Rocket Singh .....Raju meets Jerry!

A wintery hello, frEeky fellows!

For all its claims to be a professional and global industry, Bollywood is at the end of it, a mom and pop shop; with only the laadla star beta / betis that get launched every so often. One such privileged star kid was Ranbir Kapoor, who has probably turned out to be the surprise flavour of the year. With back to back successes such as "Wake Up Sid" and "Ajab Prem Ki Ghajab Kahani" Ranbir has found his groove as the simple/naive do-gooder whose charm prevails over all his obstacles; much like Ranbir seems to be winning over the audience these days! Ranbir returns yet again with Shimit Amin's "Rocket Singh - Salesman of the year!

What it is: Shimit Amin who gave us Bollywood's second best sport film "Chak De India"( I would rate Lagaan as the best) returns with another underdog tale featuring Ranbir as Harpreet Singh, a naive, yet simpleton (coincidence 1: Harpreet is then the same character that Ranbir has played in his previous films Sid and Ajab Prem...)who dreams of joining the big bad world of sales, upon graduation. Brimming with good worldy advice received from his grandpa played effortlessly by Prem Chopra (coincidence 2: Ranbir's character name in his last movie was, you guessed it : Prem Chopra!)

the Yaays: Ranbir, is effortless in his by now second nature performance as the kind hearted do-gooder. Disheartened by the unethical ways of his employer, he decides to start of his own little set-up in a manner which reminds one of Tom Cruise's Jerry Maguire. Ranbir has great screen presence, and Shimit in recognising this, keeps the melodrama to a minimum and chooses instead to focus on the antics of his lead. Although there are some interesting ( and true to life) office characterisations, such as the overtly made up office receptionist and the techie who secretly surfs porn while in office, this is essentially Ranbir's tale; who to his credit delivers!

the Naays: For the cine-going crowd that expect foreign locales, melodrama and a Paresh Rawal as their dose of entertainment, this movie will be a letdown. Shahzan Padamsee is quite the looker, but she and the other newcomer Gauhar Khan make earnest, yet almost there attempts to impress. The story in itself is nothing new, with the tale of the underdog been well documented in Shimit's last film itself.

Verdict:

Thoda Jerry + Thoda Raju = Rocket Singh!

While in no ways a path breaking film, Rocket Singh, like it's title character is a simple film, and is told endearingly well by Shimit Amin. It is perhaps this millennium's version of Ranbir's grandfather Raj Kapoor's "Jis Desh Main Ganga Behti Hai" with a dash of Jerry Maguire thrown in for good measure. While one comes away satisfied with the end product, one really hopes that Ranbir would attempt to break away from the "do-gooder" image that he is fast heading towards being typecast in.

Rating:



a theek-theek 3 freEkies

Even Better Than The Real Thing..

A Wintery hello, frEeKy fellows,

This year's finest (bollywood) performance has finally arrived! With the release of R. Balki's PAA, Amitabh Bachhan treads into hithertho untested territory playing not only a "special" child ( read here my previous post about how actors playing special people are a shoo-in for the awards). In all seriousness, R. Balki's acerbic script, dripping with lighthearted humour combined with stellar performance by the Big B, make this a definite watch, even a notch better than the Hollywood original "JACK" that it was reportedly inspired from ( read up on my post about that here).

PAA thus joins an elusive league of desi movies, that I daresay, surpass the original film that they are inspired from. While Bollywood as we all know, shamelessly borrows liberally from its foreign film counterparts, and makes unforgivable desi versions that are too many and to bad to name here. There are a few gifted enough to borrow from the original and seamlessly integrate into Indian sensibilities ; join me tonight fellow frEeks in looking at some remakes that truly are,
even better than the real thing!!..

a) Dombivili Fast:

Directed by Nishikant Kamat, this 2006 marathi movie, was heavily inspired by the 1993 Hollywood movie "Falling Down" starring Michael Douglas. While Falling Down depicted the travails of a laid-off NASA employee - William Foster, played by Douglas. Foster's character, having just received the news of his unemployment, goes into depression and then into a self righteous rampage at the unequal distribution of wealth in the American society. Along the way he also dispenses his vigliante brand of justice to drug-dealers and the like. Dombivali Fast, made several years laters transposes the lead character to the bowels of Mumbai (i.e. Dombivali) and pulls no punches in showing his bleary life; from the mornings spent outside a water tanker waiting for his daliy quota of water, to the streetside cuppa tea that he has by the vendor outside his office, Madhav Apte ( played brilliantly by Sandeep Kulkarni)'s life is one monotonous day after which the director depicts thus..

