The Last Year

Amitabh Bachchan’s long awaited film The Last Year will hit the screens all over the world on September 12th. Produced by Plan man Motion Pictures and directed by Rituparno Ghosh, the film has an impressive array of artists Amitabh, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal and Divya Dutta. Rituparno Ghosh announced the release recently and the first trailer can be seen in the theatres where they showcase Singh is King. The audiences which managed to catch its glimpse were awestruck by Bachchan’s unique get up in the film.

According to a press release by the producer, the film has already been screened at 4 of the world’s best film festivals, including Toronto, Rome, London and Rotterdam. The response has been astounding, with long standing ovations after the screenings.

The Last Year received long standing ovations after screenings in film festivals !

In this era of hardcore commercialism, there still remains a segment in the film industry which churns out classy movies that make India proud at the international level. We are referring to The Planman Motion Pictures whose Mithya received massive appreciation and also earned the distinction of being the first success of the year.

Well, the banner has a special bond with the charismatic and award winning director, Rituparno Ghosh as his critically acclaimed Dohar (starring super actress Nandita Das) was produced by them. Strengthening the bond further and also continuing with the trend of backing quality products, the banner now gives the Indian audience a chance to witness cinema at its best, with The Last Lear. Megastar Amitabh Bachchan plays a character called Harry, a hearty, eccentric and passionate actor. Let us hear what some of the renowned critics and people related with the industry have to say about Bachchan’s performance.

The Last Year Review:

‘Yes, this film is Big B’s best till date’, says Paula Ray (London Film Festival).

Cameron Bailey (Toronto Film Festival Gala Premier) says “Bachchan offers a master class in acting in The Last Lear. Like Richard Burton, Toshiro Mifune or other larger than life greats, Bachchan demands to be watched.’ Says Pritish Nandy, “No genuine film lover can afford to miss it for Bachchan’s sterling performance. This is one of his best ever!’

So, do yourself a favour and watch Big B in his (best) elements when The Last Lear hits the theatres on 12th September.

Cast: Kay Kay Menon, Irrfan Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Madhavan, Paresh Rawal and Vijay Maurya.

Director: Nishikant Kamat

Mumbai Meri Jaan Review

Post 2006 train bomb blasts in Mumbai, there was a newspaper headline – “Mumbai Ripped Apart”. The same day, another national daily carried the same news, but with a different approach towards it. It read – “Mumbai Survives”. It was just the difference in various point of views from which people looked at the entire incident.

Film ‘Mumbai Meri Jaan’ tries to deal with the same. At one level, it shows how there are people who overcame the fear of bomb blasts and moved on in life as if nothing has changed. While there is another sect of people whose lives have forever been unsettled because of this incident.

Nikhil Agarwal (Madavan) - a patriotic corporate guy, ASI Patil (Paresh Rawal) – A corrupt but practical cop, Suresh (Kay Kay Menon) – an unemployed frustrated youth, Thomas (Irrfan) – a roadside tea/coffe vendor and Rupali (Soha Ali Khan) – a TV news reporter are few of the characters whose lives get affected due to this blast.

Madhavan gets saved that day due to a friend of his who doesn’t allow him to travel in 1st class compartment of the local train. But his friend loses his hand. Obviously, the sight of the blast doesn’t allow him to go anywhere near the train again. He develops a sort of phobia.

Similarly, Kay Kay Menon’s belief that muslims are responsible for all this gets futher strengthened when he finds couple of muslim lads missing from his locality right after the blasts.

Paresh Rawal’s take that nothing can be changed into this system continues as he approaches the day of his retirement.

Irrfan’s anger towards the society keeps on building following humiliation at their hands at every step in life. And that pushes him to create a series of hoax bomb calls throughout the city.

Soha Ali Khan, too, tastes the trauma of affected people when she loses her own fiancé in the blasts. It is then that she realizes how and what does a person goes through when, after losing a near and dear one, news channel anchor asks him/her – “Kaisa mehsoos ho raha hai apko? (How are you feeling now?)

All of them try tackling their issue on their own. And by the end of it, all of them move on in life. And that has been portrayed as the ‘spirit of Mumbai’. Hence the name – “Mumbai Meri Jaan”.

Brilliant performances by Paresh Rawal and Irrfan. In fact one of their best performances so far.

Superb direction and cinematography. Nishikant Kamat continues with his realistic approach post ‘Dombivali Fast’.

The script could have been a little tighter though. Because of lengthy scenes, the story doesn’t seem to be moving and makes you impatient.

Otherwise, the movie is very good if you want to see something realistic.

A film worth watching.

Cast: Sudeep, Amruta Khanvilkar, Ahsaas Channa, Kenny Desai, Ashwini Kalsekar and Ganesh Yadav.

