RANG DE BASANTI: (EXTENDED):

I am an Indian. Till yesterday I seriously used to think that India is all about excess population, corruption and another thousand problems which are overshadowed by petty things like cricket and an-all-time favorite excuse viz. culture. Yesterday, I realized that’s not India. There is more to India than all the above things… There is a strong ‘WE’ in India that is on its way to become hundreds and thousands of scattered, disjoint I’s.

Thank you Mr. Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra to have given me the best Republic Day gift of all times. RANG DE BASANTI is the only other film to have tug my heartstrings in such a way after my another all time favorite SWADES.

I have seen people laugh in a film, I have seen people cry while watching a film but never in the 21 yrs of my life have I seen such a mad riot of emotions surging in my own heart as I applauded and ceeteed exuberantly sitting in a hall of people who were alien to the concept of an Aamir Khan film with less Aamir Khan and more film.

RANG DE BASANTI is essentially the story of Sue (Alice Patton) who comes to India to shoot a documentary about the freedom fighters Chandrashekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh and others based on her Grandfather’s diary. The narrative shifts swiftly between her Grandfather’s husk baritone backing the brilliantly photographed sepia overtones capturing just the right flavor of history and Alice’s as she struggles to find actors for her film with the help of Sonya (Soha Ali Khan).

This search of her leads her to a group of four carefree friends who are away from the world doing their thing and enjoying it like hell. DJ (Aamir Khan), Sukhi (Sharman Joshi), Karan (Siddharth), Aslam (Kunal Kapoor) are passed out students of the Delhi University who are not willing to leave the campus simply because they enjoy every bit of their college life and are not very much in the mood to enjoy the harsh realities of life. As the documentary progresses the four begin to realize the role played by Bhagat Singh and company in India’s freedom struggle. As their foe and student politician Laxman (Atul Kulkarni) joins the cast of Sue’s documentary, things take a new turn. Life is fun and film for all of them till the day the unexpected happens…

RANG DE BASANTI is an exquisitely crafted film that made me actually doubt my own screenwriting and filmmaking skills to the extent that I actually thought that maybe I should assist Mr. Mehra for 10 years before I make my own film. Not once in its 170 minutes running times does the film bore you. It never looks preachy, It is never slow and It always keeps you guessing right till the climax which according to me is a brilliant culmination to the point. The way in which the writer has combined Bhagat Singh’s story with the story of these five is commendable. A taut screenplay and crisp dialogues (Kamlesh Pandey, Rakeysh Mehra) is one of the many feathers in the cap of RDB. Add to it a brilliant musical score (A. R. Rehman) and truly awe inspiring cinematography (Binod Pradhan) and RANG DE BASANTI becomes one of the best Hindi films of all times.

RDB is an Aamir Khan film but the other members of the ensemble cast actually manage to snatch the film away from the Khan during several well executed and enacted sequences of the film. Atul Kulkarni provides just the right amount of intensity. Kunal Kapoor impresses with a honest portrayal of Aslam the artist. Siddharth makes a brilliant debut with RDB with an absolutely rocking performance. And for those who thought that Sharman Joshi can only do a style, watch this film. He is easily the best thing in RDB with a powerhouse performance. Soha Ali Khan is a revelation and comes up trumps with a great performance. Alice Patton excels in an author backed role and her Hindi diction is sure to win many hearts. Watch out for her very first scene when she abuses a colleague in her office in Hindi. But at the end of the day, RDB belongs to Aamir Khan who comes out aces with a knockout performance. He convincingly plays a character 10 years younger than him and makes us laugh with that infectious giggle of his right till the very end.

Watch this film in a theatre people. It is an outstanding piece of cinema. I can’t wait to watch it again. Simply Superb

My Rating: * * * * *

RANG DE BASANTI

AWESOME!!! This is probably the only word that can 'somewhat' describe what I can safely call one of the most brilliant feature films ever to gleam across the Indian silver screen.

I have just returned from the film and I am seriously, for the first time in my life... speechless.

Dont miss RDB!

I will post a detailed review tomorrow and yeah it is gonna be a very long one.

Simply Superb!

My Rating: * * * * *

RANG DE BASANTI--- ITS HERE!!!

Hello Bloggers!

I have got the tickets for Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's Aamir Khan starrer ' RANG DE BASANTI'

The film has opened to full houses with all multiplexes screening a whooping 7-8 shows a day.

A massive opening and a film with tremendous hype.

Nikhil Mahajan's

XCLUSIVE

Rang De Basanti review at 1:00 AM IST.

ZINDA

Did you ever imagine a Hindi film with scenes of immense blood-gore? Gone are the days when we used to see swords and knives for our villains as weapons for killing… Welcome to the new age in Bollywood. Here our hero, a rather rough Sanjay Dutt with an air of absolute villainous dexterity around him tortures his enemies with a drilling machine. The director doesn’t stop there and shows Sanjay Dutt ruthlessly uprooting teeth from another bad man’s mouth and very insensitively slay scores of his enemies. These are just few of some really, really, disturbing sequences from Sanjay Gupta’s ZINDA.

A frame-to-frame copy of the Korean hit OLDBOY, ZINDA takes us into what can easily be called unseen territory in bollywood. ZINDA like all Sanjay Gupta films is stylish, mean and a shameless copy. I had seen OLDBOY a few months and I was jolted by its gruesome and gross picturization. I would have loved ZINDA if I hadn’t seen this Korean classic.

