Rangeela Movie Review- The Reason I Love Bollywood

Rangeela really does represent why I love Bollywood and what I love about it!

When one wants to make a film in Bollywood, there are a few beaten tracks one could consider… Rangeela pretty much has all of them and just proves that it’s not the story that matters, it’s the way it’s told.

Here’s a few of those clichés that are worked so well into Rangeela:

1. The underdog who puts sweat, blood and tears into trying to make that girl happy.

2. The ambitious girl (ok, maybe not so much a cliché, seen as she doesn’t want to become a model)

3. The love triangle (anyone who says this isn’t typical, BRING IT ON! “Mujhe karate aata hai”=])

4. The person in the love triangle that seems to have it all easy and the girl appears to only be interested in him.

5. The last minute running, panicking and searching.

6. The we’re-just-friends attitude.

The performances really are amazing, what more can I say? I never knew Urmila Matonkar looked so pretty before… I’ve really only seen her in her Om Shanti Om avatar:

Nothing compared to her in Rangeela.

One issue I had with her character was that she never seemed to be in love with Munna; but then again, she might have only realised how strong her feelings were *SPOILER* after he’d gone *SPOILER*

Aamir was really perfect, right down to the last ‘apun’. I found him quite winning while slightly repulsive but always endearing. I always like to watch Aamir films, old and new because you always see a different person onscreen, that’s not something you see with many other actors. Nonetheless, his character occasionally seemed a little obnoxious and arrogant but maybe that was just to impress the pretty lady ;)

Jackie Shroff delivered quite a restrained performance *SPOILER* expect for when he jumps about in his house yelling he’s in love. They really could have missed that out seen as you could tell from his face, his eyes, how much he loved her, no need for the prancing. It spoilt his restrained, slightly tormented character in a way *SPOILER* Also, normally one of the two men vying for the girl has obvious flaws, like, say, in Jab We Met, but here he really was a character with a holographic heart of gold, which made vying for Munna harder.

The music was above average (well it would be when A R Rahman composing) with one track really sticking in my head, the title track, Rangeela Re.

For some strange reason it reminds me of the title track from Hungama, not that I’m implying the makers of Hungama have copied this song…

This was, as far as I can remember, the first film of Ram Gopal Verma’s that I’ve seen. Actually, that’s one of the main reasons I watched it… seen as I’ve often read his blog and got to know a bit about the kind of person he is. He’s entertaining on his blog but nevertheless, I’d never comment because I have no wish to have my words ridiculed, which must be slightly embarrassing to say the least. As far as I know, he used to be really popular around the time Rangeela came out but then he just kind of died out and no one wants to watch Rann. It really makes me wonder what went wrong…

Rating: 3.5/5 A sweet film that’ll make you fall in love with Bollywood all over again!

P.S. I’ve been trying out these ‘modern classical’ films as I call them that are from the late 80’s and 90’s that were popular at the time or are popular now. I would love recommendations… Do you have any suggestions of such films that I haven’t already reviewed? I’ll be reviewing Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin and will watch Raja Hindustani but any except for them two? Any SRK or Salman ones?

Ek Chalis Ki Last Local Movie Review *SPOILER ALERT!*

I must admit I really liked this film. It’s a bi like Kaminey but doesn’t have that same way of making you think during the film and long afterwards.

Now, I know Neha Dhupia isn’t all that popular, I really do like her and have done so since watching Chup Chup Ke. She was a little dull in the first half but really picked it up during he second half! I’ve only seen Abhay Deol in Dev D, which I thought he was pretty good in, but I really enjoyed watching him here, you had that feeling of knowing more than him, seen as there were a few spots where anyone who has watched a few movies could have guessed what was coming, but he, Abhay Deol, didn’t know. If I’m honest, I found him pretty cute here…

When I’d finished watching this, I wasn’t sure of what I was thinking, overall I felt happy and felt it was a paisa vasool, but then again I could see there were flaws. So I did what comes to me, went to Google and looked at some reviews. Overall, most people had issues with the way the director, Sanjay Khanduri, tried to cram everything in and didn’t edit as much as he ought to have. I agree on some of it and did feel it needed some editing in places but overall I thought that those moments when loads was happening at the same time were supposed to reflect on the mad chaos of the Mumbai underworld. Nonetheless, they really could have made the gangs easier to identify and give them traits that separate them from each other.

