Story: Tiger is one of India's most effective espionage agents. But when this brave heart falls in love, even he has to seek cover to realise his dream.
Movie Review: Kabir Khan's movies—Kabul Express; New York, Ek Tha Tiger start with the similar sepia-toned skyline montages of what could be Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq; strife-ridden country associated with extremists. In ETT, the montages pass quickly.
Story:Gautam likes Veronica. Veronica likes him too. Gautam falls for Meera. Now what does Meera do? Three close friends find themselves caught in a vortex of emotions.
Critic's Rating:
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty, Randeep Hooda
Direction: Homi Adajania
Genre: Romance
Duration: 2 hours 25 minutes
Avg Readers Rating:
Movie Review: Two's company; is three a crowd? Homi Adajania's romantic comedy Cocktail is a slice-of-life film mounted beautifully and imaginatively on a large canvas with the vibrant colours of London, Cape Town and New Delhi. The film addresses the proverb--two is company; is three a crowd--situation throughout. With some super-light, sweet moments that one has seen in the mid-90s American sitcom Friends; that revolved around a group of friends in Manhattan; Cocktail deals with the fun moments and then the emotional turmoil faced by three Indian friends settled in the UK, whose paths cross inadvertently.
Story: Three
love stories set in three different eras; all of which go through the
inevitable love-cycle of hook-up, heartbreak, separation and reunion.
Story: Low-life thief Shiva and top-cop Vikram Rathore are identical. Vikram's killed by foes but his daughter thinks Shiva's her dad - can this Rowdy win respect?
Movie Review: In case I get a spelling wrong, that's because my ears are still ringing with all the seetis and taalis at Rowdy Rathore. The film's an unabashed, gunpowder-hot, sambar-spiced star-vehicle which runs along energetically most of the time because its star - Akshay Kumar, essaying a double role as Rathore and Shiva - is worth it, something that's emphasized often. At one point, a girl asks Shiva, pursuing pretty Paaro (Sinha) from Patna, 'Na tum mein Hrithik ke looks hain, na Shah Rukh ka charm, na Aamir ki cuteness, na Salman ki body - what's so cool about you?' Akshay drawls back, "Lagta hai Khiladi ko bhool gayi aap." Cue for crowd - erupt in rapture.
ROWDY RATHORE OFFICIAL TRAILER (HD)
Multiply that moment by 100 and you have Rowdy Rathore, a peppery pot-boiler brimming over with action, slapstick comedy and romance, dynamite lines and Akshay Kumar - lots of Akshay Kumar, channeling vintage heroes Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, adding a dollop of Jeetendra, topping with his trademark flair as he snarls, tongue deeply in-cheek, "Don't angry me!"
A lull in its second half aside, Rowdy's mostly quick-stepping, moving from Mumbai's malls to medieval Bihar where Baapji (Nasser) and his hamming henchmen terrorise Devgarh's townsfolk through pillage, beatings and rape. Till cop Vikram Rathore (Kumar) arrives on the Shramjeevi Express, assaulting local yokels with handy gannas, infusing new meaning to 'sugar-cane'. With terrific overhead shots capturing his exploits, the fearless Rathore even bumps off Baapji's vicious beta Munna, so Baapji won't rest till Vikram is killed.
SEXY SINHA: SONAKSHI SINHA
Despite an injury to his brain (which the doctor says causes 'hammo-rage'), Vikram and his little daughter Chinki reach Mumbai. Here, their paths cross with Shiva who adopts Chinki when Vikram's felled. And goes to Devgarh where he tells Baapji, 'A village can have only one Rowdy.' It's time Baapji - or 'lemon-chus', as Rowdy addresses him - shoved off.
This involves toe-curling violence though. A guy gets stabbed in the mouth, a head's crushed on a rock, swords slash through navels. Against the gore, Shiva's dancing with Paaro provides breezy relief but the music itself is unmemorable. In a Prabhudheva picture, expectedly the dances are eye-catching, some moves like sweet caresses, some sexy little bites. Sonakshi glows as Paaro, a spunky Indian beauty showing flashes of her star-father's confidence when she snarls at the villains, 'O saand ke bhes mein kukur." This Patna girl's stepped out in style with Rowdy. But the same can't be said for those playing Devgarh's dread-struck. Apart from Yashpal Sharma (sincere as a junior cop), the rest are unconvincing, as is the villainous set-up itself, located somewhere oddly between feudal Bihar, accented Andhra and Sholay's bandit lair.
