Movie Review : Ek Tha Tiger

Normally when it comes to a Salman Khan film, I try not to read the reviews  before I see it and will always make an effort to catch it in the first week of its release, that is, before the cynics (I refuse to use the word critics here, cause they turn cynics when it comes to him) have written about the film and bashed it out of recognition. Yeah I agree his films may not have a plot or a story line and that they are all about the STAR, all I want to say to the cynics is this, "Woh STAR tha, STAR hai, aur STAR rahega!", if at this age also he can command such a fan following you got to cut the man some slack. 

OK, I admit it, I'm a huge Salman Khan fan... so hang me!

Why Salman Khan, you ask me ??  Well, because he is a true entertainer and a clean entertainer, I don't have to think twice about watching his films when people are around, his brand of humor may be slap stick but it appeals to the child in each and everyone in the audience and last but not the least, he appears to be enjoying and having fun doing all the inane larger than life stuff on screen... me like that, me life that very much. How many people can say that they love their job ??? Well for one, I'm sure Salman Khan does!!

Speaking of Ek tha Tiger, by far, this is the slickest and most stylish Salman Khan film I've seen. It is larger than life and yes, there are scenes that make you laugh because they are ludicrously silly, but then, if I want life, I'll just dwell on my own and if I want sensible, I'll watch an Aamir Khan movie, thank you very much!

Plot wise same old, same old love story between guy from India and girl from Pakistan, twist being that both are spies for their respective countries, the ultimate message being love conquers all. For once RAW and ISI and Pakistan were mentioned instead of the done to death dialogue 'Sarhad ke uss paar". The beautiful way in which the locations have been captured throughout the film makes one want to go to Ireland, Turkey, Cuba and yes, post the movie I am tempted to make a quick dash to Iraq as well. Katrina can kick butt and how!!, it sure was a treat to watch her beat up the bad guys and hold her own through out the movie, no damsel in distress this lass!!! And there is no denying that they make a great pair both on and off screen. 

Honestly can't remember any of the songs or the background score, though some of the scenes remain with you long after the movie, like the one where the neighbors gossip about him, the flashbacks when he is asked, "kya karte hai aap?" or when asked "Abhi tak ladki kyon nahi mili?' or the hilarious "Kya tumhe kutte pasand nahi hai?" and the one I found funniest was the one where Katrina calls him a fusspot when he asks the waiter to "puncture the eggs and fry them till they are solid" (being a runny egg hater myself and something of a fusspot foodwise, I was practically rejoicing), not to forget the stupidly funny tram scene, and the stylish put-a-gazelle-to-shame kind of leaps over rooftops. Even though the fight scenes were over the top, they are quite well executed.

All in all I would say that it is a paisa vasool film for all Salman fans, for sure it will break all box office records, so don't miss this one... 

Movie Review: Gattu

This review is my perception of the film. It was all about the single-minded dedication shown by Gattu towards his goal, viz. to reign supreme in the blue skies by defeating a kite named Kali. It is a really inspiring film in the sense that it delicately enacts the wisdom in the age old sayings of "Truth always triumphs" and "God helps those who help themselves" without becoming preachy. 

Gattu is a street smart orphan looked after by his uncle who is a kabbadi. He works for his uncle and during his time off pursues his one passion -Kite flying. His nemesis is "Kali" a kite flown by an unknown person which is dubbed as unconquerable. Gattu is most determined to defeat "Kali" and the story of how he pursues his goal and eventually succeeds is the story of "Gattu".

The pursuit of Kali, gets him to lie, steal and impersonate as a student of a school (the roof of the school has a strategic advantage in kite flying, being the tallest building in town). In spite of being illiterate, he takes on the challenge of attending the school,  just to fulfill his desire to defeat Kali, en route he makes some great friends in Honey Singh, Manuj and Minky. When caught stealing books he weaves a web of deceit by saying he is a agent sent to save the schools from terrorists, and enlist his friends as agents to help defeat the terrorists.

The film looks at childhood through the eyes of a child, a very street smart child, I might add, who is adept at thinking on his feet. If you have an hour to spare and would like to be transported to your own childhood, go watch this film, I promise you, you will not regret it!