I’m glad I put on the spoiler alert right in the title because I just have to mention about how one twist in the tale really worked. That was the revelation that Madhu/Mala was a prostitute. Now, unlike some other people, I don’t hate, nor am I disgusted by, prostitutes. And this film really summed up why. They are humans, just like the rest of us and it’s normally because they are desperate that they go down this line, not because they want to or because they like it, as I’d guess many people think. I thought Neha really shone in that scene.

In terms of music, there weren't any proper song sequences, but I guess they would have been a bit out of place. I really like the song Laree Choote; here's the remix video:

The whole experimental idea of this movie should be appreciated, and although this might not be everyone’s cup of tea, I found it pretty pleasing.

Rating: 3/5

Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna Movie Review

Well Alvida to this one!

I picked this poster for a reason, in my opinion it seems to be ranked by the standard of acting, I thought Rani outshone the others, SRK was good as always, it dawned on me that his shaking was actually just him holding in his emotions. Abhishek and Amitabh are interchangeable while Preity was little more than the haughty. That’s how her character always seemed… haughty.

The music was bearable, quite pleasant in places, I like ‘Where’s the Party Tonight’ but what was that skirt Preity was wearing??

The skirt looks like something someone peeled off the Golden Temple in Amritsar (not meant in a harsh way at all, I’m going to go visit it soon!).

I was looking for a picture of Kajol from the film and I came across this:

How could I have possibly missed this before? To all those who read this blog (i.e. no one) do you have any links to fashion debacles or just silly, stupid pictures?

One of the things I did like though was the character development,they were all grey, all had faults and good points. Here’s my (short) analysis:

-Dev aka. Shahrukh Khan: He seems to be desperate to get out of this relationship, not wanting to hold it together, which annoyed me a LOT. He obviously loves his kid but tries to force his dreams on to his shoulders as many parents do. However *SPOILER* when he tells his kid to play the violin because it’s ‘cool’ I got annoyed. Never mind mentioning anything about the talent it takes or how his son is dedicated, no, it’s cool to play the violin. ARE YOU SAYING I’M NOT COOL? *SPOILER*

-Maya aka. Rani: She really is the lightest grey, she can see her husband is trying to love her and accepts her for who she is but she never seems to be able to appreciate that. Nonetheless, unlike Dev, she wants to keep her marriage together. She’d reluctant to get into a relationship with him and tries pretty hard to balance her double life. *SPOILER* Where did she randomly get the money to buy or even rent a new house the moment she left?*

-Rhea aka. Preity: Really ambitious but still loves Dev. However I get this feeling she just can’t understand him and she knows this at the back of her mind. At the beginning she just can’t give her son enough time but develops throughout. She always seems to be above others, especially near Maya, ok I can understand she ruined her life but there’s no need to look at her as if she’s vermin.

-Rishi aka. Abhishek: A child at heart and one of the most amusing characters, he can’t accept his wife doesn’t love him and, like a child, doesn’t think before he speaks. On the other hand, you can see he really is making an effort to please Maya despite her shortcomings but just doesn’t know the right way to go about it. One thing pleased me though *SPOILER* Even when he had found out about Maya’s infidelity and was stark raving mad, he still didn’t hit her, didn’t hurt her in any way *SPOILER*

The slapstick worked well in places such as:

“If you think you can bribe me in to giving you a party…. you’re absolutely right!”

But there were bits *ahemBlackBeastahem* that were overdone. You can clearly see it’s Karan Johar’s film right from the glitzy settings to the loving parents. I really liked Amitabh Bachchan and Kirron Kher in it. I can’t think of any more to say so I’ll end it here.

