Dabangg

Directed by: Abhinav Kashyap

Starring: Salman Khan, Sonu Sood, Sonakshi Sinha, Arbaaz Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Vinod Khanna, Anupam Kher

Released: 2010

I am no Salman Khan fan. I genuinly love some of his films from the 90s, but that usually has hardly anything to do with him. Instead the films he stars in either have some other great actor or actress (like in the case of let´s say Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), or are simply perfectly made (like Bhansali´s Khamoshi). There are several movies I like because of him (Andaaz Apna Apna anyone?), but they are rather rare cases. Unlike many others I do not care for Salman´s personal life and I do not feel the need to hate on him just because he and Shahrukh don´t get along, the truth is I simply don´t find him an actor powerful or convincing enough. There is X-factor more at work than talent, although he has (had?) plenty of it when he was younger. The older he gets the more lazy he gets. Hardly ever challenges himself, he doesn´t wander from his comfort zone, and he is one of those who will repeat the same formula again and again as long as somebody watches. So as you can see I am no Salman Khan fan. And yet after watching Dabangg I wanted to turn into one!

Prem is dead. Long live Chulbul.

Dabangg is a cinematic entertainment of the first class. Clever and witty, full of effortless comedy, action-packed sequences, beautiful songs and if I should use the atrocious clichéd saying, there is something for everybody. And the main hero is a real treat. Chulbul Pandey calls himself with gusto „Robin Hood“, but unlike the medieval European bandit who robbed the rich and gave all to the poor, he robs the robbers and keeps the loot to himself. In a way I was astounded to see how corrupt Chulbul actually is and nobody seems to mind. I guess the general perception of policemen is that they are all corrupt, and apparently as long as you are as righteous towards others as Chulbul you can afford it. There are other things that make him a sympathetic character. He is neglected by his step-father who naturally spoils his own son Makhi, he is devoted to his Maa, and finally he is loveable in his goofiness when it comes to his lady love (incredibly fresh and charming Sonakshi Sinha). Chulbul is Dabangg. Chulbul is what the whole film is about.

Bit of a Freddie Mercury style can never hurt.

When his younger brother Makhi steals some of the money Chulbul kept from himself, he has no idea they belonged to another wretchedly corrupt person – a politician Chedi Singh (Sonu Sood), and he naturally wants it back. He also wants to destroy Chulbul, who has made his life rather uncomfortable after finding out that some of his dark deeds harm the common folk (basically you can steal as long as nobody knows or comes to harm – that seems to be the moral of the story). And after Chulbul interrups Malaika Arora´s hot item number with some of his own awesome steps and pelvic thrusts, Chedi stops to control his own hatred....

Let´s shake it bhabhi!

The thrill, the family drama, the kick-ass action, the adorable romance and political plotting are intertwined just spectacularly. Painted with pleasant, earthy colours and tones and framed with melodious songs, the film is actually beautiful from every angle. True enough, over the years we have grown tired of the sudden stop of the hero in the air while he´s beating the heck up of the bad guys ala Matrix, but somehow Dabangg manages to present them as cool, something not all those who use the trick are able to do. There are memorable dialogues („I am going to make so many holes in you, that you are going to get confused where to breathe from and where to fart from“) and memorable scenes, and for the first time ever Salman doesn´t take off his shirt. Instead the shirt takes off itself.

I´m too sexy for my shirt!

I won the best stripper award six years in a row!

Are you kidding me?

As I have already noted, Chulbul is one of Salman´s best performances. He is unusually (for him) convincing and one can see the role was tailor made for him. His charisma and body language are wonderfully in sync with the character and he definitely deserves all the praise he received for it and more. Where is Salman, there needs to be an arm-candy as well. Debuting Sonakshi Sinha doesn´t have a big or deep role. She is what is demanded of a heroine. Beautiful, young, sweet. We can argue about how overrated she is (or is not) by media as we are waiting for her to act in something else, but the fact remains she did exceedingly well with whatever she was given. She definitely has the best dialogue delivery among the leading ladies who were launched in the last 5 years, and she has a pleasant, expressive face. She refused to be lost in Salman´s larger than life image and in spite of everything made her presence known. 

