Slumdog Millionaire --- Movie Review

The film that is probably the strongest contender for this year's Academy Award , Slumdog Millionaire , has finally released in India and now we get to know what is the hype all about . The fact that it is a great film is already proved and it has already got a nod of approval in the form of the Golden Globes . So in this review my stress would be more on the point that why do we , the people of India, need a film like Slumdog Millionaire . A film like SM is obviously not made for the sole cause of entertainment and most of the things that are depicted in the film are known to an average educated person in India . So then why do we need such a film ? The answer to that question , in my opinion, is because we who are fortunate enough and educated take these things for granted and are comfortably passive about it . We just ignore the so called truth of our society and live in our own world . And a film like SM reminds us that though we are part of the Developed sections of our nation , still there are some sections which are completely ignored and practically impossible to live in .

Slumdog Millionare is probably just like a normal film for people living outside our country but it is a Mirror for people of India . It reminds us of the problems and sections that we still need to work upon and sections that cannot be left ignored if we want to develop completely . We should not take for granted the life that we lead and care for the unprivileged people too is what the film talks of . Though it is basically a Masala story of a Boy's journey from Rags to Riches with a love angle but what lies in the underbelly of the film is more interesting . The film depicts the life of Slums in the truest possible manner and there is at no point any kind of exaggeration . This happens and we just don't know because we are comfortable in ignoring it . Even if we do know then nobody cares to even talk about it .

It addresses a range of problems that India faces like Communalism , Illiteracy and Population . And it is the poor people , the people who dwell in slums that get affected the most from the above mentioned problems and they are the ones that pay the maximum price . They have to get into things like prostitution , Beggary , Drugs , Stealing and also Killing just for the sake of survival . These are all the things that the lead characters of the film , Salim , Jamal and Latika get into to survive there way through the tough life of a slumdog .

I won't reveal much of the plot so that you can enjoy the film if you haven't seen it yet . The plot anyways revolves around all these problems with a backdrop of a quiz show , "Who wants to be a Millionare" or the KBC . The film stars some of the good actors of our country like Irrfan Khan , Saurabh Shukla , Mahesh Manjrekar , Anil Kapoor and the brilliant kid Tanay Chedda . I've mentioned these names before Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto because it is probably these guys who could relate maximum to the story and understand it at much better level than the two main leads . These guys have seen a part of this reality and are well aware of it . There couldn't have been better people than these that could have played the parts better . So Lavleen Tandon who is also the co-director does her job of Casting very well . Her casting plays a big role in the film and probably she deserves a much more praise than what she is getting . I mean Danny Boyle couldn't have possibly managed to cast such fine group of actors since he doesn't know most of them . Apart from these , the lead actors , Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto , also acted very well and it was very refreshing to see good actors on screen instead of Sons/Daughters of already established actors playing the part . Dev does a fabulous job and the innocence of his personality suited very much to the character of Jamal . Frieda's part was small but a well acted one . The entire cast on a whole was perfect one and everyone did their respective parts well .

The two things apart from Casting and Direction that played a huge role in the film were the Screenplay and the cinematography . Simon Beaufoy does a great job on the screenplay and has kept it as tight as possible . The cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle did a fine job capturing the Mumbai slums even though he is not an Indian . The fifth important thing was obviously the Music by the maestro himself , A.R. Rahman , who kept it pretty simple and right on the money . He added a lot to the thrilling portions of the film through his music and I must say Danny Boyle very wisely used his music . This is not though his best and still he is winning all the awards . Now that he is a well known name internationally I am sure the World will now see what a gem we had all these years . He for sure would get nominated and probably even win more Oscars in future . He does a good job with the tracks O Saaya , Jai Ho and Liquid Dance .