Indeed, Rowdy Rathore pays homage to iconic filmi characters - identical heroes, golden-hearted chors, brave Men in Brown beating evil people to pulp. However, it pays most homage to its own star, Akshay Kumar, who pulls off Shiva with style but Vikram less so, possibly because all that violence overwhelms acting itself. Not that the crowd seemed to mind. As Shiva exhorts a woman raped by Baapji's son to beat him up, the girl next to me cried, "Why doesn't she?" Her neighbour replied, "She will." And she did - much to the crowd's Rowdy delight.
Tip-Off: Fans will love Akshay's mooch-twirling masala-act but be ready for hardcore action too - some pretty gruesome.
Story:Where love and hate collide, this love story is born. Two people who're raised hating each other, break the unwritten family dictat; and fall in love. These outlaws of love thus start a new war.
Critic's Rating:
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra
Direction: Habib Faisal
Genre: Romance
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
Avg Readers Rating:
Movie Review:It's the war of the roses. And it's as (t)horny as it can get. Splattered with bandooks and badmaashi, goondas and gaalis - starts this ajab prem kahani. Firebrands Parma (Arjun Kapoor) and Zoya (Parineeti Chopra) are childhood hate-mates, born into politically warring families who've avowed to hate unto death. So, in the rustic and earthy brown landscape of small-town Almore - where pocket guns are a fashion accessory, and local yokels could kill for anything - diesel or dancing girl Chand (Gauhar Khan), the Queen of 'KwalityBaar' - a love story blossoms between loveable rowdy rascal Parma and feisty, free-spirited Zoya. They growl at each other with the same fierce passion with which they grope each other and get-it-on. Most riveting in this love-hate plot, is the (fore)playful chemistry between the two, with their volatile verbal wars, and sexed-up lovemaking; even between chases and gunshots. Rare indeed to find such a beautifully complementing debut pair onscreen.
ISHAQZAADE OFFICIAL TRAILER (HD)
In an impressive debut, Arjun Kapoor believably plays Parma with dollops of arrogance, energy and unabashed guts; chomping with the same crudity with which he shoots, spits gaalis, pisses on posters, manhandles his girl and makes raw love. He uses his boy-man charm topped with that infectious 'batteesi' effectively, and keeps up the temperatures throughout.
Parineeti Chopra is fabulously effervescent. As the 'mango 'ishmile' flashing Zoya, she's adorable and admirable. She lacks the obvious, larger-than-life mega-screen presence, but wins you over with her 'item'bomb' simplicity.
Gauhar Khan 'reveals' a lot more, of her acting skills that is.
UPCOMING VOLCANO: Parineeti Chopra
Director Habib Faisal takes you into the heart of this small-town story, creating a politically-divided Almore with elan - penning gripping characters (a rigid and arrogant Dadda, a suppressed, dukhiari Amma, two overbearing brothers), but fails to maintain the crescendo in the second half. After highlights like a sensitively shot lovemaking scene on a rusty train berth, a subtly picturized romantic song (Pareshan), and a shocking pre-interval scene, it starts falling apart like a house of cards; ultimately folding into a predictable climax. The flatness of the second half is what takes away from the pace of a launch vehicle that could've been memorable.
'Ishaqzaade' starts with a bang-bang, but ends up firing blanks.
Story:Navin and Nandini are to marry - but Navin dies in an accident that wasn't supposed to kill him. He returns in Sudeep's chubby body - but will 'Fatso' get his girl?
Critic's Rating:
Direction: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Purab Kohli, Gul Panag, Neil Bhoopalam, Gunjan Bakshi, Brijendra Kala
Genre: Romance
Avg Readers Rating:
Movie Review: Think of all those uber-cool Mumbai movies you've seen - Dil Chahta Hai, Bluffmaster, Wake Up Sid - put them in an imaginary blender, switch on, and hey presto, you have Fatso, frothing over with shots of surfing sea, rain-soaked skies, stylish bars.