My hope for brighter Bollywood future.

Arbaaz Khan, who is one of the most wooden actors I´ve seen, finally found himself. Supporting role of a village lazybum, who is not evil, but not exactly saint or clever either, did for him what Chulbul did for Salman: it made him seem a great actor. For the first time ever I found him completely natural and at ease in front of the camera. The supporting cast overall did a good job, even though sentiments could hurt at a bit when you realize Dimple Kapadia plays Salman´s mother alongside Vinod Khanna. For me she will always be that young girl unashamedly opening door for Rishi Kapoor dressed inocently inapropriate.....

Pocket money time.

It´s difficult to label anything as a modern day classic. People are bound to disagree and some will slam you for your inferior opinion, and of course only the future years can really show if your guess was wrong or right, but somehow I have a feeling Dabangg deserves to be on the list of „modern classics“ for the pure fun and entertainment it represents. Also because even though it´s a massala and Salman Khan film, you do not need to leave your brain at home. And even though my undying devotion lies with Shahrukh Khan, I dare say Dabangg was the best film of the whole 2010, leaving its "chief rival" My name is Khan far behind.

Dil Bole Hadippa!

Directed by: Anurag Singh

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Rani Mukherjee, Anupam Kher, Dalip Tahil

Released: 2009

Veera Kaur is a self proclaimed "world-class cricket batsman, right- and left-handed", for sure the best one for miles around. However as a country girl travelling most of the time with a theater company, she doesn´t really get an opportunity to show her skills. On the other side of the world, in England, there lives Rohan, an accomplished captain of an English cricket team, up until the moment his father calls him back to India, where his own little team has been loosing for years. And even though it´s against a Pakistani team of his friend, he just really wants to win this time. Rohan, of course, leaves everything just to see his daddy gets a victory once in a while, and he becomes the new captain and starts auditions to find the best players.

No clever caption. Just enjoy her beauty.

What a better opportunity for Veera could ever come? However, you see, she is a girl, and as such not even allowed to audition. But taking an inspiration from her theater company, Veera does not give up – she throws away her kohl and bangles and becomes – Veer! Naturally now nobody has any objections against her being in the team. But this triumph has it´s disadvantages for Veera, one of them being forced to use men´s changing room. After being caught by Rohan in her female avatar in there, she quickly pretends to be Veer´s sister. And Rohan, after some arguing and bickering, falls in love with her....

Sometimes you have to forget you´re a woman...

...when you have man´s dreams.

But ouch! The pain of the changing room!

Few more meetings and Veera too falls for the handsome cricketer, trying as hard as she can to keep other girls away, as well as rediscovering the hindustani dil in him, that has been exposed to way too much English influence over the years. It is also easier for her to predict and guess what Rohan´s feelings and thoughts are, since he goes to be adviced to the person he considers Veera´s closest confidant – her brother Veer....

From English cool guy...

...back to the roots!

I am not a fan of sport films. They always show a man/woman who are in a way an outcast and should not be doing the sport or are past their peak, how they challenge everything and in the end overcome everything, make it to the big finale where they either win or loose, but if the latter, it has a deep moral subtext and they always earn more respect than the winner. There are sport films that, even though with the same formula, can step out of the mould (best example is Chak De India), but Dil Bole Hadippa is not one of them. It is quite enjoyable for one watch, but there is not really a repeat value and throughout I just felt something was missing and thus it all was incomplete. Especially once the final match starts, the film seemed boring – which was the exact opposite of what it should be.