Movie Review: Bol Bachchan

If you are looking for a serious soul stirring, thought provoking film you are barking up the wrong tree. This is one mad caper, a film that will put you in a good mood with all the madness that simply seems to erupt on the screen. This remake of the Amol Palekar starrer Golmaal, does justice to the original by capturing the essence of the original film while retaining its individuality.  All the characters seem to have been handpicked for their roles.

Ajay Devgn has the best comic timing and the way he spouts the mad Hinglish dialogues with a dead pan face itself is worth the price of the ticket (I paid three hundred and twenty quids for a ticket, not that I'm complaining, this is just so you know. It makes me think back of the time when I used to go to the movies while in college and thought that the thirty rupee ticket was dacoity, but I digress). My personal favourite "Boy under armpit, hypercity noise pollution", this being Ajay Devgn's translation of the hindi idiom "Bagal mein chora, sheher mein dhin dhora". A truly versatile actor who can bring to life any role by getting under the skin of the character.

Then you have Abhishek Bhachchan who moves effortlessly from being Abhishek Bhachchan (yes, the screen name of one of the characters) to Abbas Ali. Archana Puran Singh is outstanding in the bit role as an ageing mujra queen who thinks she is sweet sixteen, but agrees to portray the role of Abhishek Bhachchan's mother to prove that she is an actor par excellence. Krushna Abhishek is a surprise package. The lead actresses Asin and Prachi Desai are purely for ornamental purposes and as such have nothing much to do in this out and out Ajay Devgn starrer.

P.S.-Watch out for the pre-climax scene ala Karz with pehelwans singing, standing like girls from a convent in a singing contest!!

All in all it is a film that will put a smile on your face!!! 

Movie Review - Rockstar

Got this poster from here...

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I will meet you there - Rumi

A film which begins with this quote can do no wrong. This film is a tribute to all those who have loved and lost the ones they loved. The film is like poetry on screen and one of the best films I've seen. Ranbir Kapoor is the soul of the film and all those who doubt his acting skills after this performance should get their head tested. Nargis Fakhri is OK, once you get past her pout. Honestly lady, a little less pouting and a little more acting is what the doctor prescribes if you want to be in Bollywood for a long long time.

Janardhan (Ranbir Kapoor) is an aspiring rockstar who is advised that he will never become successful unless he experiences pain. This search for pain brings him in contact with Heer (Nargis Fakhri, pretty face, acting skills sorely MIA), who has been dubbed the heartbreak queen. The story of their relationship over the years, which spans his battle with society, his meteoric rise as a Rockstar, her marriage and her battle with cancer is the story of Rockstar. I loved every minute of the film even though I hate sad endings so much so that I never watch movies which have sad endings. This is the main reason why I'm so late in reviewing this film, but something about the film made me want to see it, so finally invested in a CD. A very sensitive and well made film, not sure why it did not do well at the box office.

Movie Review: Agneepath

Source : I got this picture from here

Cast:

Hrithik Roshan

Sanjay Dutt

Rishi Kapoor

Priyanka Chopra

Om Puri

Director: Karan Malhotra

OK this is a week late, saw this movie last Sunday, but never got round to writing the review. Also I'm coming clean right in the beginning I never saw the original, turns out to be a blessing in disguise as there was nothing to compare. Honestly I was skeptical about Agneepath, Karan Johar is know for love stories and this is a cult film that he was tampering with. However, the promos were good and I was intrigued. The film starts off in Mandwa with a reformist school master (Vijay's father) being killed by Kancha Cheena. Vijay then just a 12-year old school boy leaves Mandwa with his mother but promises himself that he will get his Mandwa back. How he plots, plans and schemes he way back to Mandwa is the story of Agneepath. A must watch film, never mind the violence.

