Singh Is Kinng

Here is a combo family pack which has always given blockbusters.Akshay, Katrina, Anees Bazmee and Vipul Shah. Consider Namestay London(directed by Vipul), Welcome(directed by Anees)have been major hits at the box office. SIK is a movie which would make you laugh and go gagga from scene number 1. Most importantly this is one of those rare movies in Bollywood which featured Sardars in a well mannered fashion.
SIK ,starts of in Australia where you find Sonu Sood playing the role of a Don. Back in India Akshay Kumar(Happy Singh)is a fun loving guy who has a large heart. The story moves on in such a way that Happy Singh and Rangeela(Om Puri) goes to Australia to bring a change in his village counterparts who run a mafia.

Meanwhile there is a love angle with Katrina(Sonia) which infact picks up in the second half of the picture. The best part of the movie is that you get many of those punjabi one liners thrown at others by Akshay which brings out a fantabulous comedy timing. Music by Pritam is again in mood with the picture. Every song deserves credit. Title song and Jee Karda is top notch.

A small flaw that could have been rectified was that of the length and the climax of the movie. Javed Jaffery's change od attitiude in the climax makes you feel pretty ridiculous but thats not a huge problem cosidering the fact till then movie moves smoothly.


Akshay Kumar proves again he is at his best. Its high time for many to realise that Akshay is "the best" in Bollywood in comic timings. Akshay looks perfect as a sardar and dons his role with penache. Akshay deserves an award , considering that till August no movie has worth of an award. Need to wait and see for the next half of the year about the other movies releasing. Om Puri oozes with comic timing and plays an excellent friend of Akshay. Coming to Katrina , directors of film industry have understood the mantra that make her stand on the silver screen people will accept. Hands down all accept that
Katrina does not know acting but they love to wacth her. Her sex appeal , her smile , her figure drives every one crazy and what else do you expect from a Bollywood actress who is acting in a masala flick. Neha Dupia, Sonu Sood and other actors do justice to their roles and deserve full credit.

Sing is Kinng , is a wonderfull movie to watch , its a pleasent experience if you do not raise silly questions and authencity of scenes. Anees Bazmi has crafted his direction abilities pretty well. He can be considered as one of the bankable directors in the film industry.
Its a must watch , dont miss the first blockbuster of the year 2008.


MY RATTING : ****

Hancock

This was one of the most anticipated movie for this year , but sad to say that this is just a passable flick. Hancock would have been so better if the script would have been a bit stronger. But Hancock is really watchable for the sole reason Will Smith, he proves once again why he is rated as one of the bankable star in the Hollywood.

Movie is about a super hero named Hancock(Will Smith), who most of the time stays in a hangover state because of his drinking appetite. Though he comes out and saves the city from bad hooligans, he even creates a lot of economic loss. This nature of Hancock troubles all the city people and higher authorities.

(Jason Bateman)Ray Embrey gets a new life because of Hancock and from there the story moves ahead ; hancock becoming a close associate of Ray. Ray makes sure that Hancock brings in a change in his lifestyle by keeping in prison of habitation. Meanwhile Mary Embrey(Charlize Theron) plays wife of Ray and surprisingly has a long connection with Hancock. There is a surprise element with respect to the Mary. The scenes where you see Hancock and Mary makes a pleasent watch.

The dialogues are well written with a hint of or should I say only slang to attract the masses . The frames which consist of " Call me once again asshole" is really well architectured for the role of Hancock. Peter Berg does a failry good job, but his work should have been really easy since he had two great stars Will and Charlize. The drawback in the movie was the manner in which it becomes really perposterous the last half an hour or so ; the whole hospital episode.

Overall Will Smith pulls it of , had there not been Will , Hancock would have been a big dud. All the actors potray their characters well. Go on an afternoon this movie when you are in a good mood with a bunch of friends , you will love it . But Hnacock would have been so so so better if few chances were to be made.

My rating : ***

Jaane Tu... Ya Jaane Na

JAANE TU… YA JAANE NA is not a typical love story that you find from bollywood factory on daily basis. But this is not a movie which would remain in books of film making for the days to come . Its just an ordinary movie with a touch of youth which makes out the movie for the audience attraction.

The plot the movie is the weakest point in the movie. But the mediocre script is garnished with good acting performances by the lead actors and their company. The movie begins with the narration of few friends how Jai(Imran) and Aditi(Genelia) fell in love. First half of the movie is quite passable , with a flair of comedy here and there . The real movie starts when Jai falls flat for Meghana (Manjari) ... this whole love episode is wonderfully potrayed and is superbly presented the manners of Aditi feeling jealous of the incidents taking place.