Rani was just brilliant and her comic scenes were priceless, she owned the film completely, leaving just very little space for Shahid, who seems rather halfhearted anyway. Especially his emotional outburst upon finding out the truth about Veer being Veera, seemed very much rehearsed. There is one scene where I was willing to forgive all, and that I will definitely cherish always: the little stage show with references to DDLJ, MPK and of course HAHK. This was the first (only?) time I ever saw anyone actually word by word acting the famous HAHK scene, as as delightful as Rani and Shahid were, images from the original films were simply flashing through my mind and I caught myself smiling at them. The film, as every true Yash Raj production, is beautiful visually, very colourful without making your eyes sore, music is forgettable.

Shahid´s take on Shahrukh....

...and Rani´s on Madhuri.

The film failed to make the mark in history of cinema, it didn´t even do too well at the box office, and frankly I can understand why. The many flaws can always be forgiven and forgotten, but for that a movie needs to have a certain complexity, something that touches the heart or makes you think. Dil Bole Hadippa remains an OK one time watch without this quality.

Vivah

Directed by: Sooraj Barjatya

Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Amrita Rao, Anupam Kher, Alokh Nath

Released: 2006

Twelve years after Hum Aapke Hain Koun Sooraj Barjatya decided to strike with another wedding video starring gorgeous heroine, handsome hero, loving families, perfect relationships (except for some minor flaws) lots of sweet songs and chocolates. However while Hum Aapke Hain Koun pulls off the rather non-existent plot brilliantly, Vivah, though there is nothing particularly wrong with it, did not manage to do so, neither it succeeded in recreating the magic.

Alokh Nath and Anupam Kher switched places and so this time Anupam is from the boy´s side, while the other one is raising the girl. She is not his daughter, but an orphaned niece Poonam. Unlike him, his wife doesn´t feel any love for Poonam, simply for the reason she has her own daughter who is dusky unlike perfectly beautiful niece.

Anupam is a father to Prem (Sooraj Barjatya has a thing for this name like Yash Chopra and Karan Johar do for Rahul), on a lookout for a bride. And who would have thought, Alokh Nath is in search for a groom for Poonam. And when these two meet, wedding is in the air.

1994

Twelve years later.

The bride and groom take immediate deep liking to each other. The two families love each other too. And apart from a joined family holiday don´t expect anything from the most of the film. Sadly the songs and romance simply don´t match up to legendary HAHK, and so for most of the film I kept looking at the time line which was moving with a snail speed. I was glad that the two main leads are played by Amrita Rao and Shahid Kapoor, because they both are such beautiful people, you can at least concentrate on them, wishing they had babies in real life, because beauty should be preserved for the next generations, while nothing is going on on the screen. They indeed make a beautiful couple.

And then tragedy strikes. And yet again I just cannot help but to do a little comparism to HAHK – while there the tragedy caused a problem, even thought mainly because of some communication holes more then anything else, in Vivah the tragedy doesn´t change anything at all. And we are heading for a happy ending.

This film is about...

...long meaningful stares...

...and fleeting meaningful gestures.

If you have a diabetes, this is not a film for you. Just five minutes would kill you, that´s how sweet everything and everyone is. They are all good in their roles. But none of the characters on their own are remarkable, and I highly doubt any of the actors would rank their performance in Vivah as their best.

Had it come out before Hum Aapke Hain Koun, I´m sure it would have been revolutionary (the way HAHK was), but since it´s coming a long time after, I couldn´t shake off the feeling that Sooraj Barjatya was simply trying his luck with the same story again. But Shahid Kapoor doesn´t have Salman´s charm. Amrita Rao doesn´t have Madhuri´s energy. And Prem´s nephew is nowhere near Tuffy (anyone else thinks the boy was a replacement of a „cute animal“ which usually is present in these kind of films?)

Vivah is a nice watch for a VERY lazy afternoon, and might be also ideal for putting you to sleep. Because in spite of being nice, it is unforgivably boring as well. In a way it really is what the full title promises: a detailed, idealistic documentary about a highly appropriate “way from engagement to marriage”.