Rating: 2.5/5 A difficult subject handled in a reasonably interesting way

Paathshaala Movie Review

This review isn’t going to be very long seen as I’m pretty sleepy. I can see why people didn’t like this film, but that didn’t stop me from liking it, like not love.

As always I’m not going to bother with a plot synopsis because

a) I’m too lazy

b) I’m sure to give too much away

So… I liked the way this film was openly just tying to promote an inherently good message. they were clearly not doing it for commercial reasons and neither were they trying to make an art film, they just wanted to get an important message across and it really is a shame that most people didn’t get this message.

Acting-wise I liked Shahid’s subtlety (obviously) and Nana Patekar’s restraint, you could see he was holding his emotions back why letting them play across his face. Ayesha was sweet but did little more than smile and look sad. The kids were believable and it had Swini Khare whom I adore!

The music was pretty nice and fitted in well, for more check out the music review.

I didn’t like the moments of preaching such as at the end and bits scattered about. Also why was Shahid the only one playing the guitar, the kids weren’t learning anything by jumping around and Shahid didn’t even look like he was playing which was a shame.

Rating: 3.5/5 I’d check it out if you have some time on your hands

PS. I’m not so much of a big fan of Shahid anymore (although this review hardly proves it), I still like him intensely like I like Aamir and may occasionally have my little moments of fangirlyness but overall I’ve forced myself to stop loving him as I don’t like the idea of getting so attached to someone I can’t even have. Sorry if I’ve disappointed anybody but that’s just the way it is, I’ll still talk about him but not with the same regularity and tone and the next film I review will definitely not be one of Shahid’s.

MsBlogger xx

A Review of the Review: Badmaash Company

First of all, I must say this was far better than I expected, I hoped for little because although the trailers had plenty of glitz and glamour, I was expecting little plot and there’d be no need for a brain. It had a pleasant surprise in store…

I read a review that was mostly positive and I agreed with some of it and disagreed with other bits, so I thought I’d use this review to express my own views as it can sometimes be pretty hard to write something original when there are twenty other reviews out there, the chances are you’ve lost your chance.

The full review is here:

http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/report_review-badmaash-company-has-zing-style-and-entertainment_1380238

So here goes…

It’s got a background score that sounds suspiciously like Ocean’s 11, a storyline with shades of 21, and clichés that you associate with a ‘Bollywood’ film. In spite of all that, Badmaash Company is immensely watchable. Without some inconsistencies and a little more imagination, it could have been a lot better.

I haven’t seen 21 or Ocean’s 11 and love Bollywood for these cliches. I agree it is watchable, more than that, it’s raveable! I agree there were some loose ends, but I don’t see how more imagination would have helped.

Each of the three men develops a vice — Zing becomes an alcoholic, Chandu a womaniser, while Karan’s weakness is money — and it leads to interpersonal differences and the group breaking up

I think most of the breaking up was caused by Karan, with his huge ego, I started to hate Shahid’s character at that point which was the desired effect. I agree they all have their vices and was hoping Zing wouldn’t be drinking by the end, alas…

Parmeet Sethi, still remembered as the Punjab da puttar that Simran was to get married to in Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, gets to kickstart his directorial career with the same banner that launched him as an actor. And, frankly, he does a good job, too. When you read his name under Story, Screenplay, Dialogues, and Direction, you are a wee bit sceptical, but your doubts are laid to rest soon.

Agree with everything here. I wasn’t skeptical because I had decided to expect nothing but hope for hit, I was pleasantly surprised by the first and am hoping the second works out too.

The story, of course, isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. Ambitious youngsters resorting to con jobs to make quick money only to realise their ‘follies’ eventually is something we saw even recently in the very forgettable Teen Patti, which itself was a rip-off of the Hollywood hit 21. In fact, Yash Raj’s Bunty Aur Babli had a similar storyline, too

I do disagree a bit here. Only the absolute basic idea was similar to others, charcters get led off course, they correct themselves. I thought this was ten times more watchable than Bunti Aur Babli, with the cons being more intelligent and the characters better developed. BaB had its own fluffy fun, and this has its own slicker path too. I haven’t seen Teen Patti so no comment.

