Happy Ending review: Why the film is a big yawn as Saif plays the NRI manchild... again!

Cast: Saif Ali Khan, Ileana D’Cruz, Kalki Koechlin, Govinda, Ranvir Shorey

Direction: Raj Nidimoru, Krishna D.K.

Rating: **

It’s getting tiresome to see Saif Ali Khan constantly playing the rich, phoren-based manchild womanizer, afraid of commitment and destined to find The One who will make him want to give up his playboy lifestyle for Love. Since he did once play Langda Tyagi in Omkara, we know he has range, but the allure of cash appears to be stronger than the will to make a good movie.

Filmmakers Krish DK and rule Nidimoru have created some good films within the past. Flavours was a remarkable indie and ninety nine was a awfully amusive cricket-based comedy heroic tale. Shor and Go province Gone each had deserves. With Happy Ending, they fall victim to the appeal of a rom-com set in foreign lands, and also the results square measure rather unsatisfying.

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The film encompasses a promising starting. Yudi (Khan) could be a party monster, riding on the success of his one bestselling book. Six years when its publication, he gets a kick within the gut once his fanbase dwindles and also the world focuses its attention towards a replacement, hotshot, romance author Aanchal (Ileana D’Cruz). Naturally, Yudi hates Aanchal, and after all, he finally ends up falling smitten along with her.

The reason why this clichéd story looks promising within the starting is that the filmmakers execute it with knowingness. there's a movie at intervals a movie being created, wherever things the lead actors face is satirized. there's Govinda as Armaan, a brilliant wealthy geezer World Health Organization desires to be a Bollywood star and hates the prospect of the struggle necessary to form one thing original. Aanchal admits to being a fraud, having no interest smitten and making the most of stupid, unbeloved readers. the link between Yudi and Aanchal is given as script beats, charting out the varied chapters within the method of falling smitten. there's conjointly a replica of Yudi – a FAT, aggressive do-nothing named Yogi – and also the interaction between the 2 is harking back to saint detain Adaptation.

Sadly, Happy Ending doesn’t utilize the knowingness into something substantial. In fact, it cheats you. The film dances round the clichés of the storage com genre, deceit to satirise them however simply finally ends up falling into the trapdoor of a similar clichés it targets. It’s frustrating, to mention the smallest amount. sometimes the film is totally in your face - Saif’s character breaks the fourth wall and talks concerning the brain-teaser of commitments, with the poster of a Katherine Heigl flick within the frame.

Happy Ending’s real drawback is that it’s terribly boring. there's zero chemistry between Khan and D’Cruz and also the moments they SHARE square measure neither funny nor rabid. They’re simply cringe causing. Moreover, Aanchal is meant to be the woman World Health Organization changes a unashamed, philandering, unscrupulous Casanova into a lovey dovey puppy dog mendicancy for commitment – there's nothing concerning her that justifies such a amendment in Yudi. no matter Yudi and Aanchal share is simply as cold and mechanical as Yudi’s past and their makes an attempt at comedy all fall painfully flat.

The only bright spots within the film square measure avatar Koechlin, World Health Organization plays a uproariously dotty woman Yudi is making an attempt to urge eliminate, and Govinda, with SIX PACK abs and plenty of additional packs in his cubital nerve. Like in last week’s Kill/Dil, he’s the most effective issue concerning the flick and similar to therein flick, he’s reprehensively under-utilized in Happy Ending. It’s concerning time Govinda got his own film once more. He’d kill it in a very well written humour. Ranvir Shorey is fun still, taking part in a poor husband World Health Organization is desirous to hang around along with his friend and acquire drunk, however forced to be a married man. you want the film had been concerning the friendly relationship between the characters of Shorey and Govinda as a result of they’re up to now higher than the mediocre material encompassing them.

Ultimately, Happy Ending feels quite pointless – we’re ne'er positive what the story of Yudi and Aanchal is supposed to indicate. square measure we have a tendency to alleged to believe the ability of love? will love invariably render a cheerful ending? is that the guy alleged to move to the airfield once the woman leaves, even if they’re clearly mismatched and don’t believe commitment? Happy Ending doesn’t recognize what to try to to or say. It isn’t even positive whether or not it’s associate attempt|attempting} to be a feelgood comedy or an EXERCISE in clichés. Hopefully, it’s simply a happening for Nidimoru and DK as a result of they’re capable of far better.

