After watching Kaminey, I have become sure of one thing – you can trust Vishal Bhardwaj.

After sitting through New York and enduring Love Aaj Kal, I had become wary of the kind of movies Bollywod was offering these days. However, with Kaminey, the trust has returned. The movie is the sixth directorial venture of Vishal Bhardwaj, and I daresay that it lives up to his reputation of being one of the leading filmmakers of India. 

The movie tells the story about twins Charlie and Guddu (Shahid Kapur, each ) on the run. While Guddu seems the quintessential good boy who stutters, Charlie is someone who believes in taking fotcuts to earn money. And then there is Sweety (Priyanka Chorpa) too, who is Guddu’s girlfriend, who gets pregnant while flaunting her knowledge of Home Science, and tries to marry him in a hurry. 

Guddu is a social worker, Charlie is a horse-race fixer and Sweety is the sister of a corrupt and powerful politician. Once, Charlie gets embroiled in an incident involving cocaine and lots of money, and manages to make a reasonable amount of enemies for himself. As luck would have it, Guddu gets caught in the controversy too – owing to his resemblance to his bad-boy twin. What happens next is a mixture of fate, politics and quick thinking. It so happens that the two brothers are at loggerheads with each other, and haven’t come face-to-face ever since their father died. However, as the circumstances bring them together, they must help each other to be able to survive.

Perhaps the best thing about the plot is that there are no extras. No parallel storylines, no endless roundabouts, and no wavering from the central theme. Everything happens in a spate of a day, and to be able to make a full length movie out of it is indeed remarkable. The director receives full points on that front. 

Plus, the movie comments on various issues that are occupying the centrestage in India these days in a very unobtrusive way. While the character of Guddu makes an entrance in the film singing about AIDS awareness, Sweety’s on-screen brother Bhope Bhau (Amole Gupte) is a Raj Thakery-ish politician who detests everything non-Maharashtrian. The director has also dared to comment on the murky business of politics. The way these current issues are made an integral part of the plot is again, remarkable. Also, the movie is quite secular. We have Bengali characters and we have Punjabi characters. We have Marathi characters and we have African characters. These characters have no qualms about speaking in their mother tongue either. 

Notice the way humour is injected in the story and you will want to applaud the man who did that. It happens spontaneously, without effort. You laugh at Sweety’s comic dialogues, but you don’t do that when Guddu stutters or Charlie lisps. You laugh at the situation, but never laugh at the characters, or even actors, for that matter. There are no forced jokes, and the humour is dark.

Talk about performances, and Vishal Bhardwaj still gets full marks. Seriously speaking, I haven’t seen Shahid Kapur act so well before; and I didn’t have a clue that Priyanka Chopra has got a terrific comic timing; and that the person who wrote the emotional story of Taare Zameen Par (Amole Gupte) would fit into a role of corrupt Marathi politician so effortlessly. These performances have spoken for themselves and made Kaminey a fine-tuned product.

And this film has memorable dialogues! Here are the few samples:

Life badi kutti cheef hai. Aur iff duniya mein kutton ka baff, ek hi jawaab hai…

Politics bhi pesha; power aur parivaar. Purn Viraam.

Par mere paas toe kapde bhi nahi hain dhang ke.

I toe like you without clothes only…

I have seriously forgotten when was the last hindi movie I was compelled to remember dialogues of. This is some real good news. Trust Vishal Bhardwaj to write them!

The cinematography by Tassaduq Hussain is snazzy. And though the narrative of the film is a hybrid of linear and non-linear, it is something an average viewer can easily follow without losing a beat. Vishal Bhardwaj has experimented with the background score with excellent results. (Take for example, the fight scene in a hotel room is shown over the sound of a 70’s hindi track!) The music is excellent too, with Dhan Te Nan already being the chart topper for a while, and Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai being a number you can’t stop listening. You can easily guess who the music director is. Vishal Bhardwaj again! And hence, Full Marks again!

The climax, however, did not appeal to me as much as the rest of the movie. There is too much blood and gore – way greater than required. Too many people kill and get killed in the free-for-all scenario. Still, after so many killings, it remains a happy ending movie.

With Kaminey, Vishal Bhardwaj has made sure that most of the major film awards of 2009 will come his and his film’s way. You just have to watch this film, there’s no other option!

