This is the very theme of Christopher Nolan’s movie, Inception. The movie is the story of Dom Cobb played by DiCaprio who is a thief, but he doesn’t steal material things – he steals secrets from people’s mind by entering their dreams. He is hired by a business tycoon Saito, played by Ken Watanabe, for the ultimate job. Saito doesn’t want to steal a secret instead he wants to Cobb to plant an idea into the mind of his archrival Robert Fischer’s mind played by Cillian Murphy.

Cobb cannot go back to his own country because the police are looking for him as they think he killed his wife Mal played by Marion Cotilard. Everytime Cobb is in someone’s dream Mal turns up in the dream projected by his own subconscious mind and tries to ruin his plans. So when Saito promises Cobb a safe passage back home to his kids he can’t resist even if it involves the great risk of going into multiple levels of dreams.

Aided by his trusted friend Arthur, played by Gordon-Levitt, Cobb assembles a team of the best “dream architects” – Ariadne (played by Ellen Page), who can create and maintain the balance of the dream world, and a forger who can shift his identity inside a dream (played by Hardy).

Nolan’s narrative is simple. In spite of the theme being so complex it doesn’t confuse the audience. The first half is spent in explaining in detail what Cobb’s job is, and in the second half the job is carried out.  All the actors play their part well. To rate this movie would be blasphemous. If Avatar left you in awe, wait till you watch Inception.

The movie is like a huge puzzle which the audience starts to solve from the moment the screen lights up. The movie challenges your intelligence. As DiCaprio and gang jump from one level of dream to another, the audience participates and enjoys the puzzle. Scenes like the one where Arthur fights security guards in anti gravity in his dream is so well shot that you might just start feeling as if you are a part of that dream.

In the end the movie makes you think what if such a concept can become a reality. It would be a scary world. But then isn’t this already a reality. From the day we are born there are people who are trying to plant ideas into our head. The marketers are trying to plant the idea of purchasing their products into our heads or the politicians trying to plant the idea that they are the leaders; no wonder the world has already become a scary place. And what about me? Even I am trying to plant an idea into your head to go watch the movie.

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• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

I ended up being 5 minutes late. I entered and saw Hrithik flirting with Kangana Ranaut. I gathered from my friend that I hadn’t missed much. J (Hrithik Roshan) is a young, handsome guy who marries women (illegal immigrants) so they can get citizenship. He lies with ease and is looking for an easy way out of his impoverished life. Enter Bob (Kabir Bedi). Bob is your typical rich, arrogant man who runs a shady business and has the entire government machinery in his pocket. He runs a casino, is filthy rich and his family is as eccentric as he is. Tony (Nick Brown) and Gina (Kangana Ranaut) are Bob’s kids.

Since I entered the theatre late, I don’t really know how but J manages to successfully woo Gina and they are ready to tie the knot. Now is the perfect time for J to get friendly with Gina’s family. Tony, Gina’s brother is the villain in the movie. His level of eccentricity is slightly greater than his dad’s. He’s smug, rich and a brat. His idea of fun is to step down from his chauffeur driven car, shoot some poor fellow and walk away like a badass! He makes it look so simple that I’m considering this as an alternative to Facebook to pass my time. Natasha a.k.a. Linda (Barbara Mori) is Toni’s fiancée. The first time J looks at her is when he is diving in the sea. She swims past him, completely captivating him. The next second, she does a P.C. Sorkar and vanishes into thin air!

A few minutes later, it’s revealed that Natasha is one of the 11 illegal immigrants J had married. This is so casually shown that you could miss it even if you had your eyes glued to the screen. Tony treats Natasha like doggie poo, and she is with him for the money. When she was a kid, her dad passed away and now she has to support her family. And yeah, when J was little, he lost his mother. Sad, right? It was somewhere here that I realised that 130 minutes of my life were going to go waste. So, I exited and decided to grab some popcorn. When I returned, the movie was still where I’d left it. Hrithik and Barbara were dancing in the rain. Oh my, How romantic.

Kids! It’s time to put your thinking hats on and imagine the rest of the story. I swear it isn’t much of a challenge.

“They run away together and Tony goes on a rampage throughout the nation hunting them down”, you ask? Bingo! You’re right!