Where Sethi makes his mark, though, is in the screenplay, which moves fast and keeps you hooked, and in the dialogues, which make the proceedings fun. His characters are interesting, the casting is apt, and he has managed to extract good performances out of the fairly new bunch of actors.

Hehe, after watching so many interviews of the Badmaash four and Vir’s comedy clips, they hardly seemed new to me. The dialogues were crisp but not all that memorable in my opinion seen as I can’t specifically remember any of them, but they might come to me later. The characters are well developed and possibly with the exception of Bulbul, all were shades of grey.

You wish, though, that some corners weren’t cut. Although the cons have been well thought out and executed, sometimes you get the feeling that the four get what they want a trifle too easily. Whether it is persuading an American company to do business with them though they are newcomers, or securing a bank loan in a foreign country, it all seems a cakewalk

I have a theory with this. I think that they would have been shown having at least one problem, but knowing Yash Raj, they’d stretch it out so it took up maybe 15 minutes or even half an hour, so for tight editing, they decided they’d miss it out. It does seem the more sensible option… Imagine this:

“I’ve run into a problem” “I’ve just had an idea how to fix it” “it’s fixed, we can carry on”

It’d never happen, they’d drag it out to infinity, so I’m glad they didn’t have any problems.

Karan's marriage with an American for a green card disappears from the plot as suddenly as it appears. Whatever happened to that track? Also, though the more conventional audience may be impressed by the fact that the characters ‘realise their mistakes’ and Karan has to ‘pay for his crimes’, it takes away from the inherent zing the film possesses till that point.

I completely agree with the first bit and that’s one of the unanswered questions I was talking about. It’s really bugging me now! Maybe I should be classed as one of the ‘conventional’ audience because I’m sure the film wouldn’t have been half as good if they hadn’t realised their mistakes because I hated Karan when they all broke up. Really, what fun or emotional would there be to just watch an egotistic Karan just go about in his horrid way destroying relationships?

Frankly, if Sethi had kept out some unnecessary ‘weepy’ moments, like the one where Karan’s father (Anupam Kher) receives an award, or the one where Karan finds out he’s a father, the film could have been shorter, crisper, and more enjoyable. And we would have got to see a Hindi film in which the protagonists aren’t apologetic about wanting to do something they don’t consider ‘wrong’, even if it may be so morally.

No no no no no. These kind of things do happen in films sometimes, for example, in 3 Idiots, it isn’t right to pretend to be someone else (I won’t add details or else it’ll become a spoiler) but did that person ever apologise? It would have been ok to not apologise if Karan had kept his head on his shoulders (as the person from 3 Idiots had) but he didn’t, he got big headed to the extent I hated him, so it is, in my opinion, perfectly right for him to regret it. Karan finding out he’s a father is such a touching scene! *SPOILER* I thought it marked the pinnacle of the change from egotistic gambler to caring, hard working, loving man *SPOILER* I do agree the award was a bit pointless.

That little conventionality and some convenient writing apart, Badmaash Company is fairly entertaining. Shahid Kapur rediscovers the good form he struck in Kaminey and seemed to have lost in Chance Pe Dance. The actor has the persona and the skills to carry off the shrewd con man he plays with style

I hadn’t noticed till now how my Charlie boy has grown! He played a kind of similar role in Shikhar, but here he was so much more immersed within Karan, it had me confused. His roles in Kaminey were far easier to accept because he looked so different as Charlie and he was the sweet stammerer when Guddu, here he looked like Shahid but he acted nothing like it, it was hard for me to accept but I did and loved it thoroughly!

Sharma looks like a million bucks and puts in a bindaas act. She and Kapur share a great chemistry and are responsible for making the film immensely watchable

She definitely puts in a bindaas act but doesn’t really have such a huge role, there were some small similarities with Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, such as she was again an independent woman who would take the lead when needed. It annoyed me that she had to be an aspiring model, had Parmeet watched BaB recently?