Fatso Movie Official Trailer
Add a group of friends led by Navin (Kohli), who pops the question to Nandini (Panag) before crashing headlong into a truck and you have Fatso's main course - how to live after death. And what to do if your buddy, thinking you're in the great beyond, makes a move on your girl.
Fatso's a whimsical film with a rhythm somewhere between jazz and an old Bollywood song. Starting on an innovative note, it's brightened by Kohli's sparkly performance, Panag's dimpled smile and every shot of Mumbai that's made prize-winning cliche-level. Its most stunning sequences however occur in the grim sarkari office everyone apparently visits after they're dead - there is no heaven or hell, posits Fatso, just hundreds of peons, files, queues and babus, eternally occupied in 'mittings'. But Navin refuses to rest in peace till returned to earth - as fat friend Sudeep (Shorey). With Shorey literally getting a new lease of life, having visibly restrained himself as the much-mocked 'saand' of his group, you imagine Fatso's second half will rev up.
Alas. Here's where Fatso flops down heavily. Any sense of magic, of life rescued from death, love saved from vanishing, even the funny ironies of a slim guy stuck in a fat form, is totally missing. The 'friends group' is unconvincing. Kala's notable as a chatty clerk escorting souls about while Panag stands out in the silence of someone hit by grief. A cafe sequence, where Navin sees Nandini ordering spaghetti, then crying in the ladies' room, is moving. But otherwise, strangely flat acting and banal lines leave Fatso more heavy than cheerful.
The film seems overwhelmed by its own smart styling - little details like a dress drying on a clothesline, a girl rubbing hand-cream onto her palms, are clever. But there's too much style, not enough substance. No-one but pretty Tanuja (Bakshi), whose boyfriend Yash (Bhoopalam) hits on Nandini, seems to have a job. Life's a round of bar-hops with holidays when the living gets dull. The movie's peppiest number - 'Fatso! Na jaane kab last time sofe se khara hua' - is reserved for its feeble end, pushed wearily by Shorey listing everything he loves - mangoes to mosquitoes - before Panag mercifully plugs his outpourings with a kiss. Willing, yet weak, Fatso joined a good gym - but could have done with a much stricter trainer.
Story:A rookie guns dealer goes undercover for a cop who is out to crack the illegal arms racket. Caught in a web of lies and miscalculated moves, he becomes the target of suspicion and gun-war.
Movie Review: 'Guns for a cause - Nothing illegal about it!' That is gun dealer Sonu Dilli's ( Emraan Hashmi) theory - If everyone in the world owned a gun, there'd be no war, only peace. He's as easy with his guns as with his gaalis, and like a self-proclaimed KKC (kutti, kameeni cheez), 'humps' a woman, ridiculously to the rhythm of 'ek rasta, do rahi ...' (climaxing to aha aha!). ACP Pratap (Randeep Hooda) is the always bloodshot, almost 'Devdas'esque cop, wallowing in grief at the loss of his wife, killed in one such shootout. This cop of 'caliber', has a personal agenda, he tracks down Sonu Dilli (forever with his pants down), and takes him under his wing as an informer who can expose the illegal gun racket, led by the deadly Mangal Singh Tomar (Manish Choudhary). In the meanwhile, Sonu is shot in the heart (by Cupid), and his ladylove Jaanvi (Esha Gupta) is a doctorni who believes he runs a shop called 'Kareena Cut Piss' (read: cutpiece). Sadly, it's not a 'bullet-proof' plan, all hell breaks loose, with everyone gunning for something, and Jannat seeming like a faraway destination.
Emraan plays Sonu Dilli with a brusque Haryanvi accent, which is forgotten halfway through the movie. He's impressive in intense scenes and panic moments, portraying conflicting emotions with aplomb. He's crass and cool at the same time, wooing the lady, kissing and making love - in true Hashmi style.
Jannat 2 Official Trailer (HD)
The man to watch is hot-gun Randeep Hooda. Explosive in this one. Brooding but brave, intoxicated but vigilant. In this angry young cop avatar, he stuns you with silent pain and frantic outbursts. The film almost rests in his able holster. In probably the best performance of his career, Randeep is 'bang on'.