ZINDA is very entertaining nonetheless. It is about a software engineer called Bala (Sanjay Dutt) who lives in Bangkok with his wife (Celina Jaitley). One fine day, Bala is kidnapped and is captivated in a dingy room for 14 years. Bala comes to know that his wife has been killed. He has no idea why he has been held like this… He has no idea who has done it to him… Now Bala has only one aim in life; to come face-to-face with his faceless enemy. This enemy is Vikram Kapoor (John Abraham) a business tycoon who wants to screw Bala’s life at any cost. Bala is freed from his captivity one day and is told to find out who his enemy is. Bala gets the help of a local cab driver, Jenny (Lara Dutta) and his old friend (Mahesh Manjrekar) to find out Vikram’s whereabouts.

John Abraham shocks with a brilliantly subtle performance as the cold, villain of ZINDA. He has finally proved that he can act. Sanjay Dutt makes the film what it is with a rocking performance. He successfully brings out the angst and agony of a man who has been held in captivity for 14 years with utmost conviction.

The cinematography (Sanjay F Gupta) and a haunting soundtrack (Strings) make ZINDA a stylish and superb package.

ZINDA has a couple of deterrents; it has a very silly and unconvincing climax and it is too violent for the average Indian cinegoer.

I, personally enjoyed ZINDA as a movie but I am very pissed with the fact that it is a very shameless, unauthorized copy of OLDBOY. Mr. Sanjay Gupta, when you can make a copy well, why don’t you go for something that is original?

Worth a watch anyways. Recommended.

My Rating: * * *

Family: Ties of Blood

It feels really sad when we see a director like Mr. Rajkumar Santoshi who has given us brilliant films like DAMINI, ANDAZ APNA APNA, GHAYAL and THE LEGEND OF BHAGAT SINGH to the very recent KHAKEE comes up with a genuinely bad film. What were you thinking Mr. Santoshi?

This is nothing but a launch board for producer Keshu’s son, Aryeman. Halfway through the film the makers must have realized that no one in this country even on their wildest of whims would pay for a ticket to watch this frog-faced and unabashedly dumb version of Sunny Deol. So they decided to cast in Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar in silly, insipid and inconsequential roles.

FAMILY is primarily about two families. One is of Akshay Kumar who is a cook and canteen owner. The other is that of Amitabh Bachchan who plays a ‘Godfatheresque’ don. The new wannabe angry young man Aryeman plays (rather, tries very hard to play) Akshay’s younger brother. Sushant Singh plays Big B’s son. The other members of the families are umpteen times repeated caricatures of the timeless bollywood mothers, sisters, wives, fathers etc.

Right on the onset of the film we see Sushant Singh ruthlessly committing a murder. The next frame shows us a totally hamming Akshay Kumar crooning one of the worst songs of all times for the titles. A totally senseless romance track (Akshay, Bhumika) and a couple of scenes and a pathetic item number featuring Aryeman himself (!) to showcase the producer’s son follow. After which we see the Big B on the frame and we pray that things would become better… ALAS!!! Big B overacts his part to such an extent that we can actually feel a really, painful headache. Then again Aryeman dances. The headache increases. Akshay Kumar gets killed by Big B. Aryeman now wants revenge. He kidnaps Big B’s family… and the torture continues.

FAMILY is a seriously hopeless film. It has an outright outrageous screenplay, shoddy editing, strictly average cinematography and a bit above average background score. The only two points in the film that really make you feel better are…
1>The Interval
2>The End.

Performances are bad. Seasoned performers like the Big B, Akshay Kumar and Sushant Singh ham their life out. Shernaz Patel who was one of the best things in BLACK is possibly the second worst thing in FAMILY. The worst is Aryeman. He should take over production soon. He actually makes you feel bad for the thousands of struggling actors in Bollywood whose dads are not Mr. Moneybags. Aryeman’s is the worst movie debut in years. Bhumika is the best amongst the actors. (Sigh)

Don’t visit this Family. If this is family, I would rather stay alone.

My Rating: NOT APPLICABLE.

DOSTI- Friends Forever

I couldn’t decide whether I should laugh… or I should cry while watching this movie. Laugh, because I could see that this was a film that was coming dangerously close to Kal Ho Naa Ho. Cry, because I could see that even if was coming close… it was no where close to the brilliant Karan Johar production.

DOSTI treads on the done-to-death plot of best friends. Bobby is the ultra- rich kid. Akshay Kumar is ultra-poor. They meet as kids and become best of friends. Akshay provides the love Bobby doesn’t get from his family. Then they grow up together, fall in love together, five to six songs happen then the cliché family feuds, fights and then we can see another Kal Ho Naa Ho happening. This is DOSTI for you. Interested? I bet not… If yes… I pray not.

First things first… Bobby Deol cannot act for his life. Lara Dutta and Kareena Kapoor look stunning and do their bit to salvage the old-as-the-hills Nadeem Shravan music. Akshay Kumar is a good actor, the only saving grace of Dosti… but… come on… lets face it…he aint no Shahrukh Khan. When SRK does a KHNH, you feel that the character shouldn’t die… When Akshay Kumar does a DOSTI, you feel… man he should die… and soon.

Everything is bad. So no comments on the technical side of the film. Some films are good, some are bad… and some are pathetic. DOSTI successfully forms a fourth category… the overtly pathetic. As the film ended the first thought that came to my mind was… “Man, NEAL ‘N’ NIKKI’ was better.”

My Rating: NOT APPLICABLE

Brief Hiatus

Hmmm... for all you loyal bloggers... i am outta town and the blog will be rolling soon! That gives me a break for sometime and relief to u in the process ;)

Seen many movies.... Can wait to review em!!!

Coming up soon is...

SHIKHAR
KING KONG
DOSTI (Man I am dying to write this one!!!)

C u till then... hope u ppl have a rocking new year!