Both Vir Das and Meiyang Chang put in good debut performances and have the potential to be seen in supporting roles on a regular basis.

As I said before, they didn’t seem new to me and I agree that they acted really well, but why just supporting roles? Also, weren’t they being a bit harsh in always calling Chang Chinese?

Badmaash Company is the film entertainment-starved audiences have been waiting for. And this one might actually go beyond ‘opening weekend numbers’ and prove to be a genuine hit. It has what it takes to do so, for sure.

Amen to that!

SPOILER ALERT!

Don’t say you hadn’t been warned…

Questions of my own:

1. How did Jazz uncle and Karan’s dad get together again?

2. So what business did they start in the end? Was is just part of Jazz’s business or a legal business of their own?

3. Wasn’t the whole Bleeding Madras idea a little OTT?

4. How come Anuskha’s hostel which wouldn’t allow then to even phone boys, suddenly allow Karan to stay?

5. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE GREEN CARD MARRIAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????!!!!!!!!!!!! That has really been annoying me…

I thought the Michael Jackson representation was still better than the Barrack Obama one in My Name Is Khan.

Paathshaala Expert Reviews

I will be doing a review of the Badmaash Company album but today it's all Paathshaala!

It released today and unfortunately doesn't seem to have gone down too well with the critics. These reviews aren't my own but none have gone above a three which worries me. I haven't seen it yet but most reviews are blaming the screenplay, saying it's weak, but all have praised the acting of all three main leads.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/moviereview/5812701.cms
Times of India says:
The film does slog somewhat, specially in the second half and tends to lose momentum due to a loose script and an unimaginative screenplay. Shahid Kapoor underplays his underwritten role as does Nana Patekar.
http://spicezee.zeenews.com/articles/story58900.htm
Spicezee says:
With its realistic setting, ‘Paathshaala’ touches at multifarious levels. Albeit the movie has its sparks of brilliance, yet a derivative screenplay might mar the Box Office success of ‘Paathshaala`.

http://www.ganpatinews.com/2010/04/16/paathshaala-review-watch-for-serious-viewing-25-74261
Ganpati News says:
Nana presents his role cynically. Shahid works superbly. Ayesha looks natural, as usual. Amongst the excess of teachers & students, Sushant Singh seems well, Sushmita Mukherjee is cooperative and Saurabh Shukla is so good, you begin hating him for his disgusting behaviour

http://www.india-forums.com/bollywood/article.asp?id=13939
India Forums say:
What's with the screenplay? There's a scene where Shahid comes hopping, no jumping, no wait jiggying…ugh comes in a obscure form of movement never witnessed in reality and then stops to look at the kids with loving eyes. Err…what was the point of that?

http://movies.rediff.com/review/2010/apr/16/review-paathshaala.htm
Rediff says:
Everything about the film is one-dimensional. The school itself is a set and looks like a cardboard cut-out. The characters are all good or all bad; there are no shades of grey.

This has all depressed me. I was really looking forward to this film from the moment I saw the trailer, it's a shame it all went so wrong... of course I'm still going to watch it.

Paathshaala Music Review

I had expectations from this one, it was the first album I was looking forward to after MNIK so I was hoping it wouldn't disappoint and in all honesty it didn't!

Aye Khuda is easily my favourite and has a young and calm feel to it that seems to be lacking a bit in music nowadays, I also adore the lyrics of the chorus…

Bekaraar is alright I guess, I like the background music a lot but the singer felt a bit screechy to my untrained ears.

Mujhe Teri stood out because of its soft, melodious feel and I can’t wait to see how this feeling is captured onscreen!

Khushnuma has the modern feel to balance out the traditional sound of Teri Marzi… plus the chorus is very catchy but I doubt it’ll go down in history.

Teri Marzi has a strong traditional vibe that I like in the background of a video but not all that much just to listen to, but all in all an ok song.