Go for it, you will enjoy the dark humour.

With Love Aaj Kal, director Imtiyaz Ali of Jab We Met fame returns with another romantic comedy; or so it seems. Starring Saif Ali Khan (who also doubles up as the producer) and Deepika Padukone in lead roles, the movie revolves around the life and times of Jaywardhan Singh and Meera Pandit. The duo is in love with each other but cannot continue the relationship for supposedly practical concerns. Long Distance Relationships don’t appeal to them, apparently.

The premise of the movie is understandable, if not apparent. It is about the trials and tribulations of a new age couple and the seemingly innocuous way they treat the feeling of ‘love’. It is about the stark comparison between love stories of the past and the present. It is about the notion that love needs to be taken care of beautifully, and not be treated like waste paper — throw away when you’re done with it. The title is apt, for one.

With Love Aaj Kal, the director aims to communicate that the olden (and perhaps, golden?) brand of love still exists. That people actually want to fall in love and share the whole of their lives with their loved ones, even in this fast paced world. That the virtues of affection and longing are still present, only that they are buried deep down.

The only glitch is that Imtiyaz Ali fails to tell the audience anything like that.

The screenplay is abrupt and disconnected. The director wants to follow a non-linear storyline, and there is nothing wrong with that. However, I would have liked it better if he took it slower. In the opening credits itself we are presented with incoherent scenes from the film, leaving us bewildered to say the least. As the movie progresses, we are presented with the worst-est (yes, doubly superlative!) dialogues we have ever heard in any recent movie (I haven’t seen Kambakkht Ishq though!). As the story builds up and things finally start making nonsense (some kind of sense, at least), we are presented with an overly obese Veer Singh (Rishi Kapoor in his sardar avtar), who becomes a kind of Love Guru to Saif.

Veer Singh narrates his love story to Jay (and that’s where the blast from the past comes), who listenes with rapt attention — not exactly mesmerized, but intrigued nevertheless. Having just broken up with Meera (and throwing a party to celebrate the occasion), he gives an impression that nothing has changed. He is happy and she is happy, problem over!

However, for we can never trust a Bollywood movie to come up with something ever so simple, complications arise. Jay and Meera get into separate relationships while still remaining in contact — never apparently realizing that they actually love each other, even after the break up!
Throughout the movie, Veer Singh keeps Jay in good humor by reminiscing parts of his love story in frequent intervals, completing it just before the climax — which is as unconvincing as the rest of the film.

As far as the actors are concerned, Rishi Kapoor is in fantastic form and Sail Ali Khan acts well. Deepika Padukone would want to brush up her dialogue-delivery skills before signing up for another film. The supporting cast has performed their roles with apparent ease.

Music is perhaps the best thing to happen to Love Aaj Kal. I certainly liked the sound of Chor Baazari and the lyrics of Ye Dooriyan. However, since it is given by Pritam, it will turn out to be plagiarized from some foreign album sooner or later. 

By the looks of it, Love Aaj Kal could be one of the best Indian movies ever made with its unconventional story and equally unorthodox way of storytelling. However, it fails to leave a mark. The screenplay has too many faults to overlook and Deepika certainly disappoints. I would not recommend any of you to go and watch the movie if I had my way. Even Bachna Ae Hasino was better than this, and that’s saying something!

Three actors, each a heartthrob in his/her own right. A love triangle. Treading the grounds of terrorism. Giving out a social message. No extraneous song-and-dance routines. Yash Raj Banner. No big ticket cricket season to distract the moviegoers…

By the looks of it, director Kabir Khan’s New York was the kind of blockbuster Bollywood needed to relinquish itself from the economic recession and the two month long standoff between the producers and the multiplex owners. Except that it has failed to bust any blocks, yet.

Samir Sheikh a.k.a Sam (John Abraham), Maya (Katrina Kaif) and Omar Aijaz (Neil Nitin Mukesh) are the three, seemingly protagonists of the movie. They are the undergraduates studying at the New York State University, and classmates of each other. Sam is the sporty, attention seeking and intelligent guy who believes in enjoying life to the fullest. Maya is equally vivacious, and proudly proclaims that her mother will readily elope with Shahrukh Khan given the slightest chance. Omar, on the other hand, is a shy, “good boy” kind of a person who is new to the American brand of life, having moved in recently – all thanks to a scholarship. Both Sam and Omar secretly like Maya. And Maya secretly likes Sam. The two meet, get married, have a son, and they are off. Omar, on the other hand, is reduced to the sidelines – never to return in the lives of two of his best friends. Or is it?