As the movie sets off for the second half ,there starts the real nonsense. The script is so dragged that you feel vexed at a particular point. Aditi planning to marry a guy , Jai's break up with Meghana and again Jai haveing a fight , going to jail , the re-entering of the Khan brothers (Arbaz and Sohail) agitates many viewers. The climax too is pretty absurd and you would wish for better climax.

Naseeruddin Shah is terrific in the role , he essays fathers role of Jai with ease . But somewhere down the line the conditions of fighting , going to jail and riding a horese looks quite ridiculous . The group of friends -- Karan [as Rotlu], Alishka [as Bombs], Nirav [as Jiggy] and Sughanda [as Shaleen] -- also form the real backbone of the movie. They are fresh and energetic. Paresh Rawal chips into a small role and does so well that you will laugh out for sure. This kind of territory is nothing new to Paresh.

Though Abbas Tyrewala has done a fair job , but cannot be termed as a great director . But credit must be given for pulling out a weak script in a well mannered way. Nothing can be said about A.R. Rahmans music . Now he is one person in the industry who has always come out with new and innovative music , the only person in the industry who has shown the signs of consistency. Again he is at his best . Every song is different from one and other.
Imran Khan can be the next choclate boy hero in the industry and surely a good actor in making. Genelia's spontaneity brings out the characterisation of Aditi realy well.
On the whole just an average movie , take your girl friend she would love much more than you out there.

My rating : * *1/2

SARKAR RAJ

As soon as you enter into the movie theatre and watch the first frame of Sarkar Raj, you know it that RAM GOPAL VERMA is back and is sure to show out his classic signature style. To all those critics and people who wrote off this maverick director , take your word back because RGV proves again that he is Indias one of the finest director. You wonder , how come RGV make films like AAG, DARLING, GO etc
etc. We need to understand the fact that , movie making in India started changing becuase of RGV. For instance last year , we had CHAK DE directed by Shimit Amin who worked under RGV. Jhonny Gaddar directed by Raghavan who worked under RGV had some kind of indirect connection of movie making and we could witness RGV style.

Coming to Sarkar Raj , Ramu has weaved magic and by large this is his best work. Sarkar Raj is much much better and engrossing than its prequel Sarkar. Every frame is well shot, close angle camera work has been outstanding. Sarkar Raj deals with the ugly side of politics in Maharastra. Again we have Amitabh Bachchan (Subhash Nagare 'Sarkar')and Abhishek Bachchan (Shankar Nagare). The movie starts off with a project plan thats brought by Aishwarya Rai (Anita Rajan), power plant thats needs to be set off in few villages of Maharastra. Sarkar does not agree to the deal but , his son Shankar looks at the positive side of the project and goes a head. Meanwhile many problems arises and political twists take place.
Not that movie does not have any loopholes , the first half could have been much better and faster , but pre interval scene puts every one in shock there starts the real roller coaster ride into world of RGV cinema. The second half is simply hair raising stuff. It would be unfair on my part if I say out what really happens.
Amitabh Bachan has once again show his class act with his performance , a role which deserves award . Mr.Bachan must really feel lucky to get a role of this stature. Abhishek has done his part beautifully. I feel Mani Ratnam and RGV are two directors who have tapped the interior talent of Abhishek Bachan. Though Aishwarya , has nothing much really to do , except to stay quite in most of the scenes , she has given her best and you cant expect much from her. I really wished for a better actress like Madhuri or Kajol donning the role of Aishwarya in this movie because there is a real chance that actress may play a major role in the next sequel if made and if its the case , I am sure Aishwarya cant pull it off with brilliance , though she can make it good but difficult to be called best.
Govinda Govinda track again plays at the back ground and no differnce , you get the same intense feel as we saw out in the prequel Sarkar. Hats of to the music directors for providing with such wonderfull background score. The dark and hazy camera work is fantastic.
Most importantly the movie will make money , will be liked and appreciated because of the manner in which it has been directed and told to the viewers. Truly a winner RAM GOPAL VERMA , he must cherish this movie for days to come and most importantly he needs to make movies of this kind as we have seen in past.
Ramu has come up with an open climax , there is a real chance of one more sequel , with Chikoo entering the Sarkar arena.

Watch Sarkar Raj , its a masterpeice , its already June , half the year has gone by with mediocre movies and masala dramas. Sarkar Raj is a movie which can represent year 2008 for Blooywood as of now. No JODHA AKBAR, neither RACE nor JANNAT has come close enough to Sarkar Raj's story telling. Credit goes to RGV.
Do not miss Sarkar Raj ....

