Bachna Ae Haseeno --- Movie Review

One thing is for sure now that after giving hit films like Hum Tum , Salaam Namaste , Dhoom , Bunty and Bubly , Chak De etc. , Yashraj have either sold their common sense and logic along with their films or maybe all these films were made without any interference by Aditya Chopra . SCRIPT is one word that Aditya needs to Meditate while breathing and even all his associates who are emptying the fortunes of Yashraj every month or so . I don't know why actors keep doing Yashraj's film and expecting a wonder out of them . Off lately all my posts which have the Word YASHRAJ in it sound like I am protesting against them and booing them down . But the truth is that apart from Chak De nothing has excited me that came from their house . I am a huge fan of Films like Hum Tum and Salaam Namaste which were commercial success only because they had a good script . Two years before I thought Yashraj will rule not only the Box Office but also people's heart but now I think the opposite . Well , enough of Anti-Yashraj Rant lets talk of the film that has released last week , Bachna Ae Hasino , starring Ranbir and three other girls .

The film as you know is about a Boy and Three Girls who fall in love with him . Sounds a little like Dil Mange More starring Shahid and Directed by Anant Mahadevan but take my word guys it just sounds like that . That film was an underrated and box office dud . In fact it was a far better product than this one and the actors in it were also much better . Well this one has three girls , three weak stories and three kisses so I am also devoting three paragraphs to each of them .

The first story is set up in 1996 where Raj Sharma (Ranbir) and his group are on a holiday in Europe and they meet girls just like SRK and group did in DDLJ . This whole part is kind of a spoof on DDLJ since the heroine of the story Maahi (Minissha) is a huge fan of the film . She comes to Europe to find her Raj and meets Ranbir who sets her up so that she falls in love with him to get a little physical with her . So this is when the first question arises . Can Ranbir who has a mushy mushy and a sweet guy image play such a wicked guy's role ? The answer is a straight no . I'll talk a little later about this . This story ends for a while when Minissha realizes that Ranbir was lying and that he doesn't love her . Talking of errors and stupidity in this one , the story is set in 1996 but music of Dhoom is played while the group walks over to girls . Apart from this , the movie starts with the Title track and the starting piece of that song has been used often in the film . It is so often that after each dialogue Ranbir says there is the music of title track in Background . You would like it the first time its played , you would like it even more when used second time but then on it just becomes an overdose of such a fantastic piece of Music . Instead of using it wisely they have bought the rights and abused it . Talking a little about acting , Ranbir though is the lead actor of the film but still he was not able to stand out among the group of four friends . He looked just like all other guys who were as pathetic as he was . Minissha though is a fabulous actor did a lot of overacting in this one and it never appeared that she was in love with Ranbir . It was more like she was in love with the film's Raj , I mean the chemistry was no where . The kiss was looking passionless and emotionless .

Next comes the story (set up in 2002) of Bipasha Basu who is a struggling model and a cool girl who has a live in relationship with Ranbir . She also falls in love with Ranbir but without his knowledge . Ranbir gets a job in Australia and he decides to leave her but she asks him to marry her as she thinks that Ranbir completely loves her . Ranbir tries all the tricks in the book so that Bipasha breaks off with him but he fails since she loves him so much . So at last he ditches her on the day of the marriage and runs away to Australia . Talking of errors again , Ranbir talks of Australia to his friend in the accent that became popular after Jaaved Jaffrey did Salaam Namaste which got released in 2005 . Maybe Yashraj did a special screening for Raj(Ranbir) of the film in 2002 . Then there is a scene where Strippers dance in his apartment along with him on the song Jhoom Barabar Jhoom . Just Imagine strippers dancing to the music from Jhoom Barabar Jhoom which again released just last year . There was one kiss in this one also which in my opinion was the best among all the three . Bipasha looked comfortable while kissing Ranbir and hence it looked better than the other two .

Then starts the third story in 2007 in Australia where Ranbir works happily and Deepika does all kinds of Day and Night Jobs to support her studies .She is a Taxi driver and Ranbir falls for her . She doesn't believe in Marriage at all and breaks Ranbir's heart just as he does with two other girls . Then as usual Ranbir realises his mistake and decides to repent for it . So he flies back to India and then to Germany to say sorry to Minissha and Bipasha respectively . The whole saying sorry sequence has been dragged for last one hour or so and when Ranbir comes back to Australia , Deepika is waiting for her Kiss , I mean she also realises that she loves him and decides to settle down with him . The ending sequence had to be in a Taxi since she is a cab driver . The End .

