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Movie Review: NH10 is a brilliant film crafted with a very realistic touch

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Banner: Phantom Films & Clean Slate Films
Producer: Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Sunil Lulla, Krishika Lulla & Anushka Sharma
Director: Navdeep Singh
Cast: Anushka Sharma, Neil Bhoopalam, Deepti Naval, Ravi Jhankal, Darshan Kumar et al
Music: Anirban Chakraborty, Sanjeev -Darshan, Ayush Shrestha, Savera Mehta & Samira Koppikar

Director Navdeep Singh, of ‘Manorama Six Feet Under’ fame, in his latest offering ‘NH10’ seems to have surpassed his own directorial skills. So ‘NH10’ is chilling, blood curdling, horrifying et al beyond imagination. It leaves you speechless & dumbfounded with its shocking twists & turns at every turn of events. Sometimes its scary, true to life, happenings makes you flinch and with a nail biting attitude you are left wondering what next? And the high point of ‘NH10’ is its shockingly spine chilling climax in the last half an hour’s duration of the film. If only Navdeep Singh had resisted the temptation of getting entangled in the inspirational web, of Hollywood films ‘Eden Lake’ and even the blatantly copied poster of another Hollywood film ‘Black Widow’ based on a similar theme.

The film’s title NH10 refers to the 403 km long National Highway 10 that starts from Delhi, passes through Haryana via Bahadurgarh, Rohtak, Hisar, Fatehabad, Sirsa and ends at the Pakistan border in Punjab. So ‘NH10’ unfolds the story of a young couple whose road trip gets upset after an encounter with a group of violent criminals. Meera (Anushka Sharma) &  Arjun (Neil Bhoopalam) are corporate professionals living in Gurgaon. When Meera walks out of a party late one night, she is attacked by a group of unknown men. Although she escapes by the skin of her teeth, the encounter leaves her extremely traumatized. Arjun, partly blaming himself for not being there that night, tries to make up for it by treating her to a luxurious desert holiday. As they stop on a Highway dhaba for dinner, they witness a young girl & a young boy being picked up by a bunch of hoodlums, a clear revengeful case of honor killing, when Arjun chooses to step in unmindful of the danger lying ahead. And that’s when Meera & Arjun’s pleasant & fun oriented romantic road trip goes completly & totally toppsy turvy. No I won’t be a spoiler by revealing the rest of the true to life, spine chilling & horrifyingly dangerous plot. It can happen to anyone on a darkened deserted highway. So “Beware”!!!

Director Navdeep Singh’s carefully assembled directorial treatment is 1st rate, simply outstanding. Hats off to the entire team of producers namely Vikramaditya Motwane, Anurag Kashyap, Vikas Bahl, Sunil Lulla, Krishika Lulla & above all actor Anushka Sharma for also donning a producer’s hat with an excellent film like ‘NH10’. And due credit of the crowning glory of ‘NH10’ also goes to the behind the scenes team members like Dipa De Motwane (Co – producer), Sudeep Sharma (Writer), Karan Gour (Background Score), Eka Lakhani (Costume Designers), Sanjeev – Darshan, Bann Chakraborty, Ayush Shrestha, Savera Mehta & Samira Koppikar (Music), Jabeen Merchant (Editor), Arvind Kannabiran (Cinematographer), Mustafa Stationwala (Production Designers), Armin Sauer & Abdul Salaam Ansari (Action), Subhash Sahu (Sound), Jogi (Casting Director), Ravi Padda & Binny Padda (Publicity Stills) & Raindrop Media (PRO).

Performance wise undoubtedly the scene stealer is Anushka Sharma, this simple Bangalorean girl, nay an actor perhaps whose potential talent was untapped till this date, but she has finally arrived and how? Her vendetta oriented flawless act doesn’t even give you a chance to bat your eyelids. If she continues in the same team in her subsequent films then there is no looking back for her. Even an extremely talented actor like Neil Bhoopalam is a few shades paler in comparison to Anushka Sharma. Darshan Kumar as Satbir is unbeliably remarkable. Deepti Naval leaves a strong impact. Finally Ravi Jhaankal along with the entire bunch of talented albeit unknown actors in the entire hoodlum’s gang deserves a special & a noteworthy mention.

Tailpiece: ‘NH10’s press preview was a hardcore, nay every critics delight and its theatrical shows will be a moviegoer’s ultimate, with no alternate, movie watching experience. And a cautionary advice: certainly & defintely not recommended for cinegoers with a weak heart.

