Film – Page 34

Movie Review: 'Mr. X' is no patch on the scores of other films made earlier based on the invisible genre

April 19, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Banner: Vishesh Films
Presenter: Mukesh Bhatt
Producer: Mahesh Bhatt
Director: Vikram Bhatt
Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Amyra Dastur, Arunoday Singh, Somnath Mahto, Bikramjeet Kanwarpal, Tanmay Bhatt & Gurmeet Choudhary
Music: Jeet Ganguly, Ankit Tiwari, Ankur Tiwari & Raju Singh

Following the trail of the Ramsay Brothers, the horror masters of the bygone era, Vikram Bhatt of late had become the uncrowned king of the horror genre. But he has seriously & erroneously erred this time around by treading on a completely diverse genre of sci – fi in his latest offering ‘Mr. X’. As nothing, but nothing at all seems to work in favor of the invisible Mr. X, no not even the 3 dimensional VFX specials effects.

Inspector Raghu Ram, an officer with the Anti Terrorist Department (ATD), in lieu with his colleague cum fiancée Siya Varma (Amyra Dastur), are trying to save a bus full of passengers that’s about to be blasted by a human bomb. Next, just when Raghu Ram & Siya are about to enter into a wedlock, Raghu Ram is once again sent off on a mission by his superior Bharadwaj (Arunodaya Singh). Raghu Ram escapes after completing the mission. The cops are on his trail but he gets caught by Bharadwaj and his men, who beat him mercilessly and leave him to die. That’s when his friend Popo (Tanmay Bhatt) takes him to his scientist sister, who treats him with an ‘experimental potion’. Even though the potion cures his disfigured body, it lands up making him invisible. He can be seen only in sunlight & ultra violet light. Taking advantage of his invisibility, Raghu starts operating under the name of ‘Mr. X’ and the nightmare in the film in tandem with the audience, watching the antics of ‘Mr. X’ continues.

This latest film ‘Mr. X’ from the Bhatt Empire miserably fails to grab the eyeballs of the viewers. Barring one or two films made earlier on the invisible genre the others have flopped miserably. Not one department of ‘Mr, X’ can be credited for making this film even slightly entertaining to hold the viewers attention. Living up to his image of a serial kisser Emran Hashmi tries to kiss his heroine in an invisible avatar too and this kissing scenario too looks so creepy & corny.

Performance wise Emran Hashmi just sleep walks through his role, as more than half of the screen time he is presented in an invisible avatar. Amyra Dastur too disappoints in her 2nd outing. In fact she appears as a total misfit as Bhatt Empire’s heroine. The extemely talented Arunoday Singh does not get enough scope to prove his histrionics.

Tailpiece: Stay miles away from this ‘Mr. X’ unless you yourself want to end up as an invisible entity.

Movie Review: Court: A Tale of Law and Injustice

April 18, 2015 by Nasheman

Now running in theatres, Court, an award-winning multilingual drama, studies caste and criminalisation of political dissent through the prism of judiciary.

by Manisha Sethi

Baap sarkar… O lord, our Master

How you wield the sword

That stabs the heart

That smashes all life!

With one shot of your gun

The best of people are downed

Down in the dumps!

Yet you did not muffle me

Showed me the courtesy to try me in court

How you rendered a favour unto me

O’ how you rendered a favour to me

Baap sarkar… O lord, our Master

So sings Narayan Kamble upon being released on bail. This ‘ballad of gratitude’ exposes the violence that lies at the heart of law. It places the machinery of law at par with the swords and guns that smash and drown people, much as it may pretend to be its exact opposite.

The Court follows the trial of Narayan Kamble, an ageing ex-mill worker, now part-time tuition teacher and full-time balladeer who sings at street corners, at Ambedkarite meetings, and among workers. Kamble is arrested for abetting suicide of a manhole cleaner who is found dead in the gutters, just days after Kamble has sung his rousing songs in the slum of the now dead man. The prosecution’s case is as follows: How could a man who had cleaned gutters for five years as a contract worker with BMC, who was well aware of the hazardous gases that filled these hellholes, have descended down without proper protection? The absence of any safety equipment amounted to deliberate ignorance of safety norms by the deceased. The dead gutter cleaner had been coaxed and incited by Kamble’s song to inhale toxic gases to gain dignity and respect.

While it may appear to be a satire – and it almost is, given the incredulous charges against Kamble, and even flimsier evidence supplied by the police to support the prosecution’s case – the troubling thing about this plot is that it is wholly plausible in today’s India. There are shades of the Kabir Kala Manch trial as well as Binayak Sen’s, and countless less reported ones. The evidence – recovery of books either never banned, or banned by the British almost a century ago; a stock witness who testifies for the prosecution in several cases; and a letter from a friend in jail urging Kamble to look after his ill mother presented as a conspiracy in code language – is fairly typical of such cases.

