C Kkompany (comedy)
Cast: Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Raima Sen
Direction: Sachin Yardi
THREE losers -- Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher, Rajpal Yadav -- form a fictitious underworld gang to solve their personal problems. But soon, the gang ends up as the popular trouble-shooter for the aam aadmi who tries to solve his paani, bijli , pension problems by appealing to the Counterfeit Kkompany.
Munnabhai, anyone? Only, this one is such a pale-pale attempt to create a desi Robin Hood, it almost makes you cry. Actually, this one's hardly a film. Instead, it's more like a promo for Balaji Inc, where all the big and small stars from Ekta Kapoor's factory keep parading up and down, for no reason at all. And if that's not enough, there's the czarina herself trying her hand at emoting. Bad job.
Mukhbir (drama)
Cast: Sameer Dattani, Raima Sen, Om Puri
Direction: Mani Shankar
SHADES of The Departed , did we say? Well, Sameer Dattani does a Leonardo Di Caprio here as he infiltrates a terrorist gang to help the assiduous cop (Om Puri) nab them before their bombs go boom.
The film does have its moments, specially when the hapless young infiltrator is forced to prove his loyalty in some nerve-wracking sequences. Rahul Dev essays the role of the terrorist with credible menace, but it is Om Puri who walks away with the applause as the cop who tries to clean up the system, even though he knows it's a deadly game.
Eventually however, it is the multiplicity of plots and subplots that act as a dampener and transform the film into a somewhat rambling investigation into the state's counter-terrorism programmes.
Rock On (drama)
Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Prachi Desai, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny
Direction: Abhishek Kapoor
IF you really want to see how Bollywood has matured and come of age, then here's the perfect litmus test. For Rock On is a film that not only breaks new ground in terms of its subject matter -- now when has desi movielore ever tackled something akin to Hollywood's That Thing You Do -- it creates a whole new EQ (emotional quotient) for mainstream cinema. Of course, there is the great passion reminiscent of Dil Chahta Hai , but here, there is a poise and a restraint that portrays the friendship between four rock musicians, with all its ups and downs. The bonds are strong, but there are the dark sides too, like rivalry, physical violence, the fear of failure....Yet, no one hollers, no one screams and ever so often, you feel a tug at your heart.
The film traces the relationship between the four buddies from college days until their stagnant thirties, when the band has been disbanded due to interpersonal rivalries and the foursome has drifted apart. The lead crooner, Farhan Akhtar is an investment banker who has stuffed away the memorabilia of the past in the attic of his well-ordered house. The lead guitarist, Arjun Rampal, is a miserable man, echoing the anguish of an artiste who cannot go commercial, even if his family struggles with bread and butter concerns. Purab Kohli, the kick-ass drummer, is now selling jewellery in his father's store, while Luke Kenny is literally dying of frustration, strumming tunes for Anu Malik. It's left to Prachi Desai, Akhtar's lonely young wife, to forge a reunion and bring the band together for a final concert that almost takes your breath away and has you cheering, as you did in Chak De and Lagaan .
Surprisingly, everything falls in place in this refreshing, new film. Farhan Akhtar's vocals are absolutely fundoo, even as the foursome pitch in perfectly orchestrated performances. If you actually had to choose, then the vote would go for Arjun Rampal who displays a newfound maturity and looks absolutely groovy with his windblown hair and his guitar-strumming stance. Farhan Akhtar too is a surprise package, delivering a well nuanced portrayal of a rock star-turned-boring-yuppie. The girls, Prachi, Koel and Shahana, are riveting too.
But finally, it's the message of the film that makes it a winner. Follow your dreams and life will literally be on song!
FIRST of all, it's hard to believe a post modern filmmaker like Ram Gopal Varma could actually make a film that ends up upholding mumbo-jumbo. The rationalist engineer (Sudeep) ends up chasing shamans and witch doctors to save his possessed daughter (Ahsaas Channa), even as the doctors fail to cure her of her demons with their psychological fundas.
The film ends up as a warning to all you scientific non-believers out there who scoff at black magic, voodoo and the mysterious lemoo (lemon). The next time you see bones in your backyard or a crow staring down at you from the overhead tree, don't take it lightly....Oh, really!
But he doesn't only get the premise wrong. The film fails to create a single scare, even though the camera does slide into strange places, focusing on all the stuffed toys and the ugly artefacts in the house and the soundtrack gets dizzy with ominous sounds.
Technically speaking, there's only one `jump' moment, when Sudeep moves but his mirror image doesn't move. The rest of the chills are ekdum thanda , as the story traces the attempts of a young couple to cure their daughter of the mysterious ailment that seems to have stricken her. From a happy-go-lucky kid, she's now a girl who grunts in a man's voice and flies up to the ceiling, a la Exorcist .
All said and done, Bhoot was the bigger scare than Phoonk.
God Tussi Great Ho (comedy) Cast: Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Sohel Khan Direction: Rumi Jaffery Critics rating:
IT takes the charisma of Salman Khan to make this film work, but only in places. The actor's comic timing and his spontaneity does create some magic intermittently, but, by and large, it's the loose script and the hurried directorial approach that lets him down.
A desi version of Bruce Almighty , the film does borrow heavily from the Jim Carrey venture as it traces the desperate attempts of harried TV anchor, Salman Khan to shed his 'loser' tag and counter the ill-luck that seems to follow him everywhere. Despite being talented, he loses his job, he fails to cement his relationship with his girlfriend (Priyanka Chopra), has an angry father (Anupam Kher) raving at his failures permanently and a plain Jane sister who desperately needs to get married. In such a dismal scenario, he has just one favourite punching bag: God, whom he blames for all his ills. Naturally, God (Amitabh Bachchan) strikes back and hauls him up to the moon where he abdicates his responsibility and asks the eternal whiner to run the show for ten days. Only so he may stop whining.