Movie Review: 'Focus'

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focus-poster

Banner: RatPac – Dune Entertainment, Di Novi Pictures, Kramer & Sigman Films, Overbrook Entertainment & Zaftig Films
Producer: Denise Di Novi
Director: Glenn Ficarra & John Requa
Cast: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Rodrigo Santoro, Gerald McRaney, B. D. Wong, Robert Taylor, Dominic Fumusa, Brennan Brown, Griff Furst, Adrian Martinez & Alfred Tumbley
Music: Nick Urata

Director duo Glenn Ficarra & John Requa in their latest outing ‘Focus’ seems to be just a bit out of focus as while mixing the recipe of con-game with love dose they got really carried away by the inspirational game from George Roy Hill’s ‘The Sting’ or even Stephen Frears ‘The Grifters’. Not to forget other “Heist” movies like ‘Out Of Sight’ & ‘Ocean’s 11’. But the over all presentation of good actors, eye pleasing locales (New Orlean & Buenos Aires), some smart twists & turns et al are really note worthy & impressive.

So ‘Focus’ is an American romantic dark comedy film in which a seasoned con – man Nicky Spurgeon (Will Smith) goes to a nightclub, where an inexperienced grifter, Jess Barrett (Margot Robbie), attempts to seduce him by pretending that they’ve been caught by her jealous husband, in order to con Nicky. Seeing through their deception, Nicky exposes their plan and advises them never to lose focus when faced with unexpected situations before leaving. Jess finds him in another nightclub a few days later and convinces Nicky to become her mentor by detailing all information she acquired on him, including that his father, Bucky Spurgeon, was forced to shoot Nicky’s grandfather after a con game gone wrong. Nick takes Jess to New Orleans, where she performs a series of minor cons as a test. After proving her worth, Jess is introduced to Nicky’s crew, and soon Nicky & Jess develop a romantic relationship, upsetting Nicky, who was taught by his father to never become emotionally involved with anyone in their line of business. At a professional football championship game at the Mercedes -Benz Superdome, Nicky & Jess con a compulsive gambler, Liyuan Tse (B. D. Wong) out of all his money. Afterwards, Nicky gives Jess her share but reluctantly sends her away, leaving her heartbroken. 3 years later, Nicky is in Buenos Aires, working for a billionaire motorsport team owner Rafael Garriga (Rodrigo Santoro). Garriga needs to beat a team headed by Australian businessman McEwen (Robert Taylor) to win the championship. Nicky will pretend to be a disgruntled technician on Garriga’s team, and will sell a bogus component to McEwen, slowing their car down during the race. At a pre -race party, Nicky runs into Jess, who is now Garriga’s girlfriend. Nicky has a convincing fight with Garriga in public, and is recruited by McEwen to provide the component. Nicky begins pursuing Jess again, and they eventually rekindle their relationship. The head of Garriga’s security entourage, Owens (Gerald McRaney), is suspicious and follows Nicky & Jess. Nicky delivers the component to McEwen for 3 million euros, but also sells it to the other teams for similar amounts. While he is waiting for Jess at his hotel room, he receives a text saying that he is exposed, and should leave immediately. Nicky & Jess attempt to return to the United States together. However, they are caught by Garriga’s men and taken to an abandoned warehouse, where Nicky pleads for Jess’ life, and is beaten by Garriga. Jess reveals she was trying to seduce Garriga in order to steal his valuable watch, and Owens then shoots Nicky in the chest, causing a horrified Garriga to leave. Owens then reveals himself to be Nicky’s father, Bucky, and assures Jess that he avoided any major arteries.

Bucky drives Nicky & Jess to the hospital to treat Nicky’s punctured lung and departs with Nicky’s money, as a reminder of the consequences of losing focus. After he leaves, Jess reveals that she had snatched Garriga’s watch before he left the warehouse, and Nicky & Jess then go into the hospital together.

Mostly solo directors or even co – directors plan a sequel of a movie once it acquires the box office crown but the director duo Glenn Ficarra & John Requa seems to have set their focus, the other way round as ‘Focus’ is appears garbed more like a prequel.

That apart they had too battle it out with the indian censor board too who indeed allowed scores of cuss words & raunchy innuendo, as well as several sex scenes, though they’re limited to kissing and shots of bare shoulders, backs, and the sides of breasts but no frontal nudity. As we are all morally conscious indians you know! Kudos & bouquets of appreciation to the director duo Glenn Ficarra & John Requa, if only their script did not display loopholes galore, in tandem with their technical team Xavier Pérez Grobet (Cinematographer), Jan Kovac (Editor), Nick Urata (Music) et al for making the movie racy & enjoyable to some extent.

Performance wise, for a change, ‘Focus’ focuses on each & every characters galore. So in brief their individual act can be outlined: Will Smith as Nicky Spurgeon – Outstanding Act, Margot Robbie as Jess Barrett – Brilliantly Sensuous, Rodrigo Santoro as Garriga – Charming, Gerald McRaney as Bucky Spurgeon / Owens – Perfection Personified, B. D. Wong as Liyuan Tse, Extremely Funny, Robert Taylor as McEwen – OK, Dominic Fumusa as Jared – Passable, Brennan Brown as Horst – Adequate, Griff Furst as Gareth – Noteworthy, Adrian Martinez as Farhad – Hilariously Comical & Alfred Tumbley as Dogs – Wicked.