Talking of Acting Bipasha was the best among all and only she acted professionally . All other actors looked like that they didn't knew what they were doing . Rest of the cast is quite young and they were all probably excited since this was their first film with Yashraj . They enjoyed the foreign locations and comforts . Ranbir , for most of the part played the role of a Wicked guy which not at all suits his personality and he more looked like a Puzzled Guy than a Handsome Hunk . His acting didn't impress me at all and it appeared that he has style without enough substance to back it up . Bips was the best and she tried her best to play Miranda Priestly(Devil Wears Prada) for some part of the film . Ranbir still tries to imitate his father's and grandfather's in his acting but lacks a little bit of Charisma (not Karisma) . And Deepika looks boring on screen but she is so beautiful and has those killer smile and dimples that you can forgive everything else wrong about her . Not much of a role for her and a little disappointment after OSO .

The film as you can see has no script again and even a lay man can guess the whole plot beforehand . There are a lot of Mistakes throughout the film with one of the most loose background score that I have ever heard . Two fantastic pieces of Music from DDLJ and Karz wasted like some ordinary background score . The Director had nothing to do since the script itself was so weak . The Music of the film is also weak and only Khuda Jaane is soulful . If we compare this one to Dil Mange More of Shahid then its a perfect example of how a bad film can earn more than a much better one just because of the Publicity and the names attached to it . I cannot believe the same Director has directed a film like Salaam Namaste and then this one . He has used pieces of Shehnai and the very old Thunder Sounds in background when there is a sad sequence or shock sequence in the film . Where is Yashraj going , now maybe only a Widow breaking her Bangles is left for them I suppose to show on screen .

Bachna Ae Hasino is much better than Tashan is the best compliment that this film can get from my side . Ranbir is OK and Bips is good . The film might entertain you but won't satisfy you . Nothing new in it apart from the actors . The same old formula and same old scenes with almost zero chemistry among the leads . I don't know what I would get to see in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi , Yashraj's last hope for the year . SRK would never work with Yashraj again if the film turn outs to be a failure . Lets not hope so and SRK being my favourite I have to hope for the best . I hope SRK interferes in the film if Aditya gets Logic less while directing the film .

Movie Rating : Two out of Five Stars , Another dud from Yashraj .

Bachna Ae Hasino --- Music Review

The next movie from Yashraj after the disastrous movie Tashan,Bachna Ae Hasino, is all set for release and the Music is out now . The rushes of the film are getting positive feedback and it is visible that Yashraj have again spend a good sum of money for this one . But one thing that Yashraj always forget is to put some efforts on script . The director of this one is Siddharth Anand who gave films like Salaam Namaste and Ta Ra Rum Pum , both of which did quite well at the box office and were also appreciated by the critics . Interestingly music of both these films also got more popular as compared to other films from Yashraj . So we can atleast expect and hope for a nice film if not an exceptional one . This film is also very important for Ranbeer since very few saw him acting in Saawariya . This one would be seen by all and then he would be rated by people at large , as an actor .

The first track on the album is a romantic Track "Khuda Jaane" which is a nice track and quite melodious . The song is sung by KK who has a speciality in singing love ballads , his last one being "Ankhon mein Teri" from OSO . The song is at a higher pitch and we get to hear a different KK from that in OSO . He has the company of Shilpa Rao who also sings quite well . Shilpa got popular from the song in Salaam-e-Ishq - Saiyan Chod Ke na ja . This one has been sung in completely different style by her . She sounds quite soulful in this one . Overall the song has a nice blend of both good lyrics and Melody . The lyrics are by Anvita Dutt who does a decent job .

The next track on the album is Lucky Boy by Sunidhi and Hard Kaur . This one is from the league of Tashan , melody less and lyrics that are so so . Commercial track and might look good in the movie . These type of songs look good in the movie but not meant for Listening purpose only . The tune and lyrics aren't that catchy and overall the song is meant for listening once only . Hard Kaur is a regulation these days and she does her job well as usual . Sunidhi is good but nothing unique . Just regulation stuff .