“Hrithik and Barbara rob banks, outrun police cruisers in pick-up trucks, jump onto hot air balloons from running cars, dodge sticky situations with ease and destroy more than two dozen police cars single-handedly”, you ask? Booyah! You nailed it!

“Barbara drives her car over the edge of a cliff and Hrithik returns to that place after killing everyone and jumps to his death”, you ask again? Time to hand over the certificate of appreciation to all of you… You got another one right!

If you’ve read till here you must have realised that I’ve basically let the cat out of the bag. This review is one hell of a spoiler! That’s because I don’t want you to spoil your mood and waste your time watching something which you can easily avoid. Although, if you relish cheap copies of Rajnikant flicks, then this is the film for you.

If it were the days of “Khoon Bhari Maang“, I might have still given Kabir Bedi a pat on the back. But Bedi does not miss this opportunity and delivers yet another outlandish performance. There is no real reason for this character to even exist in the movie. Nick Brown as Tony is somewhat convincing as the retarded brat but the character is too loud. Kangana Ranaut hardly speaks. She does a P.C. Sorkar too, towards the end. I’ll let you discover this yourself if you watch Kites. Barbara Mori has a beautiful smile and does act to some extent. Her dialogues are mostly in Spanish and there are subtitles for majority of the movie. However, I believe the makers of the movie realised that by the time the movie reaches its climax, the audience wouldn’t care a bit if Barbara spoke in Spanish or Urdu. So, it’s pretty frustrating when you see Barbara yap in Spanish with no subtitles to help you decipher what’s going on. Hrithik needs to lose his silly “Raj Uncle” accent from Yaadein (anybody remember that?). He’s acted well but it’s not something extraordinary.

Overall, I’d give Kites a score of 2/5. The two points are for the camera work and some visually stunning scenes. The story is a dud and the performances are lousy. Give it a miss. I wish I had. Spending my time in the shower would have definitely been better than watching Kites.

Related Posts

• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

I have always been a fan of Abhay Deol, and look forward to his films. Maybe that’s because his movies can be harsh, in an in-your-face kind of way, and can also be very close to reality at other times. Dev D and Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye are two of his movies I’m referring to here. It was after these movies were released that I started following his movies. But, I digress… back to the movie review.

Road, Movie is based on a journey taken by Vishnu (Abhay Deol).

During his journey Vishnu goes through different emotions. At times he is having fun, at times he lusts. Vishnu learns that he should share, goes through a phase of feeling hopeless, and displays quick thinking through the course of the movie. Every dialogue in the movie is meaningful, and it takes a while to get to the deeper meaning of each sentence. Vishnu’s dad runs a small business of selling hair oil. This hair oil would become a key life saving element for Vishnu towards the end of the movie. Vishnu gets hold of an old Chevrolet Truck which contains all the equipments necessary for screening a movie. He does not intend to show movies to people, but circumstances force him to.

There are some breathtaking shots in the movie, shot in Rajasthan. Every scene looks so well composed, and aesthetically superb. Innovative camera angles and locations made me feel I was watching a movie of international standards. So, not surprisingly, the movie has been nominated for many awards. The slow pace, with excellent dialogue interspersed with patches of silence in between, and lots of things unsaid and left for the viewer to imagine just adds to that extra element of creativity.

The background score is awesome, and with not much song and dance the director has ensured that the focus is not lost. The movie touches upon various social issues like the water problem, the law and order situation, and the way women are living in the deserts of India. Like I said, the movie just touches upon these issues and these do not form the central theme, as Vishnu tries to complete his journey of 6 days.

Abhay Deol has been very well supported by Satish Kaushik, and Tannishtha chatterjee. There is also a child actor in the movie, Mohammed Faizal Usmani, who is brilliant. I have always seen Satish Kaushik doing comedy roles, and hence the role of a burly mechanic, wearing filthy clothes, and being serious, was refreshing to see. It was the first time that I was watching Tannishtha and I liked how she played the role of a Rajasthani widow. She can actually act and it is about time that our directors started using such actresses.

Road, Movie is an off beat movie that is a superb combination of creativity and acting at its best. Thank you Dev Benegal.