Kamble sings, “truth has lost its voice”. But the film also shows us how ‘truth’ is produced in the courtroom. The messy and unruly claims and counterclaims enter the records through the dictation of the sessions judge, cleaned and flattened, in the service of law. In his cross examination by the public prosecutor, Kamble denies having written or performed the song “Manhole workers, all of us should commit suicide by suffocating inside the gutters”, which may have triggered the suicide in question.

“Ok, have you written such a song?

“Not yet.”

“So you might? You don’t mind?

No.

“Note”, tells the judge to his typist, “The accused is claiming that though he has never written or performed such a song, he doesn’t mind doing it either.”

The judge shakes his head, as if to suggest that this admission on Kamble’s part of the possibility of writing such a song in future is as good as an admission of guilt.

Anti-terror laws have raised the pursuit of the slippery and elusive “intention” into a weighty legal category. This, combined with the widest possible meaning of terror acts (as the public prosecutor says, “it could be bombs or chemical, or any other means of whatever nature, includes anything”), has made it legally possible to criminalize practically every opinion that the government may dislike.

To those of us reared on a diet of Sunny Deol venting his fury about “tareekh, tareekh aur tareekh”, The Court offers a very calm, even resigned, look at the workings of our lower judiciary. It unravels the socially conservative skeins of the judiciary: the public prosecutor enjoys an evening out watching anti-immigrant Marathi theatre and wishes that the judge would sentence the accused to 20 years in prison and relieve her of boredom; the judge who gently reprimands the police for not following the police procedure manual during search and seizure and yet doesn’t throw out these tainted seizures; who refuses to hear a litigant who has appeared before him in a sleeveless dress, because it violates his sense of dress code in the court.

The Court is the story of the criminal justice system as well as those it has abandoned: the dead gutter cleaner who drinks himself to insentience so that he can clamber down the manhole, who throws a pebble into the filth and waits for a cockroach to appear so that he knows that there is oxygen down there, who has lost an eye to the deadly gases. This man’s degradation is turned into material evidence of Kamble’s guilt. The Court shows us that law may only rarely be about justice. It is a requiem for gutter cleaners, for the balladeers who sing the truth, for the ideal of justice – and indeed, for all us.

Manisha Sethi is the author of Kafkaland: Prejudice, Law and Counterterrorism in India (Three Essays Collective, 2014). A slightly edited version of this review was first published in The Hindu Business Line.

Southern Movies Round Up

April 16, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

As compared to films produced in Bollywoodian & Hollywoodian Cinema arena, South Indian Cinema is rapidly & regularly progressing by churning out its own brand of gems of milestone movies in all the 4 languages namely Kannada, Malyalam, Telugu & Tamil. In an exclusive Nasheman.In, Shaheen Raaj will present a sneak preview of the productional happenings of Southern Cinema every fortnight. Time to stay tuned in.

Vishal & Suseendran Join Hands Again

Vishal & Suseendran join hands again. Here’s the complete details of ‘Paayum Puli’ 2015. After ‘Naan Sigappu Manithan’ Vishal is 2nd time lucky to get the title of yet another superstar’s mega hit movie of the 80’s namely ‘Paayum Puli’. This film brings back Vishal & Suseendran, who earlier on gave the super hit film namely ‘Paandiya Naadu’. Vendhar Movies is the producers of ‘Paayum Puli’ 2015 & Kajal Agarwal is the heroine while Samuthrakani, Soori, Jayaprakash, Murali Sharma & Anandraj play supporting roles. D. Imman scores the music for Vairamuthu’s lyrics & ‘VIP’ director Velraj handles the camera. Editor Anthony, Art Director Rajeevan, Stunt Master Anal Arasu & Choreographer Shobi form the core team.

‘Purampokku’s Release Date Locked!

The release date Arya’s next multi starrer film ‘Purampokku has now been locked. Director S. P. Jananathan’s stylish multi starrer ‘Purampokku’ featuring Arya, Vijay Sethupathi, Karthika Nair & Shaam is now releasing on 1st May, 2015 and Disney UTV chief G. Dananjayan confirmed this on his micro blogging site. The film touches the sensitive issue of capital punishment and is in the political thriller genre. Arya is said to play a social & financial analyst while Vijay Sethupathi & Shaam play a railway coolie & police officer respectively. Karthika Nair the heroine has performed some risky stunt sequences and it is evident from the trailer that production value is on par with Hollywood flicks.

