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Reviews
Ek Chalis Ki Last Local (2007)
In the Guy Ritchie mold
Finally we have a director who is truly inspired by Guy Ritchie movies. And I mean it when I say inspired, unlike those retard directors who rip off scene by scene in the name of "inspiration". Sanjay Khanduri has added his own style of narration to the slick, no non-sense editing style of some of the best directors and the characterization of Guy Ritchie and has come up with something worth watching.
Abhay Deol is one of those millions of people who travel in Mumbai local trains. How he ends up owning 25 million rupees in two and a half hours is the story in a nutshell. En route, he encounters Pulp Fictionesque characters and ends up in situations like one. Neha Dhupia did a fairly significant role and her acting wasn't too bad either.
What is so special about the movie is that, Guy Ritchie himself wouldn't improvise it too much if he had to make it... may be remove a few crude jokes and add a few of his own. Several gangs fighting over a piece of merchandise has been the strong forte of his films. Khanduri did a good job given the resources. A worthwhile watch!!
Bommarillu (2006)
Individuality, Love and Family!!
Bommarillu (House of Toys) is the story of a young man (portrayed fantastically by Siddharth) who lives with his parents and faces an identity crisis as his overly protective father takes care of everything for him. When all the little details of his life are taken care of, he has nothing but a sense of emptiness left in him.
When he meets this happy go-lucky girl (played to perfection by Genelia D'Souza) who does anything and everything she wishes without constraints, he gets inspired and loves her dearly. He comes to terms with his own life and the things he misses, mostly his individuality. The rest of the story is how he convinces his family, especially his father about his state d'affaire and wins her over.
The casting has been excellent. Siddharth, Genelia, Prakash Raj, Jayasudha, Srinivasarao Kota suit well for their respective roles, especially in the scenes that require strong emotions. These scenes have been presented in a good manner. The music of the movie is a great asset.
On the whole, the movie is not just your average romantic comedy, but a pleasing mixture of human emotions, drama and romance.
9/10
Sarfarosh (1999)
Indian cinema needs more of these!!
When I watched this movie, I was expecting yet another action flick with a decent storyline. I was in for a surprise. A great movie with some realistic scenes and an excellent story, this is probably the best action movie in a long time in India.
In a country that has been target of terror, it is not uncommon that weapons like AK-47 are smuggled deep into the heart of it. Veeran, a tribal leader wreaks havoc by looting and killing civilians. Mumbai Crime Branch takes the case up and discovers that there are links at every level leading to the enemy government. The tribal leader, the local goon with illegal businesses (Bala Thakur), the weapons' supplier (Sultan), the middleman (Haji), the smuggler on the border (Mirchi Seth) and a Pakistani military official. This chain of evil poses a threat to the nation. The film also touches sensitive subjects like the loyalty of the common Indian Muslim towards the state, the mentality of the people who have suffered the partition of India, friendship and loyalty etc.
Aamir Khan does a splendid job as Ajay Singh Rathore, the patriotic cop previously a victim of terrorism who vows to fight them. All the aforementioned actors did a good job, but the surprise package in the movie is Naseeruddin Shah. He is probably the best actor in the country at the moment and one can say, looking at this role why. He is brilliant as Gulfam Hassan, the singer born in India and brought up in Pakistan.
A great movie with a good story and excellent performances.
9/10
Mahabharat (1988)
It is not that easy!!
The Mahabharatha is the longest epic in the world. It is the greatest too. One can find almost every mental attribute of any man in the world in one of the characters. This is not a Ramayana where the characters are all oh-so-divine and the battle is a simple good vs evil. It is a lot more complicated than that. Truth, virtue, moral and ethical code - Dharma to be precise, is what is highlighted throughout. The protagonist is the manifestation of Lord Almighty, Shri Krsna and His disciple is Arjuna, the great warrior leading the Pandava side against the Kaurava side which represents a side whose collective aim is evil yet the individuals are not. Warriors on the Kaurava side, Karna, Bheeshma, Drona albeit fighting for the evil side are bound to the evil by their code and although they are right people on the wrong side, they are bound to fall. I don't think I can explain even the crux of the matter and one has to read it, understand it and interpret it on one's own.
What is needed to adapt this epic to screen and yet not lose any of its content? The special effects shown in the battle in lord of the rings, the dramatization presented in the Godfather and the Schindler's list, the acting performances that match the ones in most of the IMDb Top 250 List of movies.
B.R Chopra could not do these. In fact he could not do any of these. He did his best in a time when special effects were costly. The acting performances are good if not great, the dialogues and screenplay was good and most importantly he tried his best to adapt to the original story. He has to be lauded for his efforts.
I'd say *** / *****
Chitram Bhalare Vichitram (1992)
Absurdity rules!!
This movie was made before "Mrs. Doubtfire" and like Robin Williams, Naresh did a good job disguised as a woman. This movie has no logic and it is absurd to the core. And that works in a comedy like this.
Four young men looking for an apartment to rent after being thrown out of the previous one land up in a place where the landlady insists on having a family as her tenants. The four bachelors dress up to be a man (Sudhakar), his retarded brother, his uncle (Brahmanandam) and his wife (Naresh being the wife). Now Naresh's (who happens to be in a woman's attire) lady love happens to be the landlady's daughter and all hell breaks loose.
In woman's disguise, Naresh looked very much like his mom who is a famous actress herself. Actor Brahmanandam steals the show in the movie as the person who is a cook with a great appetite. The first half of the movie is really funny with the characters getting together as unemployed blokes and the whole scene of Naresh's employer Giri Babu coming to his home to check on the former's marital status is extremely funny.
Srinivasa Rao, Giri Babu and others did a commendable job in support cast.
Sholay (1975)
A Great Movie
One thing that strikes most about this movie is the characterization. Millions of people still remember the characters in this movie. The plot is inspired from "Seven Samurai" but it is adapted well to the Indian backdrop. This movie was made at a time when bandits were not an extinct species. The plot is simple, Thakur (Sanjeev Kumar) is a cop who arrests a notorious bandit Gabbar Singh (Amjad Khan) only to gain his wrath. The bandit escapes and massacres Thakur's family and severs both his arms. Thakur hires two men, Veeru and Jay (played by Dharmendra and Amitabh Bachchan) to capture Gabbar.
All the characters of this movie have left a mark on Indian cinema for a long time and will continue to remain so. Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra, Sanjeev Kumar, Jaya Bachchan and Hema Malini are all brilliant in the movie. But one man steals the show as the villain who is cunning, merciless and evil. Gabbar Singh's character was played by Amjad Khan and he is fantastic in the film. It is because of him that the movie became the greatest Indian film ever !! 10/10
Satya (1998)
Brute Force Personified
This is an excellent film from the Varma. It does not have the sophistication/glamor of characters in Company but raw brute force rules throughout. Manoj Bajpai steals the show with his performance as Bheeku Mhatre. When this film was first released, I heard that Manoj Bajpai went to a cinema hall in Mumbai and when he came out, he was confronted with two local gangsters who allegedly told him he was very real in the movie. Satya is the kind of guy who does not have anything to lose, even life. Once he falls in love with Vidya, he begins to value life. He is the kind of gangster who thinks. Bheeku, on the other hand is a gangster who does things from the heart. He goes by the heart. I can say this film has some of its elements inspired from the Godfather. Chakravarthy as Satya was good, Saurabh Shukla, Govind Namdeo and Makarand Deshpande all were good in their roles. But it is Bajpai who makes this movie an excellent one. 9/10.