Given that I was so excited by the promo of the movie, what would one expect of me but to watch it the very first day. However, nothing on those lines ever materialized. Thanks to all the pre-reviews that linked this movie being a Chopra family remake of an already poor Johar movie 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna'.
Though it was almost a year's gap between the release of these 2 movies, the shock of KANK was huge. That said, I did give Shaad Ali (the director, also credited for 'Saathiya' and 'Bunty Aur Babli') a chance by watching the movie a few months later. Am I kind or what? :)
Well, given my low expectations and all that, the movie did manage to still disappoint me in a few departments. However, the positive point about it is the movie had some bad luck too. The story was different and very sweet too.
The failure of the movie can be attributed to perhaps the following few factors:
1. An over dose of many similar looking YRF releases. 2. The false hype of JBJ being a remake of KANK. 3. Poor screenplay and equally poor direction. The movie should have been crisp and not unnecessarily elongated to fill those painfully long 132 minutes.
As said, the music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy was decent and would fair an overall rating of 3.5 with a special mention of the song 'Kiss of love' and 'Bol Na Halke'.
I just couldn't resist myself from posting a blog for promo for this movie. It's an awesome trailer with everyone - Abhishek, Preity, Bobby, Lara leaving an impression!
There would be no denying the fact that Dhoom was different and impressive. So, do you not expect a huge rush for Dhoom:2 (better known as D:2). But it's just natural when people can even comment on its posters.
Sanjay Gadhvi and Aditya Chopra had enough expectations raised and had the movie nicely hyped. Though there was no need for it to fear competition from Don and unnecessarily delay its release.
The movie is good with its share of boredom (thanks to Uday Chopra and Bipasha Basu). Choreography is good and with Hrithik, everything looks good.
Pritam hasn't delivered anything that can compete with his own 'Dhoom'. His music is kind of getting repetitive and boring. 'Dhoom Machale' still being the best amidst D2's lot.
Story: Mr. A loves leaving impressions. Whether it is impressing Jai Dixit or Sunehri, he has all tricks in his pockets. But what Mr. A doesn't know is Jai can make him impress someone... Wit of Jai against Perfection of Mr. A...
Credits: Mr. A (Hrithik Roshan); Jai Dixit (Abhishek Bachchan); Sunehri (Aishwarya Rai).
I think it is waste even saying that Bipasha Basu and Uday Chopra exist in the movie. Their characters are not even well crafted.
It's a movie of and for Hrithik from start till end. But Abhishek and Aishwarya can make their presence feel.
If the director and music were to be rated alone, it would be very hard for them to even manage 3.5. But how can I be strict with rating, when the 2 most happening stars (Hrithik & Abhishek) star together in dhoom like this!
With two big hit movies to his credit, this year certainly belongs to Hrithik Roshan! Dhoom Machale!
Slick! That's the word that describes the movie perfectly! A movie that I just went to see because of Abhishek Bachchan, a movie that I did not have high hopes on, a movie with lot of areas to improve - that's Bluffmaster for you!
Let's be different in reviewing this movie with clear distinction of pros and cons. Starting with Cons: 1. Music: The credits or rather the debits go to Vishal & Shekhar, TrickBaby, Arash Aneela and Mirza Sameeruddin. After a couple of hearings, you do tend to like the 2 songs - 'Right Here Right Now' (sung by Abhishek Bachchan) and 'Sabse bada rupaiyya' (sung by Mehmood, a new artist on board). But a powerful, impressing music could have done wonders for this movie.
2. Influence from west: The choreography steps, the way most of the artists are dressed and presented - there seems to be lot of influence from the western countries - honestly, it does not suit Indians. Originality is being missed! We love it the old simple Indian way. I hope the new breed of directors and producers pay attention to this before this new influential trend gets onto the nerves of Indian public.
3. Looks: Glamorized clothes and look from Yuva do not gel well together on Abhishek Bachchan. He could not be as stylish as he was in Dhoom, though he put in a decent performance.
