Star Screen Awards 2008 --- What a waste ?

Last night I saw the star screen awards on television and since these shows are almost completely scripted , debarring the verbal heated exchanges , I thought why not rate the awards too . I must say it was one of the most boring award shows I've ever seen . First , the jokes of Saajid and Farah were quite dull and didn't quite make me laugh my heart out . And most of the times they were just overdoing it . Saajid has got a hang of himself and he now thinks that he can say anything on stage and get away with it . Most of his acts were the same old ones comprising of the cross dressing and Gay jokes . He during that heated exchange with ashutosh said that he works for the public and nobody other than his public can Shut him up . Well , I am a part of the public and Saajid you better get some new acts or get back to directing . Don't try to act as a big superstar just beacuse you got a hit in a lousy film such as Heyy Babbyy . I would like to remind you that the film succeeded only because of the songs and Akki factor . He made some very boring acts like the one with the Bhikari . Nobody was finding it funny as far as I could make out from the star's expression . And what was that remark on Neeraj Pandey's clothes . He spoke like as if he was a born king . Giving him nice company was his sister who should never ever consider again to host any show even if its theme is "GirlPower" . She also cracked some "Thakele" jokes and made some remarks on Anurag Kashyap which again were not at all funny .

And what was Shreyas Talpade doing there , hanging around like an extra . Lets leave aside the hosting part and talk about the awards . The awards were also some of the most biased and Diplomatic set of awards I've ever seen . Just take a look at this , Asin gets an award and Anushka gets to perform so that she doesn't feel bad . Priyanka gets best actress award and Aishwarya gets most popular actress award so that she doesn't feel bad and Katrina was already performing so she won't feel bad either . They would have given a huge sum to Katrina . The debut actor award goes to Farhan since he is not a cousin of Aamir Khan . Tushar Kapoor gets an award for best comic performance afterall its "STAR" screen awards , else his sister would kill them .Then they gave best actor in a negative role to Akshay Khanna and not Ila Arun for Jodha Akbar , afterall Race was also a big hit and it had to be given at least one award . Best actor in supporting role goes to Arjun Rampal who would have performed for them free of cost , I suppose . Sonu Sood wouldn't have felt bad since he was hosting the Red Carpet show fro television and made some money instead . And icing on the cake was most popular actor award to Akshay Kumar , and believe it or not he was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Singh is Kinng . He never took the award and passed it on to Aamir who I am sure would sell it to a Kabadi Waala . Its good that CC2C released after the awards happened else they wouldn't have probably even invited Akshay .

Seriously guys , what a waste . I wasted my three hours watching it on the television which I would never get back . Neither the awards were interesting nor the performances . Saajid kept on bragging about Recession and loss that Film Industry is facing . Well Saajid , it is beacuse of this diplomacy , hypocrisy and incompetency that the industry is losing . I mean why don't they just give an award to everyone on the Red Carpet itself including the hosts and the television crew too ?

I felt so bad looking at Shekhar Gupta , editor of Indian Express , who is one of the journalists that I hold in highest respect , sitting and wasting his precious time watching such crappy awards . He should rather disassociate himself from such awards .

The only positive was Katrina in that Red Hot dress and Kangana in that white saree .

And for the first time , Award Rating : "-5 stars out of Five" , I'll again say "What a Waste" .

Om Shanti Om --- Movie Review

A typical 70's style drama with the budget and technical skill of today is what best describes Om Shanti Om . Farah's second attempt to the MASALA Picture and a better one than the First . This movie has a better story than Main Hoon Na . SRK is as always fabulous and Deepika is a great prospective find .

The movie starts in the 70's where SRK is a junior artist Om Prakash Makhija who aspires to become someone like Rajesh Kapoor who is a superstar in the movie . He has a mom who also aspired to become actress in her days and she has full confidence that her son would one day become a superstar . Shreyas Talpade is a friend of SRK who also thinks the same . Apart from becoming a star Om also has another dream who is none other than Shanti ( Deepika ) who is a superstar herself . Arjun Rampal is a Big shot producer of that time . SRK saves Deepika from an accident on the sets of her film and thus becomes a friend of her . She is secretly married to Arjun who wants to keep this secret till his next movie gets completed . But Deepika being pregnant insists him of telling the truth to the world . But Arjun fears that his project would get scrapped once everybody knows the truth . Somehow Om learns this truth and when Arjun kills Deepika , he also gets killed in between because he tries to Save her .