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Kill Dil’ Movie Review: Insipid guns-and-romance curry, no cool tricks

Film: “Kill Dil”;

Cast: Govinda, Ranveer Singh, Ali Zafar, Parineeti Chopra;

Director: Shaad Ali;

Rating: **1/2 By Subhash K Jha 

 

“Kill Dil” is one in all those misfired gun shots of masala cinema that reads sort of a fun fest on paper. i'm certain everybody should have ROFL (Ranveer’s semi-illiterate character doesn’t recognize what ROFL suggests that,) whereas shooting and enacting the scenes and even before that there should have various laughter whereas reading the script.

In principle these unprincipled characters WHO live and die by the gun should have appeared attention-grabbing.

On screen “Kill Dil” is as flat because the midriff that Ranveer likes to flaunt whenever the script permits. Not that the script here is just too specific concerning what goes and what doesn’t. this can be a brawl guns-and-romance spree wherever Gulzar Saab’s poetry foxily meets Ranveer Singh’s indulgence. Half-way down the narration you realise director Shaad Ali has run out of designer-cool tricks.

Enough of these stylish shots of our 2 heroes riding down busy highways gunning for unsuspecting victims. Yes, our heroes Dev and Tutu area unit assassins.

You could’ve fooled me! they give the impression of being sort of a few petty pick-pockets. however God and therefore the screen writers(three of them, actually….what’s that they assert concerning too several crooks….sorry, cooks?) have loftier plans for our heroes WHO eat, laugh, cry and kill along.

But ne'er sleep along.

The heroes area unit appointed private school charabanc beds, with great care that we have a tendency to don’t get any homosexual concepts. this can be Jai and Veeru from “Sholay” while not Jai clambering on Veeru’s shoulder on the motorcycle. They sing along however the lyrics area unit concerning assassination and jubilation. Yash rule films had gone into an identical turbulent territory of dosti versus love within the recent “Gunday”.

I have to admit “Kill Dil” may be a smaller disaster than “Gunday”. Ranveer WHO contend one in all the 2 buddies within the earlier film further, is way additional fun here. He’s still more than the highest. however here he's dramatic in a very pleasant manner. hassle starts and therefore the killings for him finish once Ranveer’s character Dev falls gaga with the neighbourhood woman, a weirdly freelancing inheritress contend by the forcibly glammed-up Parineeti Chopra, WHO appears to possess her hands in each single pie that she will be able to lay her manicured fingers on.

Just what she sees within the yobbo Dev are some things solely the film’s author will answer. The romance that overtakes the Ranveer-Ali Zafar bromance is among the various uncomprehensible mysteries that squeeze and smother the life out of this trite-and-tested action-comedy masquerading as Tarantino’s distant cousin-german.

Another mystery: why will Gulzar Saab’s voice-over show up in 3 places to inform US that violence begets solely violence? Why bring the person of such unsubduable refinement into a movie that reeks of raw rancidity? And why the songs? smart lord,they burst out of the narrative’s seam sort of a fat man’s fatty tissue in a very shirt sizes too tiny for him.

Undoubtedly a number of the supposedly funny things hit the mark. once Dev falls gaga ANd reforms from a hit-man to an factor his caller tune changes from Pankaj Udhas’s “Chitti ayee hai” to Lataji’s “Rahen metal rahen hum”.

The characters together with the purportedly sinister villain Bhaiji forced an entry dance while not a care concerning who’s look. I will perceive the script’s enthusiasm to create the villain dance as he’s contend by Govinda. The actor par excellence isn't solely back in type here, he imbues his uni-dimensional dispense with surprising humour and charm.

Welcome back, Govinda. want we have a tendency to may say a similar concerning the director. His initial film in seven years, and this can be what Shaad Ali comes up with?

Is this a similar film maker WHO once created the loveable “Bunty Aur Babli”? Shaad brings down with him a number of our highest technicians like cameraman Aveek Mukhopadhyay and editor Ritesh Soni WHO have done their most uneven add this film.

