Catching Up... Movies

I've fallen way behind on this... so quick reviews of recently viewed movies.

Monsters V. Aliens
Interesting. Some funny parts, but it seemed to be a pro-government, anti-president, pro-woman's rights movie. Nothing wrong with that, but yeah. Loved the president dance scene, and loved B.O.B. Especially when B.O.B. dumped Derek for the jello.

Ek Ladka Ek Ladki (1992)
Salman Khan as a poor guy. Neelam as a rich, spoilt brat. Anupam Kher as the uncle. Throw in 3 kids, a couple of animals and amnesia, and you have a fun movie. Not really suspense-ish, since you know what's going on even while the characters don't, but still fun. Some (limited) action, and laughs aplenty. Only complaint... not a big fan of the songs. Salman is awesome as always, and Neelam is great (though annoying early). That dog is kinda annoying at times though.

Inaam Dus Hazaar (1987)
Sanjay Dutt has a name that is also the name of a CBI officer, causing concerns amongst the bad guys, who start chasing him. In the process, he also gets accused of murder, putting the cops on his tail. Running from them all, he falls in love with a girl who he forces (at knifepoint) to help him (Meenakshi Sheshadri). Of course, it can't be that easy and the bad guys catch wind of where he is and start chasing him (and her). Songs are meh, but the acting is nice. Liked Meenakshi, who I haven't seen much of before.

Do Knot Disturb (2009)
Govinda. Ritesh Deshmukh. Rajpal Yadav. Ranvir Shorey. Sohail Khan. Lara Dutta. A bigger Sushmita Sen. A couple of nice songs. Your typical extramarital affair comedy, but at least it had a more deserved ending than No Entry (Salman Khan gets off with no issues) or something. Ritesh/Ranvir & Sohail are great. Sushmita... looks big. Wow. Lara is alright. Govinda gets a bit annoying at times.

What's Your Raashee? (2009)
A Hrithik Roshan look-a-like & Priyanka Chopra (x12) combine with a couple of nice songs and some comedy to give you a good movie? Really? Well, it worked here. It's a very long movie though. Very long. Watch once, and that's about it.


I also have to catch up on books, but that'll come later...

Zaalim (1994)

The correlation between movie “goodness” and number of ‘bad-guys’ is obviously negative.

That quote (written by me) pretty much sums up my view on the movie.

I have now seen 1/3 of the 12 (12!!) movies that Akshay Kumar had release in 1994. Of them, I'm pretty sure this one was the worst.

We have a big family, including father (Alok Nath), 3 sons (Vishnu Vardhan, Arun Bakshi, Akshay Kumar) and daughter (Preeti Khare). Two of the sons are married (not Akshay, obviously), and soon enough, the third (Akshay, obviously) has a girlfriend (Madhoo). There are also the bad guys (Mohan Joshi, and son Arjun). And another villain (Ranjeet, who shows up later). We learn through a couple of flashbacks that Akshay Kumar has a serious anger issue... when he got mad, he beat people to a pulp (and even killed a kid that was around his age). Since then, he hasn't fought due a promise/vow his father made him take. Until he got seriously beaten up by Arjun, and the vow was removed.

Arjun & Akshay end up having a boxing match, and Akshay wins. Arjun, upset, had seen Akshay's sister cheering, and rapes her while in the hospital. One of Akshay's brother's is a doctor, so he finds out and tells the family, though they make Akshay promise he won't do anything. She is hurt by the family not doing anything, but gets the family to support her in a fight against Arjun. Her father (judge) goes to convince the rest of the justices to have a trial, and they agree. On the way there, the baddies end up killing father & daughter. The other son (a police officer) finds out and heads home. Before telling Akshay though, they handcuff him to a metal bar in the window so he won't do anything stupid. And then they go to the funeral.

Akshay talks to his nephew, and ends up getting the keys to the handcuffs. He's gone by the time the family gets home... and then people start dying.


The movie really isn't all that. Akshay gets kinda annoying, Madhoo is just annoying, and no one else is really worth writing about. I was kinda hoping that Ranjeet would be good (has that ever happened), but that was obviously a pipe dream. The songs weren't very fun, and all in all, the movie was just a big waste of time.

Which is what you expect when an actor is working on releasing 12 movies in 1 year.

Acid Factory (2009)

So, you know how there are those movies that have really bad songs, no character development, a lot of yelling & pointless blowing up of cars?

Yeah... this fits that. (AKA, it sucks.)


Told in a combination of "at the moment" and "in the past," the story is about a group of characters (Fardeen Khan, Aftab, Dino Morea, Danny, Manoj Bajpai) who wake up in an unknown location with no memories of how they got there or why they got there.

Through flashback, you are told that Fardeen is an undercover cop, who is working to try and capture the main bad guy (played by Irrfan Khan). To do this, he ends up joining with Manoj Bajpai & Danny (after stealing a car in a chase scene involving a ton of blown up cars).

Back at the acid factory (as it's been decided they're in) all the guys have woken up from the acid, but have temporary amnesia. Manoj is handcuffed to a railing... and that's the only thing keeping him from falling. Danny is tied to the chair. Aftab & Dino have been partially beaten up. Fardeen, who was the first one to wake up, has already answered the phone. The caller (Irrfan) mentions a bunch of names, and tells him to make sure that someone is dead. Fardeen, of course, is confused.

