SUNDAY --- Movie Review

The team of Golmaal is back again , with some new members , at the box-office in the form of their latest offering - Sunday . The movie has explored a new genre that is comedy-thriller and that to in an almost perfect manner . Earlier Priyadarshan tried this concept with three of his movies Bhagambhaag , Dhol & Bhul-bhulaiya of which only the last one worked . Bhul-bhulaiya also lost track in between and turned into a psycho-thriller rather than pure comedy thriller . Well this movie doesn't do that . It is a pure comedy-thriller right from start till the end .

Talking of the movie it involves many characters and all are linked to each other in some or the other way . The central character is that of Ayesha Takia (as Seher ) who is a girl who Dubs for the Cartoon Characters and has a problem of forgetting things . She has a friend in form of Anjana Sukhani . There is a murder right at the start of the movie and the plot revolves around that murder . Ayesha meets certain people who she doesn't know yet they keep following her . One of those people is Arshad Warsi who is a Taxi Driver and his customer , a struggling actor , Irfan Khan . Both of them have a fantastic comic timing and they deliver their best along with Vrijesh Hirjee who is a Karate Teacher . Vrijesh is a fantastic actor who is very under-rated and unexplored . Ayesha is also chased by some killers who keep attacking her time to time . Getting confused she goes to Ajay Devgan who is a corrupt cop who does his job well but takes "hafta" for it . Ajay Devgan based on some clues starts the investigation and it turns out that Ayesha has forgotten one whole day and that days happpenings . Then starts the search for the Missing Sunday and what happened on that Sunday with ayesha involving one more Murder .

Rohit Shetty the Director needs to be applauded for his effort . He not only made a completely different movie from Golmaal but also kept the spirit of that movie alive in this one . The script of the movie is quite original and well written . The movie is said to be inspired by some south-Indian flick but anyways the script is a really well written . It is a pretty fast-paced movie without anything that is stuffed in without any reason . The movie has a lot of use of Frames in a single shot which was first seen in Nikhil Advani's "Kal Ho Na Ho" . The Interval of the movie is also done in an interesting and novel manner .

The cinematography is also good with Delhi shown on screen like never before . The whole movie is based in Delhi and explores the city . The music is also good with songs suiting the situations very well apart from the song "Loot Liya " which doesn't make any sense . The Movie has several surprise moments that will thrill you and also some fantastic Action sequences . Rohit has a love for Cars and Car chase sequences . This movie also has many car chase scenes with a lot of action like his earlier movie had . The comedy in the movie is also quite situational and original . Nothing stupid and over the top . The background score is also good .

Talking of Acting performances , Ajay and Mukesh Tiwary look like real Delhi cops with typical accents and behaviour . Mukesh is also under-rated and rarely used . Ayesha has given a good performance and she stands well with these fine actors . Arshad and Irfan are great and shared good chemistry . Tushar and Esha look great in their guest appearances and Anjana has very little to offer .

Overall the movie is almost a flawless product and keeps you entertained throughout.
The comedy is great along with the suspense . The screenplay is tight and grippy . The movie will work among the masses considering it has all the elements of an entertainer . The collections would be good as their is no good movie coming in few days ahead before Jodha-Akbar .

Movie Rating : 3.75 out of five for a pure comedy-thriller in its element .

Jodhaa Akbar --- Music Review

The Music of Jodha Akbar is out now after a very long wait and I am little disappointed . I am myself one of the biggest fans of A. R. Rehman and everyone knows his musical genius and henceforth expects a lot from his album . Due to these expectations I was disappointed a bit because I couldn't find anything new in this album from him . He has mixed his past music and put a little new things into it . Since he is such a Master of Music the songs are bound to sound well and work among the listeners . What I didn't like that nothing was new and it was as though he listened back his two earlier period albums Lagaan & Zubeida and put in a little bit more to get Jodha Akbar . The album sounds new just due to the plain fact that the lyrics are new and different with a lot of Urdu inputs .