Debutante Esha Gupta struts ravishingly at times, though expressionless; shoots off a few dialogues, romances Emraan in Sufi-ish songs, and kisses back passionately. Her role is essential to the plot, but is under-written and she is over-exposed (ahaan).
Manish Choudhary is as evil as he can get. More pungent than gunpowder, deadlier than his weapons. He's the baddie that we love to fear.
Hot & Sexy ESHA GUPTA
Director Kunal Deshmukh shoots off gritty action and gushy romance, combined in unequal proportions. The chase sequences give you a shot of adrenaline and the action is high-tension. Although random romantic moments and too many songs break the pace of the story (Shagufta Rafique). The climax is touching, but for a thriller, there are several predictable turns, minus the twists. The dialogues are crude, but suit the rawness of the film, and the actors use cuss words as liberally as their guns. The music (Pritam) is memorable, but only till the next Bhatt album release.
Jannat 2 is a decent crime caper, but doesn't shoot you between the eyes.
Tip Off: If you don't have an appetite for crude desi gaalis, be armed before watching this one!
Movie Review: Look carefully - Tezz shows you a London Bollywood hasn't explored before. Forget those chiffon saree-soirees, lush parks and cream teas - Tezz's London showcases illegal Indian migrants trapped between violent ghettoes and furious policemen, wet sewers, oily garages and bomb-strapped garbage bins. This is a gritty city, normally shown as every Indian's vacation paradise - but what happens to those who want to live there, even illegally?
Tezz follows engineer Akash Rana's (Devgn) life unraveling as he and his workmates Megha (Reddy) and Adil (Khan) get hunted by British immigration. Rana suffers the cruelest cut - his marriage to British citizen Nikita (Ranaut) is declared invalid, he's deported, she's jailed for unpaid loans. But it's not over - four years later, Rana returns seeking revenge and the London-Glasgow Express, 500 people on board, finds itself laced with a bomb that'll explode if the train drops under a certain speed.
Sounds familiar? Tezz draws from different vehicle-thrillers, reminding you of Keanu Reeves' Speed one moment, Vinod Khanna's Burning Train another. But it isn't just another machismo-fueled race - instead, Reddy is Tezz's surprise package, pulling off devilish stunts, looking stunning in the short life of a desperate Megha. As Counter-Terrorism Command Chief Arjun Khanna, Kapoor looks good too - and with one glance at a boy with bandaged eyes, he reminds you of the acting power-house he is.
In Tezz, he's pitted against Devgn (the latter can play 'smouldering' in his sleep apparently) and occasionally, Boman Irani as Sanjay Raina, Railway Traffic Controller. In one tense scene, Irani controls a track-switch, trembling almost like a music conductor commanding a symphony. There's a shout-down between Kapoor and him - over far too soon. In fact, you're left wishing Tezz had more dramatic face-offs between its fine actors but instead, the film diverts into several tracks too many.
Mohanlal is poorly used as policeman Nair escorting a criminal via train. As is Ranaut, pretty in her now-familiar 'impending doom' style, but with little to do. Khan looks fresh but has a shaky role - topped with a thrilling chase. Mallika Sherawat performs an item number in the 'Desi Club', asking, "Do you wanna get hot? Do you wanna get wet?" - but after all that promise, dances little and smiles even less. Tezz's London, overrun by Indians, is also populated by Brits speaking hilariously fluent Hindi and despite pumping background music, features few pleasing songs, snatches from just one qawwali, Tere Saaye Mein, standing out. Otherwise, it's gunshots and grim lines, some pacey - "Ye koi naya kameena hai," quips Kapoor of Devgn - some not.
Despite slick action and stunning scenes - bullets ramming underwater into a sunlit stream, a violet flower-bush before a cop-car - Tezz loses speed often. Here's possibly why - director Priyadarshan's oeuvre is putting characters in desperate situations and watching them respond. It works beautifully in comedies - but Tezz needs relentless pushing, not frequent stops pondering over the unfairness of citizenship. You can't run fast carrying heavy baggage - that's why Tezz huffs and puffs a little too much.