Tailpiece: Worth watching without loosing your focus on the entire proceedings.

Nasheman.in exclusive: A controversial & clarifying interview with producer & director Suneel Kumar

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“I Am Trying To Assemble 300 Small Time Filmmakers Under 1 umbrella (Read Association) To Be Headed By Veteran Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihlani.” – Suneel Kumar

Suneel Kumar

Suneel Kumar maybe a small time filmmaker who has made mostly “B” & “C” grade films. But he has no qualms on being labelled as a “B” & “C” grade filmmaker as he strongly feels that it is the so called “B” & “C” grade films that are largely successful at the box office turnstiles, so what if they run successfully in “B” & “c” grade centres only, the smaller pockets of the distribution sectors of the interior territories. Besides these small films fetch enough coins at the box office turnstiles which feeds 100’s of families of the technical crews. But Suneel Kumar also laments the fact that the small films do not get their due recognition in all aspects & respects. Not only this there is not even a single umbrella (Read Association) protection to safeguard their varied interests.

So what according to you are the main grievances of the small time filmmakers?

The main grievances of us, small time filmmakers is that there is no one to listen to us. There is not even one umbrella (Read Association) to voice our opinions, no one to take heed of our problems, our difficulties in varied aspects & respects.

Kindly elaborate!

To give you a specific example. You see I have made many low budget films. And all of them were released in the single theaters of Mumbai circuits as well as the other circuits @ the All India Level. In the earlier times all the distributors used to take a keen interest in picking up such projects on outright basis at a good price. Then came the trend of releasing them on a joint profit sharing basis with Minimum Guarantee (MG). And now the tables have turned completely as now the distributors, sometimes in connivance with the exhibitors too, have started the trend of releasing the film only at our expense. So now we small time filmmakers have to shell out an additional budget of publicity (materials cost too), promotions and even the theater hire charges (Read Exhibitors) and to top it we do not even get any revenue from the music rights & the satellite rights as the doors of this 2 avenues are closed for us forever. Today the situation has become such that if the making cost is 5 lacs, we end up spending another 5 lacs on other miscellaneous expenses that I have just mentioned above. And after all this we consider ourself lucky if we end up making a marginal profit of just 1 lakh. And if our film becomes a runaway hit, which is very rare nowadays, than that proves to be a Bumper Bonus, almost akin to a Double Bonanza for us. Not only this now we also have to deal with the changing censor guidelines from time to time.

And pray what is that?

Oh! That is one more ailing situation that we small time filmmakers have to face. As the morality conscious Central Board Of Film Certification (CBFC) feels itself so duty bound that it keeps changing its censor guidelines, to protect public morality, from time to time sometimes without even any prior intimation. And needless to say the CBFC members are very harsh with us small time filmmakers.

How come?

I will cite a latest example. My recently released film was ‘Yeh Figure Hai’. And the film’s title goes with its theme. But the censor board had asked me to chop off all the semi clad shots of a female figure. Then you tell me what would have remained in the finally chopped off movie. I really had a trying time in convincing them not to mar my film in this distorted fashion. Now what are these guidelines wherein a so called male nudity (Read semi – nude) in a recently released film is passed without even batting an eyelid and for a semi – clad female nudity a lot of hullabaloo and even societal eyebrows are raised. And in the end it is the cine goers who feel cheated as they cannot enjoy the semi – clad nudity scenario either on the big screen as the censors chop off their visual delight and they can’t do so by feasting their eyes on the wall posters or even the filmy trade magazines as the Information & Broadcasting ministry has decided to slam it with hammer & tongs.

Are small time filmmakers facing any other problems?

Earlier we used to give manual prints of our films processed in a film laboratory. But now with the advent of the digitized release through UFO, Cube, UMW, K. Sera Sera et al we are facing more problems. Earlier the manual print cost was more but now we find that releasing the film through this above mentioned digitised medium is exorbitant. Not to forget about their high handed tantrums & the non – preferential treatment that they mete out to us over big films.

Anything more that you would like to add on?

Oh! Yes of course, the latest ordinance passed by the Government (Read The Information & Broadcasting Ministry). As now they have become the watchdogs over the semi – nude advertisement that we release in Filmy trade Magazines to promote our films nay to lure the cine goers to the cinema halls which used to boost the collections on the box office turnstiles. So what are we supposed to do as we are trapped from both sides (Read CBFC & I & B Ministry) with no way to escape from any loopholes whatsoever.