Gori Tere Pyaar Mein : Movies Review

Cast: Imran Khan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Shraddha Kapoor, Anupam Kher

Direction: Punit Malhotra

Rating: **1/2

I have always maintained that Karan Johar teaches his protégés well; they almost always get the entertainment quotient and the slick productions qualities right but alas that can’t be said about ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’.

The production is so slick that even when Dia Sharma (Kareena Kapoor Khan) and Sriram Venkat (Imran Khan) choose to stay in a dusty Gujarati village, they are always impeccably dressed. Imran’s white linen shirts don’t even have a speck of dust on them, Kareena’s kohl-lined eyes are always perfectly done and she exhibits the most extensive cotton kurta collection possible in a poor village. I guess she dresses immaculately to express solidarity with the impoverished village folk.

And this in effect is what exposes the inherent superfluousness of the plot. Sriram actually makes a very valid point when he erupts and blames Dia of being a hypocrite. The fundamental problem with ‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’ is that there isn’t an iota of conviction in the narrative - whether it’s the heroine’s activism, the hero’s love for the heroine or the entire living-in-the-village, among-the-poor, understand-their-plight charade that they carry on throughout the second half.

What really doesn’t help their cause is the complete absence of chemistry between the film’s lead stars, Imran and Kareena. I understand that we have established at the onset that our social activist is older than our chocolate boy but that doesn’t mean that their relationship has to be asexual. There is not a single passionate embrace or kiss or even a look that can allude to some latent attraction underlying their relationship.

In fact, the only thing that rings true is how mechanically Sriram goes through the motions of an arranged marriage, even after the girl has told him that she is in love with someone else. So self-absorbed is our hero that he refuses to be the fall guy and insists that if she is so hopelessly in love, she should gather the courage to tell her parents. The director doesn’t romanticize the arranged marriage set-up nor is there any dramatic meltdown. And what really makes the situation funny is how deftly the prospective bride Vasudha (Shraddha Kapoor) manages to systematically brainwash our vulnerable hero into believing that he is still in love with his former girlfriend, and thus ensuring her escape. That I thought was really well played.

The film tends to gloss over a lot of real issues. Why take them up when you can’t do justice? Stick to dil, dosti and friendship and you’ll have a winner all the way. Real issues just expose a pretentious approach and superficial concern for social causes like education, poverty, illegal land acquisition and sanitation.

‘Gori Tere Pyaar Mein’ is an insipid love story dragged down by a flimsy plot that limps on at a tedious pace.

'Ram-leela' Box Office Collection: Deepika Starrer Beats 'Krrish 3' and 'Dabangg 2' in US-Canada, Among Biggest Openers of 2013

"Ram-leela", featuring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, is ruling the overseas box office, beating Hrithik Roshan starrere "Krrish 3" and Salman Khan's "Dabangg 2" in US-Canada on the opening day.

Made on an estimate budget of 35 crore, Sanjay Leela Bhansali's directorial was released in nearly 3,000 screens in India and 500 screens abroad on Friday.

According to trade analyst and film critic Taran Adarsh, "Ram-leela" did better than "Krrish 3" in US-Canada on the opening day. The epic love story collected $450,000 (approximately 2.83) in the region on Friday, as against $311,000 (approximately ₹1.95 crore) earned by "Krrish 3" and $320,000 (approximately 2.01 crore) by "Dabangg 2". It also earned A$ 66,365 (approximately 39.11 lakh) in Australia in two days, beating A$ 58,283 (approximately 34.35 lakh) collected by "Krrish 3".

"#RamLeela USA-Canada Fri $450,000. Excellent!" tweeted Taran Adarsh. "#RamLeela Fri numbers in USA-Canada are bigger than #YJHD [$ 430,000], #Krrish3 [$ 311,000], #ZNMD [$ 240,000] and #Dabangg2 [$ 320,000]."