The story goes on... they're all confused about what's going on, but realize that it was a kidnapping of 2 people by 4. They just don't know who was kidnapped & who were the kidnappers. They realize that there should be one more person there, and they start searching. And with that, the troubles begin.

Who is who? And will they be able to escape before Irrfan shows up and kills them?


As I mentioned, the songs sucked. Due to the characters not knowing who they were or anything, there was no character development. A couple of the characters (Dia Mirza, Aftab) were yelling most of the time. It was fairly annoying. There was some action towards the end, but that's about it.

The acting was just meh... not sure why Dia Mirza keeps taking on roles like this (Jai Veeru, Cash before). Or why Manoj Bajpai has taken his last couple of roles (this one, Money Hai Toh Honey Hai). The story itself had a shot, but it was just too messed up at times. The death was expected, but unnecessary.

Nothing you'll regret missing.

Nazar Ke Samne (1994)

Yet another Akshay Kumar movie from the mid-90s. This time he comes together with Farheen, Ektaa, Mukesh Khanna, Kiran Kumar, Dalip Tahil & Ashok Saraf in a suspense/thriller type movie.

The movie starts off with the death of some guy. It ends up being a newspaper editor. The guy accused of the killing (a photographer) was arrested by the police at the scene of the crime 45 minutes or so after the given time of death. His family turns to lawyer Kiran Kumar for help, who tries to help clear his name and doesn't even ask for money (it is a poor family... they try but he turns them down). Kiran is running the case masterfully, and seems to have the case won, before an eye-witness shows (Akshay Kumar) shows up and ends any chance of the guy getting out.

Akshay, as it is, didn't see the murder or anything. He was paid to lie, and since he is poor and needs money, he takes it. It's his profession that he works Ashok Saraf. The family of the photographer is shocked, obviously... led by his sister (Farheen). She meets Akshay Kumar, shows him how his lying (he explained to her why he did it, but she was unmoved) has affected her family and sobers him up. He decides then and there to help her find the actual culprit.

So then it's on. Him & Farheen & Ashok Saraf and eventually Ektaa (a prostitute that is Akshay's friend) & Mukesh Khanna (a poor guy who saw the murderer but doesn't know a name) are all thrown in trying to find the guy with golden shoes (a picture accidentally taken by the photographer when the murderer knocked him out).


The movie, to be honest, wasn't much fun. The suspense was revealed too early (despite being somewhat obvious) and whenever the movie seemed to get going, the action would be stopped by a song. I mean, the song after its revealed that Akshay was lying is fine. But then right after that, Farheen seems to be ready to do something... and they have a song. And then they fight the bad guys a bit, Farheen is saved by Akshay... and they have another song (though I liked this one a bit, so whatever). Then the Mukesh Khanna song to introduce him. And another love song. And then the song with Ektaa when she tries to keep Jimmy (a bad guy) occupied.

On the other hand, you've got a total idiot in Akshay. I mean, only one guy knows where they have Jimmy trapped. He doesn't get it. And only one guy knows where he's going to meet Ektaa. He still doesn't get it. Lucky for him he turns around when sleeping, or Mukesh Khanna kills him and he dies without knowing.

The songs weren't all that good, save for the title song. The acting was just meh... Kiran Kumar, Dalip Tahil, Akshay Kumar... they were all just partially there. The actresses didn't have much to do. Ashok Saraf was funny at parts, but that's it.

It's not the worst Akshay Kumar movie out there, but it could've been so much better (though the title is way too revealing).

Sabse Bada Khiladi (1995)

Sabse Bada Khiladi is a movie that I've always held close to me... not because I'd loved it (I'd never seen it before), but instead because I grew up listening to (and loving) the songs. Watching it, I fell in love with the songs yet again. Oh, and the movie wasn't too bad either.

Laloo (Akshay Kumar) ends up in the good graces of a rich businessman (Avtar Gill) after saving his life. Avtar, ever thankful, gives Laloo... an orphan... a room in his house. And one day, after Laloo bring his drunk/drugged daughter (Mamta Kulkarni) home without taking advantage of her state and after he (Avtar) meets the guy Mamta loves (Mohnish Bahl) and becomes disgusted with him, he decides that he wants Mamta to marry Laloo. Mamta leaves the house with Mohnish, and Avtar has a heart attack. He ends up in the hospital and asks for his daughter... Laloo goes and kidnaps her (more-or-less) right before she can leave to go get married and brings her in. Her father goes into a coma, and since that is (for some reason) considered to be the end-all, they read his will. Everything will go to Mamta... provided she marries Laloo within a 1 month time frame.

She is up in arms, but after Mohnish's father (Sadashiv Amrapurkar) tells them that he's willing to be the divorce attorney for her (simple plan... marry him, get divorced, take the money from him), the 2 (Laloo, Mamta) get married. During the reception, Mamta announces her plan to everyone there... and the lawyer lets it be known that Avtar had expected that and put in an addendum to the will that if they got divorced, everything would go to Laloo. Laloo, after marriage, turns into an ass. Mamta, unable to stand this, talks to Mohnish, who decides to kill Laloo. After a brief struggle, the 2 of them manage to kill him but when trying to dispose of the body, they get caught by a police inspector (Gulshan Grover). Grover agrees to help them if he gets paid, so they agree to that and push the car down a hill/cliff, and it explodes ways off.

Gulshan, with his money, resigns from his post, and it is given to Vijay (also Akshay Kumar). Vijay heads to the city, having an enmity with Sadashiv that is ready to boil over, and desperate to find out what happened to Laloo... who just might be his long-lost twin who was presumed dead years ago (killed by Sadashiv).