And last but certainly not the least , Danny Boyle , the captain of the ship , who carried the project on his shoulder . He has done what sadly no Indian producer or Director dared to do in past . Still , I wont take anything away from Directors like Anurag Kashyap , Rajkumar Gupta and several others like them who have earlier tried to show this in parts . But it is Danny Boyle who treated the subject with utmost sincerity and honesty . He has made a fine film and there is no doubt about it . Danny Boyle has made sure that though film talks about serious issues like poverty etc. still it has enough entertainment to increase the reach of his film . He has made a film something like Rang De Basanti of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra which had clear message wrapped in all the masala of an entertaining film . Calling it a masala film would not be right since it doesn't have all that stereotypical elements . But it is certainly entertaining emotional story filled with emotions that a typical masala film has like romance,revenge,sibling rivalry and love, a villainous character like that of Anil Kapoor and lots of Thrills and action sequences .

Danny and the whole team of the film have managed to create an entertaining cum awakening film that deserves every bit of success that it is receiving . Yes it shows the poverty of India and whats wrong in that ? If we very proudly boast about our growing economic status in the world and the "Feel Good Factor" , then we should also be ashamed of the other side of our nation . There is no doubt that poverty exists every where in the world and it is not only in India but why should we care about the rest of the world anyways . We have a responsibility towards our nation and its a little sad that a guy like Danny has to come and show it to the whole world including us .

Film Rating : Four and Half out of Five Stars ; fantastic entertaining film which is a must watch for all the people of our country .

Yuvraaj ---Trailer Review

One of the big releases of the year , the much awaited Subhash Ghai's Yuvraaj , is all set to release and the first promos have hit the cinema halls . The film as we know starrs Salman Khan and Katrina together after a long time . In "Partner" they were not opposite each other . Apart from them the film also has Subhash's favourite Anil Kapoor and Zaayed Khan . The music is by the maestro himself , A. R. Rehman and the Lyrics are by the wordsmith Gulzaar sahaab . The duo together have given musical masterpieces like Dil Se , Yuva and Guru , all being with Mani Ratnam . This time they team up with Subhash Ghai who has also given musical hit like Taal . Yuvraaj is also a film in the Taal category i.e. a Musical Love Story . Taal is one of ARR's best works and the movie is also one of the best from Subhash Ghai . Lets hope they are able to create the same magic once again after almost Ten Years .

The magic that I am expecting gives a glimpse of itself in the promos of the film . The first trailer starts off with some musical notations being shown in the light of some candles . After that starts a beautiful orchestration in the background and we see a glimpse of all the lead actors of the film one by one . First we see a little younger looking Salman and then the eternal beauty Katrina playing a Cello . After her we see Anil Kapoor with a bouquet of flowers giving his innocent smile even at this age . Then at last we see Zaayed Khan walking on the streets . Then starts a series of some very short scenes all showing the Musical environment in which all the leads are living . The huge concert halls and musical notes etc. all giving you a glimpse of the scale of the movie and its background . Then at the end a line comes which is probably the tag line of the film "Music Binds Love " . Then at the very end we see an even younger looking Salman peeping from behind a pillar into the camera .

The trailer in all gives out very few details about the story and just gives an intro of the leads . The music in the background also gives us a hint of whats in the store . The music is just fabulous as expected from ARR and this is probably the first time he will get to use the western orchestrations in a full fledged way since this film seems to be set in London which is home to the symphonies and orchestras . The music in Taal was more Indian and had a mix of Indian and Western . But in Yuvraaj we might get to see just western classical instead of Indian classical . I am more interested in the album than the film for the meantime .

The looks of the actors are also one thing to watch out in the trailer . Katrina looks like a hollywood heroine from the 50's and looks like an exotic beauty . She is the only female lead and hence the second thing that the movie will be focussing on apart from Music would be of course her . The lead actors of the film would probably fight it out for the God's Best creations , Music and Love . Then we also get to see the "Bhola" avatar of Anil Kapoor that he dawned in his first few films . Salman also looks quite younger and he might look good with Katrina in this one .