He went on to say that its UAE-GCC earning on Friday, which stands at AED 1.3 million (approximately 2.22 crore), is higher than "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara" (AED 925,000), "Agneepath" (AED 1.12 million) and "Housefull 2" (AED 1.2 million). It also collected £87,000 (approximately 88.26 lakh) in UK on Friday, debuting at No. 9 in the chart and two days collection in New Zealand stands at NZ$ 12,869 (6.73 lakh).

"Ram-leela" earned 16 crore at the domestic box office on the opening day, despite several shows being cancelled due to protests over its title and content.

The makers of the film changed the title to "Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-leela" following an order by the Delhi High Court and a few controversial words were changed. But the protests ensued in some places on Friday and affected the opening collections.

In spite of its screening being disturbed at several theatres, "Ram-leela" found a place in the top 20 openers, standing at No.10 position. It is the fifth biggest opener this year and the weekend collection is expected to shoot up on good word of mouth.

"Ram-Leela" is an adaptation of William Shakespeare's epic love story "Romeo and Juliet".

Aiyyaa : Movies Review

Cast: Rani Mukerji, Prithviraj

Director: Sachin Kundalkar

Rating: **1/2

To enjoy a film like 'Aiyyaa', logic and rational definitely have to be left behind. Sachin Kundalkar creates a funny, slightly eccentric, filmi protagonist but he expects her charm to carry a film that is saddled with a ridiculous plot and side characters who are intended to be amusing but border on the annoying.

Meenakshi (Rani Mukerji) loves melodrama and is crazy about typical Bollywood films and music. Needless to say she also aspires to have a classic Bollywood romance rather than settle for an arranged marriage. Coming from a typical middle-class family, she has no choice but to go through the routine of meeting prospective grooms with their families, complete with a tray of poha and sreekhand. Despite several rejections, Meenkashi manages to find a perfectly eligible candidate. However, she is not too keen about the alliance because she finds herself insanely attracted to a very intense-looking Tamil college student (Prithviraj), who saunters around with blood-shot eyes and is rumoured to be an addict.

The plot might sound perfectly plausible but the narrative soon veers out of control. Too much time is spent in building up the intrigue around Surya (Prithviraj). The sub-plot about the weird, oversexed colleague is completely unnecessary and not even remotely entertaining. I understand that the director wanted to create a family that is completely eccentric but the gags associated with them are so bad that the humour repeatedly becomes slapstick. Meenakshi's hopeless pursuits get tedious beyond a point and her scene with the drug peddler should definitely have been chopped off at the editing table.

Despite the loopholes, Rani Mukerji's performance rises above the disappointing script to create an endearing character who is hopelessly in love with a man who seems completely wrong and shows no interest in her. Prithivraj has little to do but does complete justice to his image of the brooding, tall, dark and handsome heartthrob.

Watch it if you can overlook the flaws, Rani's fun side promises some genuine laughs.

Jism 2 review

Cast: Sunny Leone, Randeep Hooda, Arunoday Singh

Directed by Pooja Bhatt

Rating: 1/2 *

Breathing is an operation of inhaling and exhaling. Sunny Leone makes this process a delight as her lovely lady lumps rise and descend like waves in a stormy sea. So the biggest selling point of Jism 2 is that Sunny breathes a lot and offers the same twin reasons to watch this film that she has in her entire filmography. Her indecent exposure has worried many but there are way bigger exposés in store here. For starters, how Arunoday Singh manages to unconvincingly pull off two satellites clipped on to his head as ears or how Randeep Hooda breaks into the hamming hall of fame without slipping in any ants in his pants. The film lives up to its title by allowing one to examine the human body in more ways than most doctors get to. Regrettably, it is your jism which is reduced to rubble in the process of watching this dribble.

The movie opens to a shiny and smooth canvas- a topless back of porn star Izna (Sunny Leone) who is purring her sob story perched on a rock by the sea as the waves wash her sexy every few seconds. Her crime: falling in love. Our crime: watching this movie. Punishment for both: death by exhaustingly theatrical overacting. This Masterclass on how an actor shouldn’t prepare is delivered by the two male leads: Ayaan (Arunoday Singh), the most unintelligent officer of the Indian Intelligence and terrorist mastermind Kabir (Randeep Hooda) who is as masterful with the violin as he isn’t with the monologues (where he breaks into an SRK from ‘Darr’ or a Naseeruddin Shah from ‘Sarfarosh’), only louder with more spitting and less speaking.