If I have to talk about the performances I really have to start with Sanjay Dutt, the man exudes evil like a thousand Shakaals put together (don't know Shakaal ??? google him, I'm sure there is a web page dedicated to the bald baddie who owned a secret island and fed his enemies to the sharks...me like), Rishi Kapoor as the kohl eyed human and cocaine traffiker, never ceases to amaze me, give the man any role and he gets under the skin of the character, who would have thought the chocolate hero who sang the immortal "Om Shanti Om" could say dialogues which has so much Ashanti in them so convincingly. Hrithik Roshan, he of the greek god looks is simply superb, I went to watch the movie after reading reviews that the performance was not up to the mark, I want to ask the critics, what more do they want of him, I never saw a more restrained performance of anger, pain and sadness. He spoke with his eyes, the anger, the pain, the sadness, everything... it was mind blowing. If at all the baddie seemed overpowering it was not due to any lack on Hrithik part but totally because of the way the director created the strong and awe inspiring baddie. Priyanka Chopra in the bit role as the love interest is good and there is really only so much she can do in this Vijay Dinanath Chauhan opus. Katrina Kaif has been totally wasted in this film, Malaika Arora or even a Rakhi Sawant would have done justice to the song.

Here are some of the dialogues from the film that I found simply superb:

• Shakti ka istamaal karne ke liye, shakti ke paas rehena zaroori hai.

• Mahatma Ghandhi Mandwa mein paida nahi hua the.

• Pehelwan ko maaf karne ke lie kamzor ka pehalwaan banna zaroori hota hai.

• Toh aaj se pehelwan baan ne ki mohim shuru.

• Tum kya leke aaye the aur kya leke jaaoge

And of course the poem,
Vruksh ho bhale khade, 

ho ghane ho bade,
Ek patra chhanh bhi, 
mang mat, mang mat, mang mat,
Agneepath, Agneepath, Agneepath…

tu na thakega kabhi,
tu na thamega kabhi,
tu na mudega kabhi,
Kar shapath, Kar shapath, Kar shapath,
Agneepath, Agneepath, Agneepath…

Ye mahan drushya hai,
Chal raha manushya hai,
Ashru, shwet, rakt se,
lathpat, lathpat, lathpat..
Agneepath, Agneepath, Agneepath…

Movie Review : Don2

Picture courtesy: Movies Sulekha

The King is back and is doing what he does best.... playing the baddie. With this movie I can now scratch out item number 45 on my things-to-do-before-I-die-list -Watch a movie all by myself. I loved the movie and enjoyed every minute, going forward, I'll go see films all by myself, that way I don't have to cajole people to go with me and what makes the whole enterprise better is the fact that there is no need to co-ordinate with anyone, just me and my credit card will do fine, thank you very much.

Don2 is an absolutely slick and stylish movie, kudos to Farhan Akhtar. The film has the audience on the edge of their seats from the word go and maintains the tempo throughout. The movie has a script (not a very original one), but the action sequences and tongue in cheek dialogues make up for it. 

SRK as Don exudes an aura of malice, a something evil and he does this with his eyes and smile, a stabbing look from him is enough to chill the soul. Boman Irani who usually maintains screen presence no matter who his co-stars are, seems ill at ease in this venture, accordingly Vardhan is reduced to a side kick. But then this is all about Don and the rest of the cast is just so the Don doesn't get bored and the sets look 'peopled'. Kunal Kapoor as Sameer Ali in a bit role is very convincing. 

The romance between Roma and Don doesn't set the screen on fire because there is NO CHEMISTRY... please it is too tame... though I don't blame SRK he looked convincing enough, and there are moments where you think maybe, just maybe he does love her, but Priyanka sadly fails...The music is forgettable which is really surprising as the last Don movie had great songs. All in all if you are a SRK fan, go and watch it for him, for he is in his element!!!

Movie Review : The Dirty Picture

Pic Courtesy : bollyspice.com

This was one movie that scored high on my Yuck List (the promos killed it for me) and had me muttering "wild horses wouldn't drag me to a theatre to buy tickets and watch the despo crass skin fest". My friend who had already seen it begged to differ and told me that it was not a crass skin fest, but a tastefully made sensible film. Just to prove her wrong I arrived at the theatre, bought two tickets (for me and for her, No way was I going to endure it alone) sat down to assail my senses for the next two hours (Lax arrived 20 mins late so we missed the start) with unwarranted nudity and innuendos.