The music is made so that it would look good during the movie but may not work without it . The music should have been pure Indian Classical since its a movie on Indian History but I think he is so influenced by the western music and symphonies that they fall into every album of his . Just by using Indian instruments like Tabla and Flute doesn't make the music Indian . The songs are good but sound just like his past work .

Well talking of the album the first song is Azeem-O-Shaan Shahenshah by Mohd. Aslam and Bonny Chakravarti . This song has been made to introduce the great king Akbar and goes well about it . The song sounds good and Akbar himself would have got happy if he would have listened to this one . Here also it sounds like some western symphony of Beethoven being played with Indian instruments . Well if we don't go technical then it is a good song and perfect for movie's fast paced war sequences . This one would sound even better in a multiplex where the sound systems are really top class.

Second song is "In Lahmon Ke Daaman " by Sonu Nigam and Madhushree. This one is a little soft and melodious than the first one and has the vocals by two brilliant singers . Though the lyrics are completely in Urdu so they would have had a little problem but still sing it perfectly . After the first stanza there is a classical vocal piece which sounds a bit south-Indian classical . This one is regulation stuff from Rehman . Not impressive yet good .

The third song is the Romantic pick - Jashn-e-Bahara which is also so-so . It sounds really melodious in starting with amazing singing by Javed Ali but then it looses track somewhere in between . The Urdu lyrics sound good but would not make any sense to general Indian Audience . I know working on such a project is like walking on dual edged sword , if you make it really authentic then it doesn't work and if you don't then people say that it should have been more authentic . Overall the song is slow paced and just like "Aye Hairate"of Guru . The success of song now depends on the on-screen chemistry between Hrithik-Ash . There is also one Instrumental version of the song with distinctive use of Flute .

After this comes the qawalli by Rehman himself "Khwaja mere Khwaja" which is also very authentic . Though Rehman sings it quite well but I think it would have sounded even better if someone like Rahat Ali Khan would have sung it . Rehman always sings one song in his Album and probably this one would be quite close to his heart . But it does not have the element to work like Haaji Ali of Fiza had or for that matter in Himesh's qawalli in Ahista-Ahista . This one is more of a prayer as compared to other two .

The last song is " Mann Mohna " and is the only Hindi track on the Album and also has a sound that of a Bhajan . It has a distinct use of pure Hindi like any other Bhajan has . The Vocals are by Bela Shende sound really good . The song is like a bhajan of Meerabai with a few western inputs in between .

Overall the Album is good but not great as expected . The Lyrics are very pure whether they are Urdu or Hindi but the music by Rehman is not pure to that extent . Hence it is not a very good combination . The Director could have settled for some easier and understandable lyrics so that the songs work among the audience . Or even better he should not have included songs at all because these songs might hinder to the movie's success and might make the movie more lengthy and slow paced . He needs to cut the length of movie as far as possible or else it will fail on the Box-office . The culture of today won't be able to digest a long slow movie with such music. Rehman has not given his best into this one and is quite a disappointment .

Rehman has given great music to period films like Lagaan and Zubeida but he fails to an extent in this one . Both Movies had a British era element and this one doesn't . Overall only two songs Azeem-O-Shah and Jashn-e-bahaara are good and rest is very regular and mediocre stuff .

U Me aur Hum --- Trailer Review

The debut Directorial venture of another established actor , Ajay Devgan , is all set to unroll on April 11 . The first Teaser trailer of U Me aur Hum is out now and from the rushes it looks like a hit is on the cards . After recent hit of another PDA(producer,director & actor ) , Aamir Khan , the expectation would run high on Ajay's film . The teaser trailer is 1.5 minutes long and has very little to tell .

The trailer starts with Ajay saying to Kajol that does she believe in Love at first sight at a Bar of a Cruise Liner and Kajol saying that AJ is drunk . Then Ajay says that its her who made him drunk through her eyes . Then starts a series of scenes with a good song in the background by Adnan Sami . All the scenes are shown on the cruise only so it looks like the major part of movie is on that cruise . The love story has a tag line - "Sometimes the greatest journey , is the distance between two people " . Ajay after long time would be romancing on screen and that too with his wife kajol .