Story: Tiger is one of India's most effective espionage agents. But when this brave heart falls in love, even he has to seek cover to realise his dream.
Movie Review: Kabir Khan's movies—Kabul Express; New York, Ek Tha Tiger start with the similar sepia-toned skyline montages of what could be Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq; strife-ridden country associated with extremists. In ETT, the montages pass quickly.
Story:Gautam likes Veronica. Veronica likes him too. Gautam falls for Meera. Now what does Meera do? Three close friends find themselves caught in a vortex of emotions.
Critic's Rating:
Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone, Diana Penty, Randeep Hooda
Direction: Homi Adajania
Genre: Romance
Duration: 2 hours 25 minutes
Avg Readers Rating:
Movie Review: Two's company; is three a crowd? Homi Adajania's romantic comedy Cocktail is a slice-of-life film mounted beautifully and imaginatively on a large canvas with the vibrant colours of London, Cape Town and New Delhi. The film addresses the proverb--two is company; is three a crowd--situation throughout. With some super-light, sweet moments that one has seen in the mid-90s American sitcom Friends; that revolved around a group of friends in Manhattan; Cocktail deals with the fun moments and then the emotional turmoil faced by three Indian friends settled in the UK, whose paths cross inadvertently.
Story: Three
love stories set in three different eras; all of which go through the
inevitable love-cycle of hook-up, heartbreak, separation and reunion.
Story: Low-life thief Shiva and top-cop Vikram Rathore are identical. Vikram's killed by foes but his daughter thinks Shiva's her dad - can this Rowdy win respect?
Movie Review: In case I get a spelling wrong, that's because my ears are still ringing with all the seetis and taalis at Rowdy Rathore. The film's an unabashed, gunpowder-hot, sambar-spiced star-vehicle which runs along energetically most of the time because its star - Akshay Kumar, essaying a double role as Rathore and Shiva - is worth it, something that's emphasized often. At one point, a girl asks Shiva, pursuing pretty Paaro (Sinha) from Patna, 'Na tum mein Hrithik ke looks hain, na Shah Rukh ka charm, na Aamir ki cuteness, na Salman ki body - what's so cool about you?' Akshay drawls back, "Lagta hai Khiladi ko bhool gayi aap." Cue for crowd - erupt in rapture.
ROWDY RATHORE OFFICIAL TRAILER (HD)
Multiply that moment by 100 and you have Rowdy Rathore, a peppery pot-boiler brimming over with action, slapstick comedy and romance, dynamite lines and Akshay Kumar - lots of Akshay Kumar, channeling vintage heroes Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Amitabh Bachchan, adding a dollop of Jeetendra, topping with his trademark flair as he snarls, tongue deeply in-cheek, "Don't angry me!"
A lull in its second half aside, Rowdy's mostly quick-stepping, moving from Mumbai's malls to medieval Bihar where Baapji (Nasser) and his hamming henchmen terrorise Devgarh's townsfolk through pillage, beatings and rape. Till cop Vikram Rathore (Kumar) arrives on the Shramjeevi Express, assaulting local yokels with handy gannas, infusing new meaning to 'sugar-cane'. With terrific overhead shots capturing his exploits, the fearless Rathore even bumps off Baapji's vicious beta Munna, so Baapji won't rest till Vikram is killed.
SEXY SINHA: SONAKSHI SINHA
Despite an injury to his brain (which the doctor says causes 'hammo-rage'), Vikram and his little daughter Chinki reach Mumbai. Here, their paths cross with Shiva who adopts Chinki when Vikram's felled. And goes to Devgarh where he tells Baapji, 'A village can have only one Rowdy.' It's time Baapji - or 'lemon-chus', as Rowdy addresses him - shoved off.
This involves toe-curling violence though. A guy gets stabbed in the mouth, a head's crushed on a rock, swords slash through navels. Against the gore, Shiva's dancing with Paaro provides breezy relief but the music itself is unmemorable. In a Prabhudheva picture, expectedly the dances are eye-catching, some moves like sweet caresses, some sexy little bites. Sonakshi glows as Paaro, a spunky Indian beauty showing flashes of her star-father's confidence when she snarls at the villains, 'O saand ke bhes mein kukur." This Patna girl's stepped out in style with Rowdy. But the same can't be said for those playing Devgarh's dread-struck. Apart from Yashpal Sharma (sincere as a junior cop), the rest are unconvincing, as is the villainous set-up itself, located somewhere oddly between feudal Bihar, accented Andhra and Sholay's bandit lair.