My rating : ****1/2

Jannat

Bhatts are always known for their story telling and music (ZEHER, MURDER, GANGSTER, AWARAPAN). Though they seem to knock the doors saying their movie is all about reality but fact is they have never presented full 100% with reality but the characters are always inspired. Jannat is no different.
Good music with good songs , wonderfull locales and a refreshingly new story with a love story in the backdrop makes Jannat a watchable fair. The real problem with Jannat is the screenplay and editing, at times you feel that movie is getting dragged a lot. There are few scenes which are really well shot and leaves with shell shocked but point is, its previous scene and the next coming scene makes even a good scene as a dull affair.
Story is about a Arjun played by Imran Hashmi,initially who gambles with the cricket mathes later he turns out to be a bookie who gets into acts of fixing players and matches . His love life is Zoya played by Sonal Chauhan who wants Arjun to lead a honest life. Imran Hasmi is real soul of the movie which makes the movie to have a constant pace. Debutant Sonal does not stand out in acting department but as all heroines do , she is one more feather in bollywood fraternity who can do skin show and off course love scenes on bed.
Jawed Sheikh is brilliant. This is his finest work so far. Samir Kochar as police inspector is excellent. Vishal Malhotra, plays friend of Imran has done a good job.
Jannat's real saviour is Mr.Pritam ,he once again proves his abilty to come out with good copied music. People raise question about the originality of Pritam's music, but they should understand the fact that copying music and making chartbusters is not that easy. Every single track is good in the movie .
Debutant director Kunal Deshmukh who already worked as an assitant director in tne Bhatt camp has done a fair job , though he could have done much much better , neverthless we can really look out for his forth coming movies.
First half of the movie is pretty slow and pre interval scene is pretty good and pace of the movie picks up in the second half once the story revolves in South Africa. Too much involvement of heroine and the love plot hampers the plot of the movie but we can surely give a try to Jannat.

My Rating : ***

RACE

First things first ... its a popcorn time pass movie which you see and forget once u leave your seats and yes there are usual elements of Abbas-Mustan .People who have seen Baazigar,Aitraaz and other stuff of A-M they are sure to guess the next actions thats gonna take place.It is sure to make huge business at most of the centers for the very fact that there are no other movies lined up for few days and Jodhaa Akbar getting slower day by day.
Race is fast slick and well garnished movie with all the right elements to portray. Its a movie about two brothers and huge sum of property .Saif and Akshay Khanna play the main protagonists . Nothing really special in their acting skills . Both look jaded in most of the scenes and off course people have seen this kind of stuff many a number of times.Anil Kapoor enters just enters during pre interval to investigate into a murder(watch out the movie to know who has got killed). Anil Kapoor though you cant digest him in these comic craper roles (even in welcome) but he is doing fair role.

Coming to actresses ... point blank . They really have nothing to do except to shake their booty ,show their cleavages and wear as much less clothes to attract the guys and they have done their best. Bipasha playing the roles of -ve and +ve ,playing love interest of Saif and Akshay , Katrina(every man wishes to have a secretary like her),plays the role of secretary.. will never know how to act but she will always be directors lucky charm because she has those looks by which even a Bad old man seeing her will crave to get into his 20s ,so guys will get into theatres to witness her body atleast if not her acting skills ,Sameera Reddy is playing a dump secretary of Anil and off course as usual she is dumb in acting also.
The only thing that kept me going in the movie was the music ,, again Pritam does his job to excellence no doubt he has copied the tunes ...but copying also is an art. Action director Alan Amin is superb in executing the action scenes but sadly theres no actor in movie who can match his thoughts .
Few may enjoy the climax scene in which there is racing of cars but again its a kiddish act atleast at the Bollywood level. Saif looks to ridiculous doing the action packed stunts and he needs to stop doing these nonsense stuff atleast after looking back at Salam Namesthay,wonderfully acted Omkara(Langda tyagi),Dil Cahata Hai ... come on Saif you deserve much better roles than action stunts. Lets leave this department to real action star Akshay Kumar.

Overall many twists ,few good ones and few bad ones . Good music sums up for Race. Since no movie out there you can give a try with bunch of friends.