2 Dates Set For The Release Of ‘Kanchana 2’

2 dates have recently been set for the release of Raghava Lawrence’s ‘Kanchana 2’. After ‘Muni’ & Kanchana’, Raghava Lawrence’s long in the making ‘Kanchana 2’ has created a huge buzz in the industry and among fans after the posters were released a few days back. Raghava Lawrence has already released the trailer of the movie and the comedy horror will hit the screens on the 16th Apr, 2015.

Raghava Lawrence is enacting 6 different roles in ‘Kanchana 2’, which also has Tapsee Pannu, Devadarshini, Kovai Sarala, Raghava’s brother Vino & Nithya Menon in a special appearance. Music score is taken care of by S. S. Thaman & Sun Pictures are releasing this film after a long gap.

Anushka’s magnum opus ‘Bahubali’ release postponed to July, 2015.

Anushka has put in tremendous hard work for almost 2 years to play the female lead Devasena in S. S. Rajamouli’s bilingual ‘Bahubali’. Anushka has undergone vigorous training in sword fighting as part of her homework for the magnum opus. ‘Bahubali’ was scheduled to be released on the 15th of May, 2015 but the film could be postponed by more than a month to sometime in July, 2015 as there is delay in the extensive post production work. Prabhas & Rana Dagubatti play warring brothers in ‘Bahubali’ and the top notch supporting cast includes Sudeep, Tamanaah, Sathyaraj, Ramya Krishnan & Nasser. Madan Karky is responsible for the Tamil dialogues while M. M. Keeravani scores the music.

Nora Fatehi The ‘Temper’ Girl To Star In ‘Baahubali’

Nora Fatehi the ‘Temper’ girl will also star In ‘Baahubali’. Nora Fatehi, who sizzled in an energetic item number in NTR’s super hit film, ‘Temper’, is going to do a special song in ‘Baahubali’. S. S. Rajamouli is said to have been very impressed with Nora’s dances in ‘Temper’ and roped her for the song. Of late she has been rehearsing for the song and will soon join the shoot. ‘Baahubali’ work is nearing completion. and the film is scheduled for a release on 15th May, 2015.

Tamil Actor Rajinikanth Meets Kannada Director Pawan Wadeyar

Tamil actor Rajinikanth meets Kannada director Pawan Wadeyar. Of late Rajinikanth has been going through a rough patch in his career. His recent movies bombed at the box – office and the Super star has been contemplating with which director he has to work with for his next, so that he will bounce back in full form. There are many speculations about the director of his next movie. Some days back it was alleged that A. R. Murugadoss will direct the movie and Aascar Ravichandran may direct it.

But surprisingly Rajinikanth recently met Kannada director Pawan Wadeyar of ‘Potugadu’ fame and this meeting has sparked new speculations that both of them are going to team up soon.

The Film ‘Legend’ Creates New Records

Of late Balakrishna’s blockbuster movie, ‘Legend’, released last year, has created a new record. At a time, when movies are being out of the theatres in just one or two weeks, ‘Legend’ completed 365 days run in 2 theaters and is running towards 400 days. This film, which set the cash registers ringing at the box – office with huge collections, has completed 365 days in Mini Shiva theatre in Emmigannur, Kurnool district with direct four shows. It also completed 365 days in Proddutur (56 days in Arveti theatre & 310 days (single shift 4 shows) at Archana theatre.

The Official Release Date Of ‘Kick 2’ Has Now Been Confirmed

The official release date of ‘Kick 2’ has now been confirmed. Kalyan Ram, who scored a super hit this year with the film, ‘Pataas’, is producing ‘Kick 2’ with Ravi Teja & Rakul Preet Singh in the lead roles. Surender Reddy is the director of this film. 2 songs were shot in Switzerland and this schedule was completed on 31st Mar, 2015. With the song which starts on 3rd Apr, 2015 at Annapurna Studios, the total shooting will be completed. The makers are planning to release the movie worldwide on 7th May, 2015. Bollywood actor Nikitin Dheer of ‘Chennai Express’ fame is playing the villain in this film.

‘Ennum Epozhum’ & ‘Oru Vadakkan Selfie’ Hits The Marquee

Mohanlal & Nivin Pauly recently met face to face as their movies ‘Ennum Epozhum’ & ‘Oru Vadakkan Selfie’ respectively hit the marquee. Both the movies have upped much anticipation with a lot many factors working for both of them. While the hit team of ‘Malarvadi’ has rejoined for ‘Oru Vadakkan Selfie’ (OVS), the Sathyan Anthikad helmed ‘Ennum Epozhum’ with the star combo of Mohanlal & Manju Warrier also held much promise. Both the movies were expected to do well at the box office.

