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Reviews
Kabul Express (2006)
A journey in the heart of Afghanistan, and into the hearts of people
Kabul Express is the Journey of two rookie journalists from India (looking to interview the Taliban), with an American, an Afghani and a Pakistani in the wilderness of Afhghanistan post 9/11.
Kabir Khan presents Afghanistan the way he saw it in his travels: At once beautiful, and at once ravaged, raped and destroyed. A cynical reporter's vision of a nation whose fate was changed by external influences and internal conflict.
Khan examines the flaws and weaknesses in human nature, the greed of money and power, the fear of pain and death. He Also highlights the strengths that keep us from destroying ourselves: love, friendship and compassion towards our fellow humans.
While the story is constantly evolving, the motives of each character are quite clear. The dialog is pacey and casual. The use of language is superb: English, Hindi and Afghani are used efficiently without repetition.
While the subject matter is quite grim, the light-hearted dialog eases the tension. The movie also makes it's point without being preachy. The characters are ones that the audience can relate to, which helps the film. Kudos to Khan for a brilliant first attempt at direction.
The cinematography does full justice to the barren landscapes, the towering mountains, the destroyed cities and the troubled souls residing within.
The acting deserves special mention.
Arshad Warsi strikes a chord with the audience with his childishness and quips in the face of danger. He helps lighten the mood. While John Abraham has a long way to go as an actor, he is nothing really to complain about. He is learning the craft, and it shows.
Linda Arsenio does justice to her role as the practical American journalist and Hanif Hum Ghum as Khyber, is simply endearing. He is the typical Afghani who wants to live in peace and earn a decent living.
Salman Shahid takes the cake as the Talib you want to hate, but the one you love the most. His acting is superb and his character is the strongest in the film. It is full of internal and external conflicts and his eyes convey them all.
OVERALL:
The Good: The Direction, The Cinematography, the Dialogs, The Acting and most importantly, the points the film makes about human nature.
The bad: Editing is patchy sometimes (I saw it at the World Premiere at DIFF and the quip about Osama bin Laden had been Chopped off- and it was obvious!) but for the most part nothing to complain about.
The Ugly: the fainthearted may find some scenes of violence disturbing
Final Word: A MUST watch!
Baabul (2006)
Carry an asprin for your own sake!
I would love to believe that either Ravi chopra directed this film in his sleep, or that he had some inspiration from Ekta Kapoor because i REFUSE to believe that he would actually make a 3hr film for justifying a 3 minute monologue!
Coming from a banner of BR films' repute (that too celebrating it's 50th year) this film disappoints (on so many levels), to say the least, as it is everything that BR Chopra would not make.
Perhaps the idea was to make a film that would remind us of the era that was 50 years ago. I say this because the dialogs are so cliché, it's disturbing. the characters are so one-dimensional its appalling. and the story is so predictable, I wonder if a toddler wrote it.... the dramatic payoffs are simply comical and the audience was left laughing at a scene where sympathy was expected....
salman tries to bring comic relief to the first half, but due to bad direction and worse dialog, one can't help but feel exasperated. the second half is so slow that "i wanted to rip my arm off, just so i could have something to throw(at the screen)" (yes, it's joey's line)
I was surprised to find that Mr. Bacchan, and Hema Malini could actually act so badly (hema-ji, has little or no role anyways) .... and Rani Mukherji and AB Sr. have none of the magic one has come to expect after "Black." the less said about john Abraham, the better. (Two words: Acting School!) in the second half the cast and crew tried it's best to put the audience to sleep, (and a few did in fact doze off) but i kept up with caffeine and bore the film (as it bored me) so i could warn others about this heinous crime against film making!)
let's now come to talk about the branding... OMG!!! Eros jewelry, Brooke bond, nerolac, kotak... please stop!!! i'm here to watch a film, not an advertising campaign!!!
OVERALL:
The Good: The kid, Rani Mukherji's bathroom-mirror scene, Amithabh Bachchan's 3 minute monologue at the end
The Bad: Everything else you have to endure to GET to the end!!
The Ugly: the dialogs, the dialogs, the dialogs, the direction, the costumes and jewelry!
Final word of caution, watch at your own peril!
Dhoom:2 (2006)
Eye-Candy that later gives you an upset stomach
I went to the film with many expectations, more because of the trailer (no plural as they made just one) and less because of the first film, which at the outset I may say was abysmal.
To begin with, the trailer of this film was fabulous. Everyone (except AB Jr) has lost so much weight and is so toned up that the words "eye candy" don't quite do justice to them. Leading from the front, lead man Hritik looks like the descendant of a Greek god. Aishwarya and Bipasha look more sporty and sexy than they have ever looked in their glamorous lives (Now, THAT's something!) hey, even Uday is well toned. The stunts and the chase sequences in the trailer are really what draw in the viewers.
Sadly, it's all downhill from there.