The plot is interesting... it had some chances but wasn't as solid as you'd like to see from a suspense movie. A couple of the points seem to come out of left field... for example, what is the point of trying to frame Gulshan Grover? Sadashiv & Mohnish I understand, but Gulshan Grover? It makes sense after the bribe-taking, but the plan was made before that. Also, Mamta's about-face seems a bit rushed and isn't very well explained.

The songs are, in my opinion, great. I loved listening to them, and watching them wasn't too bad either.

Acting-wise... Akshay carried the movie, as you'd expect from a Khiladi film. Especially as Laloo, but even as Vijay, he makes his presence felt. Plus, punching/destroying an apple during a song, beating up Mohnish Behl with Mamta Kulkarni and when he stops a guy from attacking him with a stool between his legs and then throws it at another guy while jumping... just random scenes you've come to expect from Akshay. He does it all. Mamta, I wasn't really impressed with. But she played her role alright; scared, triumphant & everything in between. Avtar didn't have much to do. Sadashiv was an alright villain... I much prefer his comic twist in the Govinda/Chunky Pandey version of Aankhen. Mohnish Bahl was good too... there are times where it really seems like he's getting the emotions for him and is the good guy. Gulshan Grover is hilarious in the first half. Weird shoulder and all. Especially when he breaks into a semi-dance while Akshay is kissing Mamta. He's a bit more serious in the 2nd half, but it's all good.

Sabse Bada Khiladi isn't the greatest Khiladi movie I've seen (Main Khiladi Tu Anari), but it definitely isn't the worst either (the horrible Khiladi 420). It's a fun movie though, with Akshay doing his thing and no one really making the movie a pain to watch. Plus, Akshay had a pony-tail in the song, which was just weird.

Do Qaidi (1989)

Govinda + Sanjay Dutt... 20 years ago.
Holy crap.

You have an honest police officer, Suresh Oberoi.
You have the villains... Amrish Puri & Gulshan Grover... who he suspects of bad things.
You have two small-time thieves who quickly come to hate each other (Govinda & Sanjay Dutt) when Sanjay betrays Govinda.
You have a girl dressed up as a sardar (Farha) as she beats up on guys and tries to find her missing sister (Neelam). Obviously, Farha falls for one of the thieves (Sanjay) and Neelam for the other (Govinda).

Things go on... Suresh Oberoi catches Govinda & Sanjay (working for Amrish Puri) and takes the drugs they were transporting... but they manage to escape when the police car transporting them crashes. The bad guys get pissed when learning he lied about only capturing some of the drugs (cop betrayal alert!), they kill him. And the blame, obviously, falls on Govinda & Sanjay. And all of a sudden, 2 small-time thieves who hate each other but are handcuffed together are on the run, with the cops & the villains all after them.

And as luck would have it, they finally become friends... only to end up meeting Ranjeeta Kaur and 2 kids... Suresh Oberoi's family (wife & kids).


Again... Govinda & Sanjay Dutt 20 years ago. Wow. They looked very different.

The acting was solid... Govinda, Sanjay, Farha, Neelam, Suresh Oberoi, Anupam Kher, Gulshan Grover, Ranjeeta Kaur... all of them. The songs were meh... though the "Sing Song" song when the cops showed up while Govinda/Sanjay were trying to fight was hilarious to watch & hear.

It's not "blockbuster" material, but its still a fun comedy that also features things like Farha (& Neelam) beating up on guys, Govinda & Sanjay both unknowingly saving someone close to the other and "Amar Akbar Anthony" being re-written as "Kanu, Manu, Kanu-Manu"!

Deadline: Sirf 24 Ghante (2006)

Sometimes, movies are just amazing. For example... this movie.

The story is fairly simple. You have a rich doctor (Rajit Kapoor), his wife (Konkona Sen Sharma) and their daughter. One day, while the doctor is out of town to receive an award, wife/daughter come home from shopping... and daughter gets kidnapped. One of the kidnappers (Irrfan Khan) stays with Konkona, and 1 goes with the daughter to a different location (Zakir Hussain). Meanwhile, after receiving the award, the doctor also ends up with a part of the kidnapping trio in his room (Sandhya Mridul).

Their demands are simple... pay them 1 crore rupees in 24 hours, and the daughter goes free. As luck would have it though, the kidnapped daughter has asthma, forcing Irrfan Khan to take Konkona Sen Sharma to another location to give medicines to Zakir Hussain & daughter. As a result, after the doctor is able to find 1 crore rupees, Irrfan Khan raises the amount to 2 crore, with the argument that he deserves more for saving the daughter's life.

Meanwhile, things go on. Konkona Sen Sharma tries to kill Irrfan Khan. The daughter tries to escape. The doctor finally gets 2 crore... only to have Irrfan raise it again. Things go on. The doctor finally gets the 3 crore, brings it into the room... and Sandhya Mridul pepper sprays him and disappears with the money. A distraught doctor heads home... his daughter isn't there. And Konkona lets him know that they'll never see their daughter alive again.


Why? Well, if you watch Bollywood movies, it's probably very obvious. Which is the only real letdown of the movie. The movie is relatively quick (1 hour, 40 minutes) and has no songs, which is definitely a plus. While the reason for the kidnapping seems a bit extreme, the acting is enough to overcome a minor issue.

