Phoonk, RGV's last horror flick (hopefully)

Its been sometime since I did any movie reviews here at CnC and I'm going to watch 'Rock On!' today and it looks like a movie worth a review. But before that there's another movie which deserves a review for the benefit of the people who may want to venture to see it on the big screen. PHOONK, the RGV horror (or thriller, or whatever) is certainly not meant for the small screen. The best thing to do would be to find a couple of friends who know how to enjoy the lowliest things in life and are prepared for a good laugh which may not be provoked by the high bass background scores but inevitable nonetheless.
The movie revolves around black magic that an 'innocent' family finds itself gripped in. The young and resurgent builder finds his atheistic beliefs on lose grounds when one of his close aides turn against him and decides to punish his little girl. The movie, sadly, has no twist in the story. The victory of good over evil is the moral.
My orkut caption says these days, "Phoonk misses the 'Best comic movie award of the year' by a whisker", this review is not going to be an exaggeration by any means. There are a couple of good things about the movie though. The camera work can be called captivating if you happen to like the seeing things from a close angle. The background score is good and perhaps the only scary part of the movie (though you will find it hard to hear most of it if you are sitting with a lively audience who find it hard to control their laughter). As against the common notion, RGV has tried to include a song in the movie. I personally found it good but not many people seem to remember it and the Planet M at Allahabad was unable to find a Phoonk audio CD in its stores. The story, though very predictable, is racy and the camera work keeps you guessing. Most of the cast is good, the usual people from the 'RGV factory'. The acting of the possessed girl is good, considering the fact that its always hard to act in a horror flick where the 'music' is added while editing the movie.

The things to watch out for are:
1. The dead crow (with a stone eye) perched at almost all the trees around d set.
2. An old lady with a 'spring fitted' head.
3. A Javed Jaferry look alike.
4. The latest technology in levitation- 'phoonk effects'.
5. The 'phoonk healer' who (strangely) can set things right with a couple of chopsticks fitted between his knuckles.
6. An underpaid driver who's unsatiated 'hawas' (even to the disappointment of the audience craving for a bit of flesh-flashing) leads to a lot of harm to the family (or is it because he was given no dialogues by RGV, cant say!).
7. The pathetic 'replication' of the common 'fights' between ghosts and the ordinary man towards the end is a total let down.

Flooded with Shahid ...

So, whats the hottest thing these days ?

It's got to be Shahid Kapoor. Things may not be working great for him on the personal front or in the matters of love but sure he remains the sweetheart of all the gals. The desperate guys are all trying to modify their looks to flatter the 'Shahid seeking' gals (or even boys ... psss). This above picture for instance has a beautiful (and potentially the owner of a gold-mine-profile) gal's scrapbook flooded with scraps from 'Shahid'. Ah ... poor females, they don't have much choice I guess. ;)

Dil Dosti Etc ... Jab We Met !!!

Its been sometime since I reviewed a movie here at CnC. This is partly because, first I've not been writing much here (my apologies) and secondly because I've not seen many movies worth a review (good or bad) lately. I guess its time now that I wrote about two movies that I've seen over the month.
First one is Dil Dosti Etc, a Manish Tiwari film. So, here are the facts.

• The songs are very few and not all that impressive.


• The cast does not have any big shot star.


• The (relatively) new comers have done a good job.


• The theme of the movie is interesting, to say the least.