So are the small time filmmakers taking any steps to wriggle out of these dire situations that they are facing from all sides?

Yes! Of course we are striving very hard to improve our precarious situation. On a close knit survey I discovered that there are almost 300 small time filmmakers who are suffering including me. I am making all the efforts to assemble all of them under 1 umbrella (Read Association) hopefully & probably to be headed by none other than veteran filmmaker Pahlaj Nihlani, who is now also the new chair person of the Central Board 0f Film Certification. I am sure that under his tutelage & expertise oriented guidance we will surely & definitely solve all our ailing problems galore.

Lets hope for the best and now tell us are you contented with your filmic journey as a small time filmmaker so far?

For that you have to travel with me in the time frame of the year 1991. Almost a runaway lad had arrived & landed in the Bollywoodian capital with starry dreams in his eyes. He struggled a lot and was soon to be clubbed as an extra in crowded sequences, sensing danger he fled and started his struggle all over again, this time as a filmmaker and very soon he gained prominence as a small time filmmaker. So the small time filmmaker that’s me had finally arrived by making his own gem of 2 small screen serials and a few small time big screen films in Hindi, Bhojpuri, chattisgarhi et al. So yes the answer is an emphatic YES I am fully & totally satisfied with my filmic journey as a small time filmmaker. Period!

Nasheman.in exclusive: A nostalgic encounter with Shahrukh Khan

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Shahrukh-Khan

Almost a decade ago veteran film journalist Shaheen Raaj had encountered Badshah Khan who had turned nostalgic while reminiscing about his Bangalorean roots and his deep attachment with his ever-increasing Bangalorean fans.

At that time King Khan Shahrukh had officially visited the Garden City, a favourite city of his and had the Bangaloreans eating out of his hand, it was for the grand ‘Temptation 2005 show at Chinnaswamy Stadium. The Rain Gods playing havoc had marked his 1st round, but he had made it up with his 2nd visit within a fortnight. The show was indeed a grand success. The Khan magic had worked wonders.

What you don’t know is that at that point of time Khan was on an undetected unofficial visit to his aunt’s place in Jaya Mahal. It was strictly a family affair, a kind of a religious ceremony to herald the on coming Holy month of Ramzan. Present herewith is the ad verbatim account in first person.

“I have a special affinity for Bangalore, as I belong here. I can say, in a way, it is like my hometown. I have spent a greater part of my life, especially my childhood and teen summers out here. In fact, my maternal family still stays here and they had all come for my Temptation show (in Chinnaswamy Stadium)!”

“Let me tell you why I love my Bangalore so much. My mother Latifa Fatima hailed from Bangalore. She was born & brought up here and shifted to Delhi only after her marriage. She was a pucca Bangalorean you know. In fact her sister, my aunt, Ahrar Fatima with her entire family including my 1st cousins, Moin Ahmed Shahbaz & Tasneem still reside out here at 18, Nandidurga hills, near Jaya Mahal. Originally, my maternal ancestors were all from Hyderabad but had migrated to Bangalore in the 50’s era.”

“My maternal grandfather Salim Ahmed was an Engineer-in-Chief in Bangalore, a post that was especially created for him, and which ended with him, by the Government of Karnataka.”

“It was my paternal ancestors who hailed from Peshawar and later on migrated to Delhi I think somewhere in the late 50’s era. No wonder I studied in St. Columbus College in Delhi and then acquired my Economic Honors Degree from there.”

“Coming back to my Bangalore days. I still recall two very vivid memories. My cousin Tasneem was a great Amitabh Bachchan fan she used to drag me to various places like M. G. Road, Brigade Road, Commercial Street, City Market & Majestic Circle to hunt for his posters and then she would stick them all up in her room & her vanity cupboard.”

“One fine day I got so bugged that I retorted, ‘You just wait baby, one day you will have to stick my posters too’ and off I went to Brigade Road alone and got my portfolio done in a small dingy studio near Kohinoor Hotel, a Muslim joint which I think still exists. It was the Summer of 82’ and I think my journey to showbiz & stardom began from there. Soon I was back in Delhi and passed my snaps around which got me my small screen break in ‘Fauji’, ‘Doosra Kewal’ and a couple of Telefilms.”

“And you would be surprised to know that it was the same set of snaps, which got me my big screen break in ‘Deewana’ too and the rest, as they say, is history. But the irony of the whole thing is that Tasneem still refuses to buy my posters leave alone sticking them around in her room.”

“My favorite hang out places in Bangalore at that that time was undoubtedly my cousin late Shahbaz Khan’s “Bombay Kababs” joint at the extreme end of Millers Road.”

“Besides how can I forget my movie going trips to Plaza. The Sunday evenings were spent watching the latest English movies with chips, burgers, sandwiches, samosas & soft drinks. Never imagined I would endorse one of them in the near future.”