The first half is in the 70's but it is not a spoof of it . It makes fun of the characters of that time but in a healthy manner . SRK very well portrays the struggle and aspirations of a Junior artist who dreams to be a Star . Deepika looks like a star and is very beautiful and graceful . She has very less dialogues but still leaves an impression which shows her Mattel . Farah has gone into very tiny details and presented the 70's very well . She has grown as a Director . The first half is very musical and also very funny and on the move .

The second Half starts with SRK as Om Kapoor aka OK who is a superstar and has got everything that he once longed for . He is Phobic to fire and his past life is somewhere at the back of his mind . The best part is that the way SRK makes fun of today's movies also . The guest appearances at the Filmfare awards are very funny by Akshay and Abhishek . The party after SRK receives the award has the song Diwangi which is a real treat for all the viewers . After the song , OK meets Mic who is a big producer of Hollywood who worked in India in the 70'S And is played by Arjun Himself . Om meets him and remembers everything about his past life .

Then starts the whole revenge sequence where SRK plots how to take the revenge of his and shanti's death . He plans to restart the Incomplete film which Arjun was suppose to make along with Shanti . SRK tries to find a girl who is look alike of Shanti and wallah !!! he meets Sandy who looks exactly the same as Shanti but is not a re-incarnation of her . She helps him to take his revenge and at the end somehow with a twist manages to take it . This whole revenge sequence is little slow and doesn't have the fun element that the whole movie had . It also doesn't have the creepy feeling that KARZ had . In all , this part is what the audience will not like that much .

In the Entire movie Shahrukh says that -- " End तक हमारी filmon में सब कुछ ठीक ठाक हो जाता है , Happys Endings " . But looks like this " Happys Endings " is not as happy as it should have been . Still the entire movie has lot of मसालेदार मनोरंजन to offer and will make you smile this Diwali . Though the entire team of this movie has worked really hard and I would like to congratulate them on this but still a little disappointment in the end which kinda spoils the show a little bit . The movie would be loved by previous generations and also to an extent liked by today's generation . The movie is a treat for any person who ever dreamt to become an actor or aspired to get into the industry and there are lots of them in every city of India .

The Music is great by Vishal and Shekhar and the tune by Pyaarelal is just amazing and reminds us of 70's music . "Tumko Paaya " is the best song and maybe Vishal-Shekhar's best work . The music holds the movie very well and keeps it entertaining all throughout .

The problem this movie will face is the Publicity which had been done for it . When you do Publicity at such a large scale people's expectation tend to rise and maybe due to these expectations they may get a little disappointed . Still if you would expect a 70's drama and then watch the movie , then you would be happy .

For the fun filled first half and fabulous performance by SRK and Deepika this movie is still worth a watch and is expected to be a Hit . For good family entertainment this diwali , go and watch it .

Film Rating :::Three and Half Star bcoz I am a Die hard SRK fan and Deepika - " I Love You " !!!.

SAAWARIYA --- Trailer review

The trailer of much awaited film of the year , Saawariya, is out now and it looks like another Bhansali Masterpiece is on the cards . The movie is first Indian Production of Columbia Films (SONY International) and looks like a huge sum of money is spent by them on this one. I've read that they are releasing this trailer in over 1450 screens worldwide which itself is some kinda Record for any Indian Film. It is also the first Indian film to be made entirely in $ and not Rs.

Well talking about the film , the story is inspired by a short story "White Nights" by some European writer I believe(not sure though). From the promo it looks it is another Musical Extravaganza which has been shot very beautifully. The Promo does not give out any details about the plot of the movie but certainly creates an impression on the viewer's mind. The promo starts showing a girl lying on a boat floating in some lake . Then the hero is shown playing a guitar , which makes sure that he is a musician. The film is artistically shot and looks like entire movie is shot on Beautiful Sets and is more Shakespearean in Nature. The story, as far as I could guess from the rushes, is also Shakespeare types.

Now for the people who don't know the Movie stars Ranbir Kapoor(son of Rishi Kapoor) and Sonam Kapoor(daughter of Anil Kapoor) as the Leads . And the film also has Salman and Rani in it(who are not shown in the promo) . The movie has a lot of European look since SLB (sanjay leela bhansali ) is inspired by European cinema a lot. Anyways , looks like the Star-kids have got a great Platform in the form of this Movie for their Launch. The Rushes are very exciting and it is a potential BIGGIE.

Considering the Teaser of Om Shanti Om (SRK's Next) not up to the mark (which might clash with it) , the movie is going to make wonders.

One thing is for sure this DIWALI when both the movies will release a lot of Fireworks will be seen On-Screen. Two Thumbs-up for Saawariya's Trailer and only half thumb up for Om Shanti Om (Farah Khan) which does not excite as much as this one.