Rating: 4/5

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• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

The movie starts with Ajay Devgan, who happens to be a film writer, narrating a movie story. A joke lifted from a Pakistani play, which I just wished they had lifted completely, than just do a rehash. There are a few scenes of Konkona Sen too, but I felt her acting talent was grossly underutilized. Maybe, the makers didn’t have enough confidence in her comic skills?

Enter Paresh Rawal who has been playing the role of an old, pot bellied comic character since Hera Pheri. Filmmakers need to get creative now – we are bored watching the same character again and again, with only the movie names changed. There is a parody of a bhajan which I feel was the only high point in the movie – very well done and enjoyed by the audiences.

All the jokes dry up even before the interval. In fact, Paresh Rawal farting around in the movie repeatedly isn’t funny all the time. By this time, however, the movie has a good base to make the audience expect a decent second half.

But, never before have I seen someone commit a sin of combining comedy with tragedy. Hang on, I think the last time I saw Jaspal Bhatti do just the opposite -  he, however, was successful in making a comedy even though he tried his best to make tragedy. So, it was a real shoddy job of trying to end a decent comedy movie with a really sick tragic plot.

I’m still waiting to watch a decent comedy movie, however for those who still plan to watch this movie, my suggestion is to leave the movie hall after the first half.

Rating: 2/5

Images: From the Internet

Related Posts

• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

I had a lot of expectations from the movie after watching the promos, and that just added to the disappointment. Choosing to watch Amitabh Bachchan in Rann, over Ishqiya, proved to be a wrong decision it seems. The movie could have been better with a stronger story line. The actors have done their bit, but this movie can be a classic example of what can happen when even though your actors perform well, you don’t have a good story to tell – the movie just seems ordinary.

The movie tries to expose the dark side of the News Channels in India, however, at times, the examples given become a bit boring. There is a section in the movie where Ritesh Deshmukh who is working with Amitabh Bachchan’s News Channel tries to investigate a story on his own; the whole investigation sequence I thought could have been handled better, but for the weak story. At another point in the movie, Amitabh, who is portrayed as someone who stands by his values and is disciplined when it comes to journalism, does not even bother to verify authenticity of a story and breaks the news to his viewers. There are many such instances where it seems the writer has not worked hard enough; the screenplay too therefore does not do justice to the movie. It seems like a complete patchwork knitted together without someone having looked at the complete package that was being delivered to the audience.

The closed camera angles and the color tone used were impressive. Rajpal Yadav’s performance in a serious yet comic role was a relief. Amitabh Bachchan’s performance was great, but that seems to be given these days, he’s a gem and I admire his acting. I was most impressed however by Sudeep. He has left a mark in the movie, and it seems he means business when it comes to acting. Riteish Deshmukh is very ordinary, and to me he seems fit to be doing only comedy roles.

I would suggest you wait till the movie gets released on one of the movie channels, and then you can enjoy it at home.

Rating : 2.5/5

Related Posts

• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

Director/Writer:

Actors: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang

A tweet review would be – “A visual and aesthetic treat. This marks the beginning of an era. Cameroon has done it yet again.”

Right from my cousin who’s in primary school, to my friend in college, to my NRI uncle, absolutely everyone has been mesmerized by this masterpiece. This has to be one of the very few movies that has lived up to its hype and has actually delivered more than it promised.

The Plot:
Firstly, we have a US Govt. commissioned space mission to the planet Pandora, in search of the mineral ‘unobtanium’ (loved the name) which is precious and can solve the energy crisis on planet earth. Then we have the locals of Pandora, the Na’vi people, a tribe of ten-foot tall blue skinned, pony-tailed humanoids. Then we have the paraplegic war veteran, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) who is brought in place of his scientist twin brother who dies before the mission. Then we have a person’s “avatar”, a body made by combining the genes of the person with the native Na’vi genes. These avatars are controlled by their owners, who are in an unconscious state in a lab in the human base station. The purpose of developing avatars is to form a better connection with the natives, and persuade them to move from their traditional land to make way for mining. Lastly, we have the military forces led by Colonel Miles (Stephen Lang) who thinks that war is the only way to handle the situation in Pandora.