Years afterwards, Omar – who still lives in the city, gets some unexpected visitors. The FBI, out there to arrest him. Agent Roshan, played by now stereotyped Irrfan Khan, wants him to act as an undercover agent for them, because they suspect that Sam is running a terror camp in New York.

Omar, having reluctantly agreed, enters into the lives of Sam, Maya and Daaniyal (their son) yet again. And a curious turn of events follow up.

The story, written by Aditya Chopra, is intriguing – but the buck stops there. The first half of the movie, dealing with college, love, friendship et al, is almost weird to watch. There are too many awkward moments and the screenplay falters frequently, as if being paid to do that. You get sick of Hai Junoon, for it plays continuously for the first half an hour! John Kat and Neil are just too old to play collegiates. Further, the story keeps jumping up and down nine years apart, and this hasn’t been done tastefully, to the likes of, say Rang De Basanti.

The music is as good as Pritam can give you. As I’ve said, there are no song-and-dance routines in the film. The track tune jo na kaha is good, but I think that its a matter of time before someone unearths its original – if you know what I mean There are no tracks worth remembering, and certainly no tracks which strike a chord.

As far as the performance goes, John and Kat have done their usual, mediocre stuff, but Neil has done loads better. He brings out the inner conflict raging inside him superbly. However, he looks very childish in his avtar as a college student. Irrfan Khan has portrayed his role as an FBI officer well, owing to the fact that he has played a lot of similar roles (Slumdog Millionaire, A Mighty Heart to speak of a few). Like the music, there are no performances worth remembering, and certainly no performances which strike a chord.

On the whole, the movie has its strong points, but the weak and the mediocre ones clearly outstrip them. Watch it only if you are sick of waiting for movies to release, or if you are a really big fan of Irrfan Khan 

The premise of Delhi 6 is not the journey of an ailing grandma back to her roots, nor it is the love story between one Roshan Mehra and one Bittu Sharma. It isn’t about the Hindu-Muslim harmony either. Delhi 6 is actually about the culture that manifests itself in the long and narrow corridors of Old Delhi. It is about the multiplicity of characters that live there — their triumphs and tragedies, and their habit of finding happiness in the minutest details of life.

Abhishek Bachchan plays the NRI Roshan Mehra, who accompanies his cancer-suffering grandmother (Waheeda Rahman) back to Delhi, where she wishes to die a peaceful death. He has never been to India before, and therefore he is amazed by everything he sees over here — the people, the system, the works (obviously!). ‘Circumstances’ (read: the Ramlila) led him to meet Bittu, played by Sonam Kapoor, who is a wannabe Indian Idol living in a family who is sick and old-fashioned. Both of them, as you have already guessed, are desitned to fall in love.… Sigh!

It so happens that Roshan and his grandma’s visit to Delhi coincides with that of Kala Bandar, who is creating havoc all across the city. The film tightly integrates the chain of events as they happen, and ties up the loose ends creatively — using the Ramlila as the metaphor, and ends up telling an unusual tale in an unusual sort of way!

This being Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s film, comparisons with Rang De Basanti are bound to crop up — and rightly so. RDB tackled patriotism and disillusioned youth, Delhi 6 tackles communal harmony in times of a crisis. There are many parallels in the two films — the city of Delhi, the multiple varied characters, the youthful story, the fabulous music score, the snappy cinematography — the Rakeysh Mehra style of filmmaking is highly visible.

As the director himself puts it — “Delhi 6 is not a subject oriented film. It is a people oriented film — and that is what makes it difficult.” Every character is etched out brilliantly, and each one has a unique part to play. There are no showpieces, which becomes apparent as the movie chugs along. The outdoor shooting across Chandni Chowk is done brilliantly. In fact, a Chandni Chowk regular won’t feel that he is sitting inside a movie theatre watching a film — he will feel that he is ambling inside those jam-packed lanes!