The acting carries this movie to amazing heights. Konkona Sen Sharma, as the worried/frustrated/angry mother, is solid. At the end though, she has to be thanking everything holy that Irrfan didn't kill her... she gave him so many chances. At the meeting with her daughter. When he tries to pull the gun on him. When she tries to kill him. Etc, etc.

Irrfan Khan as the lead kidnapper is amazing yet again. He's able to fit into almost every role naturally, be him the villain (like here) or a comic sidekick (Sunday) or one of the main characters in a good role (Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota) or whatever. His anger, his pain... it all seems real. Which is what you're looking for from an actor.

Zakir Hussain is awesome! Other than the fact that they have Devdas playing in the background for a second (ugh!), of course. He's a smoker... a big time one at that. But he's unable to smoke throughout the movie because of the girl's asthma. He'll sit and play with the cigarettes though. He seriously seems like he's trying to have a ball with a girl that he's kidnapped... trying to make sure she's happy as can be and not having an asthma attack and all that. He goes to make the coffee, he makes tomato soup, etc... he's generally anger free, save for 1- Doctor calling him an idiot and 2- daughter trying to run away. One of the best roles I've seen him in.

Sandhya Mridul & Rajit Kapoor are more or less invisible... they don't have much to do save sit in the hotel room and look all weird... Sandhya randomly breaks out laughing (really awkward & unnecessary, in my opinion) while Rajit is just tensed the entire time. That said, they handled the roles well, which in a movie like this is a huge need. The daughter is solid too. The asthma attack scene was a bit weird, but other than that, she plays it well too.

I loved this movie... you should go watch it ASAP. (And if you don't like it, change your movie views. It's amazing.)

Jurm (2005)

With a few exceptions (Dostana & Jhoom Barabar Jhoom quickly jump to mind), when you sit down to watch a Bobby Deol movie, you expect a couple of things.

1- Either he's a cop, or he's on the outs with the cops.
2- If he's not a cop, he's a killer.

Surprisingly in Jurm... not only is he not a cop, but he's not a killer either (at least not at the beginning). By the end, he's transformed to the angry man/killer we're all used to seeing, and the world is right. But before then...

The movie starts off in the dark, and you hear someone talking over the phone. She's panicked, and is telling the cops that someone is going to kill her. Then she screams, and it goes silent. Police show up at her house and arrest her husband (Bobby Deol, who they had to wake up from a slumber in a pool of blood) for killing her. He proclaims his innocence, but the cops obviously can't believe that. His friend & lawyer (Milind Soman) tries to get him out of the mess, but is overruled by the judge and the police are able to keep him locked up until the trial. So while waiting, he ends up telling the cops his story... how he met his wife (Lara Dutta) at a party, how he loved her, how he eventually started suspecting her of cheating (thanks to a tip from his friend, Gul Panag) and how, upon hearing her talking on the phone to someone else, he gets to the house where they're supposed to meet before either person. He ends up getting really mad at her & drunk... that's all he can remember.

Luckily for him, his case is very strong, and Milind is fighting it amazingly. As he is quick to remind the judge, not only is the evidence against Bobby very weak, but there is also no body. Bobby is all but a lock to get off... and then Lara's uncle (Shakti Kapoor) shows up. He mentions how he was the person she was meeting (he was blackmailing her with her past; she was meeting with him to keep Bobby from learning about how her mother had a bad past and all). That last day, he told her that he wanted some money or everything would be told to Bobby. That's why they were going to meet at the house. Shakti got there a bit late (due to car trouble)... just in time to witness a drunk Bobby stabbing Lara to death and then hiding the body in the yard. And the body is found where Shakti saw Bobby hiding it. And like that, Bobby is doomed and sentenced to life in prison. Milind believes Bobby's plea of innocence, and comes up with a plan to help Bobby escape. It works, and just like that, the chase is on.

I love suspense movies, so this was a blast. It's not the greatest or anything, but is well done through the end. The story is, of course, carried by Bobby Deol. It's his movie from start to finish, and he acts well. Lara Dutta is fine. Gul Panag doesn't have much of a role early, but is fine as the movie goes on. Milind Soman surprises. I have seen him twice before (Bhram... a movie I was thoroughly unimpressed with, and Bheja Fry, in which he had a very small role). He is solid here though. I wonder if I should be watching more of his movies. Shakti Kapoor is meh. Oh, and Vivek Shaq! Automatic winner right there.

The songs are meh. Adnan Sami's voice doesn't fit with Bobby Deol at all. Sorry, but it's true. My favorite songs were the 2 at the 2 parties after that... the one before Lara's leaving for the house where she dies, and the one near the end when everyone is in a mask.

Is the movie a "must watch"? Doubtful. But if you like some suspense, or like seeing Bobby Deol go around killing people (though there's not many deaths here... he plays with it a bit more than normal), this movie is for you.

Johnny Gaddaar (2007)

Despite reading some good reviews (I think Filmi Girl was one of them), I wasn't expecting much from this movie. There were various reasons for that. I've seen one other movie with Neil Nitin Mukesh (Aa Dekhen Zara), and I came away unimpressed with him. Rimii is alright, but not much of a lead heroine. Dharmendra just seems like he'd be over the hill. The soundtrack was unimpressive (to be nice).

And yet... the movie rocked.

It starts of quick enough... in the rain, you see someone running to a garage door. He fumbles with the keys, finally gets it open... and then gets shot. After that, the tale is told in flashback.