Jake being an ex-marine, initially tries to straddle two boats at the same time – being loyal to the military as well as the scientist camps. But as he mixes with the natives and understands their affinity towards the ‘Home tree’ (the center of their existence), he takes the side of the natives in this unfair and unjust battle. His falling in love with the king’s daughter only hastens the process of the increase in his affinity for the natives. Jake takes it on himself to save the Na’vi race from the human onslaught and that shapes up as the epic Na’vi versus humans battle in the climax.

The Positives:
All the lead actors have done justice to their roles, but a special mention must be made of Sigourney Weaver who plays the lead scientist, and Zoe Saldana who plays the warrior princess (and is Jake’s love interest as well).

Each scene is picturesque. The level of detail in each frame is astonishing, setting very high precedents for the movies that use CG henceforth. The first half is breathtakingly beautiful, where you cannot but observe each and every intricate detail in Pandora’s landscape.

The subtle references made to the US attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq hit bull’s eye each time around. The tone in the dialogue when the colonel says “We’ll fight terror with terror” is so similar to the many speeches given out by Rumsfeld, Powell and Bush.

The Negatives:
A very predictable plot, nothing novel in it. But as some critics have said, there have to be some things that shouldn’t be experimented with in an experimental big budget movie like this, and Cameroon chose not to tamper much with the storyline.

Some of the characters are not well-rounded off. It is these characters that could have given much more depth to the wafer-thin storyline.

All in all, it’s a must-watch. It’s Cameroon’s gift to the world of cinema, and boy what a gift this one is. Go book your tickets for the next show and join the ‘Avatar’ fan club.

(Have you watched the movie yet? What are your thoughts on the movie?)

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• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

With playing a loser of different losses in all of his movies, Ranbir Kapoor does it one more time in Rocket Singh – Salesman Of The Year, and somehow he manages to find a way to make this new loser look better than the others he has portrayed in the past.

Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year is an off the wall, yet another coming of age, movie which revolves around the life of Harpreet Singh Bedi (Ranbir Kapoor) and his zest to become a salesman – a salesman, not the kind who assists you at a retail counter but the kind who goes knock knock, from one door to another. With no percentage to boast off (37 % with grace marks), or money to apply for a private MBA, H Singh uses the most essential talent a salesman could ask for – his knack of talking anyone into buying anything. Getting employed as a salesman to sell computers, after failing to sell a pencil at his interview, Singh then finds himself on the path from zero to hero through the course of the movie.

The movie thrives on the writing skills of Jaideep Sahni, whose off beat movies (Bunty Aur Babli, Khosla Ka Ghosla, etc.) have worked well with the audience before, and have raked in the moolah at the box-office. The writing skills have, however, been supplemented with some good all round acting skills by the cast, and able direction by Shimit Amin.

Shimit Amin has an impressive resume with credits in the editing and sound department for many Hollywood movies. In Bollywood he is better known as the director of the 2007 blockbuster ‘Chak De! India’ (also written by Jaideep Sahni), and the RGV produced movie ‘Ab Tak Chhappan‘ (2005). Amin flawlessly executes the story, and his understanding of the other aspects of movie making is evident in his treatment of Rocket Singh – Salesman of the Year. The characterisations and peculiarities of everyday office humor is cleverly exploited. There are no tangents or sub-plots in the movie, and that keeps the viewers focused on one straight plot, which is kept crisp and comic till the very end.

Shazahn Padamsee looks composed in her debut, and does a good job with the small role that she has as the lead actress. Gauhar Khan, who gets more screen time than Padamsee, brings an edge to the male driven office politics depicted in the movie. Yesteryears bad man, Prem Chopra, is noticeable as a God fearing and honest grandfather.

The no-song movie gets a pleasant feel, however, thanks to the upbeat music of Salim-Sulaiman.

In the end Rocket Singh lets you walk out with absolutely nothing to take back, which makes it more approachable and plays to its advantage. An honest movie.

Ranbir Kapoor, who by now has become an expert in playing such roles, doesn’t leave any room for disappointment and adds another feather to his hat.  Long Live The Loser!

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• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

Exactly what happens in Quickgun Murugun which spoofs Rajni?