Aashiq Abu’s ‘Rani Padmini’ is on track.

Aashiq Abu’s next film ‘Rani Padmini’ is right on track despite rumors that one of the lead actresses has been dropped out of the project. The graphic poster of the film has also come out, depicting the 2 lead actresses of the film, Manju Warrier & Rima Kallingal, announcing that the movie will begin rolling soon.

Aashiq Abu has already clarified that the movie is an experimental one which will have the 2 women’s journey. The physical journey that takes them across various terrains throughout India also bring about a strong bond between them and works towards revealing & healing their emotional quotient.

‘Local Train’ Song Canned

A song for ‘Local Train’ was recently canned. The number “Saniha Saniha Noduththiddare Neenu Noduththiddare…….!” featuring Madarangi Krishna & Estar Naronha was captured in the choreography of Chinni Prakash for ‘Local Train’. This film’s earlier name was ‘Chinna Chinna Aase’. A film by Sanjana Cine Arts SH Walke maiden production erected a set for the song penned by Jayanth Kaikini to shoot at Kanteerava Studio. N. Rudramuni has penned the story & the screenplay and also directs this film. For the songs of Arjun Janya 2 famous lyricists Dr V. Nagendra Prasad & Jayanth Kaikini have penned the songs. Keshavaditya worked on the dialogues, Ramesh Babu is cameraman, PR Sounder Raj is editing, Ram Shetty & Ramesh have directed the stunts & Ishwari Kumar art direction are part of the ‘Local Train’.

‘Ugraksha’ Rolls

A new film ‘Ugraksha’ rolled recently. After ‘Ugram’ success a similar sounding title ‘Ugraksha’ went on the floosr recently. An action packed film by Bharat Kumar of Hoskote starring Abhinav Shreyas was clapped for the 1st shot by Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Swabhimani Association Krishne Gowda. KFCC President Thomas D Souza switched on the camera. R Vidhaa has penned story, screenplay, dialogues besides direction for the film.

Murali Krish is cameraman and M Sanjeev is music composer. Deepika Kamayya is female lead in this film with Tabla Naani, Sharat Lohitashva, Arun Sagar, Victory Vasu, Muni, Bank Janardhan, Sudhakar, Ugram Manju, Kempe Gowda, Chandan, Dharmatej, Chandan Gamya, Sowmya, Suvarna et al in supporting roles.

Movie Review: The Water Diviner

April 16, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Troy Lum, Andrew Mason & Keith Rodger
Director: Russell Crowe
Star Cast: Russell Krowe, Olga Kurylenko, Jai Courtney, Dylan Georgiades, Sem Yilmaz & Yilmaz Erdogan et al
Genre: Historical Period Drama
Verdict: Good. Worth Watching

Debutante director Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner is no doubt an entertaining war fare, albeit a bit contrived and artificial as far as its emotional quotient is concern. It is a historical period drama set in Australia and Turkey during the first world war.

Plot: The scenario opens in 1919 after the end of world War I. Joshua Connor (Russell Crowe) an Australian farmer and water diviner returns home one fine day, when his spouse Eliza Connor (Jacqueline McKenzie) is still seen grieving as her 3 sons have not yet returned home from war even after a lapse of 5 years. At last fearing them to be dead Eliza commits suicide and Joshua sets off in search of his missing sons. But Joshua meets with a lot of resistance until Major Hasan (Yilmaz Erdogan) advises captain Lt – Col Cyril Huges (Jai Courtney) to allow Joshua to search for his sons.

Aces: Russell Crowe’s debut directorial finesse as well as the par excellence performances by the trio of Russell Crowe himself in tandem with Olga Kurylenko and Jai Courtney with adequate support from the rest of the cast. Not to forget the brilliant cinematography by Andrew Lesnie.

Minuses: If only it was a purely cross cultural family melodrama and not served as a cocktail of war film.

Last Word: A heart touching tale of a father and his missing sons

"Bollywood has seen my varied avatars, now I am all set to be a producer": Dhananjay Galani

April 14, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Dhananjay L. Galani has donned varied avatars since his arrival in Bollywood with starry dreams in his eyes. It was indeed a long journey when he had 1st ended up as an officer in the Anti Piracy Squad. His next stopover, to gain the perfect knowledge of films, was in the distribution & exhibition arena. And finally he did get a chance to be a full-fledged actor when he donned the grease paint and faced the arc lights for the 1st time ever for his good friend namely stand up comedian Sunil Pal’s film ‘Money Back Guaranrtee’. And now he is on Cloud 9 as he is all set to don the mantle of a producer with his as yet untitled venture namely ‘Production No 1’ based on the interesting & the controversial topic of MMS scandal and starring a Ukrainian actress named NATALIYA KOZHENOVA. Present herewith is a recent trelephonic encounter with Dhananjay Galani where he gives the latest update about his illustrious & chequered Bollywoodian career.