I was just told we don´t  have any more laddoos.

No more laddoos?

We ate them all.

You must be strong Poonam. We have completely run ouf ot laddoos.

March 2011 releases

I rather urgently need to delete several files from my computer and the victims of this decision are to be three film which released this March. And just as my good habit goes, before deleting a film I am to write at least a short review. One of the „major“ releases is not included and that is Dum Maro Dum, simply because I have not yet found a decent picture quality copy with subtitles, so I guess a review of that film will have to wait.... Meanwhile here come the three films I´ve seen....

F.A.L.T.U.

Directed by: Remo D´Souza

Starring: Jackky Bhagnani, Pooja Gupta, Boman Irani, Riteish Deshmunk

To be honest I only watched this film because it was directed by Remo, whom I´ve got accostumed to see side by side with Madhuri Dixit on Jhalak Dikhla Ja 4 the last winter. Yeah, a pathetic reason, but a fangirl in me knows no limits! The only reason why I sat through the whole thing was Riteish Deshmunk. I genuinly like the guy, I find him very funny and there is something cute and endearing about him. He is also a good actor and in this is without a second thought the best together with Boman Irani – despite the fact their roles are rather limited. Most of the time you are forced to watch a bunch of teenagers, who are obviously too lazy to study, having a good time and later do some preaching about how teachers should teach..... I am all for changes in our educational systém, but I hate it when people label it all wrong. It has worked for centuries for God´s sake. Maybe I´m just interpreting the „message“ of the film wrong, because it was hard to pay any real attention to what was heppening on screen..... Some jokes might have been funny, if one didn´t realize that there is limit to silliness. And who the heck was that Google guy?

I Am

Directed by: Onir

Starring: Juhi Chawla, Manisha Koirala, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das

Yes, I know I have shocked you with such a low rating of such a highly critically acclaimed film. But it was the high expectations coming from those critical accolades and praises which made my psyched about I Am long before it released, and then I found out it is actually nothing that special... Onir made a quality film, interestingly put together, with very good performances from everybody. It is always pleasure to see Juhi Chawla, even more so in these kind of mature roles, and it was just as great to see Manisha Koirala again. Rahul Bose, who failed to impress me in Chameli, delivers yet again a rather subdued performance, which yet again leaves me with an impression of him being constantly confused on screen. My problem with the film was that I did not really find it „eye-opening“, the word which critics largely used. Everybody with brains (hence everyone who would watch such a film) knows there are single women who go to spermbanks, that there are people who would never accept gays, that there are molested children. The film says that these things exist. And that´s all. All four stories are hardly related to each other, in fact they seemed rather forcibly put together, and their length (or rather shortness) did not give me a chance to feel into the characters, or even like them. It was all too shallow, simple „touch and run away“.

Game

Directed by: Abhinay Deo

Starring: Abhishek Bachchan, Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher

This one was a surprise. I am one of those who think Abhishek Bachchan simply lucked out because of his surname, and I maintain this belief. But there are films where he proves he is a capable actor too and Game is one of those. In fact, I really, really liked the first 45 minutes. The way the story was presented was nothing less but exciting for me. But once the EXCELLENT Anupam Kher disappeared from the film, it went down the hill. Maybe also because really good Boman Irani was too very soon eliminated from the story. From a very promising plot, which was well built up at first, the movie in mere minutes transformed into mediocre thriller with terribly placed background music and a speed of a snail. Abhishek is quite good, although I don´t understand why he has to play a "genius" so often, because seriously, he doesnt convince you of being one. Kangana, I feel, is a one time wonder. I recall how astounded I was by her in Fashion, but since then my rating of her as an actress sloops lower and lower everytime I see her. In this she is the weekest and yet again doesn´t really make me want to go and watch her some more. Lots of stories are left unfinished in this. Pity? Good? Not quite sure.