Director: Ram Gopal Varma

Phoonk Review

The story of the Phoonk movie revolves around Rajeev, a successful Construction Engineer with loving wife, and two children aged 10 and 8. Rajeev is an atheist to the core. He scoffs at God and even more at people who believed in the dark forces till one day when an evil is let loose in his happy home threatening to destroy his family and shake up the very foundations of his convictions and belief systems.

The movie starts with some funny camera angles and annoying music and that keeps repeating in the whole first half. Unnecessary sound effects and weird close up shots are simply unnecessary. Known to create an unexpected shock for the viewers by use of his creative camera angles, Ramu has failed to live up to his expectations this time around. In a desperate attempt to create horror, RGV has added some unnecessary horrific scenes in the movie.

But the same couldn’t be said for the second half of the film which seems to be pretty impressive, leaving few things aside. It surely makes people quietly sit at the edge of their seats. The scenes are so powerful that no one in the audience dared to utter a single word.

On the acting front, the little kid Ahsaas Channa is pretty impressive. She is really brilliant in the 2nd half. The others have also given a good performance leaving apart Ashwini Kalsekar, who is really irritating in the first half. Her laughter is more like someone screaming loudly in your ears and trying to kill you with that.

Background music is surprisingly good while the camera work would really have been much better. After all it plays a very important role in the making of a horror flick. I really wish first half was as good as second one. It looked like first half was directed by some sub standard director while the second half was handled by RGV himself. With many young and talented directors making their debut in Bollywood, Ramu really needs to deliver some good stuff soon, if we want to enhance his career in Bollywood.

To sum it up; the movie was not so bad not so good, but it could have been made really well if they had taken care of the first half. I mean, if you can’t add fear in the mind of people then at least don’t make them laugh, it’s supposed to be a horror movie.

Cast: Rajpal Yadav, Mithun Chakraborty, Tusshar Kapoor, Anupam Kher and Raima Sen.

Director: Sachin Yardi

C Kkompany Review

In the age of farcical humour, here comes a comedy that surprisingly isn’t straight-out slapstick but has some story attached to it. Don’t expect it to be immaculately intelligent and you could enjoy C Kkompany with its limited loopholes.

Pheri mode showing three individuals in desperate need for money. Akshay Kumar (Tusshar Kapoor) is a crime show anchor on a news channel who aspires to elope with don Dattu Satellite’s (Mithun Chakravarthy) sister (Riama Sen) to Dubai. Joshi (Anupam Kher) is a retired accountant whose affluent son treats him like a liability. Lambodar (Rajpal Yadav) is handicapped by his height (or the lack of it) and ridiculed by his wife and son.

Drenched in despair, the trio makes a hoax call to Joshi’s son and ask for extortion money posing as a fictitious underworld gang called C Kkompany . Word spreads about this fabricated gang and soon it becomes the talk of the town. The trio uses the newly and accidentally acquired fame of C Kkompany to their benefit and start helping the common man through their con call warnings. Meanwhile Dattu faces a business threat with the arrival of his rival in underworld.

The major aspect where C Kkompany scores is that it’s a credible comedy which doesn’t take the logic-less path. Writer-director Sachin Yardi comes up with an interesting premise and handles it effectively to an extent. He faintly ignites a social revolution with the glorification of C Kkompany as a modern day Robin Hood gang but isn’t able to capitalize it to Gandhigiri extents like Munnabhai attempted.

Another highlight of the humour is the audacity of producer Ekta Kapoor to laugh on herself and her Balaji soaps that make up for some genuinely funny gags. Anyone who hates her sloppy soaps would love this film for the unapologetic take-off on the clichés that those serials resort to. Yardi exploits all our daily drawing room allegations on Balaji soap operas and very authentically interprets them in his film using our mundane nitpicks to his merit. Rarely do celebs indulge in self-satires and even if they do, it’s when they are down and out. It’s nervy of the Balaji team to spoof themselves when they are still live and kicking.

All said and done the film isn’t flawless and comes with its share of inconsistencies. This one could win an award for the ‘most abrupt and unwanted item numbers’ in Hindi films. Firstly Celina Jaitley lacks item appeal and from where in the world does she appear onscreen to dance with Tusshar Kapoor? They no more bother to even justify it as a dream sequence. Yawn! The soundtrack is a compilation of interrupting item number garbage. The editing is rather loose and some scenes go on and on even after the humour has ended.

From the cameos, Mahesh Bhatt is senselessly wasted as a talk show host without any purpose, parody or humour. Karan Johar and Ekta Kapoor are used more reasonably though Ekta is awfully camera conscious. The horde of other television celebrities fail to recreate an Om Shanti Om kinda starry appeal which the background score attempts to suggest while playing the OSO title track.

From the cast, Anupam Kher and Rajpal Yadav have better comic timing and show more screen presence than Tusshar Kapoor. Tusshar isn’t bad but should strictly stay away from item numbers that are incorporated for visual appeal. Raima is redundant. Mithun Chakravarthy is enjoyable as long as he hams.