Overall , I am looking forward to both the Album and the film which will release soon .Subhash Ghai is also looking for a hit since a long time and I hope he gets that in this film and viewers get to see a complete film . The year in any case has been very bad with most of the films leaving disappointed. I also hope that my favourite Katrina acts this time which she can and not just dances to songs . Check out he trailer :

Tashan --- Movie Review

Yash Raj couldn't go lower than this , this is what comes to my mind the moment I think of one line that could describe this movie . As I expected , Tashan is even worse than Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom . JBJ at least had good songs in it , this one doesn't even have that . There is no Script , no Direction and no specific theme . They (Yash Raj) have made a complete blunder attempt of Film Noire genre and have gone nowhere near that Genre of Films . This movie is so pathetic that I would rather refer you guys to watch movies of the 90's like Gundaaraj etc. which had more or less the same theme as this movie has but it had the actors that were meant to do such films . When I see great actors like Anil and Kareena Kapoor doing such pathetic film I really get disappointed . Why do they accept such films ? Just because its a Yash Raj film doesn't mean that it has to be done .

I don't want to waste my time talking on such a piece of crap and in short this film is a piece of shit and I am quite sure this piece of shit would be liked by several sections of audiences . This movie has just one line script and and Yashraj is lowering its standard day by day . Vulgar and cheap dialogues spoken by some of the most respected artists of our industry is what Tashan all about . The production house that has given films like Chak De India , Hum Tum , Salaam Namaste , Bunty Babli, Dhoom etc. should not even think of making such a low grade movie , but Yashraj have not only thought of it but even gone ahead and wasted a lot of bucks on it . Sad part though , is that people come to watch such a movie to theater because of the star cast in it and in the process the production house redeems all its production cost even though if people didn't like the film and this gives the production house courage to make some more like this . I am quite sure that though Tashan would not be liked by people at large but still it would recover all its production cost and on the other hand good films like Manorama - 6 feet Under and Johnny Gaddar don't even recover their production cost just because it didn't have the star power .

There is nothing to talk about the film thats why I am talking more in a general way and not Film Specific . The movie has some skin show by Kareena Kapoor who doesn't suit at all in a zero figure and some pathetic comedy by anil and akshay . And it also has some over the top action sequences that make no sense at all and the entire movie resembles a B grade film with a lump-sum budget . The music is pathetic and I could see audiences moving out of cinema halls during the songs . I also remember a guy sitting close buy saying that such movies were made 15 years ago . He is quite right and I must add to it that 15 years ago the times were different and such a movie would suite in those times but not today . But I still could see people hooting on some cheap and vulgar acts of the stars and it made me feel that despite the weak script and poor direction this movie might work beacuse of the vulgarity in it . I think that its high time now that people should stop watching Yash Raj films in such large numbers just beacuse of its star cast . I would rather donate the 100 bucks to some charity organization rather than wasting it on such a movie . If this is done by all of you imagine the crores that the charity organization could get and put them to at least some good use .

Seriously guys don't waste your precious time on this one . I did it and I am repenting for it .And if any of you liked this movie then I would refer you to go out to the DVD store and rent some more like this of the 90's , you would love them even more than this one . One advice for Yash Raj that money is temporary thing and if you have it today put it to good use or else it will end one day and then no one is gonna help you .
Short Term profit from such movie will become Long Term loss and will one day cost you your prestige . Aditya should appoint more people like shimit amin and stop wasting their money on guys like Vijay Krishna Acharya and Kunal Kohli etc. And as I always say work more on the script rather than star cast , sets and publicity .

Movie Rating : One out of Five Stars , pathetic script , direction and acting .

Tashan --- Music Review

My gut feeling is getting stronger day by day that Tashan might turn out to be the Jhoom Baraabar Jhoom(JBJ) of this year or may be even worse . JBJ at least had a decent music in it but this one seems to doesn't even have that . The Music of this movie is out now and it is not at all worth buying . There is no song in the album that will lead the charts . It seems to me as the bank balance of Yash Raj is growing day by day they are becoming more and more careless . They have tried in this album to bring back the senseless , melody-less and Lyrics-less Music of the times of Govinda & Akshay . The music is by Vishal-Shekhar and after OSO this one is a big disappointment . The songs in this Album have nothing to offer . The reason I speak so strongly is because if such a big Production house of India will behave this way then their days are limited . Well , its too early for me to say something like this but I hope they prove me wrong and at least the movie is Good enough to fade the bad effects of its music .