The theme tune is rocking! The way it changes from the Aye Khuda background music is interesting, it also gets in your head to stay there, I also think its sweet to get kids to sing it.

The new thing about this album is that all the singer are people who normally compose and sing a little, making it one of its kind… I liked it a lot and I think Aye Khuda might be here to stay!

Buzz Edition no.6

To celebrate Filmi Girl returning to the US and starting her gossip posts again, I thought I’d do a buzz post of my own…

Here’s a middling review of Road, Movie, I’m not sure I want to see it anymore…

Vidya thinks link ups are fun… only if the article is written well!

One of the bits that show up in the Filmfare promo is the Neil vs SRK bit. Neil sounds really innocent here. Good to hear it was all a joke.

Equality for women FTW! Here’s an interesting take on the women of Bollywood… I think the Chak De girls stand out and Priyanka from Fashion

I’m part of a community called Olive Cookie and there, there has been a debate on Shahid Kapoor vs Ranbir Kapoor. Who gets your vote and why?

Katrina gave her best performance ever at Filmfare!

Rewatches Rewatches

I’ve rewatched a few movies recently and I thought I’d review the rewatches! I’ll start from the worst and move down to the best… This is just how good I felt the rewatch was, not how good I felt the film was.

Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani

The first time I watched this I gave it a 3.5 out of 5. Now, after rewatching it, I’d probably give it 1! This is definitely a one time watch. The first time I found the acting varying between good and average, on the rewatch I found it all more hamming and Ranbir’s fake stammer was really starting to get to me. Katrina seemed OK on the rewatch but Ranbir had my begging for my sanity! He seemed to overact in all the scenes except for the emotional ones. the songs were nice once again, but the story seemed to drag on and on, until I had to switch it of halfway to spare my brain from melting. Never again!

Three Idiots

This, to my surprise wasn’t anywhere near as good on the rewatch. This might be because you already know what is going to happen, and when it is going to happen. The acting still felt excellent, even if Kareena’s over expressive face started getting to me a bit after a while. I guess it was the way the director wanted to make sure he disappointed no one and practically spoon fed the audience every little idea and part of the plot that spoiled the rewatch. It is understandable the first time, but by the third ‘demo’ we’ve got the idea that Rancho is a genius with a heart of gold, no need to force it down our throats with the fourth, fifth and sixth demos! Overall worth it if you are an Aamir fan like me and for the light comedy moments.

Chak De India

On a side note, is it me or does this poster suggest Shahrukh=God?

This was just as good on the second viewing. *SPOILER ALERT* You know India is going to win *SPOILER ALERT* but you keep cheering them on all the same. I guess what works here is the fact that the plot is so simple and meaningful, that it doesn’t need to be spoon fed to us, we’re big enough to take it in by ourselves. I’m a sucker for patriotic films to this completely worked for me, I can hear Maula Mere Lele Teri Jaan a thousand times and still love it afresh! Shahrukh was so sincere in this, it really touched my heart, you could feel the patriotic blood pumping through his veins, coupled with his need to prove himself. The film has good rewatch value mostly because of its performances, the girls are really believable and I have no problem with Balbeer’s monobrow.

Kaminey

As anyone who reads this blog can tell, I adored this film even the first time round.

This one seems to be like wine (not that I drink), it gets better with age… I actually preferred it the second time round in comparison to the first. This film compels you to rewatch it because it is so darn difficult to understand the plot the first time round and take note of the subtle symbolism used and the dialogues and the acting and the drama and the list goes on. Like on my fourth viewing I worked out *SPOILER ALERT* the brothers fight at the end in the old house they used to live in as kids together, how fymbolic and fweet!*SPOILER ALERT*

Also, it was refreshing to watch some real acting after partly rewatching Ajab Prem Ghazab Kahani, once again, I was left stuttering by Shahid’s rendition of a stammer. The dialogues were so new and original, they really stood out in the rewatch, I leart about four new Hindi swear words in one night because of Kaminey.