My rating : **1/2

Jodhaa Akbar

Elite team of Bollywood representing Ashutosh Gowrikar,A.R.Rahman,Javed Aktar and UTV production are back after a long hiatus post Swadesh. All that can be expected from this band is that "excellence".But does Jodhaa Akbar stand out like "Lagaan" and "Swadesh" is the real question ... It would be realy unfair to compare this movie with any other epic saga of the recent past . This is a bold film which is being tried out in Bollywood on a magnum opus budjet and sets.
If you get into the theatre thinking of past movies of Ashutosh then you are ought to get pretty dissappointed. Laagan and Swadesh were two master peice movies and Jodhaa Akbar is no where near to these two when you think about the plot and getting "locked to seat" theory. I am confident that most of the people will complain about the length of the movie. Its too long and really a pain to watch an epic saga for more than 3 hrs. The script is so weak that after a while you start cursing the film maker. First half of the movie is for 2 hrs and most of the part is quite boring until the pre interval scene.
The real life for the movie is HRITIK ROSHAN ,who has potrayed his role fabulously and some how makes you feel that no actor or his counter parts can come close in playing this role.He is the real captain of the movie.
Now no questions can be raised about the direction of Ashutosh. He has given his best. Direction is so good that you wish that movie should have been bit shorter with a strong script.

Story: Its a love story between Akbar[Hrithik] and Jodhaa[Aishwarya] .Jodhaa gets entangled to marry Akbar due to certain political issues regarding 16th century. Later as love and affection starts creeping in between Jodhaa and Akbar , a misunderstanding takes place in certain circumstances which is just the pre-interval scene. This is one of those few excellent scenes in the movie.
You just start feeling the movie might catch up with pace after this scene but again you become a victim of slow pace after the interval until the just before end scene. The climax scene where there is one on one fight is good something new of this sort in bollywood standards.
Hrithiks body language , urdu diction ,mannerisms is bang on target. This is Hrithiks finest performance as of now. A real treat for his fan followers . Aishwarya is coming out with good performances of late. Last year it was GURU and now we have Jodhaa Akbar. She looks great in carrying out the role of queen. Every actor has given their best in this really weak scripted movie .Not to forget Ila Arun who has done her best in playing a negative character which is finest of vamps you can think off in past year or so.
A.R.Rahman provides with good music once again its music which gels with the story.
Azeem-o-Shaan Shahenshah' and 'Jashn-e-Bahara' are the best tracks in the movie. Unlike his other epic movie Mangal Pandey ,, the background score is not upto the mark .

Saying all this I stand on my verdict that this is a well crafted good performance and excellent direction movie with shades of excellent scences in bits and parts here and there. Thats it nothing more to it,,this has not got the tendency to keep you locked for the entire 3hrs + period. Most part of the movie leaves you bored . This epic saga goes on and on and on and there s a limit to test the patience of a person. So if you have interst in history, have got lots of patience to sit for 3hrs+ in the movie theatre and if you are hard core fan Hrithik then go for it and give a chance to Jodhaa Akbar.

Overall this is a dull boring and most importantly its not a master peice as many thought of and off course does not stand up to expectations.


My Rating: **1/2

American Gangster

Ridley Scott weaves magic again and why not as we all expected this from him since he casted his favourite movie star Russel Crowe. Their combination have made wonders once again after Gladiator.What better way to enjoy a gripping gangsta movie that this one. This is one of the best movies that have emerged in recent past that i have been through. Its a shame ,shocking and mere disgrace to Hollywood community since neither of actors Denzel Washington nor Russell Crowe have been nominated in Oscars.
Movie is based on true story that took place in late 60s and 70s.Frank Lucas (Oscar winner Washington)becomes a famous drug dealer . In the streets of America he deals with purer drug and at much lesser price . Lucas becomes a dangerous corrupter and leads a royal life with immense power. He even brings in other membes of his family(cousins) into this drug business. Richie Roberts (Oscar winner Crowe) is a true cop who feels some problem hovering around the drug market. Richie Roberts makes out a commitee of his and starts digging into the market to know the man behind this corruption.
The most amazing thing in the movie is that both the lead actors do not come face to face until the climax scene where they speak to each other for just 10 minutes which really stands out. Complete credit should be given to director Ridley Scott who manages to makes the movie so enthralling and engaging from start to end. Denzel Washington is as usual at his best , he plays his role with such ease that see a real black drug dealer. But my man is Russel Crowe . Simply outstanding and superb. He once again proves himself that he is the best in playing true characters on screen . Russel gives out exactly what the role demands. I once again repeat that there should have been oscar nominees for the wonderfully potrayed roles .
Kindly do not miss this movie. This is a must watch and a treat to fans of Russel .



My rating : ****1/2