As I have already mentioned we missed the first 20 mins, by the time we were seated the newly christened Silk (her given name per the film was Reshma, though Wikipedia has it down as Vijayalakshmi) was shooting for her first song sequence with Superstar Surya and Lax. tried to make amends by telling me the story so far. I'm not going to tell you the story, no siree, but better still I'll tell you that yes, it is a well made film and will tell you of my impressions of Silk Smitha as portrayed by Vidya Balan.

Vidya's Silk came across as an intelligent woman who was unapologetic of her choices and knew which side her bread was buttered and used it to her advantage. She famously says "Films are all about three things,  Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment and I'm Entertainment"... no wonder she knew how to make headlines and stay on the front page. Following her heart was second nature to her, whether it was her decision to run away from home, or to "fine tune" her setting with Surya or to ruin two parties at the same time with her antics. her mantra, enjoy the good press, ignore the bad!!!. It was only when she let her head rule over her heart that she started her downward spiral from which she never recovered.

This is an out and out Vidya Balan film with other actors just thrown in for comic relief. It seemed like a  fascinating journey which Vidya Balan has portrayed with such ease that from this day on I am a huge fan. I now understand why a Vidya Balan who is at the top of her game would want to do this film. She does justice to the role and get under the skin of the character. Be it the way she enacted:

1) Silk the newcomer trying to find her feet in the industry-the look of pure joy in her eyes when she sees the audience loving her moves on screen,

2) Silk the superstar with the swagger and cocky attitude-mocking the picketers,

3) Silk the cheated lover-when Surya treats her like something the cat dragged in,

4) Silk heart broken following her broken relationships move you

5) Silk lonely - the utter loneliness Silk faces when she loses everything she holds dear and there is no one around her to share her sadness.

Vidya has captured the essence of Silk and this is one act that will be hard to replace. I'm no judge whether Silk was a heroine or a vamp, Silk lived her short life to the fullest until her past caught up with her... for it wasn't Silk who gave up... it was Reshma...

P.S: The film was released on 2nd December which would have been Silk's 51st Birthday!!! (DOB courtesy Wikipedia).

Delhi Belly : Movie Review

Picture: Source

Cast: Imran Khan, Vir Das, Kunal Roy Kapoor, Poorna Jagannathan, Shenaz Treasury

Finally the Indian censor board has come of age and has allowed a film to be presented the way it was meant to be without any cuts or beeps whatsoever. If you are looking for a family film, you are barking up the wrong tree. To be honest I am not a big fan of new age films, the kind that try too hard to present the characters as the New Age Indian Youth in the stereotypical brash, arrogant, foul-mouthed and devil may care avatars. I am willing to go on record to say that I loved this film, it is zany, wacky and at times over-the-top, but even then the characters in the film are real, you may recognise them from your college or office and that is where this film scores.

The film hooks you from the word go... Sonia (Shenaz Tresury who seems to have lost the "wala" in her surname somewhere along the way, numerology makes people do strange things) picks up a packet as a favour to her friend and asks her boyfriend Tashi (Imran Khan) to deliver it. Tashi lives with his two room mates Nitin (Kunal Roy Kapoor) and Arup (Vir Das, a stellar performance, the Jaa Chudial number is outstanding) in a decrepit building that seems to be a likely candidate for who-wants-to-be-razed-next, if there ever was a program like that. Tashi  in turn delegates the task to his colleague and friend  Nitin who has a weakness for street foods and is afflicted by the infamous Delhi Belly when he eats some chicken off a roadside stall on his way to making the delivery and this in turn sets in motion the whole chain of events.

The mayhem includes, a cheating landlord, attempts at blackmail, a trigger happy jealous ex-husband, run-ins with the Delhi Mafia (Vijay Raaz and company), burqas and a really bad case of Delhi Belly.

Watch this film for the situational comedy and the way in which the entire cast rises to the occasion with stellar performances and impeccable comic timing. The film captures Delhi as just another metro with its haphazard buildings, the narrow lanes which seems to be bursting at the seams, the "two hours in the morning" water supply which is the bane of every middle class metroite where as Sonia says "adjust the buckets in the morning" is a way of life, but oddly the characters seem to be more Mumbaites than Delhites. Apart from this, it is a mad and wacky way to spend a little over an hour and half.