Pros: 1. Being a con story, a topic beaten to death (just like romantic stories by Yash Chopra banner), Rohan Sippy managed to have audience glued to their seat. Unpredictable - that's the mantra used and used well for success. Nice direction. Rohan Sippy's first directorial debut (Kuch Na Kaho) was impressive too.
2. Locales have been chosen aptly keeping the script in mind. The script got more importance than anything else, which is good, else you could have seen AB baby and Priyanka Chopra dancing around trees in some foreign locale suddenly in midst of nowhere.
3. There was no one who could be titled as a show-stealer but Nana Patekar for his performance, Boman Irani for his make-believe acting need to be credited. Rest all were mediocre - AB baby, Ritesh Deshmukh and Priyanka Chopra.
4. Solid hai. That's what I would say for Sridhar Raghavan for his screenplay and story (especially some scenes and dialogues for Nana Patekar are too good) and Amitabh Shukla for his editing.
Overall, a timepass paisa-vasool movie. Have a pack of popcorn and just ease yourself in a cinema hall as you watch this latest movie from the Sippy camp. Their next being Taxi Number 9211.
The song sung by Abhishek Bachchan can be viewed here.
I remember seeing the trailer of this movie, as I was munching some popcorn during another movie's intermission. I loved the music - it was fabulous! But was a new trend starting? "Hum Tum", "Bunty aur Babli"and now "Salaam Namaste". To top it, all from Yashraj banner. But who cares? My big Q was would this be a "paisa-wasool" movie?
So, the next thing I do is search for songs (What other reliable source than old-chweet raaga.com). The remixes on the audio cassette/cd/... are a bit disappointment but the main 4 songs are pleasant to hear - though, I must admit that I needed a few hearings to appreciate the same.
And the D-day comes and I rope in a few friends and go to theatre to find all tickets gone :-(. So, next day it is... And guess what, even before the movie starts, I see trailer of "Neal N Nikki"... God - is SN going to be same old stuff?
Phew - it wasn't... The story ain't a big go-go but the screen play is captive and very enchanting too. No usual filmi rona-dhona, no masala dialogues and the big plus point of the movie being the pace - good job at editing too. Movies in general might be becoming shorter in comparison to 60s/70s but they have become slow-paced too - there's hardly any story and still it needs to be stretched to 2 hours but SN was different. And yes, different with a success story to back it. Whether it was songs, whether it was the screenplay, the acting - it was different (Don't get different confused with innovation though :))
And for the story... Apna heroine is different and doesn't wanna get married (her name is Amber Malhotra) - next - she wants to be a doctor and flies off to Australia - But paapi pet ke kaaran she ends up being a radio jockey - Preity fits into this role like a perfect 'T'. Apna hero (Nikhil Arora (pronounced as Arodaaa) aka Nick), thoda hatke, thinking - "I do not know of any famous architect but Sanjeev Kapoor is so kool - Yo!". First-sight attraction, followed by love, a live-in relation, pregnant mom and then fights and then make-up... but the presentation and screen play would make sure you do not leave your seat. And ofcourse, there's a surprise package too at the end.
Movie gets serious - put in Arshad Warsi for fun or moral support, more serious - get in Javed Jaffri with a "EXACTLY" "NO SORRY" attitude. (Watch the movie to know what I am talking about :)). Fantastic locales, fantastic comic timing and fantastic chemistry between the main pair - what more does a timepass movie require? I would say though that choreography is not bad but it ain't the ticket-seller key either.
Not a movie to put your brain to but a movie not to miss either if you want some fun-time. Siddharth Anand did a good job. Who's Siddharth Anand? S/o Tinnu Anand - maker of Shahenshah. Siddharth himself makes an entry in the movie towards end - Me did confuse him for Vivek Mushran a bit though. And it's my to you folks as of now :)
to my readers too. :) 