Indeed, Rowdy Rathore pays homage to iconic filmi characters - identical heroes, golden-hearted chors, brave Men in Brown beating evil people to pulp. However, it pays most homage to its own star, Akshay Kumar, who pulls off Shiva with style but Vikram less so, possibly because all that violence overwhelms acting itself. Not that the crowd seemed to mind. As Shiva exhorts a woman raped by Baapji's son to beat him up, the girl next to me cried, "Why doesn't she?" Her neighbour replied, "She will." And she did - much to the crowd's Rowdy delight.
Tip-Off: Fans will love Akshay's mooch-twirling masala-act but be ready for hardcore action too - some pretty gruesome.
Story:Where love and hate collide, this love story is born. Two people who're raised hating each other, break the unwritten family dictat; and fall in love. These outlaws of love thus start a new war.
Critic's Rating:
Cast: Arjun Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra
Direction: Habib Faisal
Genre: Romance
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
Avg Readers Rating:
Movie Review:It's the war of the roses. And it's as (t)horny as it can get. Splattered with bandooks and badmaashi, goondas and gaalis - starts this ajab prem kahani. Firebrands Parma (Arjun Kapoor) and Zoya (Parineeti Chopra) are childhood hate-mates, born into politically warring families who've avowed to hate unto death. So, in the rustic and earthy brown landscape of small-town Almore - where pocket guns are a fashion accessory, and local yokels could kill for anything - diesel or dancing girl Chand (Gauhar Khan), the Queen of 'KwalityBaar' - a love story blossoms between loveable rowdy rascal Parma and feisty, free-spirited Zoya. They growl at each other with the same fierce passion with which they grope each other and get-it-on. Most riveting in this love-hate plot, is the (fore)playful chemistry between the two, with their volatile verbal wars, and sexed-up lovemaking; even between chases and gunshots. Rare indeed to find such a beautifully complementing debut pair onscreen.
ISHAQZAADE OFFICIAL TRAILER (HD)
In an impressive debut, Arjun Kapoor believably plays Parma with dollops of arrogance, energy and unabashed guts; chomping with the same crudity with which he shoots, spits gaalis, pisses on posters, manhandles his girl and makes raw love. He uses his boy-man charm topped with that infectious 'batteesi' effectively, and keeps up the temperatures throughout.
Parineeti Chopra is fabulously effervescent. As the 'mango 'ishmile' flashing Zoya, she's adorable and admirable. She lacks the obvious, larger-than-life mega-screen presence, but wins you over with her 'item'bomb' simplicity.
Gauhar Khan 'reveals' a lot more, of her acting skills that is.
UPCOMING VOLCANO: Parineeti Chopra
Director Habib Faisal takes you into the heart of this small-town story, creating a politically-divided Almore with elan - penning gripping characters (a rigid and arrogant Dadda, a suppressed, dukhiari Amma, two overbearing brothers), but fails to maintain the crescendo in the second half. After highlights like a sensitively shot lovemaking scene on a rusty train berth, a subtly picturized romantic song (Pareshan), and a shocking pre-interval scene, it starts falling apart like a house of cards; ultimately folding into a predictable climax. The flatness of the second half is what takes away from the pace of a launch vehicle that could've been memorable.
'Ishaqzaade' starts with a bang-bang, but ends up firing blanks.
Story:Navin and Nandini are to marry - but Navin dies in an accident that wasn't supposed to kill him. He returns in Sudeep's chubby body - but will 'Fatso' get his girl?
Critic's Rating:
Direction: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Ranvir Shorey, Purab Kohli, Gul Panag, Neil Bhoopalam, Gunjan Bakshi, Brijendra Kala
Genre: Romance
Avg Readers Rating:
Movie Review: Think of all those uber-cool Mumbai movies you've seen - Dil Chahta Hai, Bluffmaster, Wake Up Sid - put them in an imaginary blender, switch on, and hey presto, you have Fatso, frothing over with shots of surfing sea, rain-soaked skies, stylish bars.