Of late you seem to be on Cloud 9! So what’s Up?

“Baat hi kuch aisi hai Shaheen Sir!” Since the last time we had a telephonic chat there has been a latest development in my career. Yes! After donning the varied multifaceted hats I have recently turned a producer. Bollywood has seen my varied avatar’s namely that of an actor, distributor, exhibitor, film promoter, And now I am all set to be a producer”

Go on! You can share your joy with us!

You see till this date I had distributed & exhibited many films under my home production banner Lavlin Films and under the same banner I am now all set to produce my 1st ever film.

And what is your 1st ever film as a producer all about?

My 1st ever film falls into a thriller & suspense genre topped with oodles of glamour & sensousnes. It is all about the pre-planned MMS scandal of innocent girls. A foreigner comes to India and she is lured to make her MMS tape. But the anticlimax is that the foreigner is actually a cop in disguise who has actually & specially come to India to do an expose on the so called MMS scandal. My film is going on the floors early next month. And at present the working title is ‘Production No. 1’.

And which actress have you chosen to perform this challenging role?

I have chosen none other than my favorite actress NATALIYA KOZHENOVA to perform this challenging role. She is a Ukranian actress of Russian origin. She has already done 2 films namely ‘Anjuna Beach’ & ‘Super Model’ and my film will be her hat trick film.

Fine! Now would you like to go a little bit in a flashback mode?

Yeah! That’s fine with me. So just to refresh everyone’s memory I always had this great love for cinema and I also had the desire to act. In Mumbai under the pretext of going for a stroll I often used to land up in filmcity where I got a chance to meet and know many film stars. And then I ended up working for an anti piracy squad named Bharat Copyright Protection and conducted raids in many places of Maharashta & Gujarat and filed a case against many people involved in piracy. Then with the blessings of Anil Nagrath I ended up opening a distribution office and then it was Anil Nagrarth who got me my first film namely Jiten Purohit’s ‘Deewangi Ne Hadh Kardi’ and then the distribution business started flourishing and since my partner, in distribution business, Devendra Singh Tavar’s daughter’s name was Lovlin we also named our company as Lovlin Films. Under my company Lovlin Films I started distributing Bollywood, Hollywood & Marathi films too. Earlier on we had distributed films like ‘Deewangi Ne Hadh Kar Di’, ‘Shahrukh Bola Khubsoorat Hai Tu’, ‘Yeh Dooriyan’, ‘Bhindi Bazaar’, ‘Strange Love Story’, ‘Ek Sangeen Dastaan’, ‘Universal Soldier 4’, ‘Parker’, ‘Pyar Mein Aisa Hota Hai’, ‘Aasa Mee Tasa Mee’ and many many more. Then on I seriously thought of expanding and continuing with the business of distribution & exhibition. Last year I also released an Ahirani language film named ‘O Tuni Maay’. I had also started the business of film promotion and the 1st film in this regard was Diya Bajpayee & Rahat Kazmi’s ‘Identity Card’, Karanveer Bohra & Hemant Madhukar’s ‘Mumbai 125 Km’ et al. And I also got my 1st ever chance of acting wih many established actors through Sunil Pal’s film ‘Money Back Guarantee’. I also did its full promotion in Nagpur & Jaipur city like the print & digital media, radio interview, mall activities and varied colleges. And I also promoted the 1st ever Ahgirani language film ‘O Tuni Maay’ in Khandesh in Dhulia city and Vidarbh in Nagpur city. That’s as far as I can rewind my flashback. And now in a Fast forward moody mode I am waiting with batted breath to kick start my 1st ever film as a producer. Period!

Movie Review: 'Ek Paheli Leela' is like a shabbily packaged old wine in a new bottle

April 13, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Banner: Paper Doll Entertaiment
Producer: Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Ahmed Khan & Shaira Khan
Director: Bobby Khan
Cast: Sunny Leone, Rajneesh Duggal, Jay Bhanushali, Mohit Alawat, Rahul Dev, Jas Arora, Shivani Tanksale, V J Andy, Daniel Weber, Ehsaan Qureshi, Kulvinder Bakshish, Nausheen Ahmed, Girish Thapar, Jitendra Baiswal & Arun Singh
Music: Meet Bros Anjjan, Amaal Mallik, Dr. Zeus, Tony Kakkar & Uzair Jaswal

Débutante director Bobby Khan tries his super best to rekindle & refresh the “reincarnation” movies memories in his debut offering ‘Ek Paheli Leela’ and one must say that he does succeed to a great extent but…….! The 300 years old vintage voyeuristic carnival ‘EK Paheli Leela’ is aided & abetted by a promotional picturesque postcard, destinated & designated, journey from Milan to Jaisalmer. The oft repeated transitional jump from modern to rural and back to modernism is too frequent to be true. So much so that it leaves a jarringly jaded note of yawn inflicted boredom and the constant sexual innuendos is disguised as an entertainment spree, garnished with item numbers oriented songs galore, for the gullible cine goer.