You have Neil Nitin Mukesh, who's character love Rimii. You soon find out that Rimii is married to Zakir Hussain, but really doesn't like him. Anyhow, there is a gang of 5 guys (Neil, Dharmendra, Zakir, Vinay Pathak, Daya Shetty). They do some illegal stuff... buying & selling goods and all that. They have a contact in the police as well (Govind Namdeo). Rimii & Neil are planning to run off to Canada as soon as they can get the money to do it. The gang gets a fairly good offer from Govind, provided they can come up with the money. Most of them have... Vinay Pathak has some problems. Zakir offers to buy his land, but Vinay refuses and ends up coming up with the money on the last day. In the meantime, Neil has had a change of heart... he decides he wants the money for himself (& Rimii).

And with that, the problems start. He tries to knock out Daya Shetty (who was taking the money to Govind), fails... and ends up killing him. This shocks Neil... it wasn't his plan... but sets in order a series of events that has him totally shocked at the outcome. This was not what he wanted when he decided to keep all the money to himself. And now he has to hide it from the rest of the group. People start dying. Enmities start showing up within the survivors of the group. Then fake money gets involved, Govind Namdeo shows up determined to find out what happened, and things just spiral out of control.

The movie isn't really a suspense, more like a "thriller". Maybe a bit of suspense about the beginning/end, but other than that, you see it all happening as it happens. What makes it work is a combination of the plot (amazing) and the acting (surprisingly good). It kind of made you feel for the guys of the gang, at least a little bit.

Neil Nitin Mukesh is solid. You really can't ask for much more from him. Zakir Hussain is yet again effective in a more-or-less negative role. Dharmendra hasn't lost it after all. Daya Shetty is good in a small role. I was really impressed by Vinay Pathak... especially with the unfortunateness that was Via Darjeeling still stuck in my mind. He played his role to perfection. The actresses were alright... I was most impressed by the one that played Vinay Pathak's wife.


I loved it. You should watch & love it too.

You Know What Sucks?

When you really want to watch a movie (hindi, in this case)... and can't find it anywhere.

Literally.
Anywhere.


Naam Gum Jaayega... where are you?

Aagey Se Right (2009)

Sometimes, the weird moves just work out, to the surprise of all.
The surprise exists even despite a solid cast (this one headlined by Shreyas Talpade & Kay Kay Menon).
That's what happens with Aagey Se Right.

The story has 2 main lead guys and 2 main female leads.

One of the guys (Shreyas Talpade) is a cop who loses (actually, its stolen from him, but whatever) the gun his mother gave him (it used to belong to his father) and spends the rest of the movie chasing it. In the process, he accidentally blows up the bad guys den, saves the mayor from death by a citizen and saves the police commissioner's daughter from committing suicide. And yet he's unable to find his gun. Alongside him is a newscaster that he is enamored by (Mahi Gill), who loves asking weird questions ("Are the cops always late or not?") and asking for the viewers to send in texts. They don't meet until after he's saved the mayor (and is again looking for his gun, which the citizen tossed over the edge of the balcony, much to his angst).

The other guy (Kay Kay Menon) is a criminal who comes to Bombay with plans to blow it up. But on his first night there, he happens to lay eyes on a wannabe actress who is dancing at the bar (Shenaaz Treasurywala) and falls in love. He gets help from the guy he's living with, changes his appearances (shaves beard and all) and works on wooing her.

Of course, the true villain is not happy with this, and has to come to Bombay to try and set the bomb off. He ends up with Shreyas' gun, setting up a final match-up where Kay Kay (out to stop the bomb from exploding), the bad guy (trying to blow it all up) and Shreyas (who's just after his gun so his mom doesn't hate him) are all trying to get their wish to come true.


The acting is good on all sides. Shenaaz & Mahi don't have a ton too do, but are still solid. Kay Kay & Shreyas are amazing yet again. The guy that plays Sunny is alright too. The plot, while different, doesn't let them down. Some question, maybe, about a couple scenes, but all in all it's fine.

I love the songs. Hippie Tu Jhoom, Daav Laga, Love Flashback & Mahiya are all great. And, to keep the movie from being too long, the songs aren't present in full version... just small cut outs of them (for all except the 2nd viewing of More Piya). And in this case (unlike Deewane Huye Paagal, with Maar Sutiya, where the song was the best thing in the entire movie) that's a good thing, as it keeps the movie from being too bogged down.

Yeah, I have a weird taste in movies, so that might impact this. But seriously... it's awesome. Watch it. (And if you hate it, its time to change your movie tastes to better match mine.)

Daddy Cool (2009)

Comedy movies are fun. Very fun.
So when they throw together Sunil Shetty, Aashish Chaudhary, Javed Jaffrey, Aftab, Chunky Pandey, Rajpal Yadav & Vrajesh Hirjee, you expect a fun movie.

And if you're willing to shut off your brain and just go with the story, that's what you get.

The movie starts off with some guys bringing a casket to the house of Sunil Shetty. They open it to give Sunil Shetty & his mother one last look at their father... and obviously it's the wrong guy. And things just go downhill from there. Sunil's wife (Aarti Chhabria) is sick of his mother, and wants the funeral over so that they can sell the house & buy another one.

Sunil's brother (Aashish Chaudhary) is a successful writer who is supposed to be taking their mother in after this, but is hesitant. The 3rd brother is Javed Jaffrey, an honest guy who respects women... but therefore is always considered unfaithful by his wife (Kim Sharma).

