movie or get charged up about the movie during the war scenes. Thats precisely where Farhan succeeds. Hit or flop, movie is well made.

And Farhan, perfection ko improve karna mushkil hai.
Jai Jawan. Jai Hind!

-Ravikiran R

Main Hoon Naa – saved by PR agents and amateur audience.

Rating- *

Main Hoon naa, a movie which has rocked box office, here and abroad. Sad but true, I watched it yesterday (on a pirated CD, which I do not regret at all) and found that its not the product, but the hype surrounding it, along with some (actually a lot!) stupid audience which makes these films work at the BO.
The movie defines OTT – Over The Top.

Disappointing from the word go, this movie tries to venture into all the possible areas – pop patriotism, pro-Pakistani quotes (well its samjhauta time baby), teeny boppers, college gags, love stories, maa beta – baap beta emotional stuff and surprise surprise, action with a Matrix hangover!!!

Farah khan, the director, makes a ‘khichdi’ which is so absurd that one cant identify what the movie is all about. Clearly the ‘deshbhakti’ element and army background is infused with the intention of cashing in on the latest peace process betwn the two countries. She definitely has paid rich tributes to golden era songs, Matrix, Karan Johar and co. In fact she still suffers from a creative cripple called ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai syndrome’. Comedy is so sour and OTT that u will fget laughing 4 a week!

The College setup makes u believe that u have done ur grads from Uganda. The hyper crowd, the usual nuts and stereotypes like a a complete bafoon, a bimbette, a tomboy whodresses up like Avril Lavigne (Amrita Rao), an irritating teacher (Bindu), a nutty professor ( Satish Shah), a forgetful “Mr Weatherbee” like pricipal (Boman Irani), a dude who is always angry, sexy teacher (Sush) and finally a #$%@*# who tries to act cool ( Zayed khan) . Is this college? cmon Farah, u better make things more believable. Or atleast get them out of the tried and tested and wasted formula. And why, why have u made this like a 70 s movie with the usual lost n found formula? Give us a break.

Nothing to be written abt the camera work, music or performances. Sharukh khan plays himself for the umpteenth time, no visible changes since DDLJ. Only this time he gets to do apna rajnikant style stunts which makes u yawn so much that ur jaw breaks.
Rest of the cast….. God save their careers. Much has been written at Zayed khan’s performance, I think its a PR stunt. Go and get the basics right man!.

In short, a piece of advice to Farah; stick to what u are best at – choreography, this time u were plain lucky, nxt time hopefully these amateur audience will grow up and give a big thumbs down if u make stuff like this.
In a nutshell – Main hoon naa will be one of the most disappointing movies of this year, but it will still get a million nominations in the bloody”Film Fraud” awards because of the effective PR agents. AND YEAH, PIRACY RULES BABY!!!

-Arun “too frustrated to review this movie” Ganesh.