Fed up by his wife's barbs about his self righteous anger, Madhav's rage boils over when a cold-drink vendor demands more than the regular price of a cola, leading Madhav to destroy his stall, and thereafter go on a righteous rampage much like Douglas' character in the original. While Falling Down created a few ripples at the time of it's release, it is to director Nishikant Kamat's credit that he has seamlessly integrated the theme of righteous anger, to perhaps an even more apt setting - the life of the Mumbai middle class man. Dombivali fast in exposing the stench of Mumbai's corruption, crowds and the rat-race which passes of as daily life; ultimately makes a far superior product than the movie which it was inspired from.

b) Chachi 420:

Chachi 420 a 1998 comedy film, by the legendary Kamal Haasan who also starred in the film as the main character, the movie was in no small measure by the brilliant Hollywood comedy , Mrs. Doubtfire starring Robin Williams. While one cannot measure the brilliance of Kamal Haasan's performance against that of Williams in the original, Kamal Haasan once again borrowed from the original and threw in some desi spic for good measure. What makes this remake as good or perhaps even a tad better than the original is the inclusion by Haasan, of perhaps India's greatest acting talent. Take a look at this brilliant scene..

By intertwining characters such as Amrish Puri ,who plays Kamal's father-in-law and who falls in love with Kamal's chachi avatar, Om Puri,as Amrish Puri's lecherous Bihari assistant; Johnny Walker,as an alchoholic make-up artist who disguises Kamal in his female avatar, Paresh Rawal,as Kamal's landlord who also has a crush on Kamal's female avatar, the script takes on some hilarious twists and turns all in no small part due to the inclusion of this brilliant ensemble cast!


extra frEeky: Kamal Haasan also starred in another remake, which matched the brilliance of its original inspiration "Nayagan"

freEk watch: THE BLIND SIDE!

A weekdayish hello, my frEek fellows!

For many the movie season this year has consisted of the teenage vampire series "Twilight", and while the year has thrown up some underrated gems such as "The Hurt Locker", "Away We Go" or even "Julie and Julia" there has not been that one movie that has had the potential to sway young and old alike, to make that passing from a weekend release, to an award nominee, that is until last weekend!

The Blind Side which released last weekend over the US Box office, is a small movie written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The movie is the true story of a traumatised homeless kid named Michael Oher, who is adopted by Leigh Anne Tuohy ( played by Sandra Bullock) and with her helps gains confidence, and goes on to become one of the greatest high school football players of all time.

Coming close to toppling the supremacy of the Twilight series at the box-office, this movie is already drawing comparisons to that true life tearjerker of past years, "The Pursuit of Happyness"

and yes, the possibility of ms. Bullock channeling her feistiest "Erin Brockovich" impression, is also said to be a possible Oscar contender. So there you have it folks, will this then be the movie of the year??

see ya at the movies!

extra freeky: you always hear it first here, folks!!!

Movie Review: KURBAAN

A Jihadi hello my frEeky fellows!

It's been several years since 9/11 now, resulting in a spate of movies from Farenheit 9/11 to Oliver Stone's World Trade Center to the brilliant United 93 It seems rather ironical that Bollywood's bandwagon is catching on to the trend, only now. Following in the footsteps of the daring ( for Yash Raj Studio's standards) NEW YORK is Dharma Productions KURBAAN



What it is: Directed by Rensil D'silva and starring India's Brangelina jodi: Saif and Kareena, Kurbaan tells the story of a teacher (Kareena) who falls for a dapper colleague played oh-so-suavely by Saif. Their fairy tale marriage seems threatened whenupon moving to the USA, Mrs. teacher realises that Mr. teacher has a few secrets up his kurta sleeve!

the YAays: Slickly shot, Kurbaan boasts of sizzling chemistry between its lead pair, however the much talked about intimate scenes come across as too corny! Kurbaan boasts of an excellent supporting cast including Kirron Kher who deviates from her usual boisterous Punjabi mother persona to an underplayed performance. Om Puri as an calculating terrorist leader, is in fine form.

the NaAys: One can't but help get the feeling of deja-vu while watching Kurbaan. While the initial reels, resemble the deceitful romance of Kajol and Aamir Khan in Fanaa, the latter reels invloving Vivek Oberoi's character too strongly reminds u of Neil Nitin Mukesh's character in NEW YORK. Kurbaan's biggest apparent flaw is that it tries to hard from being a thriller to a palette for the romance between its leads to a political commentary; and the strain shows!!

Rating:



a theek - theek three frEekies!

KAMAL ka KAMAAL I : NAYAKAN!

Vadakam and hellos, my frEEky fellows!!