On the other side, there is their mother's brother's kids.

There's his daughter (Tulip Joshi), who is in love with Aftab. Her father hates Aftab, and he knows it. And there's her brother (Chunky Pandey), who has some drugs that he hides in a medicine bottle of a medicine that's supposed to calm you down.

Aftab is nervous, so Tulip gives him one of Chunky's pills... not knowing. Chunky becomes instantly nervous/worried. Aftab spends the rest of the movie delirious. Sunil asks Javed to pick up their uncle (Prem Chopra), which he does. Prem Chopra's character is an ass. They are also bringing along Vrajesh Hirjee (who likes Tulip Joshi but can't get the same response from her)... who decides to take some revenge (for a joke) on Javed by questioning his faithfulness. And that ruins Kim's mood for the wedding.

There's Sophie Chaudhary, who comes thinking she'll meet a director there. She's been promised a role in a commercial, provided she does the whole casting couch thing. She's supposed to meet a Carlos, which just happens to be Javed's name (obviously). Of course, before she learns this, she thinks she's supposed to be meeting Aashish Chaudhary or Sunil Shetty.

And there's Rajpal Yadav, who's being all mysterious and no one is sure why. Or who he even is. Which brings up the final question... what more could go wrong? And how is it all solved?

The movie is hilarious. Sure, it picks up every joke you expect it too...
-the messed up caskets
-the playing of "Zinda hoon main, kiske liye" (Who am I alive for) right during Sunil's mentioning of how great of a person he was and how he'd be missed
-the condom in the car

They've even got a couple guys drugged up... to the point where one of them (Aftab) spends quite a bit of time on top of the roof (threatening to jump off) wearing just boxers and a tie.

Somehow though, everyone gets their time to shine. Well, at least all the main actors. Of the actresses, Aarti & Tulip are the best. Never been a fan of Sophie. And Kim's act is just annoying... we've seen it too often as of late. Can't knock any of the main actors. Sunil, Aashish & Javed are solid. I love Chunky Pandey's acting. Aftab is good too, he should probably just stick with the sidekick role. Rajpal Yadav is great too.

No songs after the opening credits (good, because the soundtrack was bad). The one question... how did 1 pill last Aftab the whole day, while Rajpal got over 3 pills in like 30 minutes? Oh, and second question... is Prem Chopra going to call it quits soon? His act as of late has been really annoying.

Om Shanti Om (2007)

I'd tried watching this before. Twice.
But both times, I ended up watching just the 2nd half due to various reasons.
So my mind was set... the movie sucked, but there were some funny parts.

I ended up watching the whole movie my last sitting, and came to a different conclusion.
The first half is hilarious; the second half is bad but with some funny parts; the end is utter crap.

The story starts off following a wannabe actor, Om Prakash Makhija (Shahrukh Khan), in the 1970s. He is a junior artist, but unable to get a role. He is supported in his desires by his mother (Kirron Kher) and his friend (Shreyas Talpade). Outside of this, he dreams of a famous actress (Deepika Padukone). As luck would have it, he ends up being part of a film that she's in. A fire breaks out, part of the script, but the main actor chickens out of jumping in to save her. Obviously, our Om jumps in and saves her, starting a friendship in the process. Later, Om overhears Deepika talking to a producer (Arjun Rampal) about their still-hidden marriage and how she's pregnant, and he's broken. A bit later, he is unable to do anything as Arjun lights fire to his grand set for a movie he was going to make (with Deepika inside, obviously) and the place goes up in flames and explodes (gas tank). Shahrukh Khan is sent flying by the explosion (he had just broken in) and then gets hit by a car. He dies (he was going to die before the car hit him). The driver of the car is an actor, who was taking his wife to the hospital because she was about to give birth.

Skip ahead some-odd years, and the new Shahrukh Khan (Om Kapoor, aka OK), son of the guy that had hit the old SRK. This SRK is, well, a jackass. Some troubles put him back at the old set that Arjun Rampal had burnt down, and he starts having flashbacks that he can't place. After winning an award, he goes up to give a speech... and breaks into a speech he had given in front of friends when he was Om Prakash Makhija. And everything comes back to him. Re-teamed up with Shreyas & Kirron, he's now out to get revenge on Arjun Rampal (who he meets soon after his award speech).

There were some very funny parts.
-The first Om explaining to his mom why his name doesn't suit an actor... Om (god) Prakash (light) Makhija (shoo, fly)
-I loved the whole part where Kirron Kher was telling OPM that she would've been even better than Madhubala in Mughal-E-Azam, but maybe it was just me.
-Quick Gun Murugun, which has become a movie now. Sadly, I don't understand the language. But it was hilarious.
-Mohabbat Man (& "Uri Baba") which I think would be a great movie. I mean, a superhero called Mohabbat (love) Man who breaks out into song after saving someone? Awesome!
-Abhishek Bachchan & Akshay Kumar at the award show. The 'Return of Khiladi' was a great scene, and I loved the idea for Dhoom 5 too (still waiting on Dhoom 3 though).

Outside of that... Shreyas was great. Again. He's got this acting thing down, be it serious/comic sidekick (this movie), lead in a serious film (Iqbal) or comic sidekick (Golmaal Returns, Paying Guest). Deepika... she looks good. But she can't act. And I still don't like SRK, but if he's playing a seemingly crazy/funny guy (Om Prakash Makhija), he's good. And Arjun Rampal was great as the villain. The soundtrack was great.