Overall, I’d recommend everyone to watch this at least twice to really enjoy it, I know I’ll be watching again!

My favourite of last year - Dhan Te Nan...Kaminey

I can’t say enough about this film, this is going to be a long post so bear with me…

Let me just clarify, this film ranks with movies such as Lagaan, Rang De Basanti and Taare Zameen Par in my mind. There are very few faults in this film which is just one of the reasons I love it so much…

The six things I must have long and detailed ramblings about are the acting, the direction, the plot, characters and of course… the music.

The only faults I could find was the cinematography, although stylish, was a bit annoying if you wanted to see one character clearly. And the Tashi storyline.

First of all… the acting and wow is it good! Every character is life-like and all the actors have definitely done a commendable job. First of all, let me say I absolutely adored Priyanka, Shahid and Chandan Roy Sanyal’s acting, they struck me as perfect. I really really liked Amol Gupte’s act of the rouge politician, who thought the writer of TZP could churn out such a performance? Priyanka looked great in a spunky, deglamourised character but i wish she had gotten rid of the manicure, because that was the only bit that spoiled her image in my opinion. I liked the idea of a girl being ‘the man’ in a relationship and she portrayed in a way I feel only she could and there was definitely some wonderful chemistry between the two leads. Shahid played his two roles to utmost brilliance. There was this charming screen presence when he was on, he constantly understated himself such as in the interrogation scenes and the scene when Amol’s men come to Charlie’s house. He brought life in to the two characters. I could hardly recognise him as Charlie in the confrontation scene near the end. I thought he was pretty much perfect in his speech defects. As I stammer when reading out sometimes, I could completely sympathise with him and his story about his past in year six, although why it might make someone nearly fail I couldn’t understand. However, it might have been he developed an inferiority complex therefore didn’t try as hard as he wasn’t as confident. I loved the way he was constantly understating himself, he seems like the future Aamir and SRK mixed together. The confrontation scenes were great because it was totally convincing (without a moustache) that there were two different characters onscreen. The lisp was far far far better than Ranbir’s as he did things like contract his throat and close his eyes and even occasionally hit something. This was something totally different to his other characters but I did feel it had some vague similarities to he role in Fida, which I really liked which may seem strange. It is evident he inherited a lot of his acting talent from his father Pankaj Kapur. Chandan Roy Sanyal made me laugh every time he came on the screen. Right from the first “kaisa hai tu?” to the ‘Bhope Tope’ scene.


Now on to direction. I really need to see Omkara! I loved this piece of Vishal Bhardwaj’s work so hopefully I’ll love that too. The attention he gives to detail is outstanding, I had heard about the ‘Apna Haath Jagganath’ problem in a newspaper and it is a perfect example for what I mean about detail. This script was a diamond in itself if it was only $4000. What I really like about him is that he can get actors to get out of their comfort zones and do something original. Priyanka has so little make-up on and Shahid is playing the ‘bad guy’ (with a vulnerable bit to him) which is lots of fun. Another thing I really liked was he was true to his word. I difcovered my mean fide! I felt this weird side to me when Shahid hits Francis on the head multiple times with the UBT (Unidentifiable Black Thing) I don’t have a clue what it was! I found myself cheering on the violence and enjoying people getting hit on the head with fire extinguishers, so much for me being a conditional pacifist. Pfft!
I really liked the original plot, this is what helps to give this film re-watch value for two main reasons:
The plot is so complicated that it is easy to miss the finer nuances on first watch. When you know the basic version, you can fill in the small gaps, I personally didn’t notice any plot holes.
The first time, one must focus on the plot even though one knows here are some great lines being said and some wonderful action, one must stop their attention from wavering. However, when one has got to grips with the plot, one has to watch it again but this time enjoy the acting, cinematography (even though this didn’t go down all too well with me) and dialogues.