The story revolves around this wierd guy (who happens to be Nassiruddin Shah's son in real life) Apoorva, who is from a rich family of Delhi and against his parents' wishes joins a college in DU. He wants to explore those nooks of life that dont seem to be very obvious all the time to an average person. How the life of a prostitute in a brothel may be is a subject which off-beat film makers or non-conventional novelists or some freak journalists may try to find out; the 'normal' man can only ignore this section of society as if this dark side of us never existed (some philosophers belive though that prostitution is the oldest occupation!). The other important character is this Bihari student leader (played by Shreyas Talpade) who is driven by his own values and principles and like all the people of small villages with big dreams, wants to make a very big impact on the society. Elections in the college campus mean power; power to control, power to flaunt and power to relish. At the same time we have Apoorva, trying to find love in places where the word may not hold any significance. Love in a brothel has no meaning. It is a place which may rightly be called the black-hole of the society where the ordinary laws of the society do not hold. Love from a brothel, sex from a school going, 'homely' girl and in the process finding answers to some lingering questions of a young mind; these are the challenges Apoorva faces. Sanjay Mishra (the student leader) tries to balance his life between a life where his princiles and values propell him to power and a girl who is of a free thought (to the extent that ... hmmm if I tell you the extent I would be spoiling your experience) and belongs to a modern world in which Sanjay is not comfortable. But, this is the girl he loves and the girl (though utterly confused about it) loves him.
The movie is rich with deep, thought provoking dialogues and situations. I would recommend you this movie. Watch it when you have a lot of time to analyse the movie after it ends!!! It doesnt mean that you have to take it as an art movie or a docu but there are things to understand and things to ponder on. I give full marks to Dil Dosti Etc.
Now, lets talk about a light movie that I watched in the afternoon today. Its called "Jab We Met". (I know quite a strange name). The movie is ok, considering that you have two actors in the lead who really cant act much, Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor. Both have done well because Kareena plays an eccentric girl who just cant keep her mouth shut (she is actually shown talking to just about any stranger; she speaks even when she's sleeping!!!), which I think she is always known to be in personal life. And Shahid plays a cute, rich guy who doesnt know how to talk much with people except for business. Both meet in a train, Shahid has been dumped by his girl and Kareena is making eloping plans with some nutty guy who comes into picture only towards the end (which is so good for the movie). This girl who just cant stop talking drags Shahid into trouble and both are pushed into some embarressing situations (which are shown to be love building occasions in flashback towards the end). There is really not much of a story in this movie to tell you about. It is a very light movie which is the best thing about it. Some of the scenes are funny, some fail to impress. Overall, an ok movie to go for if you have enough time on your hands and nothing important like going for a walk with your dog to do. (I liked the ending though, it was something unexpected, atleast the execution was a surprise).
My suggestion is that you go for an afternoon show of "Jab We Met" and after an early dinner watch "Dil Dosti Etc" and then sleep over it trying to figure out what you really want from your life. Happy watching.

AWAKENED FOR THE 6th TIME...

Today marked the opening of movie club at NIA, and it started with one of my personal favourites, Rang De Basanti. When announced couple of days back, my first impression was “O! Not again...”, because I had watched it over 5 times and didn’t want to spend Rs 20 on it. But then on second thoughts I and all my friends decide to go for it.
The show was at our college auditorium 6:15 with a mixed crowd of students and executives at our campus. Everyone was on top of their spirits and we started cheering for everything, the opening words, entry of the actors and all the humorous lines and songs. We compared the character with people amongst us and had a parallel humour track running. Some of the hilarious ones are like comparing the act of Laxman stopping the party with our warden disturbing the late night birthday celebrations in hostels and so on.
But then there are certain things that made me feel as if I am watching it for the first time. I did get goose flesh during some scenes just as earlier. I was surprised to note this impact and wasn’t expecting them to happen for the sixth time.
The moments in the movie which touched me the most were:

* Laxman coming to Sue, offering to play the character of Ram Prasad Bismil. The poem “Sarfaroshi ke tamanna ab humare dil mein hain…” put silencer on all our mouths and I started feeling very patriotic.
* Then came in the scene depicting Jalanwala Bagh; I needn’t describe it. We all know how bad it was; indeed one of the most shameful incidents in the history of mankind.
* The engagement between Ajay and Sonia was again very emotional.

Then it was the time for interval; but most girls walked back to hostel as they were back after watching Harry Potter – Order of the Phoenix and didn’t wish to spoil their mood by watching the second half of RDB. They complained that the characters die in the second half, and they don’t like to see film without happy endings. Rating Harry Potter over Rang De Basanti.. can’t believe it..
Anyways, I never understand girls, so no point in discussing their choices.

* The movie continued with another tragic scene, Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqulla Khan were tortured and hung, and the background score was the merger of prayers of three different religions.
* Bhagat Singh and his peers going on a fast for 114 days, facing all the atrocities but not giving up.
* Then the song “Lukha chuppe”, along with all the scenes like the handling over the national flag in which Ajay’s body was rolled for his last journey. It did fill my eyes with tears, but then I safely rolled them back.
* My blood started becoming less viscous and flowed at greater pace while watching the protests against the corrupt Defence Minister. Especially the “Kyoon chala” song and the laathi charge..
* And finally, the last 15 minutes; their confession on radio and people’s reactions were really very lively and did awaken everyone and brought in the josh to do something good for the society and the country at large.
But not sure how many seconds it took to fizz out and get everyone back to their normal routine..

