Reviews

Heroine... the movie by Madhur Bhandarkar of so many good movies (the last one being Fashion). It has been in the news since the day they were hunting for their cast. The whole Aishwarya Rai Bachchan episode, Her opting out of the movie, the media hyping up the whole issue because of her pregnancy. Ironically, this movie shows exactly what kind of 'waves' need to be made in order for a movie to work. It makes me think whether all that buzz prior to shooting this movie was fabricated.

Any how, I was looking forward to this. As a regular cine-goer I refrained myself from watching the promos because I always want to be completely surprised by a movie I look forward to. When I was at the screening and the first half was about to end, I cursed myself for not looking at the promos, it was so hard to sit through it. I am a very patient person (especially when it comes to cinema, I am in the field myself). It felt like someone was torturing me, like I was captured in a cell, I wanted to leave because of the unbearable screenplay and Kareena Kapoor, who can act when given the right movie, but this... this NO... this was only Kareena Kapoor crying from start to end in a very not natural and annoying way.

The story - Absolutely sorry to say that there was nothing spectacular, special or new in this movie. It is Fashion, but only this time it is about the movie world. Very simple, a successful actress, blinded and stubborn natured goes through tough situations and screws up more and more in stead of progressing.

Characters - All the characters have been written so badly. I am going to start off with our 'Heroine'- Kareena Kapoor. A character can be very interesting if it is described as stubborn, hotheaded and impulsive. In this case it was definitely not interesting, it was annoying to look at such a character the whole 2,5 hrs. There is no progression in the character, she learns but doesn't use her experience in future problematic situations. The viewer may wonder, why am I watching this... oh well there might be a lesson to this at the end of the movie. Yes, there is, be sane when you get famous. I feel it all could have been told differently and that the character could have been written in such a way that makes us feel pity for Mahi Arora (Kareena).

Aryan Khanna (Arjun Rampal)- This character was written a little better and also cast well. Arjun Rampal suits the role of a very successful superstar, he plays the part with conviction and confidence. In his character there is progression, which is nice to see. He understands his mistakes and genuinely tries to change. This pleases the viewers.

Angad Paul (Randeep Hooda) - Angad was a fine character to get to know. He was someone who was trying to help Mahi but lost his patience because of her stupidity, Randeep did an excellent job and is surely making it to the list of top actors slowly.

The rest - What was the need for all the gay characters in the movie? Not every costume designer is homo-sexual, this is such a stereotype setting. All the celebrities in the movie portrayed to be bitchy, selfish and political in order to gain personal success. Really? What was the need, it is not exactly like that. Humility exists, also in the world of films.

Divya Dutta as Pallavi portrayed a stereo type media person who 'supposedly' knows how to get things done. Such an annoying character.

Shahana Goswami as Promita was awesome....until the lesbian part of the movie. Seriously what did it add to the story? Nothing it all. I face palmed during the scene Kareena and Shahana were feeling sexy for each other.

Ranveer Shorey as Tapanda was great, he portrayed the Bengali passionate filmmaker so well that I was looking forward to his scenes constantly, kudos! Sanjay Suri as Abbas Khas - He tried to portray SRK in my opinion, well no it did not work. Sanjay Suri knows how to ooze charm, where was it in this film? SRK has charm? DoP - some scenes were shot well, but overall I thought it was a mess the way some scenes were captured.

Music - Heroine could have used a chart buster, Halkat Jawani being the most hummed song from the album didn't really work for me in the movie. Poorly shot and disappointing choreography by Remo D'Souza.

Screenplay - was there one at all? On the whole, stay away from this movie, it is going to ruin 2.5 hrs of your life and you are going to regret it. The 3 stars I am giving are only for Randeep Hooda, Arjun Rampal and Ranveer Shorey. Madhur Bhandarkar has turned me into someone who will now not look forward to his films anymore. I am angry for the way he portrayed the film industry, it is not a shitty place! Disappointed :(

I just returned from the Raavan. I went there with zero expectations but somewhere I had a feeling that Abhishek would surprise me since Mani Ratnam and Abhishek made a good team and delivered a beautiful movie like Guru before.

60 minutes into the movie, I couldn't connect with anything in the movie. This is not Mani Ratnams territory, the way he told the story is just not him. Also, they tried to create an awesome character called Beera, with his own habits and expressions, but making AB do the different gestures with his hand, and making him do the 'effective' expressions like they did, made him basically look like a fool.

Aishwarya was only good in HDDCS till today, I still believe she can not act. In this movie she proved yet again that she is not very convincing, her characterisation is not up to the mark, she doesn't leave a proper impression.

