REVIEW : Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal

Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal (drama)
Cast: John Abraham, Arshad Warsi, Bipasha Basu
Direction: Vivek Agnihotri

HANGOVERS are always bad. And this one is like a staggered hangover of Chak De India . It takes the body and rips out the soul. So that, you have one more sporty spiel about desh-bhakti.

Only, this one hums and haws about Hum Hindustani and Hamari Hindustaniyat, unlike the earlier one which was truly Chuck-de, when it comes to clichés. Here, it’s a bunch of Southall Brits who are hellbent on proving their Bharat belongingness and they do it so predictably, you can almost see the tricolour painted on their face.

And if that’s not heavy enough, there are the other mandatory sporty metaphors - primarily, the importance of team spirit - steaming out of the mirchi-less broth. End taste? Mazaa nahin aaya .

Arshad Warsi is the archetypal Asian in Britland. He sells chicken tikka to the goras and dreams of beating them at their own game some day. He dreams of building an Asian Man U that can grab the numero uno spot in the English Football league. But all he has is a rag tag team of ill-assorted desis who just can’t bind. He hires a disgraced ex-soccer star (Boman Irani) as coach to resurrect the Southall United club. But what he really needs is someone who can truly bend it like Beckham.

In short, he needs super star Sunny Bhasin (John Abraham) who needs to stop breaking his window panes, stop playing for the rival gora teams, and stop thinking he is a gora as well. And of course, he needs to stop teasing the Captain’s sexy sis (Bipasha) who happens to be the team’s physio too.

But before Sunny can find his spot under the sun, he needs to discover his own self and shake off the label of the BBCD (British born confused desi). Now, that’s quite an arduous journey which means he shares a bed with Warsi, indulges in verbal bouts with a hostile dad, gets his nose broken again and again and makes you wince with pain. Ugh! Why can’t he just Be Indian-Bye Brit without the battering nose job.

Get the point? Goal is actually a case of Dhan Dhana Dhan deja vu, where everything that you’ve ever seen in any and every sport film finds a dekko. The script simply doesn’t rise above the clichés and lets down the actors who just can’t bend your emotions.

Arshad tries hard, John is naughty, only in places, Boman is boring, Bipasha is bechari eye candy. Poor girl, she doesn’t even get to play the item girl Billo Rani, who obviously has been inspired by Beedi Jalai le . Nope! Unlike saddi hockey chokris, the soccer boys may not be serenaded by flag-waving crowds.

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Deepika’s pricey act

OSO is a hit and everyone is thrilled, right from Shah Rukh Khan, Farah and other cast down to the spot boys.

But the one who has had the last laugh is debutante actor Deepika. We heard that the success of the film has done wonders to her career and reportedly she has now upped her market price (well, she never had any before OSO) and is demanding a cool... well, lets not disclose the amount. It’s called making hay while the sun shines.

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Film Review: Dil, Dosti Etc

Film: Dil, Dosti Etc

Banner: Holi Cow Pictures

Producer: Prakash Jha

Director: Manish Tiwary

Star Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Nikita Anand, Imaad Shah, Smriti Mishra, Ishita Sharma, Dinesh Kumar

Rating: 2.5/5

Director Manish Tiwary’s maiden venture is perhaps the second film this year to have a stark take-it-as-you-see-and-judge-it-for-yourself tone (The first being Anurag Kashyap’s ‘Black Friday’). All the more satisfying because in the real world there are no easy answers and there is no black and white. His maiden venture ‘Dil Dosti etc.’ captures these truisms well albeit a bit amateurishly.

‘Dil Dosti Etc’ is not exactly a story but an episode in the life of the lead character played by debutante actor Imad Shah that does not necessary elevate or resolve his existential angst but incites one in the audience. The film revolves around the lives of a variety of youngsters all representative of today’s generation Y. Two of them, hostelites at a Delhi college, belong to two completely different worlds. One, Sanjay (Shreyas Talpade) is a deeply rooted Bihari and a student-politician embracing his middle-class values as his identity and the other Apurva (Imad Shah) is an upper-class Delhi-ite full of his aimlessness and lack of stolid values. Then there is Prerna, (Nikita Anand) a rich South Delhi-ite who aspires to be an international model. There is Kintu (Ishiita Sharma); a schoolgirl who though caught in her black and white world-view is already a perfect coquette. Completing this ensemble of characters and social backdrops is Vaishali, (Smriti Mishra), an almost aging prostitute fearing emotional involvement in her insecure life.

Through the actions, reactions, search, solutions, problems and choices of these characters the director weaves a world of today’s generation juxtaposing the values of time, class, culture and situations that make the youth of today. What transpires is a tale revelatory in its spirit of its effort to lay bare the essentials of Gen-Y.