“Then how can I forget the New Year Nites that I had spent here when we all freaked out by dancing our blues away in ‘The Club’ discotheque on Mysore Road. If time permits, I always make it a point to visit with my best friend Zayed Khan, their family’s resort ‘Golden Palms’ for a chill out spree.”

“Oh! There is so much to speak about Bangalore. But I won’t reveal anymore, as it’s all there in my autobiography to be published soon. Abhi sab bata doonga toh my Bangalorean fans will not pick up my 1st ever written book. Khuda Haafiz”!

Movie Review: 'Hey Bro' is a roller coaster joy ride of fun, comedy & entertainment

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Hey-Bro

Banner: Pushpa Krishna Creations Presents
Producer: Vidhi Acharya
Director: Ajay Chandhok
Cast: Ganesh Acharya, Maninder Singh, Nupur Sharma, Hanif Hilal, Indira Krishnan, Prem Chopra, Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgan, Ranveer Singh, Prabhudeva & Govinda
Music: Nitin Arora & Sony Chandy

A couple of years ago director Ajay Chandok had, had his 1st directorial outing with ‘Chatur Singh Two Star’ with not much directorial success to his credit. And now years later he has again failed to display his, maybe, latent directorial skills.

So the million dollar question is what is the movie ‘Hey Bro’ all about. Well! ‘Hey Bro’ with the tagline “Judwa (Read Twins) with a twist”, is a comedy action drama film that depicts the journey of a very cute, innocent & loveable Gopi (Ganesh Acharya), a village bumpkin from a small village in Rajasthan who comes to Mumbai in search of his twin brother Shiv (Maninder Singh) & mother (Indira Krishnan) separated from him at birth. He doesn’t have an address or any picture of his brother & mother, but to fulfil his dadaji’s (Prem Chopra) wish; he leaves the village in their search with his ‘own picture’ naively believing that his brother would look ‘just like him’ as ‘twins always do’, because he had seen that in a lot of movies. What follows is a roller coaster ride of fun, comedy & entertainment. The ‘hunt’ for his brother lands the innocent Gopi, in a lot of crazy situations, the wrong side of law as well as a law breaker ‘Land Mafia Don’ Baba (Hanif Hilal). How Gopi gets out of those situations, escapes from the clutches of the villain, finds his brother Shiv & his mother, plays cupid between his brother & the beautiful & sexy Anjali (Nupur Sharma) & finally re-unites the entire family, is one hilarious, funny yet emotional, enriching & entertaining experience.

Director Ajay Chandok’s directorial skills leaves much to be desired but it is the plot and the hilarious twist & turns at the scripting level that takes precedence and enlivens the entire proceedings. And the due credit goes to its technical crew too.

Performance wise It is Ganesh Acharya who scores all the brownie points in the histrionics department. He is cute & he is lovable, just like his character in the film. Besides he defies the convention mores that only smart & dashing person can play the lead role. Next in line is Maninder Singh leaves an impact as the lost brother. He impresses a lot with his dashing persona in a uniformed role having done such roles in the small screen arena too. While the rest of the cast comprising of Nupur Sharma, Hanif Hilal, Indira Krishnan & Prem Chopra (the latter in a brief role) complement the main lead players Ganesh Acharya & Maninder Singh. And as for superstars & stars like Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Ajay Devgan, Ranveer Singh, Prabhudeva & Govinda adequately add to the value of the box office turnstiles by making a very special appearance in a very special song “Birju”.

Tailpiece: To be very frank ‘Hey Bro’ is like a David Dhawan kind of commercial movie. So leave your brains behind and just have a hearty laugh.

Movie Review: 'Dirty Politics' is an extremely confusing, sordid & messy

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Dirty Politics

Banner: B. M. B Music & Magnetics Ltd
Producer: Nihal Farhat
Director: K. C. Bokadia
Cast: Mallika Sherawat, Jackie Shroff, Anupam Kher, Atul Kulkarni, Om Puri, Rahul Solanki, Ashutosh Rana, Rajpal Yadav, Sushant Singh, Govind Namdev, Charu Sharma & Naseeruddin Shah
Music: Aadesh Shrivastav, Robby Badal & Sanjeev Darshan

K. C. Bokadia needs no special introduction in the directional arena after having given scores of gems of movies but his return after a hiatus is highly questionable and especially his making of a dirty & seedy movie like ‘Dirty Politics’ is more highly objectionable, debatable as well as highly lamentable issue.