I feel the story is split into five sub-plots that all intertwine:
Charlie and Mikhail which starts off with ‘Franfif’
Guddu and Sweety with their pregnancy problems
Tashi, the diamonds and his brother-in-law
The policemen and the picture of Charlie
Bhope Bhau finding out about Guddu

*SPOILER ALERT* The climax is fantastic and you have the choice of picking the happy or the sad ending. It can either be that Charlie lived and Sweety has twins is true. Or the sadder version would be that that was all just a dying dream and Charlie actually dies. I want to believe the happy one is true but the sad one keeps popping into my head! *SPOILER ALERT*

Another golden coin in this treasure chest are the characters the complex, comical characters. I have been picking them apart in my head and they all seem to have many facets to them but I’ll disclose my thoughts on each character here:

Charlie: He is probably the most interesting gem of the lot. There are a lot of different sides to him and even after reaching the end, you don’t feel like you fully know him. He shows he can be loyal (him and Mikhail); he can be treacherous (the scene on the train); he can make good decisions (Charlie Guddu fight scene) as well as bad (taking the guitar case in the first place); he can almost be sadistic (him hitting Francis with the UBT- hey I know I said I felt something weird at that moment but that does not imply I’m a sadist) and he can be sarcastic (him and Burgess and him and Guddu). He also seems to have hallucinations.

Guddu: He’s probably the character I can relate to the most. He’s the underdog, the stutterer with an inferiority complex. But he also proves he can be as treacherous as he can be loyal, he proves this on the train and at the airport. You feel real sympathy for this guy when he is being tortured and when he tells his year six story and in the interrogation scene. I am aware some people found his stammer funny, shame on you all. It was a brilliant, accurate and well enacted performance minus any hamming by Shahid that deserves a round of applause, not to be laughed at. The one thing that still isn’t completely clear to me is the amount of love Guddu feels for Sweety. Any views on that?

Sweety: Here’s a girl who doesn’t let others control her life! She’s in charge and she knows it! Sweety is deeply in love with Guddu but I don’t like the deceit she uses to get him. I was as surprised as Bhope Bhau when she pulled the trigger, you must watch to understand what I mean. Overall I quite like Sweety’s character.

Mikhail: How could the characters part end without Mikhail? What an amazing smackhead! I’m in two minds about this one; one part of me reminds me of Charlie’s dialogue ‘Dil se bachha hai magar deemag se paagal hai faala’ while another part of my brain keeps mentioning he’s a dangerous cokehead, who without meaning to gets Charlie into trouble *SPOILER* and himself killed. Somewhere inside me I felt Mikhail’s time coming to an end just before the Bhope Tope scene, I was so desperate for him to live, I remember urging him to listen to Charlie and leave. *SPOILER* Mikhail is easily the most crazy character on the surface but the deeper you get, the murkier he seems.

All of the other characters: The above four really stood out but all of them left a mark, be that Bhope Bhau or Tashi. At first I didn’t like Tashi because he hit me as boring and annoying, but the line that redeemed him in my eyes was ‘Bhope, tope hamare paas bhi hai par khamakha war kyun larde? I’m not America’ haha lol rofl yay ;)

I’ve been going crazy about the music and have even started trying to learn Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai, although this isn’t my favourite track. My favourite is easily Kaminey the title song, oh my word what lyrics. I bow down to you Gulzar sir. Pure poetry in music and it really touched my heartstrings. I thought the songs were well placed, maybe possibly with the exception of Dhan Te Nan because it disrupted the flow of the plot whereas Fatak helped it flow. I agree with most other bloggers, it would have been good if Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai had been left in, it would have made Priyanka and Shahid’s love so much more believable because Pehli Baar Mohabbat Ki Hai is very real, with normal lovers doing normal things. I personally adored the lyrics of Fatak, what a great way to promote AIDS awareness! Something unrelated that annoyed me was the way Aamir was lauded for saying for about ten seconds that smoking is bad in Ghajini while Shahid sings a whole 4 minute song about protection and he gets no such recognition! Where’s the justice in that!


Overall, the best film I saw last year!
Rating: 4.75