Even though Delhi 6 sports an ensemble cast, every actor has played his part well. Abhishek Bachchan plays the NRI lad quite convincingly, though his American accent seems artificial. Sonam Kapoor tries to be oh-so-cute, with a fair degree of success. Rishi Kapoor as the effervescent Ali Uncle is very nice, and Divya Dutta as the untouchable Jalebi really stands out. Cyrus Sahukar the photographer disappoints, but Vijay Raaz the policeman more than makes up for that. And then there are Prem Chopra and Om Puri too!

Delhi 6 celebrates the spirit of Delhi. Watch it, if you are a proud Delhiite, or even if you aren’t!

Mr. Gowarikar,

You are a good man. No seriously, you are a genuinely good man. I like the way you tell stories. I liked Lagaan, simply loved Swades, and found Jodhaa Akbar really good. According to Wikipedia, you are seen as an actor’s director, and this is not a false statement either. I like the characters you etch out in your movies, especially that of Mohan Bhargava — the protagonist in Swades. I could not believe that somebody like Shah Rukh Khan, who generally plays himself in his movies, could do such a simple yet powerful role in such a convincing way. For Jodhaa Akbar, I’ll have to quote Aishwarya Rai Bachchan: “We have a classic in our hands”. When it comes to realism, you are the big daddy.

Your films have won you and your team great accolades as well. You have won critical acclaim, and awards in every possible category. And you have in your share a couple of firsts too. Lagaan was the first Indian film in recent times to be nominated for the Academy Awards. Swades happens to be the first film to be shot at NASA. Jodhaa Akbar might be the first big-budget film in India (yes, I haven’t verified the facts). You have tasted Box Office success too, with Lagaan and Jodhaa Akbar.

The way you handled the controversy surrounding Jodhaa Akbar is commendable too. You stood by yourself, refusing to apologize to those who were protesting its screening at the behest of its apparent wrong depiction of history.

The above facts reiterate my statement in the opening sentence. You are a good man.

If so, then what happened to you recently? I saw the spat between you and Sajid Khan at the recent Star Screen Awards. Did you forget your goodness?

What made you take Sajid’s statements so seriously? He’s a comedian after all! Its his job to poke fun at people. And he’s not alone, a lot of people do that! And they are comedians too!

An actor works very hard to hone his talent. You cannot insult a star at this PODIUM. These were your words, isn’t it? What do you mean to say exactly? Actors are hardworking, so it is wrong to poke fun at them. I’m lazy, so it becomes right if Sajid’s victim is me instead of Harman Baweja. Is it?

Don’t you say that it is very easy to laugh at other’s expense. Sajid and his sister, Farah, laugh at themselves too. Have you seen Om Shanti Om? Farah directed that one. Have you seen the end credits? Everybody, and with everybody I mean everybody, gets to walk the Red Carpet — including the Accountants and the Spot Boys — except Farah Khan herself. Others arrive in fancy cars, she herself arrives in an autorickshaw — at a time when the red carpet is being rolled off. Disgusted, she then runs after the autorickshaw which had gone away.

See? These people can laugh at themselves. You don’t seem to possess this quality, sadly. You can learn something from them perhaps? Besides, you are in show business (I mean, you don’t really show yourself off, but still you belong to Bollywood, isn’t it?) The bollywood reporters that have mushroomed all over have a habit of writing about the personal lives of stars. Do you plan to sue them because they poke fun at hardworking actors? Also, where were you when Shah Rukh and Saif were hosting the Filmfare Awards last year? They almost said that critics are bastards! (Because it was a family show being broadcast on TV, the prolonged baaaaas… became baskets of knowledge) Remember them? They made fun of Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan and the likes. You didn’t say anything to them? Were you scared of Shah Rukh?

Have you seen any standup comedy shows that are currently a favorite on TV? The amount of sarcasm that is dished out to movie stars (esp. Mallika Sherawat)! Just watch an episode. Going by the events you will be in a fit of rage in no time! And you are no Amitabh Bachchan, so you won’t get the prayers of millions of your fans out there.

Why take such things seriously? You have to take some things with a pinch of salt (or in Farah’s words, with a big sack of salt!) C’mon now, smile!! And forget about it, ok? You are a good man. Remember that!

And yes… Congratulations for the Best Director Award you won at the said Award Function.

Yours Truthfully,

A fan of yours.