All the supporting cast was just jumping around weird and definitely not powerful, actingwise. Govinda was wasted in this movie, I mean I expected so much from him being 'Hanuman' in this movie.

The action is just not fit for 2010, I still cant believe Bollywood shoots action scenes in which the cable on the shirt of the stunting actors is overclearly visible.

The only plus in his movie is the music, and cinematography. I basically laughed throughout this movie the whole time with my buddies because they also didn't connect with the footage.

In the end of the screening, all of the people (300) applauded very sarcastically, I never heard that before during any movie. I guess this was not just a disappointment for me.

Advice : skip this one in the theatres and save your money for something useful! Watch it on DVD within a year or two, you are not missing anything!

Thumbs down 4/10

Okay, I see a lot of negative reviews, one thing in common of all those negative reviews is the fact that their location is India, all the positive reviews are coming from western countries. I believe it is quite true when I say that the Indian audience were somewhat annoyed because they had to read the subtitles throughout the movie, the Indian audience is simply not used to reading subs throughout their own Bollywood film, it's alright when they have to read it during Hollywood movies. That point was a boiling point for them throughout the movie, secondly... I believe they were surprised that there was nothing Indian in this movie besides the Hindi language, I mean ; no sarees, no cultural stuff, no touching feet or whatever.. I can understand that these people can't admire the movie anymore for what it is.

I personally loved the whole concept, it is a new, fresh, original movie coming from India. Hrithik Roshan is always a good choice, though I didn't like his previous few movies (Krrish, Dhoom2, Jodhaa Akbar) I absolutely connected with this one and loved his performance. Barbara Mori is a discovery, I think this is the first time she has got such international exposure, now new doors will open up for her either in Hollywood or Bollywood, I would like to see her in more movies! Some say that the music was just bad, I wouldn't say that, the music is perfect for a Kites kind of movie. I don't expect Rajesh Roshan making songs like he did for Koi Mil Gaya, Krrish, Karan Arjun, Kaho Na Pyar Hai etc. Zindagi ek pal, Dil kyon yeh mera, Fire, Kites in the sky... all these tracks gel very well with the scenes, especially because there is no lipsyncing (which im a big fan of!). Nicholas Brown is another discovery, this guy can act, although I believe Hindi is not his language he tried to speak it well for his dub sessions. Kabir Bedi was powerful. Kangana Ranaut looked a bit weird in the movie, and I don't understand what is wrong with her voice or her English. She was good in Fashion, but I don't understand her being in the movie. She hardly has 4/5 minutes altogether.

The cinematography is simply mindblowing, the movie took us to various locales which we have never seen in a Bollywood movie before. Therefore the funnily done action chases (with funny i mean it was a little pathetic!) were looking a bit real and cool. Anurag Basu has set a new trend, a new standard, just like movies in the past few months have already done; Dev D, Wake Up Sid, 3 Idiots, Rocket Singh and now Kites. Anurag has grown more as a director, his last movies weren't bad, but I couldn't quite connect with them. Kites did the trick!

My only complaint about this movie is; did the cars in the action scenes really need to explode directly when they touched another car, or banged into one? When Hrithik released the cars on the roads to attack the police, couldn't the police hit the brakes? You could clearly see that the cars were rolling towards the police, and they didn't do anything! The action scenes revolving around the chase could have been a lot better. In the ending when Hrithik shoots everyone with his machinegun, in the rain... i stared towards the screen through because that shot was just BEAUTIFUL. The rain, the silence, the background score.. wow! So there the action factor was hiked up a little bit for me.

All in all, if you want to enjoy the evolution of Bollywood, the maturing of Bollywood, the new Bollywood. Be sure to watch this movie! Kites is all good, and will soar high in the sky!

I expected a lot from this film, the trailers looked nice, songs are a hype and it was a super-hit. After watching this film I feel a little disappointed.

These kind of comedies would have worked in the late 90's. Nowadays it is the era of comedies like Munnabhai/3 idiots/Jaane Tu.. movies that make a little sense. Of course Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani makes sense, but the storyline is outdated; boy loves girl, girl loves someone else initially, boy still gets the girl in the end.

Though there are some things in the movie that still made me rate the movie 6 out of 10.

1. Ranbir Kapoor is an absolute entertainer, Wake Up Sid already impressed me to the core, but this performance of Ranbir tells me he is definitely going to be the superstar of tomorrow, maybe he already is! 2. Special appearance by Salman Khan. The 3 minute appearance by Salman is really funny, and refreshing! 3. The song picturisations of Tera Hone Laga Hoon, Tu Jaane na. 4. The songs by Pritam. 5. Katrina Kaif looking absolutely gorgeous. 6. The last scene where 'someone' helps Ranbir.