The third track on the album is Ahista Ahista by Lucky Ali and Shreya Ghoshal . When was the last time that Lucky Ali had sung a song ? And he chooses to come back with this song which is so not at all Lucky Ali style . He usually sings slow and soulful songs with great lyrics . But this track is just a regular track with excessive use of Bass which gives it more of a Club feel . Both Shreya and Lucky are known to sing Great Tracks only but out of the blue they sing this so normal track . Vishal-Shekhar have done almost nothing for this track apart from the starting music piece. This song could have been composed by any DJ in this way . The lyrics are good but get wasted due to lack of melody . The song might work in the movie .

Then comes Jogi Mahi by Sukhwinder, Shekhar Ravjiani and Himani Kapoor . The song has a quite old tune of Dhol and it is suppose to be a Punjabi track . Punjabi Tracks are usually fun filled but this one has a different feel to it . It has been tried to incorporate a sad song into a commercial tune . The attempt has failed to a large extent and the blend has not worked . The song again is like a commercial type of track of the 90's . There is no newness to it and neither the lyrics are that good . The song would definitely slow down the pace of the movie and it would remind you of the movies of 90's . I don't know why Yashraj is doing this Hybrid thing of Mixing the Old with the new . There movies now look like the typical commercial movies that people saw for quite long in the 80's and 90's . They have no new story at all . Though this film has three heroines and one hero which gives it a look of a modern film yet it might end up like a typical commercial movie .

Coming back to Music , the next track is Small Town Girl , one more hybrid track with pathetic lyrics . This one is sung by Shankar Mahadevan who himself is music director and this one sounds a little similar to Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom Title Track and is of the same league . Yet Jhoom Barabar Jhoom had catchy lyrics and tune and this one has none . Those who like just plain noise with no rhythm and lyrics might like this track . One more useless track of Tashan genre with no meaning and feel to it .

Then comes another REMIX version of version of Khuda Jaane which has been done in a nice way and is a faster and has more club feel to it . The original itself is such a good track that even this one rocks . The track has been remixed in a nice way by Abhijit Nalani and has a newness to it . It is not a typical remix and it would definitely work . Abhijit has put some effects which have added some more beauty to the track .

Then comes the title track which is just a remixed version of the older song with some extra lyrics . The Rap in it by Vishal is quite good and he deserves credit for it . Apart from that the entire rhythm and Lyrics are from original which are already a big hit . This song belongs to R.D. Burman and Majrooh Sultanpuri completely so Vishal-Shekhar don't get any credit for this one .

In all , the album is just a regular soundtrack that would just come and go and won't leave its mark . Apart from Khuda Jaane there is no original track that is worth listening twice or more . Vishal-Shekhar have a very limited talent and they are getting repetitive . They should take a break and Yashraj should look for some new talent to bring to their Production house .

Album Rating : One and Half out of Five stars ; one for Khuda Jaane and Half for not including unnecessary Remix tracks on the album .

Race --- Movie Review

Its time now that Abbas Mustan should either retire or stop making Thrillers . I say so because race is one more disappointment which has been the case since last few movies of Abbas Mustan . The movie is not at all thrilling if you are a little bit smart . The plot of the movie is quite guessable and you can figure it out even before it happens . Abbas Mustan this time have been inspired from Hollywood Flick "Wild Things" . The plot is different from that movie but what is similar is the chase for money and double crossing . If you have seen Wild Things you may not like this one at all . The music is all inspired from west in the same way as the film is . But since it is quite popular right now so it would be liked by everyone .

Talking of the film , it has two brothers Ranvir (Saif) and Rajiv(Akshay) who are the owners of Horse Racing Club and are into Horse Racing Business . Akshay has a drinking problem hence his father doesn't leave him any property and names it all to his elder step brother Saif . The whole film revolves around saif and his insurance policy worth millions .

The small scene that was in Ajnabee where Akshay Kumar hurts himself just to get his mediclaim by foooling the insurance company so that they can use the money to go for a tour has been blown manifolds and a movie has been made out of that scene . So this time Abbas Mustan have stolen from their own movie and put something from Wild Things and wallah !!! Race is born .

