Movie Review : Ek: The Power of One

Ek: The Power of One (Drama)
Cast: Bobby Deol, Nana Patekar, Shriya Sharan
Direction: Sangeeth Sivan
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes Critic's Rating:**

Someone's suddenly woken up, pulled this out of the cans and peddled it as brand new cinema. Sad. The ruse doesn't work. For the viewer immediately sees through the stale plot and narration and wonders why Bobby Deol would do something he's done before: sleepwalk through a role as an assassin who suddenly gives up his trigger-happy ways for a change of heart and role. Actually, he wasn't too bad in films like Baadal and Bichoo, which showcased his bleeding heart once the bullets had all been fired. But here, he simply chooses to do a ramp walk through the rough and tumble of a mercenary's life, complete with designer glares, guns and goth make-up.

Nandu, the man from nowhere, is hired by a CM aspirant to fake-out an assassination and help garner the sympathy votes. But the killing turns out to be real and before you can say whodunit, Nandu is on the run, ending up in distant Hoshiyarpur. He enters a pucca Punjabi household as their long-lost son and begins on his arduous journey of remorse and redemption, with the large extended family gorging him with sarson ka saag and sermons. Of course, he gets enough time to flex his muscles here too, as there are a whole bunch of bad farmers ready to usurp his adopted dadaji's land. But bone-crunching is relatively easy for our crook-turned-saviour compared to the nosey investigations of the CBI officer (Nana Patekar) who is determined to nab the politician's killer.

It's Nana Patekar's tapori act as the hard nosed cop which actually saves the day for this dismal film which keeps drifting into schmaltzy family business, whenever the action revs up. Watch it only if you want to see what old-fashioned Bollywood looked like, before the smart new wave swept away the cobwebs.

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Leave me alone

A harassed Rahman, fed up of non-stop felicitation, seeks peace and solace in Bengaluru

Post-Oscars it's not been an easy time for A R Rahman. He returned home to a kind of hysterical fanfare that exhausted and alarmed him. Rahman has been beleaguered by a blitzkrieg of attention. He is finding it tough to cope with all the adulation. Suffering from serious fatigue the maestro has decided to go completely underground for a while.

After cancelling his work-related trip to London, Rahman has now disappeared from his home in Chennai to destinations unknown. Presumably he has surfaced in Bengaluru . But none of his close family and friends are telling his fans, admirers and the media about his whereabouts. A close friend, on condition of anonymity, spilled the beans. “All the international and national attention finally got to Rahman. He is essentially a very very shy artiste. All he cares about is God and his music, in that order. He doesn't talk about anything else. Going on stage and being the cynosure of thousands of eyes is death for him. He went into hiding with only his God and music for company.”

Inaccessible at the moment to all but his closest family members, Rahman reluctantly replied to persistent queries about his health. He said, “I am just recovering from all the exhaustion.”

The question is, how will this media-shy genius cope with all the demands on his time and attention that are bound to be showered on him? A producer who has worked with Rahman followed him all the way to Bengaluru to sign him for his next project, but he refused to meet him.

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Movie Review : Dhoondte Reh Jaoge

Film: Dhoondte Reh Jaoge (Comedy)
Cast: Kunal Khemu, Sonu Sood, Soha Ali Khan, Paresh Rawal
Direction: Umesh Shukla
Duration: 2 hours 10 minutes
Critic’s Rating:**

True. Dhoondte hi reh jaoge, for that side-splitting comedy that's supposed to give you paisa-vasool entertainment. Though, to be honest, if you still keep looking -- and manage to sit through the tedious first-half -- you might glean a few laughs in the second half, when the film actually tries to spoof all the successful Bollywood films from Sholay to Lagaan.

Paresh Rawal is an unsuccessful film producer who is desperate to make a film and strike a comeback. He gets his chance when Kunal Khemu, a frustrated chartered accountant, decides to junk honesty for char-sau-bisi (fraud), because his behenji-type girlfriend (Soha Ali) is hell bent on settling down. Now behenji, being a fan of Biswajit and other Bengali actors, also dreams of being a big star herself. So her CA boyfriend wants to kill two birds with a stone. He wants to make Rs 100 crore by making a flop film and he wants to cure her of her Bollywood ambitions by casting her as the heroine who will never get a role after the dismal show. The devious duo also manage to rope in the reigning star, Sonu Sood and happily sound the clapper board for their dream venture.

But hey, what's this. The premier show, which was supposed to be a tryst with tomatoes and eggs, turns out to be a heavily applauded affair, with the audience rolling in the aisles at this ungodly mix of Sholay, Gadar and Lagaan. Now that would have been okay, if you were applauding too. Ironically, you end up lamenting the great loss, for the film actually had a great potential and comes loaded with some fine actors. They all try hard but the juvenile script terribly lets them down.

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