The film is exploratory in nature and hence is experiential. It puts forward facts in the choices its characters make leaving us to understand why he/she did what they did. Here is a film that prods its audience to think and whether it succeeds is a question of individual appeal. It embraces realism in its treatment and does the cinematic technique no injustice. The screenplay falters at a number of points where it dilutes the flow with insignificant events or events incompletely unfolded. Nevertheless, it remains an imaginative work created with a sound knowledge of its purview.

The limitations of the film are as much in its mode of telling as in the handling of the rich variety of emotional and social milieus it inhabits. The direction is telling of a debut effort and so is the writing of the film. But it is not inept just trifle inexperienced. One of the best features it offers is a ringside view of student lives, loves and aspirations, a rarity to watch in today’s times.

The director has managed to extract some good performances from its lead cast. Imad Shah is interesting to watch as he plays his character, guiltless, aimless and cool. Nikita Anand does a much better job here if compared to her wooden act in (the now-forgotten) Life Mein Kabhi Kabhi though she has lots to learn about actingg. Ishiita Sharma thoroughly impresses in her precocious schoolgirl-playing hard to get role. Smriti Mishra’s character lacks the supposed punch and acridity of a prostitute that would have added the necessary tanginess. We see certain stiffness and a distinct discomfort in getting under the skin of her role. Sadly, even Shreyas doesn’t quite impress. All throughout he plays the confident student leader and man of his values well but fails to sustain it in the most crucial parts.

Cinematography is well-done and helps the film in creating the various moods of fun, debauchery, softness, camaraderie as it captures Delhi’s student life. Editing is paced but could have been smoother in easing out a couple of jerky cuts. The music especially of ‘Dum Laga’ is distinctly hummable but may not top the charts.

A good part (and some crucial dialogues) in the film are in English which alienates a large section of the audience. But since it is the student community the film will be understood by best, maybe it is as well to stick to the nitty-gritty realities of life in the fact that most students converse more comfortably in English today.

By no means a sit-up-and-take-notice film, Dil Dosti Etc., is still a watchable fare just for the excellent evocation of student life, male bonding and stark portrait of what makes up the youth of today. Don’t miss it if you have a choice.

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When Preity was tense about speaking in English!

What am I doing in these arty films?"
asks Preity Zinta a few hours after her English language film The Last Lear had a red carpet premiere at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival.
"I had thought for a long time that you get so poorly paid doing these films that you ended up not just being poor but starving," Preity says with a mischievous smile. "And I thought I would kill myself overworking under horrible conditions. Finally, there would be just two people seeing the movie."
Well, there were over 1,000 people for its Toronto premiere. The film travels from this film festival to half a dozen prestigious events including one in Rome.
It was one of the half dozen films from South Asia shown at the festival, which would have unveiled some 250 films from 60 countries by the time it ends on September 14.
Preity smiles broadly just as Rituparno Ghosh, the director of The Last Lear, passes us by at the penthouse conference hall of Royal York Hotel, for yet another interview.
"I call him Bikshu," says Preity, referring to his tonsured head and the kind of clothes a monk wears, except that the clothes must have cost him a small fortune. "But he is a monk who gives giving," she chuckles. "And he asks very little from you. He allows you a lot of space. He told me not to do much preparation before the shoot. Learn your lines, he said, and come ready to be surprised." She also calls him Rituda.
Compliment her heartfelt performance in The Last Lear, and she replies, "I have been lucky to work with some of our finest directors. But Last Lear holds a special place in the heart because this is very new to me."
But she has not renounced the masala films, she adds.
"I enjoyed working in so many of them especially Jaan-e-Mann and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom," she says. "But now I am confident of doing other kinds of films. If they are going to shoot all of Shakespeare's works, I want to be in them. Like many literature students, I too read his work extensively during my English Honours studies."
She refers to her multi-layered and complex character whose suspicious husband never allows her peace of mind. Her entanglement with a veteran Shakespearean actor who is making his movie debut makes her life interesting but complicated.
"I don't like dark films, and characters with dark impulses," she says. "But here I fell in love with all the film's characters because Rituda has crafted them so well. They are not just black and white characters. There is a lot of grey area too."
She was expected to work on the film for 15 days. "But everything was going so well, my work was over in just nine days."
She has worked with Amitabh Bachchan in three films (and two more films in which she did not have scenes with him) but working on The Last Lear was a unique experience, she says.
"He is one star who gently takes you up, makes sure you give out your best," she says. "Working with him is like learning one's craft and improving oneself in film after film."
She had been concerned about speaking her lines in English, throughout the film. "In real life, we use English all the time," she says. "But saying it on screen was going to be a very different experience. So I was tense, and I guess everyone else was too. Mr Bachchan told me at one point that he too was scared but there was nothing to really worry about. We should be able to do justice to our parts, he assured me. Even then I wondered how we, who happen to be hardcore Hindi film actors, would meet the challenge."
On the first day of the shoot when she heard Amitabh Bachcan say his lines, she was astounded. "I admired the way he pronounced the words," she admits. "His diction was wonderful too. I felt confident that I can learn from him, and that I would be alright. He made it sound as if it is the only language in the world. His help during the shoot was immense."
She also signed Toronto-based Deepa Mehta's Heaven On Earth in which she plays an abused arranged marriage bride from India who decides to take destiny in her own hands.
Like The Last Lear, Mehta's project could also be considered arty, though her last film Water grossed over $5.5 million in North America making it the highest grossing Hindi language film. Worldwide, it has grossed over $10 million.
Heaven On Earth will be shot in India and Canada especially Toronto.
"This role is even more complex than my most complex roles," she says. "I will be challenged every moment I am working on that film."
She won't discuss the role further. "I am secretive about what I am doing in a film," she says.