Fatso Movie Official Trailer
Add a group of friends led by Navin (Kohli), who pops the question to Nandini (Panag) before crashing headlong into a truck and you have Fatso's main course - how to live after death. And what to do if your buddy, thinking you're in the great beyond, makes a move on your girl.
Fatso's a whimsical film with a rhythm somewhere between jazz and an old Bollywood song. Starting on an innovative note, it's brightened by Kohli's sparkly performance, Panag's dimpled smile and every shot of Mumbai that's made prize-winning cliche-level. Its most stunning sequences however occur in the grim sarkari office everyone apparently visits after they're dead - there is no heaven or hell, posits Fatso, just hundreds of peons, files, queues and babus, eternally occupied in 'mittings'. But Navin refuses to rest in peace till returned to earth - as fat friend Sudeep (Shorey). With Shorey literally getting a new lease of life, having visibly restrained himself as the much-mocked 'saand' of his group, you imagine Fatso's second half will rev up.
Alas. Here's where Fatso flops down heavily. Any sense of magic, of life rescued from death, love saved from vanishing, even the funny ironies of a slim guy stuck in a fat form, is totally missing. The 'friends group' is unconvincing. Kala's notable as a chatty clerk escorting souls about while Panag stands out in the silence of someone hit by grief. A cafe sequence, where Navin sees Nandini ordering spaghetti, then crying in the ladies' room, is moving. But otherwise, strangely flat acting and banal lines leave Fatso more heavy than cheerful.
The film seems overwhelmed by its own smart styling - little details like a dress drying on a clothesline, a girl rubbing hand-cream onto her palms, are clever. But there's too much style, not enough substance. No-one but pretty Tanuja (Bakshi), whose boyfriend Yash (Bhoopalam) hits on Nandini, seems to have a job. Life's a round of bar-hops with holidays when the living gets dull. The movie's peppiest number - 'Fatso! Na jaane kab last time sofe se khara hua' - is reserved for its feeble end, pushed wearily by Shorey listing everything he loves - mangoes to mosquitoes - before Panag mercifully plugs his outpourings with a kiss. Willing, yet weak, Fatso joined a good gym - but could have done with a much stricter trainer.
Story:A rookie guns dealer goes undercover for a cop who is out to crack the illegal arms racket. Caught in a web of lies and miscalculated moves, he becomes the target of suspicion and gun-war.
Movie Review: 'Guns for a cause - Nothing illegal about it!' That is gun dealer Sonu Dilli's ( Emraan Hashmi) theory - If everyone in the world owned a gun, there'd be no war, only peace. He's as easy with his guns as with his gaalis, and like a self-proclaimed KKC (kutti, kameeni cheez), 'humps' a woman, ridiculously to the rhythm of 'ek rasta, do rahi ...' (climaxing to aha aha!). ACP Pratap (Randeep Hooda) is the always bloodshot, almost 'Devdas'esque cop, wallowing in grief at the loss of his wife, killed in one such shootout. This cop of 'caliber', has a personal agenda, he tracks down Sonu Dilli (forever with his pants down), and takes him under his wing as an informer who can expose the illegal gun racket, led by the deadly Mangal Singh Tomar (Manish Choudhary). In the meanwhile, Sonu is shot in the heart (by Cupid), and his ladylove Jaanvi (Esha Gupta) is a doctorni who believes he runs a shop called 'Kareena Cut Piss' (read: cutpiece). Sadly, it's not a 'bullet-proof' plan, all hell breaks loose, with everyone gunning for something, and Jannat seeming like a faraway destination.
Emraan plays Sonu Dilli with a brusque Haryanvi accent, which is forgotten halfway through the movie. He's impressive in intense scenes and panic moments, portraying conflicting emotions with aplomb. He's crass and cool at the same time, wooing the lady, kissing and making love - in true Hashmi style.
Jannat 2 Official Trailer (HD)
The man to watch is hot-gun Randeep Hooda. Explosive in this one. Brooding but brave, intoxicated but vigilant. In this angry young cop avatar, he stuns you with silent pain and frantic outbursts. The film almost rests in his able holster. In probably the best performance of his career, Randeep is 'bang on'.