Meera meets Leela (Sunny Leone in a double role) 300 years apart. But certainly not in the same vein as ‘Sally Meets Harry’. Yes! Meera a topnotch model from Milan is scared shit of taking a flight so when her manager Andy (V J Andy) bags a modeling assignment for her in Jaisalmer he tries his own tricks to put Meera on flight en route to Jaisalmer. Out here she meets hunks left, right & centre before being enlightened by the 300 years old fabled past of Leela, her so called reincarnated “Humshakal”. There is Karan (Jay Bhanushali) who hallucinates about Leela his lover now Meera whom he could not marry in his past life due to the evil designs of Bhairav (Rahul Dev). There is Prince Ranveer (Mohit Ahlawat) who is so besotted by Meera that he finally ends up tying the knot with her even before Karan could reach Jaisalmer to stake his claim again. And last but not the least, there is Shravan (Rajniesh Duggal) who also hovers around Meera, not knowing exactly what he is upto.

The same is the case with the preview audiences who were not exactly sure of what they were upto in this entire confusion confounded mileu. Bobby Khan makes a welcome Bollywoodian debut with big brother choreographer Ahmed Khan at the productional helm of affairs in tandem with his spouse Shaira Khan, Krishan Kumar and above all T – Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar. Its all in the family (affair) as they say. Need I say more.

Performance wise it is Porn Queen Sunny Leone all the way who spells her own magic in her first ever double role, both in her glam quotient oriented as well as her first ever village belle avatar. Yet no cause for making merry as she still has to traverse millions of miles to reach her histrionics department. And above all the men in brief (roles) like Rahul Dev, Jas Arora, Mohit Ahlawat and above all Rajniesh Duggal are perfection personified as per the demand of their brief roles are concerned. The rest of the actors like Daniel Weber (Sunny Leone’s real life partner), Shivani Tanksale, V J Andy, Ehsaan Qureshi, Kulvinder Bakshish, Nausheen Ahmed, Girish Thapar, Jitendra Baiswal & Arun Singh just about fill in the blanks to make the film a complete or incomplete package. Take it whichever way you want, the choice structly rests with you.

Tail piece: ‘Ek Paheli Leela’ is strictly an adults fare meant only Sunny Leone and the beefy boys Jay Bhanushali, Mohit Alawat, Rahul Dev, Jas Arora & Rajniesh Duggal fans. Kids stay away.

Movie Review: ‘Dharam Sanket Mein' is an expose of the varied myths & facts of the 2 diverse religions namely Hinduism & Islam

April 13, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Viacom 18 Motion Pictures, Sajjad Chunawala & Shariq Patel
Director: Fuwad Khan
Cast: Paresh Rawal, Naseeruddin Shah, Annu Kapoor, Gippy Grewal, Auritra Ghosh, Sharat Sonu, Alka Kaushal, Murli Sharma, Mukesh, Rushita Pandey, Sophie Choudry, Hazel Keech, Suresh Venkataraman, Jagdish Rajpurohit, Jahangir Karkaria, Alka Mehta, Gagan Gupta et al
Music: Meet Bros Anjjan, Sachin Gupta, Jatinder Shah & D J Kiran
Pro: Raindrop Media

Fuwad Khan, an ace cinematographer turned débutante director, has tackled the varied myths & facts concerning the 2 most talked about religions namely Hinduism & Islam. But was it necessary for him to get blatantly inspired by a situational Brit comedy named ‘The Infidel’ based on the same subject of 2 diverse religions criss crossing each other albeit in hilariously comic way.