If you really want to know why Izna is troubled, skip this review to reach the trailer at the end of this page. Her misadventures begin when secret service agent Ayaan wakes up next to her and offers her a mission to extract some super-sensitive data from the clutches of a globally-wanted terrorist Kabir. While Kabir’s present location is established in Sri Lanka where he is disguised as a musician, they’re defenseless against his arsenal: his gun and violin, both of which cause equal amount of pain. Sunny is selected for this as she has a past with this deadly criminal and hence the only person who can get close to him without being shot down or have her ears bleeding, courtesy his violin. 

After little opposition, Izna packs her baggage and boobage and jets off to Lanka. Her mission ends up in many emissions and takes us into an insufferable journey. This comprises loud acting where everyone screams, emphatically squats about the screen and no one listens to anyone, apart from Izna’s conjoined planets that float about like they’re nodding in approval of whatever was happening in that scene. If they happen to be your sole motivators to watch this film, just browse through this slideshow for a teaser:

Sunny side up

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   Yahoo! India Movies Wed 1 Aug, 2012 2:30 PM IST
   
   

   A picture is worth a thousand words.

Why this film is more erratic than erotic is because it only borders on extremes. Neither of the actors can tread the line between screaming their heads off and being so subtle that they resemble the contents of a washing machine in action. Also, there seems to be some confusion about the role of a porn star as Izna admits to being one but functions as a prostitute. It’s like saying oranges and lemons are both citrus fruits, so oranges are lemons.

Randeep’s tongue runs deep into Sunny when he gropes her for a face rub. A scene later, he becomes a melancholic and weary poet, rambling, “Zindagi tujhe toh sirf khwaab mein dekha hai maine.” Basically, he wants to present his versatility as an actor. If that has to be done at the risk of appearing to have multiple-personality disorder, so be it. If Arunoday Singh’s ears had dialogues, they would surely bag a few supporting actor nominations. But since they didn’t, it’s best that he flaps them together to fly South where the film industry is a little more lenient. If you’ve seen the promos or visited her homepage, you don’t need to be told about how Sunny sparkles on the screen. But unfortunately for her, what you see is all you get. Pain and pleasure have the same expression and Sunny proves this by maintaining the same demeanour while sobbing over her lost love and when she’s aroused. Heavy breathing, Ooh-ing and Aah-ing on a loop fill up 90 per cent of the film. And if this wasn’t enough to cause diarrhea, there are dialogues like, “Usne mujhe chooa, toh aisa laga ki jannat ne choo liya. Aur phir woh chala gaya apni khusboo chodke, mere tan pe, mere kapdo pe.” Ever heard of a Laundromat?

The Bhatt camp is infamous for daring to cinematize topics that most would shudder to even consider. But their recent ventures, from Murder 2 to Jannat 2 to Blood Money have taken those topics and drawn a Dali moustache and floppy ears on them. And if they couldn’t have had a worse hand, their actors have brought the show down like pack of dominoes. Director Pooja Bhatt hasn’t faced the camera for 11 years and her last gig behind the camera was directing Himesh Reshammiya-starrer ‘Kajraare’. We rest our case.

While the entire premise of this film is baseless, Ayaan offers Izna a chance to escape her whoring hell to deceive a criminal (her ex who had inconsiderately dumped her without informing) by throwing herself at him. Why? Because it is for the country! For a country bar’s afternoon screening, may be.

You can reach me at guha.kunal@rocketmail.com or connect with me on Facebook or follo

Movie Review : Rockstar

Rating : 4/5
Genre : Romance
Year : 2011
Running time : 2 hours 40 minutes
Director : Imtiaz Ali
Cast : Ranbir Kapoor, Nargis Fakhri, Kumud Mishra, Aditi Rao Hydari, Shammi Kapoor, Shernaz Patel, Piyush Mishra
Kid rating : PG-15

Rockstar is director Imtiaz Ali’s 4th directorial venture after Socha Na Tha, Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal (all three make it to my Top Ten List). His reputation now precedes him; if anyone does romances well, it is this man. Rockstar is also a romance. But unlike the first three which were mired somewhat in the practicalities of day-to-day life, Rockstar is a film about an ethereal love, transcending the boundaries of ordinary logic, reasoning and morality.