Upen Patel is a big no-no in such kind of movies, he can't act man! He should stick to modelling, and if he really wants to act, he should learn how to give proper facial expressions and body language.

Rajkumar Santoshi disappoints this time, his Andaz Apna Apna is one of my all time favourites and still one of the finest comedies ever. Hope he doesn't disappoint next time!

All in all, if you have nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon, watch this with some lays cheese onion in a bucket.

Avatar is a beautiful and amazing movie on humans that set their feet on the planet of other creatures, the na'vi. The story is really gripping and the way the story has been told is award deserving. James Cameron is back with a bang after nearly a decade, and what a jump he has made of genres. From a romantic drama called Titanic, to a pathbreaking cinematic 3D experience called Avatar.

While watching this movie, I was so involved with whatever I saw, just like Jake Sully, I started connecting with the world of the Na'vi, and felt anger when the humans starting demolishing it. This is the magic and affect of the storytelling of James Cameron. He uses the complete first hour to make the audience connect and create love for that earth-like world of the Na'vi, the creatures on the planet and the beautiful nature.

The way James Cameron has written, handled and directed the story deserves accolades and awards, I have never felt this amazed by a movie before. Performances of the movie are of A+ class quality, even though the movie does not have big names yet, the characterisation of each and every actor is completely in sync with the characters of the movie.

Sam Worthington has done a commendable job as Jake Sully, he is very convincing, and has honest expressions. Jake in his Avatar form is absolutely lovable, and has been executed perfectly. Zoe Saldana as Neytiri is beautiful, she truly looks like the princess of the race, and has done a remarkable job. The supporting cast is absolutely wonderful and very impactful.

The dosing of humour is perfect, not too much, and not too less of it. The 3D special effects are a milestone in the history of 3D cinematic experiences. Never has any special effect involved me so much. The natural environment looks astonishing and absolutely beautiful, the way production has been designed is very peaceful. The creators of the exterior of this movie have done a commendable job.

All in all, I can't describe my feelings for this movie in a review. You have to see this movie with your own eyes, you have to experience it in order to understand what Avatar has to offer.

Go watch it, I guarantee you will not be disappointed. Avatar is quality product in all perspectives, a milestone in the history of cinema. Thumbs up!

I watched this movie when it debuted at the box office but didn't bother writing a review till now. The movie was entertaining on all fronts, just all this critical acclaim isn't rightfully earned. A lot of things shown in the movie are just very unrealistic, I know this because I am Indian myself.

First things first, performances were very refreshing. Of course I knew most of the actors as I've seen them on screen while growing up. (Anil Kapoor/Saurabh Sukhla/Mahesh Manjrekar/Irffan Khan, all of them were good. Dev Patel as Jamal did a fine job, he is not a thorough looker, but that is what the role demanded. Freida Pinto as Latika was good too, though she needs to polish her acting skills more. Madhur Mittal as Salim was outstanding, I haven't really seen him before but he sure has command over acting. All the kids were absolutely amazing, they acted so natural without having acting classes or whatsoever. Superb! Out of all the younger actors, in my opinion Tanay Chheda stood out as the strongest.

Music was of course outstanding, because the music has been done by maestro A.R.Rahman, I have always been a fan of him, though this is not his best work, I'm glad he got an Oscar for his composition, and made his name a trademark in the market of international music. Jai Ho and Ringa Ringa are absolutely foot-tappable numbers.

Now the bad points... I understand the kids later grew up at places where tourism is a big thing, so they learned English. But it is certainly not realistic that the police cops were also talking in English to Jamal when he was being questioned, not just them... almost everybody was talking English. It would have been much better if they would have just talked in Hindi with included subtitles for viewers. Instead of letting the protagonists talk in English because it looks better than subtitles, that made it totally fake.

Second thing... Kaun Banega Crorepati? (Or Who wants to be a millionaire?) was never a Live thing on TV, sure, of course I understand that they can make it live because someone has reached the last 3 questions, but they should have somehow narrated that in the story, just demands a little creativity.

Thirdly, Salims character should have been written better. It still remains unclear/confusing why he changed in the last moment. It would have been better if Danny would have let Salim converse with Jamal first (On the phone even..) that he realised his mistakes and is about to make up for everything.

These three things caused me to cut three points off the total mark for Slumdog Millionaire. The hype isn't really needed, its a fine product, but not flawless.

:) Overall : Watch Slumdog Millionaire if you love good cinema! Thumbs up!