SHOOT YOUR BRAINS OUT ...

Shootout at Lokhandwala had huge expectations on it to such an extent that the very phony entry and a short action sequence of Abhishek Bachaan didn’t discourage me much. My expectations crashed when the first one of the 3 unnecessary ‘item’ songs came up. The movie was a collection of scenes and sequences which leave you in a very confused state of mind. Forming an opinion is a different issue all together but this one even misses to link the various emotions of the screenplay in an effective way. At one moment you would start believing in the power of the ‘good cops’ and the dedicated men of the department (ATS-anti terrorist squad) while towards the end the director wants you to sympathize with the criminals (or with the way they were killed). But one thing is for sure, there would be a blood shed scene in the movie when you are least expecting it so I recommend that you don’t carry anything to eat. Even a chewing gum may want you to throw up at times in the movie.
The movie’s screenplay is so bad that it has totally killed the movie. A good concept has been derailed and humiliated. The characters fail to impress at all and besides the character of Sanjay Dutt there’s hardly anyone worth a buck. Tushar Kapur has again proved to be an embarrassment to his father’s legacy with poor dialogue delivery and a pathetic expressionless face all the time. Amitabh Bachhan has done well but he had just about 10 dialogues (more like Joey’s one liners) in the whole movie so if you had planned to see the movie for him you will be disappointed like me.
The action scenes include a lot of blood but lack the creativity which any sane mind should expect. If you are a RGV fan then don’t buy the tickets. If you have seen any movie with a similar concept of encounters and stuff then don’t buy the tickets. In fact this movie has nothing new to offer except for the obvious lesson that a movie can really give you a headache.
With a typical early 90’s bollywood movie style this one leaves you completely confused towards the end as the director tries to give the 6 criminals an RDB like finish. (Ridiculous you would say but it’s true!). A few questions have been asked by Diya Mirja (as a reporter in the movie) which should have been the central theme of the movie but the very polite reporter fails to make an impact.
Writing a review for “Shootout at Lokhandwala” is one of the worst things that I’ve ever done but I see it as a thing of charity, hope all who read this review spend their time and money doing better things like going to a zoo to watch a camel with their girlfriends.
And hey, I forgot to mention … there’s one reason to watch the movie … Rakhi Savant makes a special appearance!!!

Tara Rum Pum

Watching a movie with friends in a hostel room (pirated one of course) is never a regret. This is the only reason why I should not complain too much about 'Tara Rum Pum'. The movie was 'inspired' by a few hol movies (but this was not too much of a problem, had they done it well). Before I begin with the onslaught let me remind you that it was liked by most indian 'junta' and girls are already drooling over the hunk that Saif has become lately. It will be one of the biggest hits of this year and would probably bag a few awards as well !!! There were a number of sloppy scenes in the movie where least attention was paid to the left side of the brain of the audience.
When RV (that's Saif's name in the movie) tries to woo Shona (this is wat RV calls Rani, sorry forgot the name) he makes a pattern of ILU on the ground. The amazing thing about it is that his car jumps in between the letters to make it picture perfect.
Now, this RV is supposed to be a pit guy (changing tyres n stuff) and when he becomes a racing driver he knows nothing at all about the finer aspects of the game which incidently are taught by a taxi driver!
When RV's son falls ill and speed is needed to reach him to the hospital RV chooses not to drive for reasons best known to the director!!!
The car sponsors, his suit, his other gears, the car itself and everyother thing that you would associate with a racing team remains the same for him when he races for a totally different team !!!
There are many more of these which I hope would be pointed out by the visitors of my blog.
But, all said and written, this movie is a must watch if you happen to go out with a girl. Your girlfriend will love it (and love 'him' which is even more distressing). Soon enough you will see a lot of 'TaraRumPum Accessories' on the streets with small kids bugging their parent to buy them. May GOD be with you !!!