Dharampal Trivedi’s (Paresh Raval) Dharam (Read religious beliefs) gets really shaken the day he opens his departed mother’s bank locker. His entire world turns upside down and he faces an identity crises dilemma. He finds an affidavit in the locker which states his origin as being born to a Muslim father. He wants to meet his long lost father who is on his death bed in a Muslim sanitarium, but the Maulana (Murli Sharma) of the Sanitarium bars the twain to meet unless Dharampal becomes a devout Muslim. Whereas his own biological son Amit wants him to be a devout Hindu and a disciple of Swami Neela Anand Baba (Naseeruddin Shah) simply to impress his son’s prospective father – in – law. Dharam is now totally confused in a dilamatic state. So he takes the help of his friend, his immediate neighbor, to learn to be a devout Muslim, who happens to be a Muslim lawyer by the name of Nawab Mehmood Nazeem Ali Shah Khan Bahadur (Annu Kapoor). And his son Amit brings in a pandit to help Dharam to be a devout Hindu. So Dharam seeing no escape starts learning the ‘mannerisms’ of both the religions simultaneously.

Débutante director Fawud Khan has tried his best to balance the sentiments of the 2 concerned religions but his appropriate directorial skills seriously lacks finesse. So the resultant effect is neither here nor there, rather than being tackled on a serious note or treated in an amusingly comic way it becomes way too preachy. In fact the entire episodic issue of Swami Neela Anand Baba was totally uncalled for.

And the sole brownie point goes to the one liner dialogues of Alpesh Dixit, Sanjay Sharma & Vijay Desai.

Performance wise Paresh Rawal is a winner all the way and as the film rests heavily on his shoulders he has really, really delivered an absolutely honest, sincere & dedicated act. The next in line star performer is no doubt Annu Kapoor who has really left an impact with his brilliant performance. Whereas a veteran actor like Naseeruddin Shah disappoints totally. He is a total misfit in the entire mileu and his obnoxious geteup, coupled with his put off mannerisms, is an eyesore. While the rest of the actors like Gippy Grewal, Auritra Ghosh, Sharat Sonu, Alka Kaushal, Murli Sharma, Mukesh, Rushita Pandey, Sophie Choudry, Hazel Keech, Suresh Venkataraman, Jagdish Rajpurohit, Jahangir Karkaria, Alka Mehta, Gagan Gupta et al have proved to be an adequate support system just to carry the film forward.

Tail piece: If you have watched films like ‘OMG: Oh! My God’ & ‘PK’ based on similar themes, then taking a trip to a movie hall for watching ‘Dharam Sanket Mein’ will be a sheer waste of time.

Movie Review: 'It Follows' is a scariest film in the horror genre of recent times

April 10, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Producer: Rebeca Green, Laura D Smith, David Robert Mitchell, David Kaplan & Eric Romesmo
Director: David Robert Mitchell
Star cast: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi & Lilki Sepe
Genre: Horror
Verdict: Very Good

Director David Robert Mitchell in his latest offering It Follows has treaded on a spiritually oriented horror genre and he succeeds in delivering a scariest fare in recent times.

Plot: A scary romantic date

Jay, a college student, goes to see a film with her boyfriend Hugh. In the theatre, Hugh points out a woman standing at the entrance whom Jay cannot see. Fearful, he demands that they leave. On another date, Hugh & Jay have sex in his car, after which Hugh incapacitates her with chloroform. She wakes up tied to a wheelchair, and Hugh explains that their sex has passed on a curse. And that she should pass on the curse by having sex with others in order to get rid of the curse.

Aces: Music & Performances

The strongest point of It Follows is its eerie sound track at the right opportune moment which enhances its mysterious suspense element. All the actors like Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Daniel Zovatto, Jake Weary, Olivia Luccardi & Lilki Sepe have delivered their best & natural scary act.

Minuses: A few editing glitches

At times It is difficult to follow the exact goings on but those lapses are covered with David’s overall directorial finesse. if only the editor Julio C Perez IV’s editorial scissors had been more sharper.

Last Word: It Follows is a worth watch scare fare.

Screenwriters becoming obsolete in Hollywood

April 10, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Of late Hollywood had plunged into the season of back – to – back awards and acceptance speeches, when every winner reminded one that filmmaking is a collaborative endeavor and not just one man’s individual efforts. In these recitations of all the collaborators, however, one noticeable point was that screenwriters are rarely if ever mentioned, which is ironic since the speeches usually are in need of a serious rewrite.

Such omissions have become increasingly apparent lately, since more & more films have either been written by the director or perhaps not written at all. One is convinced that no director named Anderson had ever hired a writer. Further on, ‘Birdman‘, with all its frenetic energy, plays like it was created scene – by – scene by its hyper – caffeinated cast for instance the director, Alejandro G. Inarritu, takes screenplay credit along with 3 other scribes, including 2 friends.

Arguably, the visually arresting ‘Interstellar’ would have been a far more better & satisfying film had a talented writer worked on its dialogues & plot, Chris Nolan and his brother, Jonathan, are listed as the writers. ‘Boyhood‘ was appreciably admired but, again, it plays as if the actors, year after year, invented scenes as they slowly aged.