Janardhan Jhakar, or JJ (Ranbir) is a student of Hindu College, Delhi. A budding musician, JJ can’t seem to find his niche and get his talent noticed. Advised by a know-it-all well-wisher, Khatana bhai (Kumud Mishra), to experience pain and sorrow, for that is the hallmark of great artistes, JJ sets about trying get his heart broken – the easy way, he thinks, to angst. When he hears that soon-to-be-married Heer Kaul (Nargis) of St. Stephen’s college (next door to Hindu) is a heart-breaker, he professes undying love to her. Little does he know that he will get more than he bargained for . . .

Rockstar is JJ’s story. It tells us of how Janardan Jakhar becomes Jordan, the mega rock-star. But at the core of it, this is a true-blue romance. Because wherever Jordan goes, and whatever condition he is in, he is always beset by thoughts of Heer. Imtiaz Ali portrays this love very well, from the nascent attraction that sneaks up on JJ and Heer and takes them unawares, to the irrefutable pull that they both cannot resist, even at the risk of societal condemnation and overstepping the bounds of morality.

The film is told in flashback fashion. Sorta kinda. Director Ali deftly spins through the story, working backwards, until he comes full circle. The beginning shots are of an eccentric, raggedy-looking rockstar Jordan, in full artist mode, sporting baggy, almost salwar like pants and headgear, scuffling, running. Soon, however, we move backwards in time and meet Jordan as JJ. The first-half of the film is build-up; there is Janardhan, in all his middle class glory, resplendent in his high-waisted jeans, garish sleeveless sweaters and dorky haircut in the middle of a Delhi winter, lugging around his guitar. There are sessions in the college canteen with the portly Khatana bhai, who I guess is some kind of clerk at the college. The fabulous attention to detail made me nostalgic for that time and place, and by extension for Delhi itself.

Post-intermission, the lead pair are in the throes of a surreal love. The beautifully composed shots are almost poetry in motion, and the mood is set by some soulful numbers. Ali walks a fine line in depicting this love. It is other-worldly, and beatific, and Jordan and Heer are consumed by it. We get that this is a great romance, but Ali keeps this almost transcendental passion tethered in the real world with a skillful screenplay, so we, as viewers, are still engaged in the pair’s lives. It is proof of Ali’s artistry that he manages to bind together an interesting story with a depiction of such an intense romance, and still keep this film balanced, not letting it bogged down by either the pragmatic or the ethereal.

Credit also goes to Ranbir Kapoor who gives it his all. He is dorky as the young student, suffused with angst as the bearded Jordan, and oh-so-broken-heartedly in love. He lends his character charm and wit and innocence and carries the film. American model Nargis Fakhri will not will any awards for her weak acting skills (but then this is Bollywood, so she might), but she is a luminous beauty, and well-suited to the role. It is not hard to imagine that she, with her glowing good looks, is the object of such an intense passion. Kumud Mishra brought Khatana’s character to life wonderfully, Aditi Rao Hydari has a small role as Sheena, and Shammi Kapoor looked fragile in his last film appearance as Ustad Jameel Khan.

I must also applaud the soundtrack. Rahman is a true genius, but his brilliance comes through in fits and spurts. In Rockstar fortunately, he delivers. “Jo bhi main” is wonderful, and “Kun faya kun” is awe-inspiring; it is of the caliber of his earlier “Yeh jo des hai”(Swades), “Khwaja mere Khwaja”(Jodha-Akbar) and “Jaage hain”(Guru) numbers. With lyrics by Irshad Kamil, and Mohit Chauhan’s voice (among others) this is an outstanding soundtrack.

This was quite a film. I fear that some of you might find the second half a tad “flighty”, but I quite loved it. Go, see it!

Kidwise : Some scenes of semi-nudity, and love-making make it unsuitable for the younger set. Children younger than 15 may not “get” the film, and the whole love rigmarole.