Debutante Esha Gupta struts ravishingly at times, though expressionless; shoots off a few dialogues, romances Emraan in Sufi-ish songs, and kisses back passionately. Her role is essential to the plot, but is under-written and she is over-exposed (ahaan).
Manish Choudhary is as evil as he can get. More pungent than gunpowder, deadlier than his weapons. He's the baddie that we love to fear.
Hot & Sexy ESHA GUPTA
Director Kunal Deshmukh shoots off gritty action and gushy romance, combined in unequal proportions. The chase sequences give you a shot of adrenaline and the action is high-tension. Although random romantic moments and too many songs break the pace of the story (Shagufta Rafique). The climax is touching, but for a thriller, there are several predictable turns, minus the twists. The dialogues are crude, but suit the rawness of the film, and the actors use cuss words as liberally as their guns. The music (Pritam) is memorable, but only till the next Bhatt album release.
Jannat 2 is a decent crime caper, but doesn't shoot you between the eyes.
Tip Off: If you don't have an appetite for crude desi gaalis, be armed before watching this one!
Movie Review: Look carefully - Tezz shows you a London Bollywood hasn't explored before. Forget those chiffon saree-soirees, lush parks and cream teas - Tezz's London showcases illegal Indian migrants trapped between violent ghettoes and furious policemen, wet sewers, oily garages and bomb-strapped garbage bins. This is a gritty city, normally shown as every Indian's vacation paradise - but what happens to those who want to live there, even illegally?
Tezz follows engineer Akash Rana's (Devgn) life unraveling as he and his workmates Megha (Reddy) and Adil (Khan) get hunted by British immigration. Rana suffers the cruelest cut - his marriage to British citizen Nikita (Ranaut) is declared invalid, he's deported, she's jailed for unpaid loans. But it's not over - four years later, Rana returns seeking revenge and the London-Glasgow Express, 500 people on board, finds itself laced with a bomb that'll explode if the train drops under a certain speed.
Sounds familiar? Tezz draws from different vehicle-thrillers, reminding you of Keanu Reeves' Speed one moment, Vinod Khanna's Burning Train another. But it isn't just another machismo-fueled race - instead, Reddy is Tezz's surprise package, pulling off devilish stunts, looking stunning in the short life of a desperate Megha. As Counter-Terrorism Command Chief Arjun Khanna, Kapoor looks good too - and with one glance at a boy with bandaged eyes, he reminds you of the acting power-house he is.
In Tezz, he's pitted against Devgn (the latter can play 'smouldering' in his sleep apparently) and occasionally, Boman Irani as Sanjay Raina, Railway Traffic Controller. In one tense scene, Irani controls a track-switch, trembling almost like a music conductor commanding a symphony. There's a shout-down between Kapoor and him - over far too soon. In fact, you're left wishing Tezz had more dramatic face-offs between its fine actors but instead, the film diverts into several tracks too many.
Mohanlal is poorly used as policeman Nair escorting a criminal via train. As is Ranaut, pretty in her now-familiar 'impending doom' style, but with little to do. Khan looks fresh but has a shaky role - topped with a thrilling chase. Mallika Sherawat performs an item number in the 'Desi Club', asking, "Do you wanna get hot? Do you wanna get wet?" - but after all that promise, dances little and smiles even less. Tezz's London, overrun by Indians, is also populated by Brits speaking hilariously fluent Hindi and despite pumping background music, features few pleasing songs, snatches from just one qawwali, Tere Saaye Mein, standing out. Otherwise, it's gunshots and grim lines, some pacey - "Ye koi naya kameena hai," quips Kapoor of Devgn - some not.
Despite slick action and stunning scenes - bullets ramming underwater into a sunlit stream, a violet flower-bush before a cop-car - Tezz loses speed often. Here's possibly why - director Priyadarshan's oeuvre is putting characters in desperate situations and watching them respond. It works beautifully in comedies - but Tezz needs relentless pushing, not frequent stops pondering over the unfairness of citizenship. You can't run fast carrying heavy baggage - that's why Tezz huffs and puffs a little too much.