Bipasha Basu is Saif's girlfriend and Katrina is Saif's loyal secretory . Then happens the entire sequence of Double Crossing each other to get the money which is to be given by Insurance company after Saif's death . There is nothing in the Plot that I can reveal because if I would do so the very small amount of pleasure that you would have got from movie would also get lost . Double Crossing is fun till you can't guess it . Once it becomes predictable it is just waste of time .

Anil Kapoor plays a Cop who investigates Saif's death and Sameera is his Dumb Secretory . They act like the Karamchand and Mini of the famous "Jasoos Karamchand " TV series which got real popular on DD . In fact Sameera's name in the movie is also Mini . What is irritating is the way Anil has played his character . A lot of adult jokes and mannerism that doesn't suit actor of his stature . Both Anil and Sameera's character are just a showpiece and put in just for Time Pass . The story could have been written even by an amateur writer who knows nothing about writing . At no point in the movie I felt shocked and the acting performances were pathetic . Akshay Khanna did this role probably out of unemployment because he has an image of a good actor and in this movie he has just put his image down . Nothing good for a great actor . If he had to do such roles then why is he selective in the first place ? He could have done loads of such movies .

Katrina Kaif has two good songs picturised on her , thank God for that because she is the only reason I went to watch this movie . Their is nothing new by Bipasha but she looks hot as usual . Sex scenes are a must if its an abbas mustan movie and Bips is in one of them . One big reason why Wild Things worked was that it had full frontal nudity in it by Dennis Richards and all the other leads to an extent of a Three-some . Well , the Director duo could not do that so they put in some adult jokes and a love scene to make up for it . This might attract some of the audience but it will leave even that kind of audience unsatisfied .

The Direction is just regulation stuff and the Script is very weak . The Cinematography is quite good and all the Actors look hot . Acting performances are just regular and nothing extraordinary . The action sequences are also amateurish and repetitive . The action sequences are all shown in trailers so if you are expecting a little bit more action then also you would be disappointed . The Director Duo should now watch some more Hollywood movies or read some more thriller novels , they might find something interesting for their next movie .

In all , the movie is a big disappointment and if you just want to do some time pass then only watch it . Don't expect it to be a thriller and you might like it . The songs are worth a watch and thats why it gets a little higher rating from my side . The movie is in no ways going to thrill you but you might enjoy it a little bit . Rather I'll refer Wild Things to you . Go out rent a DVD of Wild Things and you would also not only save some bucks but even would get entertained more than Race .

Movie Rating : Two out of Five for music and the cinematography . Below Average stuff.

A look at The Year Ahead

Yash Raj Films (YRF) are no doubt the biggest studio based producers in India and they have all the big guns with them and also have the biggest releases of the year . Last year was quite unfortunate for them with all of their movies failing , apart from Chak-De India . Last year they had films like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (worst film in which all the big stars acted for no good reason) which had no script and films like Aaja Nachle and Laga Chunari .. which had the actors but didn't had that great piece of writing . A year before last , YRF had a decent year and that probably made them overconfident and all the directors and even the producers went at anything without any caution . The actors also thought that Adi and YRF can pull off anything . But welcome to today's world !!! You just can't pull off a blunder just because it had the bigshot directors and actors .

This year's YRF line up looks quite interesting from last year and I hope that Aditya doesn't act as a ghost Director because two opinions on set are not going to do any good to the movie . Aditya needs to be congratulated for the fact that he is not making repetitive cinema (though he follows a formula) . This year would be Different than last as this year the owner himself has put a gun on his neck in the form of "Rab Ne bana di Jodi " . The movie would need no publicity since it has SRK in it so Adi please save some money and efforts there and put them in the Script . Honestly speaking Adi's only "good" work was in DDLJ . After that nothing good has come out of him . Lets hope for the best . DDLJ is a classic , hope this movie at least goes half the way .

Well , the YRF calendar will start with Tashan releasing on 25th April . Probably , YRF's first attempt on Film Noire . The film has a power packed cast of Akki,Bebo,Saif and Anil Kapoor , the bad guy . The film had given a whole new look to all the actors like YRF always does . We have seen uber cool HR (Hrithik Roshan not Himesh Resh.) and hot Ash in D2 . Both had looked quite hot n sexy in that movie . In Tashan also Kareena is going to wear a bikini and Saif would gawk at it . Akshay would be back to basics i.e. Action and Anil as usual would abuse verbally on-screen flawlessly .
YRF has the money to work on sets and costumes and look of the movie but they don't have the patience to work on the script . I am quite sure they will get lost somewhere in this movie between western and eastern cinema . I just hope this movie doesn't do what JBJ did last year . All the glitz no substance .