Movie Review : I hate luv storys

I understand a little background is required as to how yours truly who is not an avid movie buff ended up watching this dud on the FIRST DAY of its release. V a temp staff allotted to us whilst one of our permanent staff was off on maternity leave, moves to another team on Monday. At a little over twenty-three she is the baccha of our team and as a token of our appreciation we took her out for a movie. Another reason to go for a movie on work night being - the guys in the team were going to watch a football match (Brazil v Netherlands) at some posh place which boasted of a large screen and complimentary food and drinks, so we girls decided to go out as well!! Mid-way through the movie I was wishing I had accepted the guys invite to go watch the match, at least I could have supported my team Brazil and ensured they went through to the semis. Brazil seem to have found out that I have deserted camp for a lack-lustre dud and the team lost hope and crashed out of the World Cup!!! I digress, but to be honest you are not missing much on the movie story front...as surprise, surprise...there is no story. OK, I will try to reign in my sarcasm, let the movie review begin...

Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Imran Khan
Duration: An eternity...
Music : Uninspiring
Background Music: Seemed to be conspicuously missing at most places...
Story: MIA (for the uninitiated -Missing in Action)
Dialogues: Apparently too many dialogues for Imran to handle and too few for Sonam

OK so we have Jay (pronounced as J) (Imran Khan) who doesn't believe in love. At this point I would like to say J's character is that of a thoroughly messed up brat. Here we have a guy, who has run away from home for reasons unknown, hates love stories and to top it all is working as Assistant to a Director who only makes love stories!!! The man is on a mission to punish himself for whatever wrong he has done in his past 25-26 years of existence on this planet. He hates love stories, treats women like dirt, drinks like a fish, is tardy at his job(for he hates it, point noted) but, Veer, his boss (Sameer Soni) does not seem to have the heart to fire him. to be honest I would have fired him in a heartbeat. After all this in the later half of the film he also says something about wanting to go to film school. I am like why ???, what makes you want to go to film school when for the past two hours all you have done at the film set is roll your eyes at the scenes being enacted and pretend to throw up when anything closely related to love is in your vicinity. If you so hated what you did, why work in a place where you are obviously learning nothing, move on...work for a Director who makes the kind of films you would like to make yourself. This is like a wannabe goldsmith working for a blacksmith using the logic "I am learning the tricks of the trade, both use hammers!!!"

Enter Simran (Sonam Kapoor) who loves everything about Love stories, come on the woman seems to reads Erich Seagal's love story every night. How she manages to get any sleep on a bed cluttered with chocolates, flowers, books and the like is a mystery to me...but she does and wakes up every morning looking radiant, heavenly and peaceful as ever, I would be puffy faced, with dark circles and irritable as hell!!! Her life is perfect, she is engaged to the love of her life, loves her job as the Art Director who makes sets for love story films!!! This woman sure made the right choices in heaven before embarking on her journey to earth. Though the lovey-dovey romance with Raj (Sameer Dattani) is a little OTT, what with him sending her flowers everyday and dressing up in the same colors!!

However, opposites attract and we have Simran falling in love with bad boy J, at the cost of wrecking her perfect paradise. The movie is a parade of scenes from bollywood hit movies like DDLJ, K3G etc, all woven together and thrown at us with a "we are making a film within this film, remember" and we were going "Eeww", "How stupid", "Man, what was the director, thinking??", "Will you please say yes, so that all of us can go home" etc, etc,

Even when J professes his love the first time, the dialogue delivery is so flat, it seemed like J is mocking Simran. No wonder she dumped him!!! If you are looking for good clean fun film to watch with your family, this is not the movie for you as it has too many adult jokes which may leave you squirming in you seat. After what seemed like an eternity the movie finally ended and all four of us swore never to watch a movie on its first day, we would wait for the reviews to come in, not the ones published in the tabloids silly, the ones given by other unfortunates who paid their khoon-passine ki kamai for the tickets!!!

My dream cast for this film would have been Konkona Sen and Rahul Bose who would have set the screen on fire...if wishes were horses...