Now let’s get straight to the extremely confusing, sordid & messy plot. Mukhtar (Jackie Shroff) is addressing a massive crowd claiming that “He is an insaan” (a la ‘MSG – The Messenger Of God’?), and that’s why he should be made victorious in the elections. No sooner he wraps up the speech; he is arrested by 2 sincere police officers Nirbhay Singh (Atul Kulkarni) & Nischay Singh (Sushant Singh), on the charges of killing Anokhi Devi (Mallika Sherawat). Thereafter starts the flashback of events which establishes Mukhtar’s killing of Anokhi Devi and also the reason behind it. The constantly juxtaposed back & front  flashback starts off with a dance number performed by Anokhi Devi (a ‘breathtakingly gorgeous’ dancer by profession). Seeing her & her waist’s gyrations, Jan Seva Party’s headhoncho Dinanath (Om Puri) falls head over heels in love with her and wants to ‘achieve’ her at any cost. A couple of meetings later, when Om Puri becomes successful in his ‘achievement’, he then, in the flow of events, promises Anokhi Devi to be a candidate from the Merta region, something that even Mukhtar sets his eyes on. Because Mukhtar knows lot a of secrets about Dinanath, the latter becomes a helpless pawn in his hands and then, lands up officially announcing Mukhtar to be a candidate from Merta. This decision of Dinanath sets Anokhi Devi’s emotions & political ambitions on fire. That’s when she drops a bombshell on Dinanath by showing him an explosive CD that has them both in a highly compromising positions with each other. On the advice of Dinanath’s partner in crime (Ashutosh Rana), Anokhi Devi strikes a deal with Dinanath asking him for a whopping Rs. 50 crores, in return for the CD.

Director K. C. Bokadia seems to have completely lost his sensible & intelligence marbles. His experience of making intelligent & commercial movies (even with Big B) has gone for a complete toss, in ‘Dirty Politics’, en route to nowhere. The biggest atrocity is that all the veteran actors have been wasted blatantly while Bokadia sir had set his eyes & mind totally on Mallika Sherawat’s curvaceously enticing figure. The resultant effect is that everything else has gone haywire from “The Beginning” to “The End”. I rest my case at this juncture. And yes one last point. This time too I pity the latest scapegoat, Mr. Moneybags namely Nihal Farhat.

Performance wise Mallika Sherawat looks sexy as usual in lieu with her obscenely lensed dance movements. I think it is the directors & choreographers who are responsible for Mallika’s non – talent and than hardcore crics like me are forced to comment that Mallika can’t act for nuts. So Ms. Skin Show it is high time that you hone up your acting skills before one & all bid you adieu forever. While the rest of the gang of veteran actors like Jackie Shroff, Atul Kulkarni, Om Puri, Ashutosh Rana, Rajpal Yadav, Govind Namdev, Sunil Pal & Naseeruddin Shah et al should be ready to hang up their histrionics boots, if they continue to waste their time & efforts in silly projects like ‘Dirty Politics’. Thank God – The Almighty that at least Sushant Singh in tandem with Anupam Kher have ended up delivering a bit convincing performance.

Tailpiece: Warning:- Suitable & recommended only for the hardcore Mallika Sherawat fans only!!!!! You know what I mean.

Movie Review: Badmashiyaan – the undurable torture never ends

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Badmashiyaan

Banner: VRG Motion Pictures
Producer: Vijay Gutte
Director: Amit Khanna
Cast: Suzanna Mukherjee, Sidhant Gupta, Sharib Hashmi, Karan Thacker & Gunjan Malhotra
Music: Bobby-Imran

The biggest blunder that ails tinsel town is when a débutante director indulges in plagiarism nay a blatant frame by frame copy under the garb of inspiration and palms off the rehashed version or rather the coctailed version of movies round the globe to gullible & innocent film makers. Amit Khanna, the latest débutante director has done the same in his debut directorial offering ‘Badmashiyaan’. So Amit Khanna’s mixed recipe can be credited to movies like Hollywood’s ‘Runaway Bride’, Korean film ‘Couples’ et al and also from our recently released another desi version ‘Dolly Ki Doli’.

The carelessly plotted scenario opens in Chandigarh, Naari (Suzanna Mukherjee), is a sexy & trendy girl whose sole aim is to make easy money and in the process she cons every man who comes her way. Dev (Sidhant Gupta) falls head over heels to the charm of Naari and in the process withdraws money from the bank to buy a big house for her. Her strange disappearance creates confusion in Dev’s life and in order to resolve it, he hires his college friend & detective Pinkesh (Karan Mehra) to find Naari. Meanwhile, Dev gets trapped in a bank robbery and meets the girl-next-door Palak (Gunjan Malhotra) who helps him from tricky situations and then the sparks fly! On the other hand, Pinkesh becomes the next victim of Naari’s trap and as he tries to woo her through situations, he gets caught in the hands of a dangerous gangster Jazzy (Sharib Hashmi). Jazzy who is in search of his fiancée Naari, who has conned him off his money, plots a plan to find Naari which in turn brings him face to face with 2 other victims of Naari (Pinkesh & Dev).