Talking about the look , the cinematography looks top notch from the rushes , with a distinct use of Blue and White probably representing the seas and clouds . Kajol has been given a look that she carried earlier in her career , I mean a little darker look contrary to her look in Fanaa . She being the wife of the Director , the real life instances and looks are bound to fall in the movie .I mean Ajay would try to include what he feels for her in real life into the movie . Talking of Ajay he looks the same .

I hope the music of the movie is good since music is an integral part of any Love Story to work .The music is by Vishal Bharadwaj who is a close friend of Ajay and is also a terrific music director . And the Lyricist is Munna Dhiman who earlier penned down the lyrics for Nishabd and Ramji Londonwaley . The movie would be third release of Ajay for the year and here's wishing best of luck to him . I hope the movie does well .

Check out The Promo :

Halla Bol --- Movie Review

Ajay Devgan's new year has begun with his first release of the year - Halla Bol . The film is a typical Rajkumar Santoshi flick with all the nationalistic qualities it should have . The film as the title suggests aims at motivating the people to raise their voices against all the injustice and corruption in the society . Similar attempt has been made by Mani Ratnam in Yuva and Rakeysh Mehra in RDB . Yuva in my opinion was better product than this one but didn't work because it lacked the dramatic sequences and the provocative dialogues that this one has . Halla Bol is an interesting blend of the intelligent cinema and the melodramatic crowd pleasing cinema . As a result it will leave the entire section of audience satisfied and generate a positive response . The movie though is suppose to deliver a message but it does so in an entertaining manner . There will be moments when the intelligent cinema goer would say what shit is this but also laugh and enjoy it . As I said earlier the movie won't disappoint you as the last two of Ajay's Flicks did .

Talking about the movie the major part of first half is devoted to show the build up of a mega film star from streets . The first half exposes the so called "Truth" behind the glamour industry as shown in several films in past like Page 3 . The film shows a how a good human being transforms into emotionless practical guy to get what he wants and how his inner conscience provokes him to change back to his original form .The movie has added some drama to Jessica Lal murder case and made a movie to motivate people and I appreciate the efforts of Rajkumar Santoshi as a common man wont give a damn of Jessica Lal's murder but listen and watch intently what their on- screen hero is portraying .

If you are reading this then you would be aware of Jessica Lal's case . If not then you should first learn to watch meaningful news and leave the bollywood gossip aside for a break . I know this sounds boring and this is what the director has done . He has turned a boring news piece into a 3 hour interesting movie with all the elements that any Tabloid News has .

Ajay has a guru of his street days , Pankaj Kapoor , who is a dacoit turned into a social activist who generates awareness through his street plays . After becoming a star Ajay changes and his relationship with his guru goes sour . But as soon as Ajay transforms back to his original avatar and takes a stand to fight injustice he is right there next to him to support him in his ventures . Together they fight the Neta's and the Vikreta's ( I mean rich businessmen ) who have sold themselves for money and have an over-confidence that they can do whatever they want (my language sounds straight from the movie ) . So they fight and get beaten and when they get beaten the audience realises their mistake and all of them just Halla Bol's .

Acting wise the entire pack of actors is a well known one and needs no comments . Each one has delivered their best . Ajay should take a break from such social movies and stop the dialogue-baaji . Still he is best in anything that he does . This movie would have reminded him of his days when the entire movie was filled with such melodramatic dialogues . Thank God the Director didn't include them in that quantity or else it would have been a disaster . The music is so-so , the best being "Is Pal ki Soch" and the background score and screenplay is also good . The movie would have looked better if certain dramatic scenes would have been chopped off . But still they are necessary for movie to work .

Overall the movie won't please the Critics very much but on the contrary it will please the general audience and the collections might rise with mouth publicity . I'll recommend the movie if you can handle a little bit of melodrama . The movie is good but could have been great with such a powerful star cast . I watched the movie for one reason and that is that no good movie is releasing before 25th Jan hence I watched this one and it didn't disappoint me . The sad part is that people forget the message as soon as they leave the cinema halls and all the efforts go waste .

Movie Rating : Three Stars for good acting performances and lesser melodrama .