Our man, Quickgun Murugun – the cowboy, the protector of the cows – is out to do his job, viz, protect cows from the fanatic non-vegetarian, Rice Plate Reddy. To fulfill his duty he convinces the officers of the other world to send him back to this world. And so on and so forth.

Sounds outrageous and out-of-the-world hilarious. But it ain’t that ROFLarious. There isn’t much comment you can make about such films, right? There’s the usual ricocheting bullets and super-power-like action. Acting is intentionally over-the-top and overtly melodramatic – by one and all – okay except for maybe the cameo by Vinay Pathak. So is the direction, especially in terms of the long pauses to enhance the already outlived-its-stay drama; or even the emotional drama that punctuates the flow of the film – the exaggeration of everything in every frame. But, it’s a spoof, so it’s all obviously deliberate and supposedly necessary, what can you say? Certainly, you are not allowed to complain.

However, there are some bits and pieces that work. These make you smile and occasionally that smile grows wider. Each character’s name is a cackle each. Also a lot of the smiles are hidden in the background, in the art-work, some references that will make you sneer at both – the joke and your smartness because you noticed it.

Another bit I completely enjoyed was the background score. It’s creative and it’s funny. There’s one bit where a western-film theme music is playing on a flute. Nice!

There is also this comment on how super-heroes and God-like humans are necessary to get rid of the filth in the society today. A good vs. evil war is more obviously portrayed as a dev vs. daanav (God vs. Satan) war. What’s more? Like Lord Krishna our man has more than one love interests. There are many other tiny comments tucked in too. Like the irony that the anti-vegetarian demons have to use different vegetables as weapons, celebrities used to advertise commodities, an Indian’s love for mother’s cooking, a mother’s pride on how well she cooks, etc.

But the novelty wears off. With every thing I liked and found funny, it was so only the first couple of times. The third repetition onwards it became boring. So much so that in the end one and a half hour seems too long to sit through for this.

Final Verdict – Watch if you have nothing better to do.

Related Posts

• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• August 16, 2009 — Kaminey -Watch at Your Own Risk!!!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

Image Source: Offical website (kaminey.utvnet.com/)

Go to see “Kaminey” and you are likely to be confronted with the cinema-goer’s existential questions. What is the purpose of cinema? Does it lie in the telling of a tale so riveting that the viewer wishes it would never end? Does it comprise of the film-maker’s vision and his desire to show it to the world? Such as it may be, should he be allowed to indulge himself in creating an oeuvre that few understand and still fewer appreciate?

These questions hit you, left, right and centre, like shrapnel flying in a combat zone, when you elect to see “Kaminey”. The setting of the film is comfortably familiar, so familiar through its countless predecessors inglorious and otherwise. Say “Bombay underworld” and we sink into a comfort zone of chases through old mills, past local trains and the now-famous lanes of India’s most crammed metro. The mood is introspective and the cinematography only enhances this. There is a pastiche of shots that’s pure Art. So pure is it that it belongs to the still rather than the moving world. It moves languidly and nimble by turns…

What sets the tone of “Kaminey”? Quite definitely, the almost surreal lighting. The dramaturgic play of light and shadow tells its own thespian tale, almost as much, if not more than the script does! The hair-trigger pace of the film sometimes detracts from the story-telling. So snappy is it that, in places, it makes the viewers’ head spin, making him lose track of the cast’s antics.

There are times when a film-maker ought to stop to ask himself what does he seek to achieve by making the story rush out of the screen in the manner of a bat out of hell? To my mind, it spoke of an attempt to cover up weak characterisation and a poor narrative. I found the narrative poor not in terms of pace (which, as said above, is hypersonic!), but in terms of a sequence of themes, motives and plot-lines. Early in the film, Charlie begins a story. You begin to develop an interest in his story, only to have this device abandoned after a while. It might have been interesting to have Guddu’s voice tell us his story as a counter-poise. But that does not happen. The interesting philosophy expounded by Charlie is illustrated by and by, but you don’t hear his “voice” so much after a while. The problem is that having given his tale wonderfully identifiable beginnings, the film-maker loses sight of middles and ends! The path of exposition-development-climax-resolution-denouement, normally constructed into coherent plot lines is abandoned in favour of a non-linear recital. The problem with such story-telling is that it cannot then take advantage of that most useful of devices – suspense! For sure, you see the film move towards an almost certain ending. But the near-operatic climax is marred by the earlier meanderings of the chronicle.