Yamla Pagla Deewana

Directed by: Samir Karnik

Starring: Sunny Deol, Bobby Deol, Dharmendra, Anupam Kher

Released: 2011

Somewhere in Vancouver, Canada, there lives a rather happy NRI going by the name of Paramveer Singh (Sunny Deol). His family includes a blonde, non-Indian wife, two little sons and old mother. Paramveer dreams of going back to his homeland, but his wife Mary is completely opposed to the idea, being completely convinced that all Indians are crazy (unfortunately the events that are about to happen will do anything but prove her wrong). And so Paramveer is left with his dreams and spends his days going to job and grocery shopping for his family. If somebody happens to have a brilliant idea of robbing him, he simply beats them up without a wink, then he buys the latest Punjab newspaper for his Maa and peacefully goes his way. But nothing lasts forever and one day the family learns, that Paramveer´s father (Dharmendra), who run away thirty years later after a fight with his wife and took his second son, a mere baby, with him, managed to bring little Gajodhar (Bobby Deol) to his own image AKA the two of them lie and loot and nobody is safe before them. Th grief-stricken Maa pleads Paramveer to take a trip to India and bring her husband and son to her, because after 30 years...well, she kinda misses them and believes once they come they will turn into angels. Paramveer, as a good son, does exactly what she asks and leaves at once to India.

And he is lucky – as soon as he sets his foot into the city of Banares, he becomes a victim to one of his brother´s deceptions (and it makes him happy!) and soon he finds also his rather drunken father in the company of a girl more then half his age (and it makes him even more happy!). The father does not want to confirm Paramveer´s identity, because he brought his little „Goju“ in belief he is a single-child and his mother had run away from them. But after Paramveer saves his skin more then once he accepts him to accompany him for a time. Meanwhile Goju has other troubles altogether. He is in love. After much thinking and many unsuccessful attempts at not making a complete fool of himself he finally wins over the girl he loves. Unfortunatelly she has five rather strickt brothers who immediatelly drag her home and are planning to wed her to the first NRI who would be willing. Goju is uhappy. But what would be the family for, right?

Deol & Deol

Yamla Pagla Deewana is basically from the same mould as Dabangg, but then it went a different way. It too has a nice desi touch and smells of the wonderful 90´s masala, but in the end the feeling one has is that the three Deols just really wanted to act together – even if for the heck of it. It would be futile to search for any message or a deep thought, you wouldn´t find one. It is a light comedy that simply happens and doesn´t ask for more then your laugh. Dharmendra, Bobby and Sunny all are basically playing caricatures of their most famous characters, especially Sunny, an honest guy with pure heart who will beat anyone up for his family and doesn´t even have to lift his hand (literally) and Dharmendra as a light-hearted Casanova with a weak spot for alcohol. The first half of the film concetrates on Paramveer looking for his father and brother and then his attempts to get closer to them. However the comical scenes could be counted on the fingers of one hand and it all rather drags at times too – contrary to the second half!

Deol and . . . eeeeeh . . . Deol.

That is where the fun really begins. The story turns almost grotesque and even finds a way how to quite seemlessly bring all the characters into one place. While in the first half the footage all belongs to the three Deols, in the second we have not only five Punjab brothers (one better – or worse? - then the other) and after a while even Paramveer´s blonde wife and two kids! Among the brothers Anupam Kher excells and every single of his appearances is hilarious. Of course we get to see some fighting scenes faithful to „Sunny Deol“ style and who would even dare to doubt it will all end well and Anupam Kher will not shoot anyone, nah?

I wouldn´t recommend the films to the Bollywood begginers, because there are some jokes related to several famous movies (Raja Hindustani and Sholay immediatelly come to mind), and also not everybody is ready for Johnny Lever (even though I must say he was not as half as crazy/funny/annoying as he usually is, and in fact I quite welcomed his appearance from purely sentimental reasons).

Music is nothing special, very forgettable and except for Chadha de rang the songs are not even visually pleasing.

If you´re a Deol fan – you are going to love it.