The Album has Five songs in total out of which only two are Good (comparatively) . There are also four dialogues by all the leading cast introducing their characters .

The first in the lot is Dil Hara by Sukhwinder Singh and has lyrics by Piyush Mishra . The music is what is played in the trailer of the movie . The song is well sung by Sukhwinder Singh and Lyrics are OK . The song is quite good but towards the end it suddenly becomes fast and from a desi track it turns into a hard rock song which has not been done well . Apart from its end , the song is good and probably second best track in the album .

After this comes the dialogue by Kareena , Pooja Ka Tashan . She introduces herself and gives a peek of her tom boy nature in he movie . What I am afraid is that Kareena would look really bad in this movie and she would not at all suit the character . But I can understand why Kareena said Yes to this role , just to get an entry into the Yashraj Camp .

Then comes Chaliya by Sunidhi and Piyush Mishra . The lyrics are by Anvita Dutt and I think her lyrics have not been given full justice . The tune is not at all good and just because of the music the song has suffered . The song might look good in the movie but certainly not for your music collection .

After this song a short dialogue by Saif introducing his character of a Playboy and may be Saif might pull of this role well since it suits his personality .

Then comes a song (Dil Dance Maare) that I couldn't figure out , what is it all about . The song is a pathetic mixture of Desi linguistics and English lyrics making no sense at all . The singing is decent by Sukhwinder , Sunidhi and Udit but lyrics are just so Bakwaas . Vishal , last gave lyrics of a beautiful song in Om Shanti Om (Ankhon mein teri ajab si) and now he has given lyrics to this song that makes no sense at all .

Then there is a Dialogue by Akshay Kumar who plays a "Chhora Ganga Kinare Waala"but delivers his dialogue like Punjabi Jatt which he is . So once more I don't think this role might suit his Jatt Personality . Probably Abhishek would have done it better .

Then comes which is probably the best song on the album " Falak Tak " by Udit and Mahalaxmi Iyer . It is the Romantic pic of the Album and is quite melodious and Lyrical . The Music is also good in this one by Vishal-Shekhar and the Lyrics are great by Kausar Munir . The Music in this one also is quite western influenced with little bit desi beats blended in between .

The whole concept of this movie is blending Western Film Noire Genre with the grassroot desi culture of India . But I don't think it would work that way . The audience won't be able to digest it and it would become a tasteless Cocktail of "Desi Daaru" and Western Wine .

After this comes a Dialogue by Anil Kapoor in typical Hinglish in which he states that he is an Old Style Villian , vulgar and cheap . Though Anil is quite good at doing this so his character might look good in the movie with much more Adult Nonsense after what he has done recently in Race .

Last Song on the Album is the Title Song Tashan Mein by Vishal and Saleem and having Lyrics by Vishal and Piyush . They have not at all done justice to the Title of the movie and the song is a dull affair . There is nothing new about lyrics also .

Still , if you like just dhoom dhadaka and don't care a bit about melody and Lyrics then you might Like the album

Rating : One and Half out of Five . The Album is not at all worth buying and only one song that is Falak Tak is worth listening .

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.

Welcome --- Movie Review

One of the last big releases of the year , Welcome is a tough competitor for TZP and probably would out-do TZP in terms of Box-office numbers . The movie is Directed by No Entry fame Anees Bazmee and produced by Firoz Nadiadwala . The movie is quite different from Anees's first offering No Entry in terms of comedy style and also actors . The main drawback of the movie for me was the fact that it was not at all situational based comedy and situations were created hypothetically , just like in any David Dhawan's film . If you are a big fan of David's cinema then you would for sure enjoy this movie a lot .