Only for the fact that this comedy has some story to say , C Kkompany can be attempted. See it in carefree company!

Cast: Bobby Deol, Priyanka Chopra, Irfaan Khan, Danny Denzongpa, Akhilendra Mishra, Ritesh Deshmukh and Rajpal Yadav.

Director: Kabeer Kaushik.

Chamku Review

What do you do if any of Bobby Deol’s decade old dramas like Badal, Bichoo or Bardasht play on any of the satellite movie channels today? Majority would switch to another channel in search for a better source of entertainment. Chamku assumes the same aura, ambience and act of those archaic artifacts and you know how to act in response to such attempts.

The film starts as the account of an oppressed farmer, switches track to outlawed naxalite narrative, substitutes with the story of an intelligence officer and finally ends up being a regular revenge drama. Each subplot is given an outrageously obsolete treatment. Chamku (Bobby Deol) loses his father to a tyrannizing Thakur , is brought up by naxalites and trained by Indian intelligence for whom he engages in undercover operations.

Under instructions of the intelligence chief (Irrfan Khan), Chamku is on a relentless killing spree of anonymous individuals that pile up for the major pointless portions of the film. Abruptly you are informed that he also has a companion (Riteish Deshmukh, in his worst role ever) who adds no value to the film, as he is assassinated before you could acquaint yourselves with his character. Also there’s a Marathi-muddled motherly figure (Sulbha Arya) but you aren’t certain who she’s related to – Chamku or his chamcha.

Meanwhile a film without a female lead seems far-fetched in Bollywood, irrespective of her significance to the story. So a mandatory prop (read heroine) is squeezed in the screenplay in the form of a Montessori teacher (Priyanka Chopra) perpetually draped in chiffon saris. Luckily their love story is cut short but mercilessly you are supposed to sustain a superfluous song in the bargain. The heroine’s role starts on an ‘I love you’ note and ends with an ‘I am pregnant’ remark. Quite a multi-dimensional character!!!

Back at work, Chamku encounters the Thakur (Akhilendra Mishra) who had killed his father and wants to seek revenge. He traces the Thakur in a pub and opens fire in public though the populace there remains unperturbed and seems to be more interested in boogieing with babes.

Some time later Irrfan Khan pinches on your wounds, unashamedly announcing, “Every film needs a proper climax else the audience feels cheated”. This film not only lacks a proper climax but also original characterizations, conflicts, chemistry, compositions or chronicles. How one wishes Irrfan should have asked the director, “Kya aapko K.I.L.B. hai? – Kum Innovation Laane ki Bimari ?”. The music is painful and the recurring encounter and fake encounter sequences test your tolerance as you cringe in your seats with annoyance.

Bobby Deol carries the same jaded expression throughout the film. For Riteish Deshmukh, its clearly one of those films that you do as a favour for industry friends. Priyanka Chopra substantiates how worthless heroines are to male-centric cinema. Irrfan Khan shows more screen presence in his 20-second Vodafone commercials. Arya Babbar is relegated to the rank of a junior artist. Danny dies before you notice him.

Alas, Chamku fails to shine. Rather it bears the blemish of an outdated 70s revenge drama.

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Prachi Desai, Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Luke Kenny and Shahana Goswami.

Director: Abhishek Kapoor

Rock On Review

It’s always been said that to attain something people sometime have to compromise for something. Sometimes these compromises make the journey to the desired future enjoyable and sometimes, people have nothing but to repent for whatever he had done in the name of compromise. The film, Rock On, rocks on that basic thought only.

They, namely Aditya (Farhan), Joe (Arjun), KD and Rob (Luke Kenny), fight hard to take their band ‘Magik’ to the position of number one. They get the opportunity to hit the music chart with an opportunity won in a competition of Channel V. The music channel also provides them with a chance of recording their first album. But no victory comes without its different effects. Here also, they have to compromise few things and the situation takes Joe away from Aditya. Magik gets closed. Aditya leaves all his friends and turns into a businessman while on the other hand, Joe keeps himself happy with his guitar.

Story rolls for ten years. One day Aditya’s wife (Prachi) comes to know about Aditya’s band Magik and to make Aditya happy, she arranges a reunion party for all his friends who were involved in the band. And the reunion gives a rebirth to the band also. They all fight for another chance at the Channel V stage.

Farhan has really overshadowed other actors in his debut film. Others are also looking cool in their respective roles. As far as the film is concerned, it can easily be called a package with visuals mixing properly with audio. Actors are rock stars and their stage presence is superb. While as a film it’s a great gift to the viewers, for listeners, too, it’s a wonderful presentation. After his negative performance in OSO, Arjun has brilliantly proved how matured an actor he is. With Prachi’s performance, it looks like she has a future in Bollywood. The combination of visuals with dialogue looks really nice on the screen. Direction is really praiseworthy.

After a long time, a film is made to touch all the generations. Hats off to Farhan and Abhishek Kapoor.