Final Thoughts: Ghost? What?

Fox (2009)

Not really all that bad.
For a film containing Arjun Rampal & Sunny Deol, there was a dearth of the expected "dishoom-dishoom".
Instead, what you got was a suspense-ish storyline carried by the two male leads.

Arjun Rampal plays a well renowned criminal lawyer, known for getting criminals off without any jail-time. After one such event, he gets an earful from the dead girl's mother, and start regretting what he's done. Of course, the guy he just got off is unhappy with this, and when Arjun pisses off the judge mid-way through the decision, he gets suspended. The criminal gets a new lawyer (and lets Arjun know that he'll pay), and Arjun Rampal decides to take a break from it all... lawyer work, the city & his girlfriend (Sagarika Ghatge). He says he'll be back eventually and says if she waits, then he'll be back for her.

He heads off to Goa, and a couple months later happens upon someone who has written a book. He hopes to publish the book and make his name famous, but before that can happen, he dies. And Arjun heads to a publisher (Udita Goswami) who agrees to publish the book, but only with him as the author (she doesn't hear him out). So it goes, and the book becomes a huge hit.

In due time, the book comes to an officer (Sunny Deol) with the note "read this and solve it" (or something like that). So he sits down, reads it... and notices something. Every single murder described in the book actually happened, and is unsolved! Sunny goes, and after Arjun admits to writing the book, arrests him. Arjun knows he is being framed, as does Sagarika, who he had met up with just before and told everything too. They manage to convince Sunny Deol to help them find out the truth, and the 3 of them are on the hunt for the true villain... having just 5 days before Sunny has to bring Arjun back to jail.

Arjun carried the movie. Sunny was solid. Sagarika Ghatge was alright... and completely different from her role in Chak De! India. She probably deserved more screen time though. I'm not a fan of Udita Goswami (not in the 2nd half of Zeher... which is all I saw, not in Kisse Pyaar Karoon? and not here). The criminal/friend of Arjun (Vipul Gupta, I think) was meh... kinda what you expected.

While the movie isn't a blockbuster or even a "good" movie, it's fine and does bring some suspense, which is always appreciated.

Song-wise, I liked Yaadein & Zindagi, though I don't remember if either was actually in the movie. Josh Josh was alright. Not a fan of Jashn Jashn.

Sankat City (2009)

Loved it!
The start to the movie was a bit slow, but it picked up after Kay Kay Menon stole the car with the money, and was great from then till the end.

You've got a don (Anupam Kher) who is owed money by a lot of people. And he's not afraid to kill if they won't pay. Case-and-point... a failed actor (Chunky Pandey), who the don hires someone (Rahul Dev) to kill. Overhearing Rahul & Anupam Kher talk is the don's driver. The driver is friends with Rimii, who is a con-woman. She hopes to get in one last hit before retiring. There's a movie director and the guy below him (Sanjay Mishra), who hope to get some money & start their own office. There's the unfortunate target of Rimii. And there's the small-time car thief (Kay Kay Menon) and his dad/uncle/whatever.

And it quickly becomes a chase after money. Kay Kay steals a car (which belongs to the don), and the money that is in it. His uncle hides the money, while Kay Kay gets caught after trying to sell the car to Rahul Dev. Anupam Kher gives him a couple days to get the money, but only after sending his man with Kay Kay to retrieve it originally. This fails when the guy hits the door to the garage often, causing an engine to fall on his uncle and making him lose his memory. So Kay Kay needs to find money.

Rimii decides to swindle the guy, but needs a partner. She & Kay Kay had some history in this regard, but it's not good. Yet, in the end, she is forced to turn to him again when the driver bows out, due to Anupam Kher's men beating up his girlfriend (revenge for the money being stolen).

The director & Sanjay Mishra agree to buy land from the guy that Rimii is swindling (his source of cash), and borrow money from the don to do it. That money is given to the guy, who loses it... meanwhile, the land ends up no good, and now they're in the bad eye of the don as well. And then Rimii realizes that the bag she has doesn't have the money either.

So who has the money? And will Kay Kay's uncle recover his memory?

There aren't any real songs in the movie, I don't think... there might've been 1 somewhere in there. Well, there was the one when Rimii decides to swindle the guy, but it sucked, so I'm ignoring it.

The movie was solid (after the slow start). There were plenty of laughs... both in words and due to some situations... and I much loved it.

Dil Chahta Hai (2001)

Easily my most favorite movie ever. Need I say more?


If you need me to, here's a bit on the movie... it's told mostly in flashback, about 3 college friends (Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan, Akshaye Khanna) who are inseparable. Of course, this has to end to make the movie, and it does when Aamir makes a joke that Akshaye takes to be out-of-line (you'll have to see the movie to see how a joke could be enough to destroy such a strong friendship). Life goes on... Aamir goes to Australia, continuing to believe that he doesn't need love. Saif meets girl after girl, each time thinking that she's the one. Akshaye goes off to art school, disappointed that no one understood his love for a woman 10+ years his elder.

Life has it's turns though. Aamir falls in love... to someone engaged to an overly possessive guy. Saif falls in love... to someone in love with a guy who has some seriou(ly funny) habits... such as remembering the time/date of every meeting, a very well planned out schedule, and the desire to give her 1 heart-shaped balloon every day. And the woman Akshaye loves finds out, and hates him for it.

Life comes fast... what will the 3 guys do? And what will happen to their once-solid friendship?