The next on list is an untitled film from Kunal Kohli of Hum Tum fame who gave an average film in form of Fanaa last time he went behind camera . He is back to his original favourite cast of Saif and Rani . Rani plays an Angel in the movie if the reports are to be believed . It is also said to be roughly inspired by Mary Poppins stories. This movie too seems to have a different look . The movie is targeted at Kids similarly to Tara rum pum and has four spoilt brats in it along with Saif .

This one will for sure have some fantastic special effects in it to attract the kids this monsoons . The movie releases 27th June . Rani would also do something she has done very less that is make people laugh . A romantic comedy angle would be there for sure in it since it worked for kunal first time . The movie also has Amisha in an important role . Saif would create some comedy handling the spoilt brats and may be learn a lesson or two to handle his own son . The kids would no doubt be the USP of film . I again hope it has more of story than special effects and sets .


Next on list is Bachna Ae Haseeno having Ranbir romancing with three different ladies Deepika , Minissha and Bipasha . The very much hyped pair of Ranbir and Deepika would finally hit screens on Independence Day (like Chak De did last time ) . The movie seems quite interesting and this is the movie that will decide Ranbir's future because it is in this movie when he will create or expand his fan-base since nobody saw Saawariya . All the ladies in this movie also are looking quite stunning with Bipasha looking really coool in the stills .

Minissha Lamba has also shown her mettle in past and she is also looking gorgeous in the movie . Bipasha would be something to look forward to since she is quite elder to Ranbir and it would be interesting to see their chemistry on screen . She was made just a show-piece in Dhoom2 . I hope Yash Raj doesn't do the same to her in this film .

Then comes Roadside Romeo which will release around 24th October which will be first full fledged animated feature by Yash Raj in collaboration with Disney . This movie is again targeted at kids just like the Kunal Kohli's film . There are also voice overs of Saif , Kareena and Jaaved jaaferi . Here I put my entire money on Jaaved who would come out as a star since he has a mastery in voice overs . The film is about Dogs so I am hundred percent sure that Jaaved willl play as a Rich and Healthy Breed who would act as Villian for "sadak-chaap" Saif . To give competition to Yash Raj's Roadside Romeo there is a movie by Karan Johar called as "Kuchi Kuchi Hota Hai " which would have voice-overs of all the original cast of Kuch Kuch hota hai . There is no competition between Jugal Hansraj (Director , Roadside Romeo) and Karan Johar . But since Karan is a good friend of Adi no doubt his movie would release after an interval giving no direct competiton to Roadside Romeo .

One thing that would be quite interesting to see would be the level of graphics since Roadside would be done by Disney professionals and Kuchi Kuchi ... would be probably done by SRK's Red Chillies VFX .

Last but not least by any means is the SRK's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi which will release on 12th December . The movie is an unusual love story of a 40 year Old and a 16 year old . Earlier RGV made Nishabd with a ratio of 16-60 which didn't work . I hope this one does . This one is much light hearted and has the King himself who would come back with Aditya Chopra after a span of eight long years . The 16 year old lucky girl would be played by Sonam Kapoor who would be on top of this world with a chance to work with SRK in her second film itself . The shooting would start soon .

So this year looks quite interesting and I hope , what everybody expects of Yash Raj i.e. an interesting film . I hope they don't waste out our hard earned bucks that we spend on them . One thing I would like to see in Yash Raj's calendar next year is a movie with smaller stars but bigger actors , somebody like Abhay Deol or Neil Nitin Mukesh paired with a new girl . Yash Raj needs to at least make one Experimental cinema a year with a creative director something they did in Kabul Express with Kabir Khan . They should have newer directors who have ideas but no budget . My heart goes out to films like Manorama Six Feet Under which was ten times better than any of Yash Raj's movie last year apart from Chak-De but it failed because it had no publicity .

But still Yash Raj gives the biggest films of the year so here's wishing a good year ahead for them and I hope people like me get entertained throughout the year .