Note: The season of duds continue...if you hate someone from the bottom of your heart, gush about how good this movie is and once they are safely inside the theatre you can rest assured that your bad deed of the day is taken care of as you would have successfully wasted at least two hours of their life.

The Ugly Truth...Movie Review

The ugly truth about this movie is that it is a total waste of time and money... ask me I spent (rather my sister did) two hundred bucks per ticket to go see this utterly and stupendously unimaginative film.

The film reminded me of a whole host of other hollywood movies ranging from When Harry met Sally (the hotel scene) to Cassanova (the Hot air balloon scene).

I dont think this movie will ever be telecast on HBO or Star Movie or any movie channel in India because every other word seems to a swear word or some kind of word which is beeped out on Indian television. Imagine watching a movie on TV where the dialogues go like this "You (Beep) want to (Beep) (Beep)". This was only for representation and not actually a dialogue from the movie, for I seem to have been too stunned by what I saw on screen for the dialogues to register on my brain.

This outing was jinxed from the start. We arrived ten minutes late and then since it was pitch dark, I sat on the wrong seat and yes, it was occupied. Pandemonium and embarrassment reigned for the next ten minutes. After a while I forgot my woes as what the actors were being put through was far worse than what just happenned to me.

Please donate the money you were planning to spend on the tickets of this movie.

Love Aaj Kal...as I saw it...a layman movie review

As I have already clarified this is a review of the movie and what I felt while watching it, if you want a comment on the kind of movies that Bollywood is making or a monologue on the finer points of good cinema, this is the point where you should leave this space and start surfing again.

Yesterday I finally...finally got myself to go watch Love Aaj Kal. Nice movie... what made it more special was the company of a very handsome and personable young man. Before your one track mind (naughty, naughty) goes off in a tangent, let me clarify, I went to the movies with my three year old nephew (Sidhu) and his mother (my cousin) who were visiting us for the weekend.

We arrived just in time to catch the National Anthem being played. After that we were escorted to our seats and were just settling in when for some reason the screen went blank. For a few seconds we were just sat there in pitch darkness. Suddenly the silence was pierced by Sidhu, who bawls (loudly)for all to hear "Iddu yeendu kannan illa" which means 'I cannot see anything' in Malayalam and my cousin and I burst into laughter. As if by divine intervention the screen erupted with images and we settle down for an eventful film.

Fifteen minutes into the film Sidhu decides this film is not up to his high standards and starts shifting and shuffling in his seat and my cousin tries to divert his attention by pointing out to Saif (Superb performance in this film, he potrays both Jai the cool dude as well as Veer Singh, the romantic sardar with equal elan). Sidhu decides Saif or Deepika for that matter are not worth his time of day and continues with the seat-jig. By now Sidhu's eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he began peering around, trying to figure out who else(other than his party and he ofcourse) were wasting their time watching the film. I mean, come on, according to him it is a criminal waste of time, when he could jolly well be using this precious time to watch Chota Bheem save the world or Mr. Bean do some antic or other which is calculated to make the decent law-abiding man shudder to the very core. Just when things seemed to be on the verge of rebellion my cousin uttered the magic words "Sidhu, would you like some 'POPCORN"". That was it, Sidhu was the very soul of propriety after the popcorn was handed over to him, he contently ate the popcorn and promptly went off to sleep.. this is where the movie review actually begins...

Movie : Love Aaj Kal
Star Cast : Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Rishi Kapoor and Giselle Monterio.

The movie starts off in London circa 2009 with the pair breaking off very cordially, practically and logically when they find that their career will eventually take them to diferent continents (Saif wanting to move to San Francisco and Deepika to India). This seems to be the best approach as they both agree that long distance relationships do not work out. They even going to the extent of throwing a party to celebrate their break-up. This causes some discomfort to their friends as they are unable to figure out what gifts to bring to the party to celebrate?? this occasion or how exactly are they to greet the happy/sad?? couple.