The songs are awesome. All of them. The acting is amazing. The story is well-told. Yep, like I said... pretty much my most favorite movie of all time. Even my facebook page agrees with that.

Bheja Fry (2007)

An interesting, small time film.

One night in the life of a music director (Rajat Kapoor). As luck would have it on this day his wife (Sarika) has left him, he fears it's for the guy he stole her from (Milind Soman). There's the guy over for dinner (Vinay Pathak)... Rajat is in a group where every week one of the members brings someone else over for dinner (and make fun of them, more or less). No matter what he does, Vinay Pathak screws up. There's the nymphomaniac (Bhairavi Goswami), who Vinay calls instead of the doctor by accident when Rajat's back gives out. Throw in Vinay's friend (Ranvir Shorey) who comes over to help them when called and leaves with some really sad news.

It's a funny movie that is carried by Vinay Pathak, with some solid acting from the rest of the cast. In a movie like this, it comes down to the acting & the story/dialogues to make it work, and they come together well here.

Not a bad watch.

Paying Guest (2009)

A stupid/funny Bollywood comedy that featured some inappropriate (for kids... though they probably wouldn't understand them) jokes and saw 2 guys (Javed Jaffrey, Shreyas Talpade) spend half the movie dressed as girls. Hilarious.

Three guys all lose their jobs. In comes a 4th guy from India to join them in Bangkok. After a night of partying, they come home... and end up getting thrown out. They search and finally find a place to stay... but they need to be married to be given the rooms. So the 2 guys there (Aashish Chaudhary, Vatsal Seth) pretend to be married. And as such, their other 2 friends (Javed Jaffrey, Shreyas Talpade) have to pretend to be their wives in front of the renters (Johnny Lever & wife) while still living their normal lives as guys. Things obviously go wrong when Vatsal's actual girlfriend shows up, and when Shreyas falls in love with Johnny & wife's niece. Throw in Aashish falling in love with his boss & Javed trying to prove his love to his GF's father, and there are issues galore. Throw in a villain (Chunky Pandey) and you have the laugh-a-thon.

The acting from the lead guys was solid. The actresses (Sayali Bhagat, Neha Dhupia, Riya Sen, Celina Jaitley) had very little to do, though I preferred them in the order listed. Sayali didn't look too bad. Neha is a fine actress. I'm not a big fan of Riya Sen, and Celina really can't act. Plus... I still don't think there are many people that can pull off the 'short short/skirt' look... and Celina is one of those that can't (I actually can't think of anyone that can). Not a fan. Johnny Lever was great.

The songs were meh... Jack & Jill was interesting (to say the least) and Ya Rabula Rabbi was the best of the lot. The title song was also alright.

As you'd expect from a stupid comedy... I loved it! It might not be up to the level of 99, but it was solid none-the-less. And there are rumors of a sequel, which would be awesome.

99 (2009)

Hilarious!
A comedy that takes a look at a couple of guys who are trying "to hit a century" (cricket term) but keeping getting out at 99 (as is mentioned in the movie... people celebrate your 100th run, but no one remembers #99).

There's the duo of Kunal Khemu & Cyrus Broacha, a couple of small-time technical thiefs, who, on the run from the cops, crash and destroy a car owned (through theft from a famous star, we're told) by a don (Mahesh Manjrekar). And so he wants a ton of money from them, and since they don't have it, they have to work for him. (He loans out huge amounts of money, and when people can't repay, his guys go take everything from them).

There's Boman Irani, a gambler, has taken a huge loan from said don to bet on a cricket match... and lost it all. He believes in getting signs from 'above'... though they let him down that time. So he's on the run from said don, and another guy who sent him to the don in the first place (Amit Mistry). And, as luck would have it, don sends Kunal & Cyrus to get the money from Boman Irani. He doesn't have it, and promises that he'll have it by Friday, when he's going to bet on another cricket match.

Things obviously go wrong, and all of a sudden, all 3 guys (Boman, Kunal, Cyrus) are in need of cash... not only to pay the don back (and in Boman's case, Amit Mistry as well)... but also to bet on the game.

Throw in Soha Ali Khan, as Kunal's love interest. And Simone Singh, as Boman's disappointed wife. And Vinod Khanna, as JC... someone who fixes cricket matches. And you've got yourself a comedy that isn't your average comedy.

The songs aren't all that amazing, but they're still good. The acting carries the movie, though the story is impressive too.

Highly recommended!

36 China Town (2006)

36 China Town is easily one of my favorite Bollywood suspense movies. A rich owner of a hotel is killed soon after celebrating the fact that her previously missing kid has been found. Of course, she is killed before the kid can be returned to her.

A classic 'who done it' mystery, as we see random bits from the eyes (not literally) of all 7 suspects and the detective as he tries to peace together what has happened and who truly committed the murder... with multiple suspects who had entered her house around the time of the murder.

Shahid Kapoor was solid. Kareena Kapoor was annoying, as usual. Johnny Lever is great, though a bit loud. Tanaaz Currim is good. Paresh Rawal is fine. Payal Rohatgi is meh... just there to show skin, it seems. Upen Patel is fine. Akshaye Khanna is good as the detective. Isha Koppikar has a really small role.

My favorite is Vivek Shaq, who I've been a fan of ever since I saw him in Dil Hai Tumhara.

Good songs too... I really like Aashiqui Me Teri (sung before Himesh became annoying) and Badi Dilchaspi Hai (sung by the amazing KK).