source : rediff news

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Review : Victoria No. 203

Victoria No. 203 (comedy) Cast: Anupam Kher, Om Puri, Sonia Mehra Direction: Anant
More stills from Victoria No. 203
HERE'S another re-make that makes you wonder why it was made. The '70s thriller that become a runaway hit due to the buffooning blast by Ashok Kumar and Pran and the leggy show of seduction by Saira Banu resurfaces as an ekdum thanda affair. Anupam Kher and Om Puri are the two golden-hearted goons who fling themselves earnestly in a diamond hunt, once they realise the diamonds will save a poor little girl's (Sonia Mehra) life. But there are a bunch of crooks too chasing the bling-bling things which have been hidden in the eponymous buggy. Leading the brat pack is mysterious babe, Preeti Jhangiani and ham-ster Jaaved Jaafrey who's just not there in the role. The gags are silly, the pace soporofic and the fun element pure fiction. This Victoria is definitely off the rails.

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'Heyy Babyy' is a special film for me: Akshay Kumar

He is the one actor in tinsel town who has always proved his critics wrong. When he was labelled as an action hero with his 'Khiladi' series films, he did romantic films, negative shade characters and comic roles and proved everyone wrong by his acting and always added feathers in his cap. Now, Akshay Kumar who has been doing consecutive hits is all set with his latest comic film 'Heyy Babyy' which according to him is a very special film.
At Rajasthan's Jaisalmer city shooting for Yash Raj film's upcoming film 'Tashan,' Akshay spoke on various issues candidly with PTI exclusively over phone from Jaisalmer despite his hectic schedule.
'Heyy Babyy,' he said, it is a very special movie for me, because i have done this film only for my little son Aaarav. And i did this because I had never worked with a child artiste, and with this film i have learned that how difficult is this to shoot a film with a child artiste," he said.
They (producer and director) ensure everything for the baby Juhaina who has played vital role in the film. Mind you this baby is only star in the film and we had three doctors and three nurses round the clock for the baby, he said.
"At this stage of my career, working with the child artiste taught me that they are big stars," Akshay Kumar said.
There was no shooting when the baby was sleeping, we were instructed not to disturb the mood of baby when he was having food. All of us (Ritesh Deshmukh, Fardeen Khan, Akshay Kumar) had to wait on the set to get his mood right for the shoot.
It was also heard that during the shooting of the film, Akshay proved to be the best babysitter as whenever the baby got into restless mood on the sets, Akki used to take baby onto his lap and soothe her. Up to some extent that's true. Not only me but Ritesh too had looked after the baby well. It was a memorable experience that would not be forgotten, he said.
On the storyline of the film, Akshay, said, "Main kuch nahien bataoonga (I will not tell anything)." All what I can tell you is that people of every age especially kids, parents and grandparents are going to enjoy the film. It is the funiest film that would also make people cry."
Is it true that the film is based on famous Hollywood film 'Three men and a baby?' No, only similarly in our film is that we too have three men and a baby but it is an altogether different film in terms of story telling and direction," he said.
Akshay recalls how he called his costar Vidya Balan up and pretending to be an Australian journalist requested for a interview. She agreed and I interviewed her for about 20 minutes, I had switched on the speaker of my cellphone and let other crew members listen to our conversation. She did that interview so seriously."
'Heyy Babyy' is the directorial debut of anchor Saajid Khan (Farah Khan's brother). Akshay Kumar said he " I know him for the last 20 years.
With this film I can say confidently that film industry has lost a comic actor but we got a good director who would be appreciated for the work he has done in Heyy Babyy." On his stunts and actions the actor says he is ready with Nikhil Advani's 'Made in China' in which he would be seen with all stunts and action.
"I have done action again almost after five years. And when I was doing such film after a long time I thought I should do something special to the audience, and people would definitely love the action and stunts of this film," he said.
Akshay is presently wrapping up the shooting of Yash Raj productions 'Tashan' where he has teamed up with Saif Ali Khan almost after 10 years. He said, "I cannot say much on this film. All what I can tell you is that I am with Saif after 10 years and he is the best co-star to work with."

SOURCE : THE HINDU

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