Kamal Haasan, the actor, the star and the one man movie industry completed 50 movies this year, while praise showered upon him, is as redundant as blaming Pakistan for terrorism, we tread down memory lane to look at some his best work over the years, get yourself ready fellow freEks for:

Kamal Ka Kamaal

episode 1: NAYAGAN

Widely regarded as Kamal's best film, this masterpiece was directed by the then unknown Mani Ratnam, and scored by music maestro Ilayaraaja. Nayagan, an indianised version of Mario Puzo's Godfather ( in itself made into a brilliant film by Coppola) was saved from being a gimmicky copy of the Hollywood version due to Kamal's brilliant acting. While the movie's plot set in the "smuggler" era of the 80s might seem a bit dated now, Kamal's acting as the orphaned Velu, who is adopted by small time criminal living in Dharavi, and who goes on to become a veritable "Godfather" is incredible.
Scenes such as the one where Kamaal protests the local police inspector's bullying by bearing the entire force of the water cannon used against the slum people, or even that depicting his interaction with a prostitute, who requests that he let her study for the night, as she has an exam the next morning have all stood the test of time, take a look-see:

Time Magazine listed Nayagan as One of the Hundred greatest movies ever made ( the only other Indian movie making this list was Satyajit Ray's Apu trilogy). If you haven't seen Nayagan, well, you better do this now, cause this jewel of a film will never lose its sheen!

frEEk

frEEking exclusive: PAA! vs. JACK!

hellos my frEeK fellows,

The Promos for R. Balki's "PAA" have created a stir! featuring Amitabh Bachchan in an unecognisable get-up, PAA's posters are already generating curiosity for the film.

With a cast that includes AB Jr. - Abhishek Bachchan and Vidya Balan, PAA is the story of an aspiring politician played by Abhisheik whose son Auro (played by Amitabh) suffers from a rare degenerating condition, which causes him to age far more rapidly than children his age. As a result, Auro, while in third grade already looks older than his father! The movie also features Vidya Balan as Abhi's wife and Auro's mother struggling to come to terms with Auro's condition, and Paresh Rawal as Abhi's father and political mentor who urges him to keep his "special" child under wraps. The papers these days are abuzz with news of Amitabh's astounding performance and the hours of makeup it took Amitabh to get in Auro's character. What they won't tell you is the amazing simlarity that PAA bears to an nondescript hollywood movie called "JACK"


directed by Francis Ford Coppola. and starring Robin Williams, it tells the story of a similar child (Robin Williams) who suffers from a similar degenerating disease, that makes him look like, well Robin Williams, while he is still in school!! Bill Cosby, plays Jack's teacher who encourages his parents to come to terms with their special child, the movie also focuses on Jack's efforts to get accepted with children his age in school. Jack, did dismally at the box office, and is perhaps remembered best for being one of Jennifer Lopez's first on screen appearances.

While there is really no doubt that Big B's stellar performance combined with solid support from actors like Paresh Rawal, will make PAA a definite must - watch, you now are in the know from where "PAA" was inspired from!!!

extra frEeky: u always hear it first here folks!!

Movie Review: Jail

A lazy weekend hello my frEEk fellows!

That Madhur Bhandarkar has made a niche in "expose" films is an understatement, from the path breaking Chandni Bar , Page 3 and Corporate ; Madhur treaded unfamiliar waters with more masala movies such as "trishakti" ( am i the only one who has seen it?) and "Aan: Men at Work " which was a huge "off" for the audience ( aan -off..get it? never mind) Madhur has since stuck to familiar territory and returned to expose cinema which threatens to lay bare the seamier side of whatever universe he lays his eyes on, so join us fellow frEEks on Madhur's latest journey to..JAIL!



what it is?: Jail is the story of Parag Dixit (played with enough angst by Neil Nitin Mukesh) an upper middle class executive, who makes enough time from his hectic corporate life to romance lady - love ( played inconsequentially by Mugdha Godse). Life takes a turn for the worse when Parag is embroiled in a drug raid, and finds himself bhind the bars of where else, but JAIL!

the Yaays: As in all Madhur's movies the viewer is exposed to intricate details of the workings of a jail system, several scenes such as where Parag has to get used to sleeping with dozens of inmates in a cramped cell, the "torture" scene all score effectively. Neil Nitin Mukesh brings credibility to the character, and registers an impact in his role, Manoj Bajpai, playing a warden underplays his histrionics ( one just waits for him to spout a Bhiku Mhatre dialogue!).

the Naays: With due respect to Madhur's genius his movies now threaten to tread a similar path, where the moralistic "middle - class" protagonist is thrust into hellish circumstances, leaving him no choice but to rise to the occasion - as was the case with Konkona Sen Sharma's character in Page 3, Raveena Tandon's in Satta and Priyanka Chopra's in Fashion and in this case Neil's character in "Jail", while one appreciate the detailed canvas that Madhur paints, one wishes that the plot events unveiled somewhat differently. One also wishes that the initial reels of the movie were not wasted on the incosequential romance between Neil and Mughda's characters and instead focussed on the various characters that Neil interacts with while in JAIL.

rating:

a theek - theek 3 freEkies!


extra frEeky: What's next Madhur? "Hospital", "Hotel"....just remember to give me credit!!