Débutante director Amit Khanna has not only stopped at rehashing game but also fails to extract a decent performance out of his ensemble cast of wooden albeit débutante actor barring Shaarib Hashmi, the multiple award winner of ‘Filmistan’ fame. Even his entire technical crew has delivered the “chaalu” goods with a “chalta hai” hai attitude. I really pity Mr. Money Bags Vijay Gutte.

Performances wise Suzzana Mukherjee could have won the battle of histrionics as the film was based on her character, like Sonam Kapoor’s character in ‘Dolly Ki Doli, but she appears more like a walkie talkie glam doll. On the other Sidhant Gupta as Dev, the die hard romantic shows some spark in bits & pieces, here & there in the entire duration of the film. Karan Mehra let’s you down totally in spite of having shown a few sparks in the small screen arena. Yet another disappointing act has been delivered by Sharib Hashmi, the recent award winning actor of ‘Filmistan’ fame, as mentioned above. While Karan Thacker & Gunjan Mehrotra have given their best in spite of a limited scope.

Tailpiece: What? Are you still planning to visit your nearest theatre? Okay By me but do so at your own risk. Period!

Movie Review: Against The Sun

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Against The Sun

Banner: The American Film Company
Producer: Brian Falk, Kurt Graver & Mark Moran
Director: Brian Falk
Cast: Tom Felton, Jake Abel, Garret Dillahunt & Nadia Parra
Music: Paul Mills

Director Brian Falk in his latest offering ‘Against The Sun’ has tackled a very experimentally oriented arty tale about 3 Navy airmen stranded in a raft in Pacific Ocean and the turmoil they under go in tandem with the trials & the tribulations for survival at Sea for almost 40 days. The credibility of the movie ‘Against The Sun’ is palatable as it is based on a true story, but of course it bears an uncanny resemblance to Angelina Jolie’s movie ‘Unbroken’ released not so long ago in the past. That apart it also seems to be heavily inspired by a black & white classic movie of the 60’s era whose name I cannot recollect.

Just picture, the stranded in a raft scenario (Circa 1942), of 3 US Navy airmen who accidentally crash land their torpedo bomber in the South Pacific during World War II and find themselves on a tiny life raft, surrounded by open blue ocean with not a morsel of food to satiate their pangs of hunger, not a single drop of water to quench their thirst, so much so that one of the airmen takes recourse to drinking his own piss, besides they do not even see a faint ray of hope of rescue. Against incredible odds, these 3 virtual strangers survive storms, sharks, starvation and above all each other, as they try to sail more than a thousand miles to safety. The American Film Company’s ‘Against The Sun’ tells the true story of an air crew who had to take to the life raft after their plane went down in the Pacific Ocean. The 3 man crew was presumed missing at sea, after a cursory “box search” was done for them. So ‘Against The Sun’ is a respectfully told survivalist tale of pilot Harold Dixon (Garret Dillahunt), bombardier Tony Pastula (Tom Felton), & radioman Gene Aldrich (Jake Abel).

‘Against The Sun’ takes place almost entirely in the life raft, with a short prologue showing the crew’s final moments in the plane when they realize that they have somehow flown off course and don’t even have enough fuel to get back to the aircraft carrier.

Director Brian Falk’s sensitive directorial touches do strike a chord in your heart with a silent prayer on your lips that God – The Almighty – forbid that not even the worst of your enemy should pass through such a sordid ordeal. The trio of director Brian Falk in lieu with his co – script writer Mark David Keegan, cinematographer Petr Cikhart & editor Sean Albertson certainly deserves a left handed complement for keeping the scenario visually interesting, despite the limitations placed on the tale by the monotonous setting. But the same cannot be said about the musical score of Paul Mills which sometimes seem unnecessarily jarring to the extent of disrupting the flow of the entire proceedings. That apart the entire well – deserved credit goes to Aghor Raj Production Pvt Ltd to import & distribute a good cinema in India for which there are hardly any takers in the Indian Distribution arena.

Performance wise all the 3 characters namely Tom Felton as Tony Pastula, Jake Abel as Gene Aldrich & Garret Dillahunt as Harold Dixon have delivered a picture perfect par excellence performance mainly with their body language and silently gestured expressions. A special mention goes for the 4th character Nadia Parra as Frances who appears a couple of times as one of the Navy officers day dreaming fantasy.

Tailpiece: If you are a lover of good cinema, then this is the fare for you.

Review: 'Coffee Bloom' is a classy and award worthy film

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Coffee Bloom

Banner: Speaking Tree Productions
Producer: Harish Amin
Director: Manu Warrier
Cast: Arjun Mathur, Sugandha Garg, Mohan Kapoor, Nandini Sen, Ishwari Bose-Bhattacharya & Sharath Parvathavani
Music: Prasad Ruparel

Débutante director Manu Warrier in his debut directorial offering ‘Coffee Bloom’ tackles a couple’s (Read Lover’s) relationship, gone sour, in all its humanistic perspective in tandem with angst, jealousy, confusion, greed in lieu with its suicidal attempts et al, in fact all mixed up emotions but more from a male point of view.