The movie is not meant for intellectual type of people and it may disappoint them . The film targets the common audience and hits a bulls eye . The Movie has many comic scenes that would tickle your funny bone for sure . But I am dissapointed because I expected more from Anees after his last film. But it is not his fault . All the movies made under Nadiadwaala's production are same because they interfere in the film for sure and hence Anees won't be having freedom . Once Saajid Khan rightly said that they are the Bruckheimer's of India and follow the same formula .

Talking of the film , it moves around Akshay & Katrina who want to get married but Akshay's uncle Paresh Raawal wants to get Akshay Married to some respectful Family people . But Akshay and Katrina fall in love and then starts the game of turning Nana & Anil into good honest people from goons . Though Akshay is suppose to play the lead role but in my opinion its Nana who stole the show and walks away as a lead of the film . Akshay and Katrina just perform the romance part of the movie with very few comic scenes for them . Nana is just outstanding as he is and has the best dialogues in the movie . Anil has done just regulation stuff and got laughs only for his abusing on screen . Mallika got to do more "Acting" than Katrina though her role was short . There is a whole Bhaagambhag in the end as there is in any comedy movie .

Just go out to watch this movie without thinking of story and other things . No Entry had a new story and great situations . This one doesn't , but still I would refer the movie for Nana fans and also David Dhawan's fans . It wont disappoint you . If you liked Partner then you would love this one . Akshay's and Paresh's fans may get disappointed for their small role in the movie and not much comedy from them .

The Music is average and looks good only in movie . Malaika does an item number in the movie which is so-so and only one thing was noticable in that song - Malaika's ugly Pregnancy Strech Marks . The make-up man failed over there . Cinematography is good and involves UAE like any other Nadiadwaala movie does . Overall it can be watched once if you want to laugh a bit and enjoy mindlessly . Considering Partner ,the Movie do very well at the Box-office and Akshay would have a perfect new year . This time probably he edited his own part by mistake .

Movie Rating : Two and a half Stars for fabulous acting by Nana Patekar.

Film Noire : Is it the Next Trend ?

The first teaser promo of Yashraj's Latest flick - Tashan is out now and from the rushes it looks like that the film would be a pure hardcore action flick and would have completely different styling for all the lead stars ( Akshay,Saif,Kareena & Anil) . The teaser has nothing but just an introduction of the star-cast and background score of a typical action flick . The trailer ends with a dialogue by Anil who appears to be the bad guy which goes something like this in crude english : " Firsht Impression ish the lasht impression ".

The Tag-line of the film is " The Ishtyle... The Goodluck... The Pharmoola " which kinda makes me think that this one would be also an attempt to a new genre for Bollywood - Film Noir . The graphics for the title are also like any typical Neo-Noir film .The recent flick which did this was Sriram Raghwan's "Johnny Gaddar" . The movie did quite well and got great reviews .

For Akshay it is back to basics time since this one is not comedy and is his first love Action . For Kareena it is a new arena since she has never done an action flick before . I am sure she would leave her different mark among all the other greats . For Anil this one would be a kinda nostalgia since he himself comes from dharavi where bad guys are regulation and abusing on screen wouldn't be a problem for him . Kareena would have also learnt one or two more (after Jab We Met )from them . Saif would be the Playboy for sure apart from Akshay . Well enough guessing work , I hope the new guy Vijay Krishna Acharya does his job well of Direction and matches Sriram's Vision.

Vijay has earlier written screenplay for both the Dhooms and also written Dialogues for Mani Ratnam's GURU . The Yashraj Banner would certainly not compromise on the Action sequences but of late there Scripts have been quite weak apart from Chak De which was brilliant . Expectations would be running high from Aditya for Vijay .

Bollywood is searching for new scripts and genre and Film Noir genre promises to hold all the attractive ingredients . It has all the Dialogue-Baaji and the Beatiful Girls which are enough to attract the audience not to forget the Action and cheap one liners . The production houses today want to rake in the moolah and they can make any kind of cinema to do it . Looks like the Neo-Noir would be the next insect that would bite the bollywood producers .