From there the scene shifts to how Love used to be Kal through Veer Singh's (Rishi Kapoor - an absolutely stellar performance) love story that is set in 1965 in Dilli and Calcutta between the protagonists, Veer Singh (The young Rishi Kapoor played by Saif Ali Khan) and Harleen (Giselle Monterio). A sweet love story complete with the hero following the heroine's rickshaw on a cycle, coy glances and "pratigyaas" that Harleen Kaur or whatever her names may be in future births would be his wife for all eternity. When Harleen's family shift base to Calcutta our punjab da puttar even travel the thousand miles from Delhi to Calcutta just to to see his lady love.

The banter between the practical Jai and the emotional Veer speaks volumes about the eras they belong to. Somewhere along the line we realise that though the relationship have changed with the passage of time, Love have actually remained the same. This film has a feel good end with Love conquering all odds and emerging victorious. If you are a person who is in love with the concept of love, this is a must watch. I for one absolutely loved it and as Saif comments in the film "We are the 'Aam junta' the mango people" this film is made for the masses. It may not have a great plot but the way the story is woven with the fluid moves between the two eras, great locations, soulful music and excellent performances, you just can't help falling in love with this movie.

What are you waiting for, go watch the movie...

Movie Review : The Stoneman Murders

Ok People, my first attempt at Movie Review writing, I have some large shoes to fill(Karthik being my mentor), I hope to live up to the expectations. Every now and then Bollywood takes a break from churning out meaningless and stupid movies to comeup with a superb film like The Stoneman Murders.

As a rule I am not a big movie fan, at the most I will watch the re-runs of popular movies on Star Movies or HBO. As I have said in the past to make me go to the multiplex I must either be in a near suicidal mood or the movie must strike a chord with me. On my way back from work a couple of days ago I noticed the hoardings for The Stoneman Murders. I am a sucker for conspiracy theories and whodunits and to be fair the hoarding were pretty intriguing.

So, that is how I found myself yesterday at Fun Republic, Andheri buying the tickets to have a dekho at the movie.

Here is what I have to say about the movie.

Movie: The Stoneman Murders
Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Arbaaz Khan, Vikram Ghokale & Virendra Saxena.
Director : Manish Gupta
Duration: 1 hour 45 mins.

This movie is based on the killings that started in Mumbai in 1985 and lasted for about two years(the killing, I mean, Duh). The killer crushed the heads of sleeping pavement dwellers with large stones. Somewhere around the middle of 1987 the killings stopped as mysteriously as they had started. The killer was never found.

The film is gripping and fast paced and keeps you glued to your seat. Also a movie which has Kay Kay Menon can't go wrong. He is one of the few actors (Irfan and Rahul Bose being the others) whose films are watchable and you have to forgive them a few lemons like Drona and Maan Gaye Mughal-e-Azam which complete their repertoire. Kay Kay is absolutely superb as the Special Unit Officer Sanjay Shelar, who is trying to solve the case. There are also fine performances from veteran actors Vikram Ghokhale as the Special Unit Chief and Sanjay's mentor and Virendra Saxena as Constable Kamble. Arbaaz Khan as Police Inspector Kedar who is Sanjay Shelar rival and intensely dislikes him is good.

The story is nicely woven into reality and you really start believing that what is being shown on the screen could infact be the truth. Sanjay who is suspended post a custodial death takes on a parallel investigation after getting the green signal from his boss and mentor (Vikram Gokhale). The further carrot is that he might get his job back if he manages to solve the Stoneman Case. Inspector Kedar who is officially incharge of the case spends more time jeering at Sanjay and eating free food off the roadside stalls.

The film plays with your mind as more than once the person Sanjay meets is the next victim. Also Sanjay is suspected to be killer as he is found in the vicinity of the scene of the crime a little too often.

On the flip side the film could have been longer with some more emphasis on why Sanjay thinks that there is a pattern in the murders and how he goes about cracking the case. Also not sure what message Manish Gupta wants to give when he has Sanjay telling his wife, "Tum Puchti ho na, kala dhan kyon ? Aaj issi kale dhan ke wajah se yeh ghar hai, jis ne bacha liya" meaning, "You always ask my why we need Black Money, today it is the black money that saved me, this house is thanks to the black money". The twist in the end is good though you begin to suspect that it is Mr.X whodunit. I am not gonna say anything more, go watch the movie!!!