The main plot contains too many subplots: Guddu, Sweety, the three Bengali brothers, Tashi, the two-timing Sikkimese (Bhutanese?) and the African brothers, Bhope Bhau and his love of Maharashtra, the corrupt cops. There’s simply not enough time in three hours for the director to tell everyone’s story, to make every character believable, even identifiable. The actors are competent. But only just. There is no Pankaj Kapur, no Saif Ali Khan to raise the floundering film to Olympian heights. One feels a bit sorry for the so-earnest Shahid Kapoor. He lacks his father’s raw talent, and he owns not a shred of the menacing magnetism of Saif Ali Khan. Priyanka Chopra is just that. Priyanka Chopra. She mouths a few dialogues in atrocious Marathi, thereby robbing her character of the little respectability it showed in an earlier sequence. The botoxed expression gets in the way of the performance! Amol Gupte is on the brink of an alternative career as an actor. The rest of the ensemble is competent, but essentially forgettable. None will stick in your memory for long.

No complaints about the multi-layered sound, the songs which have most of the country’s young tapping their feet, including the really unique, if slightly absurd choreographic device adopted in Kaminey, or the editing which is slightly psychedelic in places.

My grouse with Bharadwaj stems from a too-high threshold of expectations. The issues, the ideological conflicts and the lesson-learning he promises in the beginning of the film never materialise.

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• July 19, 2010 — Inception – A Movie of Your Dreams!
• May 21, 2010 — Kites – A Review!
• March 14, 2010 — Road, Movie!
• March 11, 2010 — Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge!
• February 2, 2010 — Rann – Or, Was it Run?
• December 21, 2009 — Avatar – Cinema Re-incarnated!
• December 12, 2009 — Rocket Singh – Takes off!
• September 2, 2009 — Quickgun Murugun: Shoots & Misses the LOLs!
• August 1, 2009 — Love Aaj Kal – Truly Lovely!

Are you ready to fall in love with the ‘very concept of love’? If yes, then ‘Love Aaj Kal’ is surely the movie for you! The best part of the romantic flick is that unlike the run-of-the-mill Bollywood love sagas, young director Imtiaz Ali’s ‘Love Aaj Kal’ is completely in sync with the modern Indian society. The director has taken a more realistic approach in this film, unlike the usual love stories seen in Bollywood. In the movie, the main protagonists of the 2009-love story do not bore you with mundane talks of love and heartache; they rather present you with a mirror image of the modern day urbane youth.

Through ‘Love Aaj Kal’, Imtiaz Ali has presented yet another example of his directorial excellence – the use of simple, short and crisp dialogues, with complete focus on the characters. The two stories – of Jai and Meera, Veer Singh and Harleen Kaur, are set in two different eras – the former being set in 2009 and latter in 1965. Having similar ends, the stories run parallel to each other, making the audience take some time to grasp the plot. Nonetheless, the complex, but comprehensive, screenplay helps the director a great deal in keeping his audience hooked to the movie, right from the beginning to the very end.

‘Love Aaj Kal’ also scores on its lush locations. You can catch a glimpse of the picturesque beauty of London and San Francisco mainly in the first half. The second half would make you feel at home, through its scenes shot on the streets of ‘saddi Dilli’! The plot would definitely click the minds of modern urban youth. At the same, it has something for people living with old school of thoughts as well, because by the end, Jai realizes that he is not too different from the Veer Singh of 1960s, who lived out the typical Heer-Ranjha love story, in his age and time.

The music by Pritam is another highlight of the movie. Talking about the performances, both Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone mesmerize the audience with their sensitive performances. Each of them beautifully lives the characters, to create an impact in the minds of the people watching their chemistry on-screen. Rishi Kapoor and Rahul Khanna have backed the lead protagonists well.

Final verdict – ‘Love Aaj Kal’ would make you love your loved ones all the more immensely. The movie is truly a ‘paisa vasool’.

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