Okay, so the job's back, the rival's (Sohel Khan) demolished, the girlfriend's swinging in his arms again, the father's speechless, the sister's got a make-over and life's a ball. Until the chaos begins....The film has a tedious second half; the music is lacklustre; Priyanka Chopra is a mere prop; Sohel Khan's funny. Meant mostly for Salman buffs.
APOORVA Lakhia simply got carried away by the bang-bang of Shootout at Lokhandwala . But whilst the earlier film was a high testosterone action flick which clicked simply because it didn't compromise on its emotional quotient, Mission Istaanbul sees Lakhia concentrating on action alone. End result? A cold, clinical drama, spilling over with gun fights, fist fights, car chases and stunts that have no emotional bedrock. The characters fail to connect with each other and the audience and the good versus evil war against terrorism remains thanda at the core. Once again, it's the lack of a story that sorely lets down the actors who try hard to get the adrenalin pumping with their guys-and-guns lore.
The director chooses a topical theme: terrorism, but loses the plot midway and blames a media channel for creating most of the terror in the world. Osama has been conveniently bumped off in his bunker by Turkish commando, Rizwan Khan (Vivek Oberoi), yet his tapes keep appearing on the popular Al Johara (Al Jazeera, did you say?) television network. The doctored tapes have been created by the media mogul (Niketan Dheer) who is in league with the terrorists and is spearheading mayhem, the world over, only to raise the TRPs.
This time, the target is India, but for the brave Indian television anchor, Zayed Khan and his Turkish comrade-in-arms, Vivek Oberoi. Of course, they manage to find a third partner too in the desi Lara Croft (Shweta Bhardwaj) who has the uncanny knack of jumping in whenever the stakes are low. Quite a distraction, actually, especially since Hunk No. 1 (Zayed) is newly divorced from wife Shreya and Hunk No. 2 (Vivek) has lost his wife to the terrorists.
The film has been shot well in the exotic locales of Istanbul, but there isn't much that Vivek's long hair and Zayed's serious be-spectacled look can do to save the film from ending up as a thriller that doesn't actually thrill. Even Abhishek Bachchan's item number fails to garner applause this time. The only time the film perks up is with the Bush humour. The American President wonders what's the problem with Turkey? Are the birds in short supply? he asks. And if that's not enough, he warns his aides to `leave those Indians alone with their pen drives' since all the call centres are in India and he must learn how to pronounce Man-mo-han, before he visits India. Ha!
That Shahid Kapoor is a man of few words is fairly well-known. After maintaining a dignified silence over his much-publicised break-up with longtime girlfriend Kareena Kapoor, the only thing he wants to talk about is work.
To begin with, after a six-month stint away from the media, the reclusive Shahid, who’s not really basked in the success of Jab We Met, finally has plenty to look forward to.
And we are not talking about his ‘friendship’ with Sania Mirza, Vidya Balan or Amrita Rao, which has ensured he’s got reams of printspace. Shahid’s got a brand new film (Kismet Konnection), what looks like an image makeover and a cheerful attitude about life in general.
His character in KK is a lot like the real Shahid. “Much like him, during my struggle days, I have spoken white lies just like we all do in our quest for success,” he says.
Quiz him about those rumours linking him with Vidya Balan, who’s rumoured to be ‘close’ to him and Shahid firmly admits that while shooting, “Vidya and I have become good friends. It was fun working with her as she is a great actor and an easy person to work with. We look good together on screen and I hope people like us”. A gentle query about his one-time friend Kareena Kapoor, and Shahid sounds diplomatic and cagey, “Kareena and I rarely talk. Beyond that I would not like to talk about it.”
In fact, even though he has been spotted watching Sania Mirza’s matches at Wimbledon and the two are reported to be serious about each other, Shahid
doesn’t seem to be in a tell-all mood. Not that he denies his liaison with Sania, but he doesn’t seem keen on talking about his love life at this point. “I am a normal 27-year-old guy. But honestly, there’s no romance
brewing in my life. I don’t want to hide the details, but I don’t want to talk about them either. I believe some things in my life are personal and I would like to restrict information on my personal life. Eventually, people will know what the truth is.” he says.
India’s answer to the Hollywood is its own movie producing industry, popularly known as Bollywood. A typical Bollywood films features song and dance routines. Most Bollywood films have at least 3-5 playback songs, which become immensely popular amongst the audience. At one time, Bollywood films were restricted to India alone, but with the world becoming more of a global community, Bollywood films are shown and enjoyed everywhere!
To target this huge population of Bollywood music listeners the world over and of course in India, mobile phone companies developed ringtones based on Bollywood music and films. Ringtones, as we know, are the alert sounds produced by the mobile phone at the time of an incoming call. Ringtones can be a distinctive tone, sound or even an actual song. Most phones have monophonic and polyphonic sounds but some more modern phones also feature real sound tones, which means you can use the actual song as your ringtone.
Free Bollywood ringtones are available from many Web sites and service providers. They are mainly targeted at Indians, Indians living abroad and of course those who simply enjoy Bollywood music. You need to register at these sites and select the Bollywood ringtone that you like. The portal will send you the ringtone via SMS text messaging, which you can then save as your personalized ringtone. You could also save songs from your computer’s hard drive directly onto your phone and use it as a ringtone, as long as your phone is compatible with polyphonic tunes and real tone sounds.
With the vast popularity of Bollywood songs and with the rapid growth of mobile phone coverage in the Indian Sub-continent, most ringtone providers are offering mobile phone ringtones totally free of cost. So make a public style statement about your musical preference by selecting a Bollywood ringtone and stand out in the crowd!