The obsolescence of the screenwriter also is apparent in the trend towards what some critics call the “post – plot” movie. ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’ is a prime example of a movie that offered great shtick and a wisecracking raccoon but no true narrative. “The movie encourages you to enjoy yourself even though you’re not sure what’s going on,” observed Los Angeles Times critic Kenneth Turan, he’s a traditionalist, to be sure.

To the contemporary filmmaker – writer, panache and camera movement are more important than the compelling dialogues. Author Stephen Farber (another traditionalist) reminds one of Billy Wilder’s declaration: “I like to believe that narrative movement can be achieved eloquently & elegantly without shooting from a hole in the ground, without hanging the camera from a chandelier and without the camera dolly dancing a polka.”

The argument about writers & writers’ credits dates back at least to Andrew Sarris’ pronouncements in the ’60s about “auteur” filmmaking. Sarris had venerated directors like Alfred Hitchcock, who distrusted both writers & actors. Pauline Kael had then come along to advance the cause of Sidney Lumet, who ranged from ‘Network’ to ‘Serpico’, and who closely worked with prominent screenwriters.

The painful truth is that many of the films of Hollywood’s vintage years, despite their often pedestrian, studio – driven structure, were exceptionally well written in terms of plot & dialogues. One should take a week off and read his way through some old studio scripts crafted by the likes of Nunnally Johnson & Dalton Trumbo, who it seems had laboured in the old studio writers buildings, and one would be enormously impressed by their craftsmanship & richness of the dialogues. One should also take time out, and if one can lay their hands on, and read unproduced scripts written by the likes of F. Scott Fitzgerald & Ben Hecht, then it would become clear why they were never made, but they indeed deserved to be published.

Roddy McDowell, a keen student of studio history, had once advised to read some screenplays he’d collected that had been developed by studio chiefs explicitly as starring vehicles for their favoured mistresses. It was supposed to be a unique collection, superbly written scripts by top screenwriters that were never made, probably because their relationships usually blew up before the films got their green lights.

Of late one at last realizes that good writing doesn’t necessarily create good filmmaking. It’s more important today to capture the “big scene” rather than the elegant moment between characters. No doubt Superheroes don’t have to talk pretty or for that matter Raccoons in an outer galaxy are not expected to be eloquent.

But one can see why there’s discussion in at least one agency to change the title “motion picture lit agent” simply to “lit agent.” That way, they can remove the movie stigma.

"My upcoming film 'Main Hoon Ek Raaz' is a women centric author backed film belonging to the horror genre": Ravi Kumar Nivoria

April 7, 2015 by Shaheen Raaj

Débutante writer & director Ravi Kumar Nivoria’s upcoming film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ falls in the genre of the age old trend of HORROR films. So Ravi Kumar Nivoria can also be added to the list of horror filmmakers a la Ramsay Brothers, Vikram Bhatt and others of their ilk. Incidentally speaking ‘Main Hoon EK Raaz’ happens to be a family affair as it is being produced by Ravi Kumar Nivoria’s spouse Sanjurani Nivoria. The duo hopes to continue making good films, with top cast & crew, but not necessary falling in the horror genre.

To kickstart the session tell us what is your upcoming film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ all about?

My upcoming film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ is a women centric author backed film belonging to the horror genre. When I started writing the story I just fell in love with it. I just liked it so much that I decided to direct it myself.

Please continue…….!

So ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ narrates the saga of a restless female ghost who is still seeking salvation, mukti for her soul and in the process she goes on a rampage scaring the wits out of everyone around her.

And what according to you are the highlights of ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’?

First & foremost my film ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ is more scarier than other films of the HORROR genre of course not to forget its special effects which I am sure will make the viewers even more scarier.

And what else?

Not only the horror element but I have alo packaged ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ with full dose of entertainment & suspense. Music & lyrics are by Surendra Saathi who has earlier written the lyrics of most of the films of Mahesh Bhatt. Believe me he has composed some of the most beautiful & melodious songs for ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’. One special number is an item song ‘Angooribai’ picturised on Laxmi Verma & Mehtab Guzar.

Lastly give us an insight into the cast & credits of ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’.

The main cast of ‘Main Hoon Ek Raaz’ comprises of Ragini Verma enacting the central character of the restless ghost along with Nadeem Mansoori, Raza Murad, Ramesh Goyal, Mahendra Sharma et al. The story-screenplay-dialogues-direction is by me and it has been produced by my wife Sanjurani Nivoria under the banner of our home production namely Shiv Devi Kala Kendra Films.