The randomly plotted scenario opens when Dev (Arjun Mathur) sells off his family coffee estate as a statement underlining his renunciation of the world. Dev, though a self proclaimed wise man finds more comfort in being a loser, having given up on life as a result of a love gone wrong. A life changing event takes him on a journey to a coffee plantation in Coorg. There he meets Anika (Sugandha Garg), once the love of his life, now his boss and her husband Srinivas (Mohan Kapur). Love between Dev & Anika is on the verge of being rekindled and is about to bloom in an idyllic setting, bringing Dev out of his self imposed funk and Dev finds a new reason to live. But alas a terrible misunderstanding pushes him into taking drastic measures. Much is at stake as the yearly coffee bloom is just round the corner. And Dev is confronted with his past, present &  future, all rolled into one.

Full marks to débutante director Manu Warrier for his deft directorial skills in lieu with cinematographer Yogesh Jaani who has attractively captured the scenic beauty of Coorg. But director Manu Warrier has been a little let down not only by his own script, co-written by Sharath Parvathani who also enacts a brief role, but also by editor Farooq Hundekar who could have enlivened the proceedings by a little more crisp editing. A special mention must be made of producer Harish Amin of Speaking Tree Productions & Shiladitya Bora of Long Live Cinema Pvt Ltd (A distribution concern) for backing such a classy film like ‘Coffee Bloom’.

Performance wise it is the lead pair Arjun Mathur & Sugandha Garg who have literally lived the role of Dev & Anika with their first rate act. Mohan Kapur, as Srinivas, is at times irritating especially punctuated by his obscene gestures & hysterical laughter. The rest of the cast comprising of Nandini Sen, Ishwari Bose-Bhattacharya & Sharath Parvathavani lend an adequate enough support to the lead pair and do not disturb the fluidity of the entire scenario.

Tailpiece: ‘Coffee Bloom’ will be appreciated more by the film festival circuit cinegoers & the multiplex audiences rather than the single screen viewers.

"My debut film 'Lucknowi Ishq' is a clean romantic film retaining the Lucknowi tehzeeb": Anand Raut

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An interview with débutante director Anand Raut

Aanand Raut

Débutante director Anand Raut, a reputed theatre persona, hails from Ranchi, Jharkhand. After winning lots of accolades & critical acclaim in the theatrical arena in Ranchi, Jharkhand it was but natural that Anand Raut headed straight for the Mekkah of Bollywood in Mumbai. And in a short span of time he has succeeded in rolling out a Nawabi romantic recipe in the form of his debut offering named ‘Lucknowi Ishq’. Which is now being planned as a New Year’s release in the 1st week of Jan, 2015.

Are you confident that your debut directorial Nawabi recipe named ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ will be received well by cine goers all over?

If you are trying to compare my film ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ with Yashjraj Films ‘Dawat – E – Ishq’. Then rest assured that my film ‘Lucknowi ishq’ will be well received by the audiences all over as I have made a very clean romantic film based on the love story of Gen X especially based in Lucknow. But of course I have tried to retain the Lucknowi Tehzeeb. Believe me ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ is a purely Lucknowi love story well within modesty and not like a typical Mumbaiyya love story mostly bordering on immodesty.

So what is this pure ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ all about?

Well! ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ will depict the love story of a Doctor who loses everything for the sake of his love. The 1st half of ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ deals with the one sided love of the Doctor for his so called beloved and the 2nd half of ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ deals with the one sided love of the Doctor’s beloved for him and how they ultimately unite in the bonds of love forms the crux of ‘Lucknowi Ishq’.

What according to you are the highlights of ‘Lucknowi Ishq’?

The main highlights of ‘Lucknowi Ishq’ will be its high on adrenaline romantic twist in the climax besides its Lucknowi college romance which will be an eye opener and refresh the memory of yesteryear’s films like ‘Palki’, ‘Mere Mehboob’ and others of its ilk. That apart my hero Adhyayan Suman & heroine Karishma Kotak will be seen in a brand new avatar of Muslim lover boy & Muslim lover girl.

So what’s next on your filmmaking agenda after ‘lucknowi Ishq’?

First & foremost I am too busy in the preparation of the release of ‘Lucknowi Ishq’. But of course I am already on to my next project, the pre – production of which is already underway. It will be an out & out commercial venture, a sort of high octane action drama probably featuring either Ajay Devgn or John Abraham. Talks are already on with them to lure one of the star in the project. That’s it.

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