****Synopsis**** Hritik plays a slick criminal who's trying to leave his mark on the world by stealing flawless, priceless jewels and artifacts. He uses state of the art technology (some sci-fi) and some good disguises to achieve this end. Abhishek and Uday are cops with the Mumbai police department, so is Bipasha. They're all tracking Hritik and... Apart from one twist, that's it really.
Review: For starters, 99% of the best scenes from the film are already in the trailer. I say that as there is one great scene between Hritik and Ash and I don't want to ruin that for you.
Hritik has the meatiest role and the best lines, and he plays it to perfection with zeal and intensity. His dance is legendary of course, but his acting skills and the effort he puts behind his character are what make it worth buying a ticket. Kudos to him.
Aishwarya has the second best role with conflicts, both internal and external, and in her first few scenes one does get the feeling that she's a better treat for the eyes than the ears! She may be the best looking woman the world has seen; but, sadly, Ms. Rai can't act.
Abhishek could have done well to tone up in company of everyone else who looks amazing. I say this because neither is his role any good (apart from one or two good lines) nor is his physical appearance. Abhishek, I'm sure is a great actor and would have done better if his role was written any better.
Bipasha is in the film only for the glam-doll effect. Her character starts off well, and is built up to what one hopes will be a strong character. But suddenly, mid-way in the film, that character disappears without apology and is replaced with a "twin sister" whose character is nothing short of a Baywatch bimbo frolicking around uday. Bipasha was totally wasted.
Uday is there coz: well we all know why he's there! I'll give the guy this: he plays every character exactly the same way. Yes, I know that's neither here nor there- much like his character in the film. His buffoonery is childish and his role even sillier. He's a loyal sidekick to Abhishek who simply dances around the screen seeking attention. Uday seems to be in a hurry to say all his dialogues. He smiles uncontrollably for no rhyme or reason and is perhaps likable for just that. His role is short and (short of) sweet.
Now for the Technical aspects of the film: I did want very much to suspend my disbelief, but the director had other plans! Every time something was going right, he steered the scene in the opposite direction.
Let's start with the "amazing" visuals: CGI and Wire-work works best when it's not seen. The shots in the trailers manage to do that... but the additional ones in the film are laughable! Perhaps Sanjay Gadhvi doesn't realize, but the audience can "see" with the gift of "sight" when he's used the green background to cheat on the visuals.
For one, someone needs to give Allan Amin some lessons on wire-work, and perhaps physics (especially gravity) too... you don't HAVE to use something because you can! And please don't make it so obvious!! Like the reverse-somersault thing he puts into every film of his.... and his waterfall-fall shot is as pathetic as the one he'd done for Rakeysh Mehra's "Aks" (water falling faster than individual- even in supposed slow motion!) Basically, Allan Amin needs to learn a few things about the earth, and a few more about his job.
The story is by Aditya Chopra, who gave us marvels like DDLJ, Mohabbatein etc... And this time it seems like he was sleeping on the job. How else would you explain the worthlessness of so many characters (Bipasha and Uday the most) Lots of other structural flaws in the skeleton thread of story weaved around a few good looking people doing stunts. Really disappointed with Adi this time...
The Make-up department have done a decent job with Ash and ESPECIALLY Hritik. I say this of course given Indian movie standards... again; if the audience can see through the makeup, why cant the characters themselves?
The music of the film is nothing shy of comical! The title track (reminiscent of the first film) is worth listening to, but the others are just welcome toilet breaks! Songs have no purpose in a film like this and the Lyrics are like prose instead of poetry, to say the least. Pritam is better than the rubbish he's come up with for this film.
Overall, this movie is a neat little "Could've been awesome!" And the numerous flaws, both in characterization and in filming, were the director's responsibility. Sanjay Gadhvi, alas, comes across as a novice.
Final verdict: If you want to see Hritik, Aishwarya and Bipasha better than you've ever seen them, DO watch this film. Otherwise, Dhoom 2 is sadly, a film that just fizzles out. Overall: 4/10
Jaan-E-Mann: Let's Fall in Love... Again (2006)
Ought to have been called Jaane Kyun? (Who knows why!?)
JAANEMANN.... 1 Leave your mind at home when you go to watch this film 2 direction is great in the beginning (as it apes musicals such as Chicago and moulin rouge) but fails miserably towards the end 3 Screenplay starts off well, then falls apart. 4 script is weak, dialogues are weaker. 5 acting is standard though nothing great - akshay has a gr8 character though salman's is the meatier role. priety could have done the role in her sleep, nothing new for her. aman vermas character and relation was left undefined for a long time- bad role, well acted. 6 the music is tuneful and enjoyable. but would have been better just as instrumental 7 Lyrics are PATHETIC (lyrics would have been better if they were written by a nursery school child) 8 editing was surprisingly patchy in parts. odd, as the film's director used to be an editor
trivia: a character is named preity zintakova. aman verma's characters name is zubin HORNIBOI (hahahah)
best: Akshay's Laughter. THE CUTE KID worst: SALMAN'S COSTUMES!! The annoying kids and family members towards the end!